The Hunter S — Restaurant in London

I went to the Hunter S this evening with my family including my daughter who is 5 years old. We had a decent meal and the waiter who served us was very polite. After we had eaten I went to the toilet with my daughter. In the toilet the walls are covered with pictures of men, basically soft porn, one of the pictures on the ceiling is of a man with an erect penis looking suggestively at the camera. It's all very ironic and post-modern, super clever and funny,. All fine perhaps for a club, but not really the sort of images that you want your 5 year old child looking at. In fact it really is the kind of thing that I will endeavour to shield her eyes from, when she gets to using the internet on her own, I will certainly have things set up to prevent her from seeing porn. So, understandably this concerned me. I went to talk to the manager about it, I was a bit hesitant about it, but I decided it was the right thing to do, to let them know that I thought it was a bit inappropriate. And then what happened really shocked me. The man I spoke to, said, 'why? hasn't your daughter ever seen a penis before? They're naked, it's totally normal for kids to see naked bodies, my kids at home see me naked all time.' To which I said, a naked human is different to a pornographic image, a man naked isn't the same as a man with an erect penis bursting out of his trousers and a suggestive look at the camera" which is an obvious thing to say really. Sexual imagery is different to nudity. To which he said 'no, it's no different it's your issue" so I said, "well I can't communicate with you, clearly, I don't want to argue about it, I will write a letter to the management", I really said all this very calmly, I didn't feel very angry about it, like I say, I thought twice about talking to them about it, I just thought it would be good to have a conversation, to express my concerns. What happened next was really shocking, this man came over to our table after I had walked away from our failed 'conversation' and he handed us the bill, he said, 'I want you to leave right now, I'm paying your bill out of my wages so that you leave right now, you're not welcome here again'. I was gobsmacked. We left the pub, without paying (which was a nice touch) as I left he seemed to need to stick the boot in, he called me over and said ' don't come back doesn't mean come back after 6 months, it means never come back' to which I said, 'don't worry I won't'. Of course I won't, what a deluded strange man. As if we are so short of nice places to have a Sunday roast in London that I'd be so desperate to go back to a place where an aggressive imbecile works. It was a really strange and unnecessary way for him to behave, all he needed to say was sorry and I'd have been happy. I must have hit a nerve. As if porn is no different to a naked body? In that case does he just let his children watch porn films? Is that fine too? It's all dandy is it? Don't think so mate. It's also worth pointing out that he said other people had complained about the images, I wonder if they all got free meals? It might be a good trick if you fancy a meal but are a bit short on funds, just tell them you don't...

Absolutely terrible, terrible food, terrible service and more importantly disgusting treatment by the Manager on duty.

Having eaten in the Hunters previously, we chose to have our family Christmas dinner here but what a mistake for a number of reasons. Despite making our reservation 3 months ago for 20 people we were given two tables that were thrown together and barely sat 12 people let alone 20. Disappointingly there were other tables that had been decorated with the “festive” look and when asked why ours wasn’t we were told they were pre-orders which were not available to us despite when making the reservation we asked if this was needed and was categorically told no - so zero confidence in the knowledge of the staff.

The “Manager” who by any estimations leaves a lot to be desired for and quite frankly is an embarrassment to share a title that he CANNOT fulfil. He was rude, had absolutely no clue on how to deal with disappointed customers and struggled to deal with basic requests. Firstly as a manager you should NEVER tell your customer “all I can do is apologise” because quite simply it is not the case. I had to ask for almost everything. Christmas crackers even cutlery!! And when asked as a way of an apology can we please have a round of drinks for free when I am told yes - I do not expect you to then change your mind and LIE to me. The fact that you took it upon yourself to give us cheap prosecco “on the house” is embarrassing on your behalf especially when no one was drinking it.

This “Manager” when asked for the free drinks then decided to revoke our earlier agreement and retorted “I can’t just give you any free drinks” then why agree a matter of half an hour earlier? The final nail in the coffin was when he walked away, refused to even speak to me and sent someone else over to deal with further mess that HE this time had created. I was not rude but clearly he is incapable of dealing with disappointed customers who have certain expectations. However I cannot complain about the young man who he “sent over” to deal with me. He DID take responsibility as he was at least empathetic and helpful and for him to have to apologise on behalf of his manager is yet another embarrassing moment.

All in all extremely disappointing. We were clearly just numbers and the fact they ruined our Christmas family dinner (which was clearly held early for a reason) they simply didn’t care about and the so called manager ought to be ashamed of himself as I have received better service and friendliness from the cleaners in Primark. With so many other options in Islington I would recommend going else where for large bookings as they clearly cannot get anything right from the outset and have even less clue on what do when it comes to correcting problems they create. More importantly find yourself a worthwhile credible manager who has at least basic customer service as he unfortunately is the very sad humiliating representation...

I've been here previously with friends and had a good experience. However, we came on Sunday evening at around 21 40, seeing the opening hours were listed as open until 23 30. We'd just eaten at The Brave, a newly refurbished "sister pub" site to the Hunter S, and had a great meal. So we wanted another couple of beers before heading home.

The service was pretty disgraceful. As soon as we walked in, it was made clear that we were not wanted in there. The guy behind the bar with the black manbun did not even engage or respond when we said hello as we approached the bar. When I asked if one of the three ales was still on, as the pump clip was a bit askew, he barely acknowledged my question (indeed his colleague, lady with a frizzy slightly longer than Bob cut [who I should mention seemed fine during our time spent there] actually answered for him). We asked for two keg beers; during the transaction we were not spoken to, or even told the price when the card reader was held out. Our "thank you" was not reciprocated by the server or the younger guy with glasses. We sat in the corner of the main section of the pub on the green sofas. Although the pub did empty out (there were between 10 and 15 people when we came in), we just thought this was because most people start work Monday at 9am. 15 minutes later the guy with glasses came over to us and asked if we'd be wanting any more drinks - we had planned to, but the tone suggested they wanted to close up, even if that wasn't explicitly stated to us. When we said we were okay for any more, a few moments later someone then turned the music up so loud that we could barely hear each other speak. The music speaker was immediately above where we were sitting. We could have moved, but really, we shouldn't have had to. So we drank our drinks faster than we usually would have, took our empties back to the bar, and thanked them. Before the door closed behind us, a cheer of "woo hoo" was audible, and within ten seconds of us walking out, the door was bolted. This was at 22 06. I work in the hospitality sector, and I think this entire interaction was appalling. If the business opening times are wrong on Google, then I would suggest rectifying them. If they are correct, then you've lost a repeat customer because some of your staff wanted to close earlier than advertised, and treated two customers contemptuously all because they wanted to be served within the hours of service. The contrast is all the more notable, given the exemplary service we had just receieved at The Brave, which by my understanding is owned by the same...