The Junction — Restaurant in London

The Junction is without question, the best place in Harrow to enjoy food and drinks outside in a friendly and safe environment in the Sun. The beer garden has an authentic artificial grassy lawn feel. The cubicle booths on the left and right sides have effective heaters to keep things toasty even past sunset. The benches are safely and evenly spaced apart in a very pandemic friendly and pleasing to the eye way. The interior facilities, though temporarily out of action during the pandemic, are slick, shiny and feel brand new (they fully refurbished in 2019). The modern revised interior decor shows it's very young age. The staff do an excellent job of making every visit feel as if one walks through a brand new just freshly opened luxurious pub, not the iconic institution that is the Junction.

As far as pub food goes, this is one menu with enough variety and balance that since 2019, I have yet to repeat an order. Before the pandemic, I were discovering a cool new set of pizza toppings or another garnish or patty I could add to my burger. Now, serving an understandably reduced lockdown menu, they still have about four burgers, five pizzas, six starters and all the hot and cold drinks one could ask for.

Lastly, the staff. A motley crew of friendly, familiar faces and effective new crew members who each prove their worth time and again, every instance we return. It'll be our fifth visit since reopening in 2021 this weekend: it shall not be close to our last. Liam, Lee, Shadé, Rosa, Carolina, Kinga, Bess and the rest, under the supervision of Kieran and their manager, Steven, provide the most reliable source of a safe, serene but enjoyable afternoon meal or casual evening out that anyone could hope to find in HA1. Check them out, book a table online and be ready to order from mobile and have that NHS COVID-19 App ready to scan the QR codes.. for your first visit shall not be your last.

Food 5 / 5 Drinks 5 /5 Cleanliness 5/5 Hygiene 5/5 Pandemic protocol 5/5 Ambience 5/5 Family friendly? YES Outdoor heating? YES Hot and cold drinks? YES Service 5/5 Overall... You can...

Unfortunately, the past few times we have visited the Junction we have experienced very poor service, busy or not. The last time we went (on a Tuesday early evening) we waited 15 minutes at the door before anyone came over to acknowledge us while we noticed empty handed employees walk by several times. We had been first in the queue and people had begun standing behind us. We then waited over 40 minutes at our table before anyone even took our drinks order (after we were finally able to wave someone over ourselves after several failed attempts). One table next to us was served twice in the meantime while I waved and called out to catch the employee’s attention who seemed to be avoiding eye contact with ours and other tables. I then tried to order the wholefood bowl and was told they were out, then tried to order the goats cheese salad and was told they were completely out of salad. It then took another half hour for our food to come out (before any drinks) at which time we had to remind the employee about our drinks. We have had similar problems with slow service and employees not acknowledging us without some shouts and waves since they reopened. There is no sense of urgency or apology from the employees and they act as if your order is mostly an inconvenience. I understand the new system of service may be difficult to maneuver, but it’s been months now, and even a simple “sorry for the wait” would...

Edit: After emailing management, the free drink was issued in the form of a £5 voucher, so have given them 4 stars. The layout has definitely improved since my last visit, although the prices have gone up accordingly. The beer garden looks amazing, reminds me of a shisha louge. The order to table app definitely needs improvement, and the staff there still need to improve on the basics of customer service, rather than dodging complaints.

Original: On their website, they advertise a free drink with a main meal if you sign up to their marketing. Upon ordering and following all the procedure on the app, the waiter just avoided our table for the rest of the night. Never again, was given 1 napkin between two of us, one set of cutlery between two of us. I would not have got food, only reason for getting food was the promise of a complimentary drink. After asking twice, the bartender/waiter boy just made excuses, blamed IT systems, instead of just doing the right thing. Not even a free soft drink was offered. Don't fall for their fake voucher. If you can't honour a basic voucher, don't advertise it. As a result of being scammed, they lost out on any further drink orders I...