please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Massive fail from the staff at the Kings Head tonight (06/12/2013). The most under served pint of Pilsner Urquell I have had in over ten years in London. The beer level was an inch and half from the top of the glass and well under the pint line. When I politely requested a top up (which would just be given automatically in any good pub), the bar maid pulled a face at me and started an argument as did two bar managers soon afterwards. After the second bar manager came out and claimed it was a 'legal requirement' to serve the pint in this way and it was an 'oversized' glass, I pointed out that I never seen a pint of Pilsener Urquell served in this way in London recently and I drink it regularly, and you can use that argument if the beer head reaches the top of the glass, which it completely didn't it was over an inch of air - so if it was such a legal requirement it should be happening more often no? Fell on deaf ears.
I won't be going back, they have a good selection of beers, but the staff don't know how to treat and serve beer, or their customers. They'd rather have a massive dispute with a customer than just top up a beer.
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Bit of a disappointment i.e. service, pint and price. Had to ask to fill to the top. But spacious and clean.
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This pub used to be a regular haunt of mine in the early noughties. Went in with a group of friends on a quiet Tuesday night to find the place hasn't changed much. The staff have - and they are slow and surly to the point of being rude. Despite having 4 handpumps on, when questioned about the beer we were advised to go over the road to the Wetherspoons if we were interested in real ale, as they (i.e. the King's Head) are mainly interested in food. I sincerely hope we caught the staff on a bad night - maybe the pub dog has just died - but I won't be going back to find out.
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At 2100 on a Friday night it's a bit like the scare floor in Monsters Inc. Lots and lots of fashion and trends, the odd tentacle etc. If some bright spark ever gets rounds to inventing Atkins style carb free lager and crisps, then this place would be one of the first places to sell 'em.
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Met some friends here for Sunday lunch and was quite disappointed by the whole thing. Besides the slow service and surly staff, the food came out at different times and was all quite cold. The vegetables were soggy potatoes and carrots, not a green thing to be seen. The roast pork was dry and didn't come with apple sauce (even though I specifically asked) and none of the advertised crackling. The roast beef was overcooked and Yorkshire puddings all undercooked. All in all a very overpriced bland meal. We won't be going back.
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a pub i last visted in 1983 then it was a bit of dump of a pub now a trendy pub only had a half and left
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Lively pub, cultured clientele, delightful ambience, but why oh why did they take nachos off the menu? They do have plenty of alternatives and the guys at the bar and friendly, so they get away with it, but they are testing my loyalty to the limit! Seriously, lovely pub - well worth a visit.
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Great selection of reasonably priced - for the area - beers, nice food (the condiments are particularly impressive). Shame they don't have TVs to show the football though.
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I've stopped going here. The staff are bad enough, and now they've made it look like everywhere else as if it was too distinctive or something. The food has started appearing on pretentious chopping boards instead of plates and suddenly the food isn't such good value anyway- the steak has gone up by 50%.
The staff are a mystery - I don't understand why people are employed when they clearly hate serving others. Wordless and surly best sums most of them up.
I thought I'd found somewhere to go in Crouch End at last, but the refit has sucked out one of the good bits about it, the quirky decor. I'll be finding somewhere else.
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Popped in here yesterday afternoon/early evening and found a fairly nice pub in the centre of Crouch End. The pub reminded me very much of some of my old student haunts, with a slightly down-at-heel atmosphere and featuring events such as live comedy and live music nights. The young bar staff were all very pleasant and efficient, and the Sunday roast I tried was nice, albeit a little pricey. The three real ales were Theakston Lightfoot, Sharps Doom Bar and Fullers London Pride. The pub also claimed to serve 20 ciders. I saw Westons Old Rosie and Addlestones and also had 3 unusual bottles from the fridge including a rather pleasant Thistly Cross Ginger & Gold, which was unusually from Scotland. My best laid plans to visit 5 further pubs ended here! I could quite happily return.
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Too gastro, not pubby enough. But I'm not saying it's bad by any means. It's a nice looking place, but doesn't stand up against it's counterpoint over the road, the Queen's, which is even nicer looking, has more character, and does both the pub bit and the food bit better. Not bad, though.
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Great Pub
Was in here last night.
Decent Guinness and a decent Barmaid
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I had a nice pint of Pride in here one Saturday evening recently and although I found the staff to be nice enough I decided not to stay and try the other ale offering of Banker�s Draft as I found it hard to get settled due to there being no seating or standing room other than at the busy bar. I wouldn�t normally find this a problem, but unfortunately the patrons of the King�s Head that I �bumped into� seemed to be a self obsessed bunch who wouldn�t move out of the way for the queen if she popped in.
Along with the two ales there is a wide selection of premium lagers and also Old Rosie cider. The staff were pleasant enough and seemed to easily cope with the demands of the thirsty punters.
I would go back here again if I happened to be in Crouch End during the daytime when the pub is less busy, but I wouldn't entertain the idea of another weekend night visit.
