The Great North Wood — Restaurant in London

The worst Public House experience that I have had! It’s Mothers Day so we thought as we have done on a number occasions, go for a quick lunch at our local public house. We are a family of four, one 9 year old and 6 months old babie mostly asleep in buggy. We arrived at the pub about 11:50am. Bar had two staff and the male staff just looked blankly at us and gave the cold shoulder. We felt very unwelcome by the body language of this one Male bar staff. We have been here before therefore We looked around to find a suitable place to purge ourselves with our little baba and buggy. We could see many tables had reserved signs but had two tables that can be clearly seen that had no such reservation. The male bar staff member said quite carelessly “we are quite fully booked today I am afraid!” Quite fully booked!!!!! Hmm he seemed new and disinterested in receiving our custom. We decided to wait and catch the eye of the female bar staff and after about ten minutes manged to ask if we could sit at one of those tables. This was not a busy house I assure you. We sat down and my husband made the order be known to bar staff about 12:40. (I remember the time because we needed to time lunch along side of a business meeting at 2pm. Ordered tea, coffee, two starters two three main courses (two Sunday roasts and a burger)

Then one starter came after about 40 minutes but only one for the adult causing our son who was very hungry by now to be tearful and was upset that he didn’t have his sweet potato fries by now. Another 20 minutes go by no other srarter. (The business meeting my husband had at 2pm had to be rearranged) Then I reminded the staff about the child’s starter but another 30 minutes go but nothing comes. During this time two burgers were served to two adult males who were sat by our table and our son could see them having their Burgers yet he didn’t even have his starter! We felt sD for our little boy. We made some remarks and they promised the food was being plated as we spoke yet After another half hour for the main courses to arrive with the starter sweet potato. Boy were we excited to be receiving our food by now so revenous for it. Ahhhh What a huge disappointment the roast lunch was stone cold. What an insult to the patiently waiting customer. They got the burger right in taste and temperature and our son was happy finally to be eating his lunch. Sweet potato fries were a perfect temperature too. The roasts were just abysmal! Gravy was thin watery and cold, the vegetables were cold, parsnips were uncooked and cold, shop bought roast potatoes, not roasted but microwaved and cold, the Yorkshire pudding was cold, the plates ware cold too. My husband’s plate had horse radish but not mine. I took a bite but I couldn’t accept what was happening therefore I asked if it could be warmed again. The aforementioned Male bar attendant took it away came right back with the same plate of food still “COLD!” Such a surprise that they didn’t even bother to microwave it. I then informed that the food was still cold then the same member of staff wanted to take it away again. I refused to dine any longer. The manager came out, I explained the situation and he was very apologetic. The chef was apparently new and the management was undergoing challenges with it a challenging time at hand. I felt sorry for the poor bloke in some respect even if he was lying to me he was trying to resolve the matter. He said we didn’t have to pay and he offered us dessert free of charge. We offered to lay for everything except the roasts for we did not consume the main courses. Nevertheless the manager refused to take the payment from us and said that he understood completely firnthw whole situation to be their mistake. I have to say the crumble was absolutely delicious. We wasted our precious family time on a special day at a venue that did not show any interest in our presence or making sure that we had some warm pub food. The one star I am giving on this review is there because we have had better experiences there...

My least favourite pub locally, it's very much a case of style over substance here.

I've given 3 stars in recognition of the really good range of drinks available - in particular guest beers - which is a bit unusual in the area, and also the nice decor and pleasant (but unremarkable, and decidedly shady) garden. Sadly, this place doesn't really have much soul.

The food here seems to be aimed at the high end of the market, and there are some nice touches for varied diets, for example a really good vegan burger (in fact, they seem to do burgers and roasts very well).

Unfortunately, its pretty overpriced and you need to be very careful what you order if you don't want to be disappointed. Expensive food is fine if the quality is excellent, but charging well North of a tenner for half a bag of dressed mixed leaves with a single cherry tomato (I kid you not!) is frankly ridiculous!

My other gripe is that the customer service tends to leave a lot to be desired. Customers making a genuine complaint can be made to feel pretty awkward, reservations made well in advance seem frequently to disappear or be double booked, bar tabs are not well managed (friends have been literally blocked from leaving the pub by a member of staff and treated pretty aggressively because someone else - unrelated to them - hadn't paid their bar tab, which was pretty embarrassing for them).

I could go on but I think you get the idea! It's a real shame, as when they first opened, they had a fantastic team in place and it was a real gem, it just seems that a bit of complacency has set in and they don't seem to be able to keep a stable team of...

Food was good, the menu this evening was limited. Don't know what the menu is like outside of the holidays........

The building is lovely, the inside is tastefully decorated and furnished. Smart casual for this place; this is more your "30 somethings". There is a nice feel to this place, its not overly expensive, but its not cheap. Slightly upmarket feel. But still I must admit that I have tasted better food, and while the service was nice I must admit I have received better service.

You don't get board games at the table. But you do get books. This is positive, because then this place becomes a nice hiding place if you just want a bit of quiet reading time. Don't know if that's possible on busy days???

There is a room up stairs with "the library" beautifully written above the door. Inside there is more books and comfy chairs. This room looks lovely from the outside. I was unable to go further than the class windows in the door, which was locked.

When I walk past this place on a Sunday it is really busy and so I expected the food to be good, however, this is the time of year when businesses should be doing their level best to show case the food and the service. Not sure this pub did that this evening.

Getting tired of pubs thinking they can get away with posh burgers and chips. It's still burgers and chips. I want something more otherwise you are just another burger bar, only prettier...