The King's Head — Restaurant in London

Disappointing experience from a previously respectable Winchmore Hill institution. Unreliable online booking system and poor service.

My sister-in-law had arranged a lunch for 5 adults and 3 children to celebrate my wife’s birthday. My wife and I had frequented the Kings Head from 2018-2020 when we lived locally and we held it in high regard; her sister and family still live around Winchmore Hill and regularly go to the Kings Head, so we were excited to have a birthday lunch there on a beautiful sunny Saturday in May.

The first issue we had was with the online booking; the front-of-house staff member couldn’t find any record of our booking, where we had booked the outside cabins. That particular member of staff was initially dismissive, and we were made to feel like an imposition, so we considered at that point simply leaving and walking over to the Salisbury Arms.

My father in law hadn’t arrived yet, so we took 5 mins to discuss whether we should just cut our losses and go elsewhere; another member of staff called us to say they’d arrange alternative seating outside. Wasn’t what we’d arranged (we needed some shaded areas for some of our party) but we didn’t want too much hassle so we went with it.

The next issue we had was with the food arriving - all the adults received their food first, and there was a 25 mins interval between the adults food and the kids food arriving. The waiter attending us said several times to the kids: “yours is arriving in 2 minutes” so for giggles the kids started timing it every time he said it. Generally not cool to have anyone wait that long where the rest of the table has their food, and that’s especially true when it’s kids. The kids took it with good grace though, and we shared out the adults food so they had something to eat while they waited.

The food was ok. But the service & hospitality really soured the experience.

Remember, this is supposed to be a birthday celebration: I can see my sister in law getting embarrassed about the experience (as she picked the venue), so I went looking to speak to the manager to share some of this as feedback on our experience so far.

I’m still not clear on whether I was actually speaking to a manager: the person who the bartended said was the manager I started speaking to (later on, they said they’re not the manager…), then another person (who given they were wearing a white jacket might have been the head chef?) took over the conversation and gave indication they were in charge / responsible.

There was an almost-reasonable explanation as to what may have gone wrong with the online booking - something about confirmations have emails sent but rejections / unavailable doesn’t send an email, so there’s no way my sister-in-law would know whether the booking is confirmed or not without knowing how their backend works. They also acknowledged that it’s not ideal to have kids at your table wait 25 mins longer than the rest of the diners to get their food. And finally acknowledged that it’s not a great situation when your sister-in-law is embarrassed and apologising to rest of our party on behalf of the Kings Head for such a disappointing experience. So now is a question of confidence and trust, and what impression the proprietor wants us to leave with.

Initially they offered the kids free desserts as compensation (which didn’t happen). I didn’t speak to the staff again, but I understand my father-in-law also felt the need to speak to the manager when the bill came in, and some money was taken off.

I asked my sister-in-law whether she felt satisfied by the outcome. She said she might go back for a drink in the future to test it out, but never for a planned group lunch / dinner or any special occasion.

In retrospect we should have just walked over to the Salisbury Arms when we had the chance. We’d had a family special occasion lunch there before and everything was perfect.

It’s sad, because Kings Head has always been one of my top recommendations for north London pubs - now it’s not one I can recommend, based on...

I hosted my mum’s 50th birthday party at The Kings Head, and while the evening turned out to be a success overall, the experience didn’t get off to the best start. On arrival, we weren’t welcomed or introduced to any staff, which left us feeling a bit lost.

To make matters worse, at the start of the event, Nicola, one of the managers, loudly scolded a young staff member in front of our guests about not icing the Prosecco, which was embarrassing and unprofessional. It created a really uncomfortable atmosphere, and that kind of behaviour should not have been displayed in front of my guests. Additionally, the Prosecco wasn’t on ice 15 minutes before the event started, despite it needing at least 30 minutes to chill.

Before the party, we had agreed that someone would greet the guests and offer them a glass of Prosecco, but unfortunately, no one did this. When I asked Nicola to begin serving, she was visibly agitated and snapped, “give me a chance,” even though guests had already arrived, and no Prosecco had even been poured.

After having asked Nicola about this 20 minutes earlier, it wasn’t done until I had to ask the bartender myself. I then ended up having to hand out the Prosecco myself.

When I asked Nicola about bowls for snacks like nuts and crisps—something I had specifically requested beforehand—she rudely claimed she hadn’t been made aware of the request. Overall, I felt uncomfortable when interacting with her, as if I wasn’t allowed to ask for what should have already been arranged.

Another odd issue arose when we asked for some drinks, and we were told that for certain drinks, we would need to go to the downstairs bar. This felt unnecessary and inconvenient, especially when the event was being hosted in another area of the venue.

The event also felt understaffed; there was only one bartender working. There should’ve been more staff available to handle the event properly, especially with the amount of guests we had.

The bartender, however, was excellent—he was friendly, efficient, and immediately took care of the task of the prosecco, which I appreciated, but it was frustrating that Nicola didn’t follow through with the request.

That being said, the rest of the staff really turned the night around. Manager Ian was fantastic—very professional, approachable, and immediately fulfilled any requests. He was a real asset during the event.

The food was fantastic and loved by all the guests. It was brought out and set up on time and beautifully, and the arancini balls and chicken pies were particularly outstanding. The venue itself was clean, spacious, and provided a good setting for the party.

Despite the issues with Nicola, we had a lovely time and it was a great night overall. I would definitely book again—just hopefully without having to deal...

There's a lot to like about the Kings Head but, unfortunately, not much of it was on display last Saturday night. Living nearby, we've had a number of nice meals at the Kings Head and it's always a very pleasant and convivial space to have a drink or a meal.

On Saturday we were served by a waitress on her first day on duty and she clearly knew very little about the menu and the choices available. Lack of knowledge or not, there were worrying signs about the restaurant's approach. For example one of our group did not want broccoli and asked if she could have cauliflower instead. The waitress said that there was cauliflower cheese on the menu but our friend said she only wanted cauliflower ie without the cheese. The response was that that was not possible. Clearly a restaurant that only has cauliflower ready-submerged in cheese and that is unable to provide un-cheesed cauliflower is one where it seems that there is not much proper cooking going on.

When the food arrived, only three of our four ordered meals were brought to our table. It appears that one of the orders that was taken was left off the list that was given to the kitchen. Again, the way that the restaurant dealt with this matter was very disappointing. They took the three meals back and put them on the counter under the hot lights and said they would bring them over when the fourth meal was cooked. We explained that we didn't want food that had sat under the hot lights for 20 minutes and would prefer that our meal were all cooked together and brought to us at the same time. They said that this couldn't be done and seem to think that their plan was acceptable.

I'm not sure how the whole matter was resolved because one of our party went and had a "full and frank" discussion with the manager. I know an extra bottle of wine was brought to the table at no cost and there may have been further adjustments made to the bill but I didn't see this because our friends kindly paid.

And the food? The food was alright. Nothing special. But the whole evening was disappointing because of the attitude of the restaurant thinking that the mistake of a new member of staff could be dealt with in such a casual and offhand manner.

At the end of the day, the Kings Head charges restaurant prices for what is basically reasonable quality pub food. The sirloin steak is £28 and the cheese board for dessert is over £11. At these prices you expect restaurant quality food and service.

I'd still go to the Kings Head for a drink with mates but at these prices you get a much much better food and restaurant experience at Buckle and Vaughan a...