please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
This place is ok, if maybe a little subdued due to the leaning towards food with the restaurant at the rear.
Youngs Ordinary, Special and Kew were available alongside a standard draught selection and, as mentioned, an interesting range of bottled beers. I found the two barmen that served me to be very friendly.
I would pop in here again if I was passing, but I wouldn�t go out of my way.
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Great pub. Really good food and a chilled out place to have a cheeky pint in the sun as we discovered the other day.
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Stumbled across the Marquess walking through the leafy backstreets of Islington and thought I would rest my laurels over a swift pint of Guiness. Ended up working my way through a fine selection of bottled beers with the guidance of a very helpful barman. I particularly enjoyed the Grozet from Scotland and the Paulaner from Germany. Also got a good selection of draughts including Addlestones, Kirin, Erdinger and Youngs ales. The sausage rolls also provided a very tasty stomach lining.
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This pub has always been a solid place to go for a drink or meal. Although it is probably more expensive than most pubs the food is extremely good and I've enjoyed many a weekend roast here. I popped down last night and was delighted to see that It is now offering many of the most popular dishes on a new fixed price menu and is staggeringly good value - two courses for �12. I had a very nice cured loin of venison followed by brasied ox cheeks. would definitely recommend it
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Good collection of bottled beers including Schenkerla Rauchbier, Fraoch, handful of Belgians and a few others I couldn't quite read from across the bar. cask offerings of a more ordinary nature, especially pricey as mentioned by previous reviewers. Although it's very much a restaurant (in the rear dining room especially), the front section still retains somewhat of a pub feel (vs similar places in the area like the Albion, the Barnsbury).
Food was decent but not exciting - I'll write a more detailed review of the food on a restaurant site, not here.
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The beer is very good, the food is very good, but boy is it pricey!
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This place could be great, but isn't quite there yet. Staff, although perfectly friendly, seemed unable to cope with a relatively full restaurant for Sunday lunch and food was served late and cold. We had to ask for cutlery and the dessert menu, and both were brought a long time after they had been requested.
The main courses were very good even though they were cold, although the dessert (treacle tart) was pretty foul, with an overwhelming lemon and sour cream taste (not described on the menu) and no actual 'treacle' flavour. When we didn't eat it and explained it wasn't actually what it claimed to be on the menu, the waitress and the manager agreed, were apologetic, but did not take it off the bill.
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Really nice pub. Was in before the Arsenal v Boro game yesterday. Decent beer on handpump and an interesting collection of Scottish Ales in bottles. Only one gripe - �3.50 for a pint of Deuchars IPA? That said staff were good and efficient, food looked very nice, will be back once I've arranged the bank loan!
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Really brilliant old boozer which doesn't get much look-in from tourists because it's fairly far from the main hubs of Highbury Corner and Upper Street. Nice, almost rural, setting, with the New River running alongside (you can follow it all the way from here to Ware in Hertfordshire, and see a statue of the guy that built it - on nearby Islington Green).
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This place has a decent drinks selection of bottled lagers, ales and ciders, but sadly a workaday cask ale selection. Food is superb, staff excellent. I personally feel that this place suffers from the common gastro-pub ailment of giving over far too much room for the restaurant, so it kind of lacks the pub-like atmosphere. I suspect I'm in the minority for holding this opinion, but I do rather like pubs to be pubs rather than add-ons for restaurants.
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What can I say? Amazing. Amazing food, Amazing selection of beers, Amazing staff. Amazing, Amazing, Amazing!! Second visit to the Marquess and was delighted to be even more impressed than the first time. At the risk of repeating what everybody else seems to be posting....It really is the Best roast beef in London!
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Having never been a fan of 'pub grub' I was more than a little aprehensive when my lovely other half told me we were off to The Marquess Tavern for Sunday lunch. Well what a lovely surprise I had! Walking down a leafy canonbury road I was greeted by the imposing site of The Marquess, a tall whitewashed Victorian building with happy punters sitting laughing and drinking outside. On entering the building we were welcomed with a big smile from the (rather dishy!) barman and opted to have a drink in the bar area before being shown to our table. I had a fabulous cherry beer and the boy went with a coffee (!) beer. Both were fabulous (if a tad expensive). We were then shown through to the dining room for lunch. Lovely dining room, whitewashed walls, high ceilings, ornate mirrors, fresh flowers in quirky enamel bread/flour tins. The menu was extensive and there were many things that I would have happily tried but having heard such good things about the award winning Roast beef I couldnt even think about ordering anything else! So the beef it was, an enormous forerib for two with all the trimmings. Light crispy yorkshire puddings, (so good I cheekily asked for more, which I got, much to the disdain of the table next to us!!)great roasties and fab gravy (though not quite as good as my Mothers!!)Wasnt too keen on the greens that came with it (no broccoli!) but with everything else being so delicious who cares about greens? The only gripe was the 50 minute wait, however we were warned and it was our own silly fault for not ordering starters. Saying that, Im glad that we didnt as there was SO MUCH BEEF!! The boy is a rugby player and has a BIG appetite and Ive never shied away from a big meal but even we couldnt finish it!! Our lovely waitress was a sweetie and wrapped up what was left for us to take home!! A couple more beers from the frankly HUGE beer list and a s-l-o-w walk home completed a thouroughly lovely Sunday afternoon.
