The Maid Of Muswell — Restaurant in London

A large group (25) of us attended after a funeral in August,we arrived just before 7pm, the 2 staff behind the bar clearly did not want us there. Very slow and reluctant to serve.

This was very visible to me as I am an assistant manager in a local pub to here so staff attitudes were noticable ..

In response to your abrupt reply.... We had come to your place from the golf course, very civilised older generation.. staff clearly didn't want to serve at all... when we arrived there were only a few customers out the front sitting noone was inside... So it wasn't to do with unexpected large group and possibly more to do with just not wanting to work on a Friday evening. Perhaps teach staff customer service with a smile even if it's fake! Remember body language speaks a thousand words! We didn't sit in reserved sitting/ weren't impatient or rude to anybody in any way... your establishment was empty inside so this group of older people sat at the table that was free and tables were unmarked.

And it doesn't matter how late I've left a review, as I did ask bar staff if the manager was around to which was not available! Seeing that there is lies in reply, shows alot for your managerial skills which reflects of your staffs attitude to service.. INCOMPETENT!! So yes service is a 1☆ Perhaps yourself might need training in some communication skills for your very abrupt reply! In this industry nowadays you need to be greatful for customers, unfortunately your premises weren't greatful for our custom which showed on your staffs face and body language...

I’m excited to see the Maid is getting a renovation! It’s a lovely pub with a good atmosphere and really friendly staff.

I wrote a review about 2 years ago and said the food can be a bit hit and miss, and nothing has changed, except the prices which seem to go up to silly gastro pub levels. And all of us locals are clever enough to know that a lot of the things are pre-made and go in the combi-microwave oven.

So what I’d really like to see with the relaunch:

Some more consistent and traditional good Pub food at more reasonable prices (I know we’re a wealthy area...but we don’t like getting ripped off and some of us aren’t actually that rich, so balance your demographic data with actual feedback). Especially now there’s a really nice restaurant open almost opposite which wasn’t there before, where locals will go if they can’t be bothered to go further a field. There’s also some better choices in Muswell Hill now that might make the walk up the hill more enticing for us!

A wine list you can count on...your Merlot is just ok, and the Malbec is nice but not the nicest. And I think the Sauv Blanc is the only drinkable white right at the top of the by the glass price list. I know some of this is to do with taste, but my neighbours and I do all agree that there’s not really one that we find really quaffable.

That you get rid of those really weird bits of scaffolding that someone thought was trendy in the last refit.

Hope that’s helpful feedback for...

Decent pub grub usually and have had some nice nights here just drinking before when they had live music on a Fri/Sat night a while ago before Covid-19.

Tonight we went for dinner and, for a start, the service wasn't great aside from one thoughtful waitress who thought to offer my dog some water. What annoyed me most was that I was asked 4 times whether I had finished my dinner, 2 of those times I was actively still chewing and still had knife and fork in hand! Also the waitress seemed to struggle with the concept of veganism being different to vegetarianism which was a little worrying and frustrating to have to explain. My vegan dish sounded much better than it was. Unfortunately mine was pretty dry and just a bit boring lacking in flavour. I wish I had got the risotto again! It was lovely last time!

My friend ordered the pork belly which was fine other than that it came with an actual apple pie. I'm familiar with the pairing of pork and apple but this was an actual apple pie with a sweet apple filling. My friend found this pretty odd and it just didn't work.

Our vegan biscoff cheesecake was lovely but it was a really big chunk and the strawberry sauce over it didn't really work for me as a combination.

All things considered I'd probably have to give it a...