The Prince Arthur — Restaurant in London

Recently had the worst experience I have had in YEARS at this pub. The waitress seemed to dislike us from the off, not sure if she was having a bad day, but she was cold and rude to us from the start before we had really had a chance to interact at all, just very abrupt when taking our order. We ordered a duck roast which was the only option left on the menu (£31 each), which when it arrived was undercooked and the portions very small. We asked for extra gravy and got told that it is 'very expensive gravy' so we would have to pay extra, which we accepted. When we politely fed back our dissatisfaction with the food quality and portion size to the waitress she responded with rolled eyes, frustration and then condescended us further by explaining that the cut of meat was also 'very expensive' so perhaps we did not understand. We had paid £31 each so obviously understood we were supposed to receive a quality and well cooked meal, which we did not. They offered us a side dish as a way of compensation and when offered our choice she highlighted again, for a third time, that the dish was 'very expensive', so that we better be prepared for the size. It was late in the day and the kitchen was clearly running out of ingredients, so the disappointment with the food was not the main point of contention, if they had handled it in a polite and apologetic manner I would 100% not be writing this review. However the attitude we were given was so beyond the pale my friend and I were pretty taken aback. My friend and I decided to write to the pub to feedback our experience. The response we got from management was just as appalling. They offered to refund us, but they chose to highlight that, the report of the interaction from their staff member in question differed from ours (surprise surprise), and that they do not believe that 'events align', which completely invalidates our experience as customers, and almost seems like they are accusing us of lieing. The management also stated in their message that they had reviewed the CCTV which 'cannot conclusively say that events align'. I am unsure why CCTV would be a useful medium with which to confirm a verbal conversation?! Totally disgusted by my experience here, and how it was handled. It is very out of character for me to take the trouble to leave a review but this whole interaction appalled me and showed me that they have absolutely no respect for their customers so I would think twice about making...

🚇 Dalston Junction 🍺 £6.10 Red Star Lager

The Prince Arthur is located in a quiet residential area in the backstreets of Dalston. The nearest station is Dalston Junction.

This visit was a nostalgic family occasion with my Brother and Sister. Just around the corner from here is 46 Lansdowne Drive, this was once The Marion Arms which our parents ran back in the 1970’s. Sadly it closed its doors in 1994.

This end of terrace Victorian pub was built in 1861. The pub is named after Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, he was Queen Victoria’s third Son. For a period of time in the 1980’s, the pub was called The Lady Diana. At the time, the pub was owned by an ex-copper who changed the name to please his wife who absolutely loved Lady Di. They eventually fell out and got divorced, the Landlord subsequently changed the name back to The Prince Arthur.

This is a traditionally decorated one bar pub that has a homely intimate feel. The servery is centrally located and has a beautiful back bar with vintage signage at the top. The bar area is narrow in places which kind of integrates you into the pub with the locals. The decor consists of a boarded floor, decorative tables with a mixture of stools, and historical paintings and prints of Prince Arthur.

The beer line up offers a nice selection of local London keg brews including a few from Walthamstow brewers @prettydecentbc . I decided on a Tiny Dancer Red Star Lager, my pint hit the spot, price point was average. Food wise, it’s restaurant quality seasonal Gastro fayre, the Sunday roasts receive rave reviews.

We arrived at 2pm on overcast Saturday afternoon in February. The pub was fairly busy with a local crowd in attendance. The atmosphere was laidback with a lovely neighbourly ambiance. The service was first class, I had a great chat with the Guv’nor and the staff were courteous, friendly and personable.

The @princearthure8 offers a fantastic local pub experience, we had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. This pub is a must visit if you’re in the area.

📅 8th February 2025

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Amended - 25/07/23! Came back for a meal on the house - much appreciated! The roasts were no longer on a small plates system which we found so much better. Food was delicious - went for the smoked chicken this time round and it was great. Left feeling full and happy. We also ordered the peach crumble which was delicious and a really decent portion size. Service was really good and they even threw in another dessert on the house that we hadn't ordered. Definitely a much better experience this time round and glad to see the small plates system is no more!

Original review: Came for a Sunday roast and booked a table for 8 people. We were aware that their roasts menu had changed to a 'small plates' system for the summer, which we weren't too happy about, but we were intrigued to see how this could possibly work.

When we arrived we ordered and were told that the carrots (priced at £12) were a sharing portion, so we ordered 1x plate of carrots as well as 2x plates of potatoes and 1x plate of broccoli between four people, and our own meats each. However when the plates started to arrive, we received one carrot cut in half... We were then later told that the kitchen was running low on carrots, but we felt that this really should have been communicated to us before ordering.

Having said that, the roast beef was really tasty, I would definitely recommend ordering it. The dessert was a peach crumble (£9) which sounded delicious, however I didn't order it as I feared it would be absolutely tiny.. There weren't really very many options on the menu in general, and it just felt like a lot of money, for not very much food.

The staff were nice and removed the carrots from the bill, and they had given us some delicious pork crackling while we waited for our food. But considering the potatoes and yorkshire puddings were burnt to a crisp, on top of the carrot disappointment, we all just left feeling really dissatisfied with the visit.

The small plates system does not work, and the food was extremely overpriced for what you get. I'm not sure I would consider going back...