The Red Lion, Parliament Street — Restaurant in London

To be clear this should have easily been a 4+ star review but owing to some spectacularly bad behaviour from a gent who appears to be the manager/owner of the Red Lion restaurant on the 1st floor, this review drops down significantly.

For background we were a party of 9 members of local Londoners and visiting Indian family and friends including mostly older aunties and uncles looking forward to a first time in London.

Once seated the gentleman running the restaurant told my sister (who just picked up a call from our dad) that she wasn’t to use her phone. Confused she said she didn’t understand why or see a sign to which he replied ‘I am the sign. I am telling you that you can’t’. Deliver rationales on restaurant policy like you are a pound shop Clint Eastwood. Check.

Apparently the reasoning was something about not wanting journalists/politicians (we were neither) taking calls in the pub and making people feel uncomfortable. Regardless from there our man went from strength to strength.

When my mum said she had an egg allergy he refused to take the order until we had manually gone through the Red Lion online menu to confirm to him we were ok with the allergen risks. No suggestions of what might be good egg free options. It’s one thing to make sure you are compliant with health and safety requirements and another to make your customers feel like they work for you.

We ordered two different burgers. When one of the arrived and I asked the waitress (a lovely lady called Mary who was very helpful during our meal) if it was mine, he intervened unexpectedly and made a show of reprimanding the waitress who was serving us saying that she was giving me the wrong burger. She hadn’t had time to respond to my query nor was there anything in her approach that merited that approach.

The gent in question then proceeded to miss two drinks which he had taken the orders on and only got them one at a time after being prompted. At this stage he seemed to clocking on to the fact that some of us were getting annoyed and gave us a small serving of some ‘Real English Ale’ for us to try as a peace offering. This was a single finger measure of what tasted like lukewarm John Smiths as far as we could tell. Great bait and switch for the tourists sir.

As a finale, a request to split the bill between two of the customers seemed to annoy him unduly leaving in a huff to ‘reset the machine’.

The sad part is the food was quite good, the location and pub setting was very nice and the rest of the staff were very friendly. Thanks to a marvellous solo performance by this gent all of us local Londoners agreed that this was the least friendly pub experience we had ever had. Sincerely hope that the gentleman in question reads this.

You have a great setting, lovely staff and great food. Please stop squandering a winning hand and treat your customers and employees like you actually want them around.

Sincerely, the...

I would never normally post a negative review unless something extreme happened! I would like to make people aware of the treatment of customers at this pub as I have never experienced such rudeness and public humiliation as I did here last night. Do NOT book here on google. There is no drinks option and they only do dining bookings (but this isn’t stated anywhere) I was concerned this might be the case so did an early booking and wrote ‘drinks booking’ very clearly in the requirements box to ensure we weren’t taking up any space. We arrived and it was so busy in the pub area so we were directed upstairs to dining where it was not busy at all. People were having leisurely drinks and some dining tables were finishing up an early dinner. When the other half of our party arrived 5 mins later, the waiter aggressively approached them and told them they couldn’t sit down at our table, completely unprovoked. We were all quite shocked by this but carried on with our evening. Despite the emptiness, we eventually got served after 30 mins and when our order was being taken, the waiter very rudely told us we’d booked dining so had to order food. We had ordered a small plate so had not gone as far as to not order food, and I calmly and politely explained how I had booked for drinks through google. He said aggressively we had to leave immediately and this was fine, we all calmly got up to go but he wouldn’t let me leave as he marched me over to the computer and forced me to look at my booking, shouting at me infront of the whole restaurant. I have never felt so humiliated and belittled in my life and I don’t believe this would have happened if I had not been a petite female. I left the pub in tears and would just urge people to approach with caution as unless you are eating a 3 course meal, they will belittle you as many other reviewers have...

I visited this establishment two weeks ago and was served by the lady who I believe was the manager. She was polite, full of smiles and an excellent landlady.

My previous experience was so good that I returned tonight with my girlfriend, so that she could also sample the unusual items on the menu and enjoy the hospitality of the pub.

Unfortunately from the moment I walked in, the gentleman who was at the door was rude and made us feel unwelcome.

Since childhood i have always brushed my hands prior to consuming food (crisps) or drinking. On this occasion, when I went to the bathrooms to wash my hands, I was followed and questioned very rudely as to my intentions by the doorman.

I was forced to explain to him that it is hygienic to wash one's hands prior to eating, and it is especially prudence to do so these days because of the existence of COVID.

Later on in the evening I asked one of the bar staff whether the manager who I had met two weeks before was present, so that I could explain the situation to her? Unfortunately, the gentleman told me that the manager was not on site and he refused to provide me with her name and contact details.

Finally, later on in the evening one of the bar staff (the older of the two gentlemen with square glasses) approached me and told me that I am a troublemaker, which I took to mean that i should leave the premises.

I am 54 years old am I have never been asked to leave a pub. I felt so unwelcomed that I had no choice but to leave.

The whole experience left a bitter taste in my mouth (sorry for the pun), and I will not be returning here.

Not recommended at all, as basic hygiene seems to be against the policy of the establishment and in the absence of the landlady, the staff treat the patrons...