please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Best party on Upper Street by far.
Relaxed mid week, and a quality late night venue at the weekend.
Cocktails galore, and a cracking roast on Sundays.
My new local I reckon..
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Went to musical bingo a few weeks and always love The Keston for it's cocktails and eclectic djs.
They have just checnged the daily menu which I can say is a vast improvement and features an amazing burger with skin on handcut chips and a tasty Sunday roast (no Yorkshires though!).
Can get really busy on weekends when you regularly have to wait outside but great for mid week or Sunday lounging around.
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The keston is still one of my favourite bars in the north london area, have been coming here reguarly for over a year now and it's great no matter what night of the week it is. Perfect for that tuesday night date or the friday night get together with mates. I was especially impressed with the new quix night they are hosting on Sunday, different, cool and alot of fun!
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My girlfriend and I had breakfast here last weekend. Really tasty and the portions were really generous, and at about six quid for a full English no way near as expensive as I would have guessed from the look of the place. The garden out the back gets all the sun but if you appreciate good people watching, grab one of the tables out the front like we did. Newspapers are a nice touch as are the smoothies.
Only criticism is the lack of eggs benedict (though it wouldn't stop me from going back again.)
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Having been a regular visitor at the keston lodge for over a year now, I find the lastest review a little hard
to take in, I have never had a bad meal or experience in there. Sure the service can be a little relaxed
at times, and when it's busy there may be a longer delay than usual, but the food has always been great.
I was only in there this week with my partner and we both had a great meal from their new menu, the service was fine
and the food arrived within 15mins!
The staff have always been great, friendly and polite, fair enough they seem to have a laugh and a joke behind the
bar but who wouldn't. My only negative comment is that there is no real table service, you have to order both your
drinks and food from the bar...
This aside I would recomend the Keston Lodge to anyone!
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Having heard from a few friends about the Keston lodge, I decided to give it a go for myself, I headed down on a Saturday night. I was surprised to see a queue as it was only 9pm, but having spoken to the very friendly door team they assured me that I would not have to wait for more than 10mins, and sure enough 5 minutes later I was inside (thank god as it was freezing). I met some friends inside and we had a great night, partying away to a great sound track until the early hours�.I will definitely be going back.
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I�ve been to Keston on numerous occasions and can�t really fault the place, they not only manage to be chilled and relaxing during the week but also know how make a Friday & Saturday night really fun. The music always draws me there for that area and I guess that�s how you can tell they are part of the Lock Tavern crew. The food has always been good value for money and the roast (only had once) were good on Sundays. I�ve only notice the service a little slow when it seems to be a busy night, apart from that I�ll always go to this place when I�m in the area.
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The service was terrible, with three girls standing behind the bar and talking, we managed to sit directly infront of them with finished plates for over 40 minutes, in the end we placed them at the bar ourselves, with a "thankyou" from the cook.
Our table was so wobby that our cocktails were in danger of spilling too, we ended up changing tables and moved to a table which, once again, the glasses were not picked up (no one had been sitting there for about 10 minutes) and the table was dripping wet, not realising this i ruined my make-up bag :(
But that was nothing compared to the shoddy service! It was as if they really didn't like serving people in this place and to be honest, walking in i felt like i was interrupting a private party.
The decor is of course nice and inviting, but if the manager's not in I wouldn't recommend I'm afraid. Not for �7 per drink anyway.
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Have been twice now, is not bad as long as you can get a table or reserve some space upstairs. Can get quite crowded around the bar but if you have a good strategy you shouldn't have to wait long.
According to their complimentary match box:
No techno
No house
No girls aloud
yes that's right, their music sucked :)
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Went here early on a Saturday night and had some good cocktails. Then off to dinner.
When we came back a "queue" had formed with 2 bouncers a girl with a "list". When we got to the front, we were told it would be quite a wait because they were very busy (even though you could see it was half empty inside). When we started to walk away (leaving them with no "queue") the tone changed to - "Oh no, it won't be that long".
So if you like that kind of stuff, it's not a bad pub. Personally, I'd say go somewhere else.
What's the umlaut above the e in lodge as well? All signs point to pretentious prats.
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Great looking place in both decor and clientele. Good range of beers, wine list is strong and cocktails well made. Staff can be a bit slow to serve you on Saturdays when you've clearly been standing there 10 mins waiting to order, but this isn't always the case. The DJ's mix eclectic, punchy, very Islington tunes which get the floor moving. Food is good for the price bracket and I've never had problems with the service. Get involved...
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Agree with the last comment went once never again, impossible to get served and full of nathan barley style tossers
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As a resident of Angel I have never, until last night, been to Keston Lodge before. And I never will again. A bar and restaurant that boasts �waitress service is back� should surely provide a decent waitress service. We were a table of four people on a mildly busy Thursday evening. One of our starters was forgotten and the waitress (or any other waitress) was nowhere to be seen until the other starter plates were cleared. When this was mentioned to the waitress it was met with excuses like �You, said you didn�t want a starter� and �We are very busy�. No main course plates or empty glasses were cleared. We ended up collecting our first bottle of wine from the bar downstairs. The food was average. Maybe it�s a nice place to have a few drinks in the evening but I�d never go back there to find out. Rubbish!
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Awesome music, good decor and crowd - all in all a cracking bar. Gets far too busy, but I guess that's the price of getting a pub so right.
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Have to say that I'm a bit surprised by the comments from Fredwood. I actually came on the site to say how good I think Keston Lodge is!
