The Paxton — Restaurant in London

Having moved to the area recently (making The Paxton our new local) we've eaten here twice in the last week. Wednesday's food was very nice despite a few items being unavailable due to us going rather late in the day. Service was friendly and chatty. My fish and chips was huge! Based on this good experience we went back yesterday (Sunday) and unfortunately discovered the service to be very much substandard as mentioned in some other comments.

Another customer and I had a lengthy wait at the bar to get served; eventually I ordered two roast dinners along with drinks.

We were sat a couple of tables from the kitchen pass. After a little while two roast dinners appeared under the lamps, matching our order. Steaming hot gravy was poured ovet them and, after a couple of minutes, a member of kitchen staff rang the bell for service. No one came. A couple of bar staff went into the kitchen and chatted to the kitchen staff. The chef (?) rang the bell again a minute or two later. A member of bar staff came and picked up some chips and took them away. The four meals on the pass (the roasts now joined by burgers) sat and waited. The gravy on the roasts no longer steaming hot. After another couple of minutes the bell went for a third time and the burgers were collected...

At this point my partner lost patience and went to the pass herself and asked if the roasts were for our table. The kitchen staff nodded so she asked to take them herself, which she did as a member of bar staff watched her from inside the kitchen. She also had to go around to the lower bar and collect our own cutlery as that hadn't been brought over either.

Another couple of minutes passed and another burger arrived on the pass. The bell was rung once again and, this time, responded to immediately by two barstaff! One realised we'd served ourselves due to the outstanding order ticket at the pass and someone came to see how we were going on and offer us horseradish sauce (still didn't remember we'd need cutlery) and was quite bluntly turned away - too late to be attentive now!

In fairness to the kitchen the food was delicious. The meat was well cooked, the portion generous and a great Yorkshire pud! Unfortunately the meal was, at best, warm. The veg, served underneath the roast meat, had been shielded from the hot lamps and the wait while it sat at the pass was over 5 minutes. If we'd have had enough patience/faith in the bar staff we'd have sent the food back for not being hot enough.

Lastly, the server did not apologise that we'd had to serve ourselves (the same guy who watched from the kitchen) despite us telling him. He just didn't seem to care!

Tl;Dr - Good food let down by service which was somewhere between careless and non-existent....

Lovely pub and top notch food. Had a rocking Sunday roast if a bit mean on the vege portion for the price. At £17 and still hungry after my one carrot and parsnip, it's a bit overpriced, although delicious. The table service however was the worst I've experienced in a while.

We booked in advance and were seated on kids stools on a wonky little table after waiting 5 minutes for the waitress to 'find us a seat' not a great start. After swapping out our chairs ourselves from the MASSIVE empty table next to us, we decided the lovely table by the window would suit us better as we were cramped trying to enjoy our wine. The waitress tried her best to avoid eye contact at all times until we finally asked if we could move and she told us that table was reserved in about 10 min. So we stayed at our kids table. Well, ten minutes later we noticed a different waitress decided the lovely table we couldn't have was where she would enjoy her break. This really annoyed us as we were uncomfortable.

After dinner, we were brought dessert menus and the waitress vaporised again before we could ask anything of her. She never returned, so we finished our wine at a different table and got dessert elsewhere. We probably won't come back, which is a pity because the pub itself is lovely and the food was great. Oh, also we were slammed £5 pounds for service on the bill, for two people.

I don't understand this new trend at some 'classy' pubs that have half trained staff providing assisted service that is not great to non existent and unpredictable to begin with. Adding a 'discretionary charge' is ok to a large group that took your time and energy, or a particularly needy guest. This waitress said maybe three words to us and was at our table maybe twice. It screams greedy, lazy staff that are using the service charge button on the till to milk guests. If you want a service charge, provide outstanding service, smile and be there when I need you. Decide if you are a pub or a restaurant.

Fix your service and this pub is...

Pros: The Paxton offers a warm and stylish welcome to a mixed crowd from all walks of life. Tasty Sunday roast with lots of choice. Good kids menu with proper food. Huge Yorkshire puddings. Reasonably priced as posh pub lunches go, a treat for all the family. Welcoming environment, kid and dog friendly. Large garden with covered area and heaters, although as it was 12c and drizzly we sat inside. Very well situated for parks/walks. Tables are generously spaced - it's a large building, unlike some of the restaurants on the nearby Triangle where they've tried to fit in to too small a space. Nice decor and overall high standards.. more comfortable and less flashy than nearby Dulwich Wood House.

Cons: Slowish service, I think they were just a bit understaffed for a much busier than usual day (mother's day) and may have had team members down with covid so can't be too harsh on that. Our waitress was hard working and doing her best, but staff seemed a bit overloaded.

Some small details.. applesauce served in throwaway plastic pots gave it a sense of "got it out of a jar". At £16/head for mains, fresh made doesn't seem unreasonable but they're hardly the only place doing that. Portions fair sized but again could be bigger - although if you went for 3 courses you'd definitely be leaving v full. Acoustics - hard, reflective surfaces create an environment that's on the loud side, but that's an issue almost everywhere,...