Williams Ale & Cider House — Restaurant in London

Update February 2023: Revisited this pub at a later hour during my next visit. This time, I was not so happy: The girl behind the bar knew nothing about the beers, wasn't terribly friendly either, and two of the four cask ales weren't available. Pity, my first impression had been so positive. So that's minus 1 star from last time.

Original review: Spent a very pleasant two hours there on the trip home to Germany. With only 3 hours until having to leave for Stansted Airport, I didn't have the energy to face the push and shove in the heart of London, so I stayed in the area around Liverpool Street Station. There's plenty of pubs close to the station, but they're mostly conventional chained pubs and extremely busy (Nicholson's, you get the picture). This place is different: A great selection of real ale cask and keg beers, plus a nice, agreeably small menu. Of course the prices are elevated, but okay for London. The barman was knowledgeable and friendly, the decor is very pleasant, and above all: for the area, it was very quiet on a lazy Sunday afternoon (the pub is located in a small side street, very close to the station). Had three different pints, and a small dish, the grilled chorizo, which had a nice, slightly vinegary apple cider sauce. A-okay for UKP 7. I'm happy to have found this friendly, stylish place, and will go again when in the area. Highly...

Not a great experience here for my mum’s birthday unfortunately. Firstly when we came into the pub we were seated in the very dark back corner despite the place being empty and noticed that there was a horrible damp smell. We asked to move to the front of the pub where the smell was a bit better and this was fine. Sadly the pub had little to no atmosphere and despite us mentioning that we were celebrating a birthday when booking, nothing was said or done by staff to mark the occasion. The food was also very disappointing - one of our meals was forgotten and arrived when everyone else had finished (though the waitress did offer a free drink to apologise) and the quality of most of our meals was lacking. Despite their extensive pie menu and all pies being served with mash, there was no gravy available to order at all, the only response being ‘you won’t need it’ (we definitely did for such a dry meal!). One of the pies was supposed to be ‘chicken and spicy sausage’ but it was actually chicken and mushroom and two of our party were left hungry as the seabass was said to be the ‘worst ever tasted’ with hardly any actual fish on the bone and the goats cheese salad was bitter and flavourless. Sadly we skipped extra drinks and desserts and left to try and find somewhere else to continue the birthday celebrations after such a...

Great atmosphere, very friendly and helpful staff, lots of choice of cider and other beers, really really good food and great price.

A colleague had the pie and mash and was disappointed that it didnt come with gravy (it wasnt supposed to). The server saw her disappointment and had some made and brought over - my colleague was chuffed! My wife and I both had the burger and agreed it was one of the best we;d had in a while. Cooked a little less than medium gave it a great flavour.

The place was very busy (had to push thru to get to the bar) but we had no trouble getting served. The staff would constantly shout out " anyone need serving " and make sure they got to you quickly.

The only criticism I would make is the toilets. You can never expect much from (mens) pub toilets in terms of cleanliness etc. They were in a very used state but the main issue was how small they were. Two urinals and a "crapper" but you were literally shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone else in there!! Not going to spoil your visit but it was a new and unique...