The Phene — Restaurant in London

I have been a customer of The Phene for over 20 years. Pre Covid, I’ve attended several private dinners, I’ve come to eat at lunch and dinner times, drinks… for years. The food quality was always good. But very sadly after Covid, everything has changed!! On Monday 21st of June I went for dinner with my friend; 1st time since Covid. We ordered a bottle of red wine, a Camembert to share as starter, he ordered the fish and chips and I ordered Sea bass with prawns and potatoe cakes. The £17 Camembert arrived cold and hard on the inside and not melting as it should be. the chips from the fish and the very very few chips were totally over cooked and cold!, hidden under the fish. The sea bass had a pretty strong fishy smell (which already indicates that the fish is not fresh!) perhaps it was frozen before. My whole plate was very very oily and instead of using fresh garlic, it was overpowered by powder garlic. A few hours later, during the night, I started feeling absolutely horrific. Sweats, colds, shivers and terrible vomiting until 5pm the next day!! I have never suffered of food poisoning this badly ever. The thought of the sea bass and the prawn cake, made me feel absolutely vile. As I’ve managed restaurants and own a restaurant, I am pretty aware of quality of food served on the plate. I am very sad to have to write a public review about this, but sadly I emailed the Phene privately explaining my food poisoning, and to my surprise nothing has been done, to sort out this issue. The very minimum one would expect is at the very least a refund for my vile food. I’ve clearly been ignored, put aside and absolutely nothing has been done. It is very sad to see that the manager has no interest in making sure all customers leave satisfied. The very least they could have done is to give me a call and invite me to either go back for a complementary dinner, or reimburse me that meal. Now, I will never come back, all my friends have been warned about the very poor quality of food, and clearly now I also see, terrible management! Well done, you have been black listed by us and all our Chelsea...

My friends and I decided to visit The Phene Saturday evening for a quick drink. We have been coming to Chelsea for years.

Now, what walk in pub says to you, you cannot come in as they are fully booked when actually people are standing at the bar and there is space at the walk in tables? I was very baffled by the this, a point mentioned to nearby wine bars that were also baffled.

In pubs everyone stands, as far as I am aware. Unless you put a sign up outside stating you are at capacity.

The waiter looked at us in such a way which to be honest I have never had to feel before. It was like we were being vetted to enter. I was honestly not impressed. I put it down to one thing ‘we didn’t look the part’ even though we were very smartly dressed and those in the pub were in sweatshirts, jeans and trainers.

We are also of very professional backgrounds so I really couldn’t comprehend why. We were exceptionally polite.

Apologies I have to say this but I put it down to discrimination.

We are of Asian, African and Russian origin. This is what I put it down to. Our IQs are very likely to be much higher than those actually in the pub. Again I did not make a scene as I knew we were ‘vetted’, never in my life have I experienced this.

I would not recommend the pub on any level and looking at the reviews I think we were actually quite fortunate and the waiter did us a favour. I wouldn’t even give one star but I had to for this review…..

I would recommend the either pubs/ wine bars on Kings Road slightly more sophisticated and very welcoming.

Post review comments from the owner, thank you for coming back to me so promptly. Perhaps the waiter should then educate customers exactly what the situation is at that time. It was not busy in the garden nor inside but this is our personal visual opinion.

I still would not advocate attendance. Plenty of other places to...

🚇 South Kensington 🍺 £6.60 Amstel

Tucked away in a leafy side street just a short walk from the King’s Road, you’ll find The Phene pub. The nearest Tube is South Ken, it’s a ten minute walk to get here.

This pub was built in 1853 and was designed by and named after the architect and local character John Samuel Phene. George Best used to be a regular here, The Daily Telegraph called it “George Best’s second home".

This is a stylish multi room Gastropub which has five separate areas. The main bar area is bright and airy with contemporary comfortable feel. The servery is located on the right, at the back of the main bar is cosy dining area with eclectic prints on the walls. On the first floor is a spacious room for hire which has a small bar. On the top floor is the snug Club Room which is an intimate setting. To left of the pub is a good size leafy beer garden.

There is a decent choice of mainstream beers available plus once cask ale. I decided on a pint of Amstel, my pint was ok, price point was above average. The food menu consists of restaurant quality seasonal dishes which will appeal to the gastronomes amongst you. On Sundays Roasts take centre stage, most Roast options are around £20.

I visited around 4pm on a mild March afternoon for an afterwork pint. There were a few punters in the beer garden and the main bar was relaxed and chilled. I had a nice chat with the Guv’nor who was kind enough to give me a tour and tell me about the history of the pub, top fella.

The Phene, pronounced ‘Feenay’ is a plush Gastro that reflects the area it resides in. This pub will appeal to foodies that prefer the relaxed feel of a pub setting rather than a restaurant, If you just fancy a drink, you are still catered for. All said, this is a beautiful Victorian pub.

ℹ️ Info correct on...