please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Lively, fairful typical Islington haunt and clientele with with a range of well kept real ales and a relaxed, uplifting atmosphere. Bar staff were good eggs and the food was every bit as good as it was expensive.
There are worse places for a man to spend a saturday evening.
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Bustling, renovated pub that has much to recommend it. Upmarket but laid back, friendly service, four ales including their "own" brewed by Sharps which surprised me by being delicious. Close relative to their rarely-seen Cornish Coaster. Two more Sharps but thankfully not the Doom.
All taps either S&N (Heineken UK in modern parlance) or Molson. Maybe that's where the refit money came from.
Liked it.
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Great vibe and a few good ales on - Sharps Abbey Christmas was tasting good. Yes it's a bit trendy and not where to go if you want a traditional boozer but quite like it and offers something for most people.
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Quite a trendy sort of a place but with a nice atmosphere and interesting clientele. Nicely decked out. Couple of ales on when I went in.
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Previously known as The George and a proper boozer it was with decent beer and pub food. Now a "gastropub" ie not good enough to be a restaurant and ideas above its station as somewhere serving alcohol.
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Another pretentious Islington gastropub full of vacuous office types, utterly bland and indistinguishable from the next and yet so smug and pleased with itself that I struggle to do justice to it in words. A glance at the pub's nauseating website should tell you everything you need to know about the setup here, and the clientele they are going for. Any pub that uses the words "ambrosia" and "elixir" on its menu in preference to "food" and "drinks" is a pub best avoided in my opinion. "Dessert time can turn into a religious experience" apparently, but I didn't stop to find out. As for its laughable claim about good quality cask ales - this is only true if you like your beer ice cold, tasting faintly of cheese, and served in a chipped glass. Had a rotten pint of Doom Bar to start and then found the Deuchars even worse. The Theakstons was off which was probably a blessing.
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Had four ales on on Saturday and the Doom Bar was fine. Seems to have a bit of an identity crisis though. Impressive old building and I gather at one point it was an Irish pub. Now it has long wooden tables and an overpriced gastro menu. Plus music so loud you struggled to make conversation. Friendly bar staff and very busy so a lot of people seem to like it but not for me I'm afraid.
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Nice looking pub, serving several real ales. Unfortunately my Oxford Gold was cloudier than the top of Snowdon and amazingly was served unnoticed.
Can't imagine spending a long time in this pub but it's a good meeting point with a lively atmosphere.
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Beer was fine, if a bit expensive. Bar staff friendly enough, and the toilets are fantastic...in fact it's worth a visit just to see the bogs.
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A little expensive and the "tapas" is really not up to much. Nice building and lively atmosphere on a thursday night though and my boyfriend had no complaints about the beer.
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Not a bad little pub...wouldn't go for a lively night out, but fine for a few drinks and some idle banter with mates. Good place for a mid-week date - get a couch upstairs and you're laughing!
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Very friendly service. Meatballs off the lunch specials board were very good and not bad value for �6.95.
Unfortunately the 2 ales I asked for were off and didn't fancy the other 2.
Very nice building - spacious, light and airy.
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Friendly service, nice beer (4 on offer at the time inc Brakspears Oxford Gold) , large central bar, big windows good for watching the world go by.
But the prices ain't so nice, again as in step with the area �3.40 a pint plus posh nosh for posh prices. I'd visit again when I'm feeling flush.
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Handy location is the only reason I use this place to meet for the first drink before moving on. Very expensive drinks, have not eaten here. Staff OK but can be slow. One afternoon it had turned into a nursery, the after school club was brought in there by the teachers and they ran riot. About 20 children all between 5 - 7!!!! Not a good atmosphere to enjoy a glass of wine, you come to pubs to get away from that.
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Love this pub. Landlord has got a good atmosphere going in this place. Nice relaxed crowd, decent staff, good music.
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Rude bar staff so I won't be coming here again. All I did was ask the bar man (who was doing nothing save staring into space) if they would be showing the rugby. Unable to multitask doing nothing with a yes/no response, I got a sarcastic reply and told to wait my turn while he then sodded off. Manager, try teaching your bar staff some interpersonal skills and manners, it's not hard, costs nothing and prevents you losing business and money. For reference, avoid the barman with the shaved head and thick set monobrow. He is a rude and arrogant. Good toilets though.
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Rude bar staff so I won't be coming here again. All I did was ask the bar man (who was doing nothing save staring into space) if they would be showing the rugby. Unable to multitask doing nothing with a yes/no response, I got a sarcastic reply and told to wait my turn while he then sodded off. Manager, try teaching your bar staff some interpersonal skills and manners, it's not hard, costs nothing and prevents you losing business and money. For reference, avoid the barman with the shaved head and thick set monobrow. He is a rude and arrogant. Good toilets though.