I couldnt recomend this place more. Lovely knowledgeable staff, fab food, great drinks and a laid back atmosphere. I cant fathom why this gem of a pub has ever received bad reviews, Im glad i didnt pay heed to them. The Marquess can now count me as a very happy, very satisfied (very full!) customer.
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Best British roast beef ever! And an incredible lineup of whiskies to match!
anonymous - 30 Apr 2007 16:12 |
Me & my partner's family came here for Sunday lunch and had an absolutely fabulous time. The beef rib was like nothing I have ever tasted before and the service was very good epically with the kids. Very good value for money when you consider the quality. we will definitely be back
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Lovely pub, great setting, the fore rib to share in a group is a brilliant idea. great beer selection, and freindly staff who remeber your name and drink.
I don't live locally but wish this was my local.
Will make the journey to go back again.
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i went to this pub after i read about its success in the "time out" awards and best dish awards with quite high expectations, and i wasn't disappointed. i took my family here and from the start the service was great and polite without being intrusive, and the food was spot on. i had rabbit with mashed potato and turnips and it was lovely to have something so different, traditional british, and very tasty! the staff went out of their way for us, my mum had the chicken dish as she couldn't handle the size of the beef, but liked the yorkshire puddings that came with it. so, i asked the manager to bring her one (yorkshire pud) as a starter for fun, and with a smile this was done right away-you don't get that everywhere! it was lovely to be able to eat "proper" old fashioned well cooked food in a pub, rather than what you get in many other pubs. The drinks weren't bad either! check out the EXTENSIVE beer selection.
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Following the succsess of the marquess tavern in the time out award, myself and a friend went down to see how you can get it so right in such a sort space of time.. You cant! We waited for an hour for a table that i had booked and dispite there being free tables. We were seated menus and bread were thrown at us, i asked the waiter for butter, which they had none of.. Is butter seasonal?? I forgive most negative aspect of most pubs having worked in the industry for a far too long, but short/rude servce is somthing that can not be over looked.. So we left, they had a great selection of (warm) beer and obviously a very goood marketing team, but my advice get the basics right first.. Faye i shall never doubt you again..
anonymous - 21 Nov 2006 14:25 |
I've eaten here twice recently and both times was very impressed with the food, which is lucky because it's not cheap. I'm not easily pleased and I'm puzzled as to the bad reviews because service and food were both much, much better than most pubs.
The range of beers and whiskies is enormous; the biggest I've noticed in the area. My only gripe is that is that when the place fills up it can be too noisy.
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Ah, so yet another person has fallen foul of this gastropub manager's Basil Fawlty homage when it comes to customer service. It's interesting to know they're turning a profit when I've never seen the place even remotely busy, let alone full. Come on everyone - vote with your feet and leave the Marquess well alone. Maybe someone who cooks decent food and treats their customers with a degree of courtesy will come along and take over when the current owners have run this 'gastro' pub into the ground.
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After having been a couple of times I arranged to have a big dinner here with 11 friends to celebrate my recent engagement. We had a fantastic time. We were treated like kings and, even though I knew how good the food is here, I (and everyone else) was really impressed. We had an enormous rib of beef with all the usual sides which were all cooked really well (not the usual soggy roast potatoes and veg) and really light and crisp yorkshire puds. The only problem was one of my friends tried to work his way through the extensive beer list and ended up falling asleep whilst we played bar billiards.
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i went along after i read it's up for time out gastropub of the year. had a great time - food was really nice simple down to earth - none of the unecessary fanciness you tend to get in gastropubs that are trying to restaurants. the roast beef was out of this world - was a bit pricy but you can taste the difference between the meat they use and the usual stuff you get. and really friendly people. i hope they win the award - from my visit they deserve it.
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This is one of my favourite pubs, ok it is somewhat on the expensive side but there is a huge range of bottled beers and the food is excellent.
They also have free bar billiards and a piano in the back room.
