please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Another completely spoiled Hampstead pub. Makes we want to weep. Nice sitting outside but basically a restaurant for the nouveau "sophisticated" crowd who wouldn't know a decent pub if their mother knitted one for them
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I went here yesterday and made the mistake of waiting at the bar to be served. For me, a pub is where you go to the bar and a restaurant is where you sit down and wait for the waiter.
The meal was pretty good, the location delightful, the service was fine. Had a simple but refreshing pint of Carlsberg to wash it all down.
Touristy clientele but I assume that's what you find mostly in this area.
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Service was at the aggressive end of passive aggressive. Very unwelcoming, rude and unpleasant. Would never return and advise you not to either.
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Full of Tarquins
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Er..... no thanks... will leave this place to the dickheads who think paying �170 for a pair of trainers makes them something ever so special.
anonymous - 6 Jun 2010 21:39 |
Did I hear the word "pretentious". Yes, yes not all pubs have to have saw dust floor and be full of gruff bearded men drinking lesser spotted woodcock, but any establishment that serves pints of beer must have a certain level of skill in their trade and the staff at the Wells tavern certainly don't.
Myself and my cousin ordered a couple of Guinness, each one poured worse than the last. The final insult was a pint that was going upstairs. The barrel ran out half way through and the bar man switched over and poured the sputtered
Guinness from the old glass into the new and carried on as if nothing happened.
I could help myself so I took him up on it and he asked what he had done wrong (he was eastern European). Fair enough, not his fault but the management should be ashamed of themselves for not training new staff.
Food was admittedly good if pricey but the atmosphere was as cool as a polar bears toenails and as welcoming as a wet day in bognor regis.
Avoid.
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Unfriendly bordering on hostile service. Won't revisit.
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Against my better judgement I revisited here the other night. Very busy. The guy behind the bar obviously thought he was Tom Cruise doing his cocktail routine. The fact he was serving pints didn't seem to matter. Everything done with a flourish. Ordered 2 pints of Vier, well short and luke warm and �3.50 each. He puts the �3 change on the plate, slams it down on the bar with �1 hurtling off on the floor. I start to rummage round on the floor and think what the hell am I doing and ask him for a �1. To his credit he's a bit embarrassed and gives me a quid from the till. Won't be returning.
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When you have bought a pint at the bar, and they push your change towards you on a saucer, you know exactly that you have made a very big mistake. Such establishments should be closed down for the greed they represent.
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Pretentious gastropub with self-important, sneering staff who are more interested in ferrying cocktails to the braying types at the tables feeding their kids polenta than serving a pint at the bar.
It also just seems to be a really bad use of space - nothing works, in terms of the interior. You can't find a cosy angle anywhere.
Food upstairs is excellent, mind, but the service is comical.
If this is the future of pubs, get me out of here�
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Quality gastropub par excellence - quite perfect for for a relaxing summer drink after a walk upon the heath.....surrounded by merchant bankers, trust fund enfants and the ghosts of Bohemian London......
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The pub has changed a great deal in the thirty years I've known it. This is a food pub now, but a food pub with excellent beer. Try the Black Sheep! There are good vegetarian options. I know this because my daughter, who I first took to this pub in a pushchair twenty five years ago, is a vegetarian and this is one of the few placesv where there is good beer for me and good veggy food for her!
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As some reviewers have noted, this is not a pub in the traditional sense of the word but a gastropub. If that's what you're after then it is well worth a go. I've been here twice now to pass away a Sunday afternoon and will be back soon. The beers were well-kept and the food, though pricey, is excellent. The burger, in particular, is the best burger I've ever had in a pub. Minor complaint: the chairs aren't the most comfortable I've ever sat in. They seem designed to squeeze you out rather than settle you in.
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This place has improved immeasurably and, given the location, is now one of my favourite Hampstead pubs. As pointed out, it's not a 'real pub', which means that there aren't huge crowds of drinkers. Food and service is always good, at least when I've been. Yes, it's quite pricey, but worth it for the ambience and company.
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The Wells used to be my local before the brewery put in some relief managers to run the place into the ground so that local opposition wouldn�t stop them making a tidy penny.
I�ve been in since the refurbishment and it isn�t falling apart anymore, but it is nothing like it used to be. The barman was very friendly and I sunk a few bottles of Magners, but it�s not a real boozer. These places are all over the place now and it is very depressing.
I will wait until the summer months before I go again so that I can at least sit outside and reminisce about the good old days!
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Hooray! A pub for grown-ups! A pub where a girl can go in on her own and not feel like a lush! I really like the place, the food is fab (although, alas, a tad on the pricey side), and I find the bar staff really friendly.
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Depressing gastro-hell for pub-haters.
anonymous - 8 Oct 2006 00:29 |
I went here a few times before it was gastrofied. It used to be empty and I mean empty. Anyway, revisited it recently. Full of beautiful people in the downstairs bar and upstairs is the restaurant which is apparently very good. There is also a bar menu downstairs. Not my cup of tea to be honest. One of those places where you put your hand out to get your change and they make a point of putting it on a bloody silver plate. Tossers.
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This place has gone gastro in a big way, with very little room in its new world outlook for pint-drinkers. I could barely hear myself think for all the self-impressed types braying at each other, and had to actually shove past a woman on a mobile who apparently expected me to stand in the rain while she finished her conversation in the small entryway!
That said, I had fine service from the barman, who poured a fine pint (though at �3 per, it ought to come gift-wrapped), and if you're a fan of gastros, the food smelled quite good. I didn't stick around long enough to have any.
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