The Griffin Belle — Restaurant in London

It's fantastic and this is your sign to just book it!!! Read on if you're not convinced yet. ||Let me give you a thousand reasons why. |From the very first online conversation with Richard, I felt like my needs were being accounted for and that the person I was speaking to had my best interests in mind. He responded within 10 minutes to my initial online query and swiftly cleared all of my worries about the walking distance to the Embassy and available car parking in the area. FYI, there's an underground car park at Sainsbury's on Nine Elms which is literally a 90 second walk away from the hotel and 3 streets away from the Embassy. It was £23 paid online for a 24 hour stay which is cheaper than most parking I found elsewhere.|From the Griffin Belle to the Embassy, it was a 10 minute walk. |Since we live and work in Yorkshire, I was going to be getting to The Griffin Belle after 8pm and this late check in time was absolutely no problem for the team. |On arrival we met Lauren (and a lovely bar man I didn't get the name of) and we were thrilled to learn that our booking came with complementary arrival drinks of our choice from the bar. Lauren was super accommodating, even checking with me that I knew the way to the Embassy from the hotel and helping me to decide on the time I should leave in the morning through her knowledge about the Embassy's early morning queues (which was actually 40 minutes long btw, give extra time).|Even though we got in late, The Griffin Belle serve food until 10pm and after a 4 hour drive I was grateful for the poshest, most delicious Fish Finger Sandwich of my life (6 fish fingers, buttered Brioche bun and a ton of fries for £9). It's a sports bar, and even on the Tuesday night we stayed, it was busy and clearly well loved by the locals.|The bed upstairs was a king sized and was as comfortable as a cloud - although if I have to be picky, the pillow I had was a smidge lumpy, but nonetheless I slept very well. The room upstairs was HOT but the staff clearly know this because there was a table fan already in place. The room was clean and pristine with white hotel linens and plenty of towels, it included a hairdryer and iron with small board, a Smart TV and a small tea/coffee service with kettle. The wallpaper was a bit loud, but it was quirky and fit thoroughly well with the floral uniqueness of the bar's aesthetic. |The hotel was FULL. I booked at very short notice and got the last room available. I have no idea how many rooms there are but there was ZERO noise to be heard throughout the night. There's also a night porter on duty for any nighttime needs. The morning shower was plenty hot and perfectly sufficient, but not massively powerful - long hair owners might need extra time.|Breakfast was included and was delicious. I had the avocado toast and my mother had the full English, both with coffee and orange juice. Both of us were very satisfied with the quality of breakfast - though my mother did comment there was no HP Sauce on the table, but to be fair she never actually asked the staff to bring some. |I also want to mention Melanie on the morning crew, who, when we mentioned I was headed to the Embassy, actually assessed that my bag was small, that I wasn't carrying anything the Embassy wouldn't allow inside and she also checked I definitely had my passport - I found these last minute checks by Melanie so heart-warming. This establishment and the staff who work there clearly care deeply, thoroughly understand their clientell and have a great business ethic. Nothing was too much trouble for them. Check out was 11am and they have a room to store your cases in if needed once you've checked out. |I truly do feel like I found a little gem to stay at on the night before my embassy interview. I'm thrilled that I chose to drive down the night before, get a good night's sleep and get off to a great start to my day with the help of some wonderful people. |Compared to the prices of the hotels all around the area, this was actually cheap considering the complimentary drinks on arrival and the substantial breakfast included. You wouldn't get this kind of service, kindness or neighbourly experience at a commercial hotel.|I'd book here again instantly if I ever come back to visit London. ||Do yourself a favour. Book it. |Wishing all of my fellow Embassy-goers a...

I have several things to say about this hotel/restaurant. Upon arrival we walked into the bar area, there was no one behind the counter to greet us and check us in. A few minutes later a woman came in from having a smoke outside. She checked us in then asks us to follow her to our room, where she proceeded to go upstairs. If you are planning on staying at this hotel make note that there are no elevators, you have to carry your luggage and prams. We get to our room, notice it is quite small, didn't even notice the closet until the next morning. We had to lay everything out on the floor. I asked about the possibility of a late check out, the girl looked confused and didn't know what to say. I repeated myself, stating I was looking for a check out at 12 instead of 11. She replied "I don't know", so I asked if she could find out and she said yes. We never heard back on this. We went down to check out the restaurant and enjoy a nice meal. We ordered 2 beers, 2 starters, and 2 of there 21 flavors of burgers thinking surely if you have 21 different kinds of burgers they must be good. After waiting 30 minutes we had to ask about our starters. We were told the cook didn't see the order ticket. Great. So after a few more minutes we finally got our food. My husband had calamari which was nice, he was happy about it. I ordered the onion rings which were so greasy and all you could taste was fried batter, there was a small onion inside. Then our burgers came out, they looked pretty decent, however, one bite in and we instantly knew not a single seasoning was used. Very disappointing. We told the waiter this and we were not offered any type of apology, or substitution or having items removed off our bill. Bathroom had no flannels to wash your face or use in the shower. We needed something printed out and one of the hotel staff said all they could do was have me send it to them via email and then they could print it. However the item I needed printing was not allowing me to send to an email. I thoroughly explained this to him but he did not seem to care. I even offered to pay any amount, this was a very important document I needed for my embassy appointment. He refused to make an exception to go to the embassy website, which is a safe website, to print what I needed. Overall grossly disappointed with customer service, accommodations, hospitality, and ease of access to rooms. Will not...

My husband found the Griffin Belle when he was searching for a reasonably priced place to stay while we were in London for a few days. The rates were reasonable and it was conveniently located. We opted for a room with three single beds as my cousin was traveling with us and that set up worked best. We arrived between 4-5 hours before check-in time and had intended to leave our luggage and explore until 3 but were told they would have our room ready in 30 minutes if we'd like to stay and have breakfast. The food was quite good and the service was exceptional, not just our first day but all three of the days we were there.

Our room was everything we like in a hotel: Clean, comfortable, a hot shower, and a safe place to store our belongings (we're not the sort to just sit around a hotel when we're on vacation; we tend to stay out the whole day and explore). In addition to having our basic needs met (and expectations exceeded), it was nice having a pub with a good menu and reasonable prices on the ground floor. Considering we were there during the World Cup and the night England played Iran, it was still reasonably quiet in our room (which was on the 1st floor and closest to the pub). As the pub was packed, the staff offered to serve us in a small, private banquet area on the same floor as our room. Once again, we had quality food and service even though it was a very busy night for them.

I honestly can't say enough good things about the staff. The hotel only has 10 rooms and feels more like a bed & breakfast than a hotel. The night manager, Ian, was always happy to chat with us and make sure we had everything we needed (especially the day we got back from Paris later than anticipated. He made sure we had a couple of pints of cider and, as the pub was closed for the night to outside patrons, he joined us on the back patio for a bit). I'd like to also give a shout out to Michelle for being a delightful hostess on our final morning. She was quite pleasant and lovely to talk to as well.

All in all, I felt that the Griffin Belle not only lived up to our expectations but exceeded them. I will point out that, like many buildings in England, if you have difficulty walking, there are quite a few stairs depending on which floor you're on and no lift...