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Wanted a great Sunday lunch and I had read good reviews about this place. I rang and booked a table ... checking that they did traditional Sunday Roasts. Assured that they did ... beef, lamb and chicken I booked.
The meal did not go well. The starters were a problem...a bit too St John for my taste - I opted for the pork pie whislt my 2 dining companions chose none! We wanted to order the rib of beef for 2 and the duck. We wanted the beef medium to well done and the duck well done. The waitress explained that the chef did not like cooking the meat much beyond medium.....this is a real annoyance! I mean this is only a boozer on a council estate after all. The manager came over and explained that if we wanted the rib of beef medium to well done it would take over an hour and if the duck was cooked so that it was well done then the meat would be very tough! It was time to leave ... but....at this point the pork pie 'starter' arrived. Still should have left....but we didn't. We all changed our order....advised that the 'rare sirlion steak' could be well cooked and served as a Sunday Roast. We all chose this option.
The pork pie was ok...
We had to ask for bread which came with 2 pats of butter...we requested more butter and were given margerine - although this was denied.
The food arrived on cold plates and some of the roast potatoes were rather anaemic. I asked for more gravy and for some 'more roasted' roast potaoes. My plate was taken away and after a while another cold plate was returned which now contained a cold steak, cold cabbage, burnt yorkshire pudding and twice fried roast potaoes...I lost my appetite. The additional gravy was served in a chipped Silver Jubillee cup - cold, no spout and about 3 tablespoons for 3 to share...but it was very tasty gravy.
The waitress asked what was wrong with my meal and I told her it was very disappointing...cold, rehashed, etc. She offered to replace it or provide something different. I declined. Just as well as we learnt later we would have been charged for this. It was not a genuine attempt to resolve the situation.
We were not offered the dessert menu or coffee. We asked for the bill and I was shocked to see that we were still being charged for my meal - �14. I queried this and ended up speaking to the manager.
It now gets worse - he explained that there was nothing wrong with my meal except that it did not meet my personal taste - which was not a reason not to be charged for it! Flabbergasted I pointed out that the chef refused to cater for our original personal choices and that un-roasted roast potaoes, cold steak, cold plates and a lack of gravy were hardly personal whims! He got more sarcastic and patronising by the minute, telling us no-one could cook a rib of beef well done (shame no-one has told the Michelin Star Chef a few hundred yards down the road at The House this! ) and that we 'needed to get out more' as they had 'bent over backwards for us'. He seemed keen to tell us that it didn't matter what we thought because the place had been open 3 months and was 'turning over a profit' which we found extraordinary and useless information. We paid and left.
Upon reflection the menu was a bit odd and catered for groups of diners - beef for 2 or 4 and lamb for 3/4 which really restricts dining choices. The food was very very badly let down by the service. We regularly buy our meat at Elliots and our fish at Hatt's. This place ruined good quality ingredients..my meal could have been saved with a hot plate, a replacement side order of roast potatoes and some additional gravy. However, the service was appalling and the manager just made the experience worse. One other thing, the place was empty, more staff than customers. It is sterile and devoid of atmosphere. It smelt of disinfectant from the toilets and I can see how it used to be a mortuary. Not much has changed. Don't go here, you will be severely disappointed and patronised by a manager with absolutely zero knowledge of food and customer service.
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Second visit to this pub, and it'll definitely be my last. Had quite the worst service I've ever experienced, starting with and entire table with empty glasses waiting for wine while the waitress happily glugged from her own glass at the bar, to half an hour's wait for our order to be taken, to every single person at the table having to re-do their order when it transpired that most of the menu wasn't 'on' that night. The excuse? It's Monday evening and supplies are low. Well we'd booked our table in advance, and as prices aren't reduced on Mondays I expect, strangely, the same service and food I'd get on a Friday or Saturday. We laughed off all the problems due to generally affable waiters but when the starters arrived and half were quite awful and inedible the problems really started. The manager insisted on telling us that potted salmon was really supposed to be mixed with mayo or cream cheese with the slab of butter that should have capped it, lying mixed in with the mush on the plate. And apparently mushrooms on toast is supposed to taste as if it's been fried in oil that hasn't been changed for days.
I'd forgotten that places like this existed, but as the other reviews say, people can vote with their feet and judging by the empty seats in this pub, it'll be out of business by Xmas.
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Food indifferent and overpriced for the quality, �13 for a main faeturing a single duck leg, �22 for Dover sole. There are several gastro-pubs which deliver excellent food for these kind of prices in Islington, the food here no better than OK. Very, very slow service (waited an hour for our starters and then a further 25 minutes for our main course), despite the fact that only a handful of other diners in the place. Won't be returning.