I went last night for a friends birthday having not been there since maybe Jan. They've done a bit of a refit since I was there last and its definitely given it a warmer feel. We reserved a table and had some food, drank loads of cocktails and rose wine and had a generally fantastic evening. Thoroughly recommend the French Martini's and Raspberry Collins'(?). Thought the bar and waiting staff were great too - unlike most Upper Street toilers, they actually have a personality, shock horror. Toilets a bit dark but low lighting was probably a good idea by the end of the evening!!
All in all, on the strength of last night, I will make the journey to Keston a bit more often - maybe even during the week.
Oh and for the record; I'm 26, brunette, of natural skintone and far from being a slapper!
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Looks good, very chic, just not so good if you actually want a drink, or expect any form of even reasonable service
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this is really nice place for night out
anonymous - 14 Jun 2006 01:32 |
If this is a pub, cards is a sport. Not really my bag but of it's type, it's ok
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Hooray! FInally, a decent ale on offer and good riddance to the Carling! Long live bitter, Amstel and Keston Lodge!
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Not a bad place, only been on monday nites, where the bar staff are simple but efficiant, and of course the now legenday DJ wheelie bag has a weekly residency which never fails to raise a smile with us!!
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What a nice change from chainy-restauranty Upper St norm! This isnt a pub-pub at all but is a really nice bar that becomes a cool late bar at weekends. Perfect for our girls night out! Loads of great cocktails and decent platters for sharing. Nowhere near as many chavs as usual around, plenty of lookers too to keep you amused while waiting at the bar, decent service and even nice door staff and to top it all - tonnes of toilets so no bladder busting, mind numbing queue to suffer!
anonymous - 5 Aug 2005 13:36 |
ok so if you want a traditional pub this isn't for you, but if you want a decent vodka or a well made martini give it a go. I went there a few weeks ago with friends who work in the area, you won't normally find me in islington, and i was definitely impressed with both the atmosphere and the service. A nice alternative to the rest of the upper street chain bars (the main reason why you won't normally find me in islington)
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It is such a pity about the service at this place, otherwise it would be on at least a 9 rating.
Great stop for a couple of fantastic cocktails and real good food during the day or early evening, after that forget it.
When I went to celebrate my birthday, couches were literally removed from under us to make a dance floor, even after we had reserved the area for the whole evening; after waiting well over 1 hour for food vego's were served meat with no replacements offered; a leather jacket was stolen; friends for the reserved party had to join lengthy entry queues and the manager decided to walk off on numerous occassions rather than have to use any sort of problem solving skills he obviously doesn't have.
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Went to this bar last weekend and cant say i was disappointed,good selection of vodkas (friends leaving do,went through all the flavours),dug the messed up visuals and the ladies were nice to look at as well.Food looked pucker though didnt try any(too busy on the vodkas.
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Not great for the evenings - far too crowded, posey and overpriced.
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I like this place although have only ever been early week when it hasn't been that busy....God knows how long it would take to get served on a Friday night. The bar staff are just about on the right side of "I'm too cool to serve you" although once or twice it's been a close call. Food is good, especially the pies.
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This isn't a pub. It's a bar. They have about three varieties of lager that all cost �3, making it probably the most expensive pint on the street. I watched the England v. Portugal match here and their over-head projector wasn't working so everyone had to gather around a tiny little TV in the corner. This place really is crap. God knows why people queue to get in.
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I was drinking bottled beer when I visited so didnt realise the pumps werent real, if you can't get a pint here then its probably changed my opinion as it was very close to being a cool place where you can actually get a proper pint, but I suppose they have to appeal to the posers with the latest daft hairdo to stand there holding a bottle. The music was cool though and the visuals added something original, but a good boozer has to have draught, simple as that!
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This place keeps getting busier and busier and its generally one in one out from 7.30 in the evening. Its got great food, briliant djs who play a bit of everything, i heard country and western next to franz ferdinand next to billie holliday, and the giant visuals at the weekends...and its free before 10
anonymous - 30 Nov 2004 16:20 |
now i have to admit i saw the hand pumps from the street which enticed me inside (only to discover they are fakes just for display) - someone please shoot the idiot who thought that daft idea up ! having settled down to lunch and a few drinks the place does somewhat redeem itself, smoochy jazz, nice food, good wine list, (and limited beers!) for a mid-afternoon chill it takes some beating, just a shame there is no half decent beer...
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IT ROCKS- plain and simple.
Casey - 2 Nov 2004 16:19 |
Not convinced. The ale pumps are in fact useless and are there, the barmaid tells me, just for "decoration". Err...forget the decor guys, serve some decent beer along with all the fizzy drinks.
k - 27 Oct 2004 21:51 |
Keston Lodge is a great pub - the food is good, especially the pies: they're Square Pies of Spitalfields fame, so they're the best I've tasted in a while. The music is funky and the obligatory leather sofas very comfy. Very good for laid-back evenings and Sundays. I love the mobile DJ man - he's hilarious...
Clare - 11 Jun 2004 11:55 |
Best bar in Islington from people behind Lock Tavern in Camden
barney1976 - 27 May 2004 17:00 |
This used to be a souless All Bar One, but a bit of redecorating, a good drinks list, funky music and the usual assortment of slouchy leather sofas and smaller tables have turned it into something quite nice! Upstairs is cosier, and they serve food too (although when i last looked it was mostly "pies")
The bar staff have all been extremely friendly and take their time to make a proper cocktail. Perfect for a few after work drinks or on a Saturday afternoon.
nicola - 21 Apr 2004 14:48 |
Now reopened as the lodge, looks like all bar one.
ck - 18 Dec 2003 14:52 |
Was an all bar one, soon to reopen as the lodge
James Monk - 3 Nov 2003 17:16 |
