The Keel Tavern — Restaurant in Sunderland

The Keel Tavern, in Keel Square, has quickly become one of my favourite haunts in Sunderland. Lovely staff, lovely food and good beer. A lovely environment in a beautiful new building. It’s classy! A big shout out to Abby, who first welcomed me on my first visit to the Keel Tavern and to Andy the manager. Their friendliness and excellent customer service is second to none. The other staff members are clearly professional and love their job. Abby has an infectious Yorkshire dialect/personality and clearly loves her job and is great at looking after those who call in for a pint and food. All staff are smiley and welcoming. There’s always good music playing in the background but it’s not too loud. Congratulations, to all the staff, on a fine opening few weeks for the Keel Tavern.

Well here’s a second part to my first review above. The Keel Tavern is now well established over a year on. I hadn’t been able to get back to The Keel Tavern in recent months but with time off work I’ve made a flurry of visits starting during Sunderland restaurant week. I took advantage, on two occasions, of their Sunderland restaurant week menu. The food is first class so hats off to the head chef and his excellent team in the kitchen. All staff are excellent led by Andy, and another person I believe. They are extremely professional at what they do and their customer service skills are first class but come naturally to them. The bar staff are excellent, attentive and very knowledgeable offering choices and descriptions of the drinks to me and their customers. Thanks for the lemon drink pint recommendation Ross. I love it. Abby is as funny as ever and loves her job with a sense of humour second to none. Her customer service skills are off the scale and she is a major asset to The Keel Tavern. It’s not a surprise that recently, according to Andy the manager, they had 100 job applications. Everybody wants to work at The Keel Tavern because it’s a classy venue. Well done all the brilliant lovely staff at The Keel Tavern and I’ll be on for my usual drinker later on today....

To whomever it may concern, I have just had a rather unpleasant experience at Keel Tavern. So much so I felt it warranted an immediate email to you, their head office. After completing a long drive from York, and obviously sober. I had planned on catching last orders at 12midnight, meeting an old colleague from the next door venue. Upon approaching the bar with my friend at 2345, I was abruptly told I could get out or the police would be called. Unfamiliar with who I was talking to, I questioned if his name was Ethan. I was again abruptly told I knew exactly who he was and what had happened earlier. In this tirade I was also informed that I was barred by the General manager Andrew who I haven't met.

Clearly this manager has a personal problem with myself that I am unaware of. I believe the way in which he has handled tonight would suggest the highest levels of unprofessionalism. I have been in the hospitality industry since I was 15, I'm 32 now, I'm very rarely surprised in a venue. However and I quote "it's like a zoo in here and that manager has an ego problem" from my fellow colleagues from other venues as I left was telling of the seriousness of the problem you face here.

Please consider this a formal complaint. I will now find out what it is I apparently know about what has happened in the venue tonight. Further complaints will likely follow in connection to that...

I came in with friends for cocktails and we each had two. The first, a spritz, was delightful. Unfortunately, the Piña Colada that followed was disappointing, It had an unusual, off taste, as if dairy milk had been used instead of coconut milk, and it lacked any noticeable pineapple flavour, so it was left unfinished.

I’ve visited the Tavern on several occasions for food, and each time the meals have been excellent. The staff, apart from the manager, have always been attentive and friendly. However, on each visit when the manager has been present, I’ve found her to be a tad standoffish—almost as if placing an order was an inconvenience.

Sadly, the combination of the subpar cocktail this time and a little bit of an uncomfortable atmosphere has led me to leave a less-than-perfect review. That said, I would still recommend a visit, as the Tavern itself is a lovely place, great location and good pub grub. I just hope the issues I’ve mentioned can...