The Pineapple — Restaurant in London

I visited the famous Pineapple on Saturday night for a private party of a good friend. I took along my 12 year old son, as my friend is his favourite person in the world, and he had made her a card, bought her a present and was very excited to be invited. As my son and I crossed the threshold of this busy pub, a young barmaid called out in front of everyone present that we were not allowed in, as my son was too young. I explained that my son was 12, she said, 'Doesn't matter. Over 18's only'. I then explained we were here for the private birthday party, and she told us that we could deliver the present and then would need to leave. I told her I am a single parent and that I am not able to leave my son home alone, to which she replied, "That's not my problem'. My son and I, completely humiliated in front of an entire pub, wandered to the rear private room, where my son gave his card and present and we left, watched by some of the younger members of staff. Once outside, my son promptly burst into flood of tears, not only at having had his night ruined, but also by the total humiliating experience. Another member of staff came out to have a look, which I thought was particularly weird. Whatever the policy of a pub regarding age restrictions (and these vary wildly in North London), unfriendly and downright mean behaviour towards a child is entirely unnecessary. I will not be visiting the Pineapple again (though no doubt the bar staff will not care either way) and sincerely hope that the young woman who told me it wasn't her problem, is never a single parent herself facing...

This place is a joke - don't bother going after 9:00. We booked a table for New Year's Eve. When we arrived they'd obviously way overbooked and there weren't nearly enough chairs. Despite having booked a table, there's no table service, you still have to go downstairs to order drinks and food.

Despite the sweltering heat and window-steaming sweat produced by 200 drunken bodies, under no circumstances may a window be opened after 9:00. And so begins the obsession with "noise pollution". After 11:00, everyone gets shunted in from the admittedly really nice back garden and where the noise pollution ends the perspiration pollution begins.

Why, you may ask, can you be outside until 11:00 but not have windows open after 9:00? That's one for the ages. And whether Victorian single-pane windows actually stop any sound from escaping in the first place? Well...

You can go outside to smoke a cigarette, but no drinks! And while you're out there, there, there's a member of staff on "shoosh patrol" to make sure you no one is capable of having a conversation unless you're whispering directly into the ear of the person next to you. Plus, they broke up a couple making out because they were too close to the neigbour's door, which seemed a bit unnecessary.

And all this on New Year's Eve! New Year's Eve,...

A very big and traditional pub with outside seating in the front and a large garden at the back with seating plus a conservatory On visiting the ladies I found just one cubicle and that was off a corridor, so in the height of summer us poor ladies would be queuing for ages. On getting our first drink we sat and looked at the menu. We wanted Thai, that was the reason for going, we ordered food with our second drink and was offered an alternative rice, I opted for steamed but my partner wanted coconut, when dishes came out, no coconut rice, just steamed. Although they were going to take his dish away but he refused because the plates were cold and his food would have got colder. The staff seemed very bored.. we got a third drink of the same and she over charged us by £4. Plus our table had been reserved but not until 5 pm, this was lunch time but no explanation no engagement, she just plonked the reserved sign on the table and left it to us to work it out. For a traditional pub i would go again, think all it needs is the bar staff to try harder and not let the pub down. The food was over priced compared to the Churchill Arms, served on cold plates, not enough sauce, and the salad was just there to make up the large gap...