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Boring people who think they are actually interesting and possibly the slowest bar staff ever, not a great combination. When the drunk girls around us stopped trying to hold us back with ugly laughter and bad breath, we made a run for the door.
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thought it was quite decent in here - nice big sofas and decent selection of ale. didnt eat, but food looked good....
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Popped in on impulse only to regret it ten minutes later after an unpleasant exchange with the special needs candidate posing as the manager. Listen mate, if you don't like running a pub and if being polite to customers falls outside your skill set, you know what to do. Took our drinks outside to run the gauntlet of Islington stereotypes, red-faced alkys, wannabee gangsta rappers and yummy mummies with �400 pushchairs. Islington never fails to turn me into a homicidal maniac, and people actually choose to live here. Unbelievable.
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Aye, tis slightly pretentious. A wannabe-gastropub methinks. Still, the beer's ok and averagely priced for the area (well, other than the Kronenbourg Blanc) and they have a big screen for the rugby. Possibly the football aswell but I don't like football... It's also close to work. Speaking of which, what's wrong with old bill drinking there chucknorris?!
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Expensive and pretentious.
Pretty much in keeping with most pubs around there.
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Old Bill pub.
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Had a lovely time here. Food is on the pricey side but looked nice (was only drinking). Ale was kept well enough, atmosphere was far nicer than many others around here, and there is a small outside seating area which catches a bit of Sun.
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Wierd comments that the food is ...ok. I think the food here is amazing! In fact you'd be hard pushed to find a better all round pub in London. A fresh juice bar, real ales, great lagers, beautiful toilets, staff that care.... A great pub any time of day. Perfect for us girlies as well!
anonymous - 17 Jul 2007 09:37 |
Good in the day time. Packed in the evening. Good sprinkling of 'old bill' from the local station tends to squash atmosphere. Nice sandwiches but any one could do that. Salmon and Compass up the road is much better.
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I have to agree generally with the other reviewers, this pub really is something a bit special when you compare it to many gastropubs, the upstairs bar (if my memory serves me correctly) is sumptuous and coupled with a great vibe. Beers, although expensive, are good and the food, again pricey, is a bit more interesting than what you would normally expect, the comedy in the loo is a great touch, but I had to be careful I didnt appear to be one of those people who hang around the loo. they also have the most polite staff who turf you out at the end of the evening, I think I was the last to leave and (again if my memory serves me correctly) they didnt get shirty, dirty or rude.
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I like the Angelic very much, it's just a pity they don't get decent bar staff to pull a full pint. I mean, the price is over �3.10 a pint and they have the cheek to under pull a pint by at least an inch and they get funny when I ask them to fill it up to a full pint. My mates get embarrassed but I don't, I want my pint i paid for. The loos are good, they play stand up comics over a kinda tannoy down there which is funny though getting down to the loos down the sprial metal stairs can be lethal, so make sure you hold on with both hands if you're a little worse for wear. The food in the Angelic is extremely expensive for what it is.
anonymous - 28 Nov 2006 11:54 |
Very good pub. Good atmosphere, charming bar staff and attracts a lively bunch. Can get a bit crowded in the early evening and on Friday and Saturday nights but you can usually find a space at the bar. Decent Bombardier and there is another cask beer whose name I have forgotten. It is one of those bare floor boards pubs so it can get a bit noisy. Excellent fresh fruit juice concoctions if you are into that sort of thing. The food is no more than okay, and is quite pricey for what you get, so it is not worth making a special trip for that. Actually the last time I ate there the food was horrible, but the chef might have been having an off day.
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Have these guy's got a new chef? I always thought the food was good at The Angelic but the new menu for April is very, very, good. Can't wait for May!
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I'll definitely be going back there again, St Patricks day at The Angelic was great. There was none of this tacky promotional hats or inflatable pints behind the bar, just people out drinking Guinness and having a good evening, the atmosphere was great and even the staff seemed to be having a fantastic night. For me there was a special Baby Guinness shot made of coffee and baileys and for my partner (who is Irish) one of the best-tasting Guinness' he has had in a long time.
anonymous - 20 Mar 2006 21:30 |
Conveniently tucked behind the hussle and bussle of upper street, the Angelic is a great place to relax, enjoy a glass of wine or beer and eat some fantastic food. Definetely one of the more stylish gastropubs which seem to be spawning up all over islington, but without appearing to be too far up it's own backside. If your looking for something different then this is the place to try. Great toilets with comedy playing. Always good to hear Blackadder! You have to try the fresh juices they make, i was pleasantly told to take a seat and they'd bring it to me. When they did, not only did it taste amazing but was probably the healthiest thing i'd ever drunk in a pub!
Can't recommend this place enough. Well worth a visit.
