The Wilmington — Restaurant in London

I really really wanted to like this place, it has received a good number of decent reviews, and a couple of not so good ones too. But I decided to see for myself. As we are only visiting London for a couple of days we only had Sunday lunch free, and it was mother's Day. So I booked a table via the online service and that worked well , we arrived a little early but this didn't faze the staff and we were shown to our table. And this is where things started to go downhill, there was only a set 2 or 3 course menu with the 2 courses priced at £29 a head and 3 courses at £39 each. I am not a fan of set menus as your choice is severely limited and this was the case today. If you're a fan of a Sunday roast then you are ok but if you are not then you're gonna be stuck like I was. So we ordered our food my wife ordered her usual roast dinner favourite of Lamb, and I went for the roast chicken. We still at this point hadn't been asked for drinks order ! And they fussed over my wife and offered her a free glass of prosecco, and completely ignored me ! I had to ask another member of staff to order my own drink. The food arrived as it looked pretty good ( looks can be deceiving tho ) but for the love of god why do chefs insist on piling food up to make it look like the leaning tower of food ??? It baffles me it really does. My wife said her lamb was nice and was enjoying her food. However my own experience was completely different I had barely warm veggies roast potatoes that looked like they had never seen an oven and looked more like mini igloos on my plate and THE driest and holy hell THE blandest tasting chicken I've ever had in my life. Now as a northerner I love my gravy and today what I had on my plate was no way in any shape or form classed as a gravy. The only thing that had any remotely having any flavour and taste was the solitary Pig in a blanket sausage. Upon seeing my plate still full of food and pushed to one side to be fair the server did ask if everything was ok, I replied not and the manger came over and kindly offered to bring me a new dish of my choice, however when I've sent food back I never ever have a new dish as my confidence in the kitchen has gone. I was super impressed with the Manager as she did take my food off the bill and gave me my drink for free. I did pay in full for my wife's food, however the final nail in the coffin was the server saying she had waived the 10% service charge !!! 🤣 Like I was going to give a tip after being served terrible food !! Not a place we would ever visit again which is a shame because it is a lovely pub inside and has a really...

We came here as a party of four to celebrate my Dad’s retirement on a trip to London. The atmosphere and decor was superb, with an excellent menu. The service was attentive and informative and they had put out a bottle of Prosecco on ice for when we arrived, as requested, which was lovely.

Unfortunately however, my Dad ordered whole roasted Gurnard from the menu and was brought out mackerel instead. When our server came to ask how everything was, she assumed all was okay and left to serve another table before we could actually respond. Not wanting to cause a fuss, my Dad ate the mackerel anyway, which he said was tasty and well cooked, but nevertheless it’s a completely different fish to what he ordered. When our server returned he pointed this out and she apologised, later explaining that the chef had changed the fish today and not told any service staff. That’s fine, except that mackerel is a cheaper fish than gurnard, it’s not like-for-like, and shouldn’t have been priced the same. We weren’t offered any reduction in the bill, or even a free drink/desert etc by way of compensation, nor much of an apology or acknowledgement of the error.

A 12% service charge is included in the bill, which I was a bit reluctant to pay, since I felt that I had been overcharged for a dish that was incorrect - but it felt too rude to have to ask to withdraw it from the bill - so in the end I paid it in full. I don’t like this system because it puts pressure on the customer to pay the predetermined tip, even at times when they might feel it’s inappropriate.

Aside from this fishy issue, the service was great, the food was delicious and the prices were reasonable… I just felt disappointed that my Dad didn’t get what he ordered and wasn’t compensated for it. We aren’t the kind of people to kick up a fuss and make demands, but I feel like this could have been respected and...

Wow! What an amazing roast dinner. I’ll be thinking about that cauliflower cheese for the next couple of weeks, hoping it’ll be waiting for me under the Christmas tree!

First off, the service was super friendly. There was a bit of a wait for our roast, but that was to be expected as we’d ordered a starter, and it was a busy Sunday at 2pm. I had the trout to start—it was incredibly fresh, and the crispy potato and jammy egg provided the perfect contrast. Absolutely delicious! I’ll definitely have to try the Scotch egg next time (sadly, they’d run out).

Then came the roast. I had the beef, as did four others in our group, while another friend had the turkey. As you can see from the pictures, everything was polished off. The beef was tender, flavourful, and hearty. The roast potatoes were crispy and fluffy, although they could have done with a touch more flavour (perhaps some herbs next time?). The veg was fresh, the Yorkshire pudding was spot on, and the gravy tied everything together perfectly. I’d rate it a solid 9.5/10—just a couple of tweaks, like more flavourful roast potatoes and having gravy served over the Yorkshire (or extra gravy on the side), and it’d be a 10. That said, it’s right up there with the likes of a Blacklock roast.

We rounded it off with the sticky toffee pudding, which was absolutely spot on—warm, soft, and fluffy, paired perfectly with the super-cold ice cream.

All in all, very impressed. I’ll definitely be coming back and recommending this place to others. The atmosphere inside was wonderfully cosy—warm, with a modern yet classic London pub vibe—and the plates were beautiful, adding a lovely touch. Just make sure to book in advance (we were a group of five and booked around 3–4 weeks...