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Just returned from a very annoying evening at this pub. This was my third visit to the pub - each previous time I was willing to put the problems down to teething troubles (very slow service on visit 1, my main course turning up 15 minutes after my fellow diners on visit 2), but no more.
On this occasion, our waiter returned 5-6 times to tell us that various items we had ordered were not available (putting the exucse down to it being Monday) and when the starters arrived, 2 of them were of sub standard quality. The waiter agreed to take them off the bill, but at the end of the evening, the manager decided to argue the merits of each dish with us and refused to take them off the bill, seemingly unaware of how to deal with unsatisfied customers. Considering the night was a special occasion - and we had already made them aware of this - this arguing the toss was the last straw.
When there's one of the best gastro pubs in London less than 2 mibnutes from this place (The House) there's no reason to go back to this place - avoid at all costs...
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I don't understand exactly what you mean by 'overpriced', frankly. A starter at under �5 and mains ranging from �9 to �14, I call that reasonable.
The atmosphere is great and when I was there people (the regulars) seemed to be pleased with the changes and happy that their favourite pub was back on.
I thought it was a great fresh new start, the staff are friendly without being pretnetious and so is the food. Good selection of very English food without trying to be something it isn't. I gave it full marks when I was there last and certainly plan to go back again soon.
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I am a mate of the folks who took over the running of the Marquess and so was expecting something like the Redchurch on Red Church street near Brick Lane. I was surprised to find a relaxed pub with wicked food and more interesting beers than are normally available. It has a lovely, friendly atmosphere which, I have heard, is polar opposite what it used to be like. I recommend it for lazy Sundays in particular. Enjoy.
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Tried this out, having read in the ES magazine that it had been taken over by chefs from the Ivy and St John. Still v. quite as no-one in the area seems to know anything about it. Separate dining room which is nicely laid out and friendly staff. Food has a definite English bent as does the wine list - with lots of Kent and Sussex wines, perry on tap and 40 whiskies to choose from.
One bad thing - couldn't work out for a while what the hell the awful smell was. Eventually worked out it was the flowers on the palm tree at the front, which for some unknown reason they'd also put on all the tables. Barring this olfactory aberration, can recommend this nice new pub.
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Funny thing; 3 reviews over 2 years then 5 in one month.
Might this to be something with the publicity conscious owners?
It is not a bad drinking house - attempting to be a pub.
The food is excellent - if overpriced.
The problem is that the place is never ready. It seems to be continuously preparing itself for something that never arrives.
It is still being painted. There are carpenters and electricians all over the place. The bar is regularly covered in paperwork. Meetings of the extraordinarily large staff take place in public.
Young's beer is always worth a trip. But who wants to by beer at �22 a bottle? I am not sure that that makes a pub.
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This has just been taken over and they seem to really be turning it around. The food is the kind of thing that makes you proud to be English and the beers and whiskies are great. Since the more troublesome croud left the pub seems a bit quiet though. I don't car - just poelased to have my local back.
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Awesome, differance in three months is incredible.. Great food you have to try the pies.. Well worth a visit...
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Good Food, Great atmosphere, Best Sunday Lunch ive had in a long time..
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Oops, forgot to say, that it got totally redone with some help from the folks at The Ivy (food wise). Ale supposed to be good as well.
Sorry - Jose
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I belong to a website back here in the states that gives me the skinny every day on what's new and what to check out in London as far as pubs, eateries, fashion and all that shite.
Anyway, todays story was of this pub and how it supposed to be, as one of yer great reviewers put in a review, "the dogs bollocks."
Pls let me know if this is the case, so when I get back in October, I'll check it out.
Cheers,
Jose USA
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This place has gone dramatically downhill. The Landlord left a while ago and the place is now a shambles. TVs on showing nothing in particular, children running about and dreadful RnB music being played at high volume. The drinkers of old have all understandably moved on and the current customers are all gormless dullards in flammable sportswear. Not sure what Youngs plan to do about all this, but it is not reflecting well on them at all.
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Victorian Young's Pub
alocal - 19 May 2005 02:44 |
No it's not
It used to be but they butchered it about a year ago, sloshing red paint over the walls, ripping up the carpet and sticking big twig things all over the place. And the oil paintings, which used to be merrily defaced with photos of the local hero Arsene Wenger's face superimposed over that of some old codger, have gone too. Was: 8 out of 10. Now: 1 out of 10.
"Southstar" - 27 Jan 2004 12:33 |
the best kept secret in north london
great food, in fact outstanding food, and great staff and service highly recommended
alex - 18 Nov 2003 19:41 |