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This place never stops amazing me! New Years Eve was one of the best I've ever had, The Angelic had a masked ball and what a party it was. Ice carvings, great canapes and champagne following all night. Only one complaint.... The lovely young lady I got together with wasn't that lovely once she took the mask off! Can't really blame that on The Angelic though I guess, or the way my head felt in the morning! Roll on 2007.
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Beautiful place, and reasonably good beer selection. Benefits from being one of the only nice pubs in the immediate vicinity, but the service is slow and it gets very busy.
The food isn't great - so as a gastropub its no great shakes.
Worth a try if only for the Blackadder audio playing in the gents!
anonymous - 15 Dec 2005 10:35 |
10 pence more or a dreary pub? i wonder, hmmm?
anonymous - 21 Oct 2005 20:30 |
Curious pace this with Guinness 10p a pint more than the dreary Agricultural down the road. Good place for a refreshment before heading to a gig up the road but probably wouldnt bother again.
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What a great boozer! One of the best wine lists I've seen in ages, nearly all by the glass too, great to see. Popped in last sunday for a pint and ended up staying all night, the roast is a winner plus they have a funky D.J playing awsome tunes. I'll be back next sunday.
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Used to love this place when it first opened - especially the toilets and the ever-so-slightly "odd" decoration (Roman busts, the fountain with coins in it) and any pub that plays BBC tape recordings of Blackadder in the bogs deserves some credit. But now its always packed and the staff seem less interested in your custom, maybe they don't have to try so hard anymore. And gradually the interior and the toilets lose novelty value after a while. Actually, its now a bit dull.
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Another Islington Gastro pub serving expensive food and drinks. Unlike the Duke of Cambridge which prides itself with its organic food and drinks, including the ales, I could see no such claim here. The beers at �2.90 were Pedigree and Bombadiere.
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Actually, the Bombardier is �2.90...
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Attractive, spacious, modern pub with a pleasant friendly, welcoming atmosphere. During my brief visit, both staff and customers were exceptionally nice. I'll certainly go back there again some time, but unfortunately as others have noted, the drinks are very expensive - �3 for a pint of Bombardier is just too steep.
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A very nice pub. The toilets are wicked (in a good way!). They're like spooky dungeons with piped comedy soundtracks going on.
The booze, however, is very, very expensive.
Worth a visit as it's probably the nicest pub in the area, and the high prices keeps the less desirables out!
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Like all Islington drinking holes the bar prices are pretty premium, but when out in Upper Street you expect something more. The Angelic delivers. Attractive clientele and barstaff (although the Islington's frosty approach applies), design the right side of tasteful and even Blackadder on tape in the toilets! Worth dropping in for a couple.
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This pub is very handy for the cinema. The staff aren't very helpful, in fact the barlady walked away from the bar when it was my turn to be served (maybe that says something about me!). The upstairs is very comfortable, decorative and airy. The clientele are mainly 20 something, arty and well-heeled. I didn't try the food, but those who were were tucking in heartily and it all looked very nice. Definitely one of the nicer pubs in the Angel area and worth a return visit.
anonymous - 24 Jan 2005 13:35 |
I think the food at the Angelic takes a while because it is all cooked from fresh and is so good. I love the food and would rather wait 15 minutes than get 'packet' food that so many bars offer as fresh! The location is great and the bar is airy and well lit, i feel comfortable coming here on my own after work while i wait for my friends to turn up who work in town. It does get very busy at the weekends and in the evenings but i'm glad it does. I always find the service to be at least as good as anywhere else in Islington, which is good considering the levels of business at the Angelic!
Judy - 12 Jun 2004 12:13 |
Excellent atmosphere and good beers and food. Always busy and as previoiusly mentioned, the piped comedy in the toilets is an excellent extra. One of the best pubs in an area where there are no shortage of places to have a drink
Sally Smythe - 14 Jan 2004 11:47 |
FANTASTIC toilets, piped in stand up comedy, so you come back from the bog sounding all witty (or doing a really bad impression of Eddie Izzard or Peter Kaye), and they have statues and fountains and all that. They have their own beer on - I had a couple of pints of Angelic, very agreeable - and good looking meals and bar snacks.
Pauly - 18 Nov 2003 22:10 |
I thought the food was good, and have eaten here many times. I have however noticed that the staff are generally in a bad mood and it can get very smokey when it's busy - after work Fridays for example. But lunches are thoroughly recommended.
Matt - 8 Sep 2003 12:37 |
Unfortunately I thought the food was really disappointing. The only good thing about this place is the toilets.
Claire - 4 Jul 2003 13:35 |
Newish trendy gastropub, really good looking menu, lovely Sunday lunch, extra decadent toilets, brilliant location. Sofas and the usual eclectic pub chair selection of seats, open late at weekends
Laura - 20 Jun 2003 16:27 |
