The Rose — Restaurant in London

I recently hosted a birthday event at The Rose pub, and unfortunately, the experience was far from what I expected. I had booked the garden area more than two weeks in advance for a group of 25 people. Initially, the online communication was helpful, but things took a turn when I inquired about our table arrangements. The manager informed me that they couldn't allocate specific seats due to other bookings but assured me that "you will have enough tables for everyone and enough space to stand and mingle."

However, when we arrived, the tables were not prepared, and there were already people seated everywhere. For a group of 20 people who arrived, we were given one table that could hardly seat six people. This was just the beginning of a series of disappointments. When I raised the concerns, we were given three separate tables in different parts of the garden, making it challenging to bring them closer together. Not sure how all my guests were supposed to "mingle" in that aisle. This was particularly disappointing as I had paid a deposit and clearly stated this was a birthday celebration. To add to the frustration, a large table that could have accommodated all my guests was occupied by just three people. When I inquired about the possibility of moving them, I was told they had their own event, which made the allocation seem poorly managed.

Eventually, we moved to the large table when it became available, but the issues did not stop there. A waiter mistakenly brought us a check for food we did not order, and even after explaining this to the manager, it seemed the situation was poorly handled. However, to be fair, the manager did apologise for the confusion afterward.

The most upsetting part of the evening came later. After moving inside when the garden area closed, my guests and I placed all the birthday presents, along with a few backpacks and a shopper, on a seat near a window close to the entrance while we ordered our last drinks. I was keeping an eye on the gifts, as they were only about a meter away from me. Within a few minutes, to our shock, all of the gifts were stolen. I strongly suspect that the group of people celebrating nearby took them, as this was confirmed by a witness, and the theft occurred within a very short timeframe. While I cannot directly blame the pub and managers for this, I was surprised to learn from the manager that there were no CCTV cameras covering the area. The manager's response, stating it was not their responsibility to provide security, was equally troubling.

While I understand that pubs in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham may not be required to have CCTV, the lack of it in this particular venue is concerning, especially given its location and late operating hours. This pub is situated near a road frequented by buses carrying football fans to Stamford Bridge and operates until 12 AM on Saturdays, making the absence of CCTV even more perplexing. I also do not understand how they could not have at least a camera watching the till.

Overall, this experience left me feeling frustrated and let down by what should have been a special celebration. The combination of poor planning and allocation of seats, miscommunication, and the lack of basic security measures made it quite difficult to...

If I could give zero stars I would. The manager's disrespect to me and my colleagues was astonishing to the point where you question if it's reality. My office rented out the terrace space for a company gathering. Everything was ok (despite a bar staff looking like they were working at a funeral parlour) I later moved seats from the terrace to inside. Before long I noticed the terrace had been locked and my personal items from outside missing. (all my team's items except mine were in a shapeless pile inside) I asked the manager if I could out to the terrace to look for my belongings and he said aggressively "there is nothing out there, everything has been brought inside by my staff" I replied if everything is here, I wouldn't be asking where my things are. He denied me access to the terrace while he looked outside for all of 10 seconds where he then dismissed me and walked away. I eventually found the staff member who cleared the terrace and while asking her the manager rushed over answering every question I had before she could speak, completely disrespecting the both of us. She also did not know where they were, to which the manager said to me "can you stop wasting my time and let my staff get back to work!?" - and left again. As the manager of the establishment he is responsible for ensuring the security of our possessions if he closed the terrace without telling anyone and asked HIS staff to bring them inside. When my team finally noticed my distress they asked me what had happened; as I discretely pointed to the manger he noticed and stormed over from the other side of the bar yelling to my team that I didn't know what I was talking about and I had lied about the previous events. Disgusted, I left shortly after; never finding my possessions. It's appalling to be treated this way as a party that rented out this space for an event evening. Dismissing and denying my concerns; the manager's unprofessionalism and shear aggression towards us and his OWN employees undoubtedly tarnishes the entire establishment's reputation. This rose is quite thorny, keep an eye on your things if you go here, they may go missing without warning. Hope this...

We have just had sublime (and I don’t use that word often) food at The Rose pub in Fulham. If only all restaurant meals were THIS good…please!

The new owners took over in July 2012. It’s not a beautiful looking pub from the outside but it’s been nicely, understatedly and comfortably refurbished on the inside. Somehow, the lack of showiness made the discovery of the amazing food and drink experience all the more delightful.

Their talented chef, Mr Calver, really knows what he’s doing with the flavours and textures. It’s all made in house and it shows. I’m pleased to see the food is locally sourced where ever possible and only British meat is used. All of that signalled a good starting point.

We started with a taste laden portobello mushroom, roasted red pepper & halloumi burger, chips. And I had the tiger prawn linguini with chilli squid, coriander & lime which was the best tasting seafood pasta I have had in decades.

Followed by the chocolate brownie and ice-cream and the cheesecake with rhubarb coulis which I could quite happily eat all over again even though I’m not normally into desserts, but with such a fabulous chef we would have been fools not to try dessert.

The service was speedy, charming and attentive. We expressed our compliments to the waitress and the manager came over to chat, which gives that personal touch that customers love so much.

If the food stays this good we will be back many times. This is a destination pub, worth a detour. Based on our experience today, it even merits a...