The Talbot — Restaurant in London

Lovely roast, atmosphere, and service but the toilets need some attention.

I visited the Talbot for a booking at 5:15 on a Sunday in mid September. Understanding that this is late in the day for an early season roast helped to temper any potential disappointment I may have felt at learning that food options were limited at this time. There was no Pork, Chicken, or Lamb available although I was assured by the evidently passionate host that they were due a delivery of Chicken the same afternoon and this was an unforseen circumstance.

I ordered the beef - This was tender and delicious. The carrots, roast potatoes, and Yorkshire puddings which arrived with this were also top class. Good range of pints available - I had 2 Guinness with my meal but other options also available.

The pub and it's staff are warm and welcoming, there are a range of seating areas each with their own different feel and atmosphere. Following my roast I moved from the upstairs dining room to the outdoor terrace for another couple of drinks.

The upstairs dining room had the clamour and feel one would expect from a busy late Sunday afternoon roast dinner service in zone 2. The partially covered outside terrace was lit warmly and had ecclectic decor contrasting with the country pub style interior on the ground floor.

The only note I would make on the Talbot is that the toilets did not match how they should be managed in a pub which was otherwise very high quality all around. Every toilet I went into had overflowing bins and the upstairs toilets lacked hand-drying facilities as there were no hand towels left and no hand dryers.

They had also mopped the stairs during a busy Sunday roast service - these were already quite steep and potentially dangerous for those who may struggle with stairs. There could well have been a vaild reason for this but it seemed a bit confusing to me without...

Such a lovely place for a Sunday roast! The atmosphere is lively and full of locals but still laid back and very chill. We booked to sit outside the day before but next time we’ll book further in advance so we can sit under the covered area which looked cosier and had pretty lights.

Service was warm and smiley, though slightly slower towards the end as they got much busier which was totally understandable. (You probably do need to book in advance for a Sunday roast to avoid disappointment!)

As for the food we came mainly for the Sunday roast but wanted to try the pigs head croquettes which sounded interesting - the outside had a crispy light breading and the filling was porky, fatty, slightly gelatinous, melt in your mouth and went really well with the chilli jam. They also kindly gave us some sourdough with whipped butter to try, and this was also really good! The butter was light and creamy and had flakes of sea salt in it and the bread was soft and crusty.

Onto the main event, we had the beef roast and the cured pork chop - the beef was tender and seasoned nicely however I wish it was a bit pinker, and the pork chop was massive but a little too salty. The roast potatoes were crispy and we liked all of the other vegetables too which were all cooked well. One of the best yorkies we’ve tried as well, light and crispy but still fluffy. Gravy was good but wished there was a bit more!

Nice to come here if you want to treat yourself to an elevated pub lunch or Sunday roast. Expect...

We had to wait at least 30-45 mins before our food was served but that wasn’t even the worst part of the experience. We had an unpleasant encounter with one of the servers. The place was incredibly busy so I walked up to the till to order some extra tacos and a drink from this server (tall lady). The tacos were then served to us by another waitress (young lady), no problem. I then reminded her that I ordered a drink and just following it up. The young lady came back with two drinks and we politely said we ordered just one. She took the other drink back. Then the other server (tall lady) brought us a third drink and I said we ordered just one. This server was quite rude to me and was talking down on me like I’m stupid and didn’t know how to order. To diffuse the situation, we just offered to take the extra drink. Despite that, the server was quite adamant to get her last word in, saying if I ordered the drink from two people, then it will show up twice in the till. She then winked at me. Very condescending and disrespectful. No apologies, no thank yous. She was talking to me in a quite demeaning tone which spoiled our mood. (We were celebrating a birthday). There was clearly a miscommunication within their staff which wasn't acknowledged at all. It’s a shame because the food was good. But that was a very unpleasant experience and I may not come back anymore...