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Visited the Wednesday night quiz in the downstairs bar. The quiz was good, but the bar was pretty horrible - very dark and dingy, rather hot, and just one ale on the pump (London Pride). We didn't drink upstairs so on this occasion I won't rate the pub.
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This is a quality pub ideal for a night our if you wanna stay local but still have good time, usually pretty busy and has an awesome selection of beers.
Seems to be easier to get served than it used to be, might be something to do with clearing of a lot onf the random furniture they used to have.
Ideal place to go with your mates or your girlfriend.
Not as poncy as some people claim either!!
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Can I just say great staff. Was in here last Saturday afternoon for lunch, after ordering and paying at the bar the barmaid came across to say that my mate's choice was off, so she looked again and reordered and added in a side order of fries. The girl again apologised they hadn't had what was ordered and said that they wouldn't charge the extra �2 or so to make it up to us. Just a little thing but great customer service. Great selection of wine and beer, nice atmosphere, expect it's a lot busier at night and maybe not everyone's cup of tea but definately worth a visit.
anonymous - 7 Mar 2007 17:40 |
Best pub in Crouch End - ok that's not that difficult but the others don't even come close. Brilliant downstairs venue for comedy and live music, very atmospheric.
There always seems to be a new beer on tap whenever I go in and the overall range is top notch. I agree with above about not enough seats, but plenty of places to lean.
Staff are good, service is quick and friendly. Don't know where they get their music from but the choice of tunes is excellent.
Food is very good, especially the Sunday roasts.
Some of the crowd can be a bit poseur-ish, some are bohemian layabouts looking for inspiration, but all are generally friendly and polite.
Great Boozer
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This place really tries hard, and credit should be given for that. The problem is that the clientele are typical Crouch End media / minor celebrity types who don't really understand what a pub or a bar actually is, and so the Kings Head is dragged down to a blander level than it deserves. Staff are good, drinks selection is fine, there are enough little nooks and corners to keep it interesting, but overall, what could have been a jewel of a pub is ultimately let down by its customers and location.
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Atmosphere is ok, friendly, not a lot of seats in the front bit where everyone goes because you can smoke so get there before 3pm.
a good selection of poncey/nice beers, although regularly run out of such drinks like erm, "white wine" on busy nights , and key beers like staropramen etc
most of the staff are friendly enough for a busy place but the younger ones a bit clueless ie. opening bottles of champagne and asking for non standard drinks can be a problem - and the manager seems to have given the bar crew futuristic fiddly stick pokey things to open up the tills and it takes ages to pay for a round
its just ok really, and popular because Crouch End is shit for pubs in general. I appreciate its not an easy job to do, but the bar manager/management clearly need to pull their finger out and sort out some of the basics - particularly when their happy to charge top dollar..
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Good beers, poor atmosphere.
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OK. Looks nice, but not enough seats. And in lieu of anywhere else stylish in Crouch End (why??) , the place is often full of posers who are there to be seen rather than have a good time. Great selection of beers, though.
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I live in Archway so the beer prices are astronomical by my standard. Still, their draft selection is absolutely stellar, easily the best in the area. They have both outstanding continental beers like Franziskaner on draft as well as a solid lineup of Real Ale with no shit, token bitters. For a poncy bar, the staff are efficient and friendly. Worth checking out for the beer alone.
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As the comments below have said, there's a good selection of beer, and the food is tasty - but we went in on New Year's Day for lunch, and waited an age for our meals to turn up. Two did - and they were cold - then the other two followed half an hour later, and finally our warmed up first lot took a further fifteen minutes to arrive. The staff were apologetic, but only agreed rather grudgingly to give us a round for having made us wait so long.
anonymous - 5 Jan 2006 17:04 |
This has gone down hill since the "refurbishment", it use to be a passable pub with a couple of small screens showing football and the great comedy club downstairs.
The comedy club still remains, but the pub looks like the afterbirth creation of Laurence Lleweyln-Bowen with drapes, and arty farty decor.
To poncy to be a pub.
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Quite smokey and seating is at a premium. Good selection of beers, friendly staff. Nothing special.
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Lovely pub, apart from the fact that there's always lots of smokers there. Lovely decor, gorgeous food. We need more pubs like this in Crouch End.
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ok for a couple of casual drinks now and then, with some nice beer on offer. seating is hard to come by, which is fine for the majority of punters who just come here to stand around and be seen in their trendy outfits, but for me it can get quite uncomfortable squeezed into some hot, cramped corner, especially if i'm tired. In such situations I either guzzle Leffe more quickly than usual or leave.
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Ok its a bit poncey, but it is in Crouch End, it is pricey too but there is a good selection of continental lagers, never eaten here but have been to the comedy many times in the downstairs bar which is always great, however they don't always have the bar downstairs open but still have three staff on the bar upstairs when two will do!
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Impossible to get a seat. Impossible to stand up because of all the people in army jackets.
Narrowest demographic of any place I've been in. Oh and the refurb is a confused mess of house clearance nonsense.
Brett - 7 Nov 2004 16:58 |
A bit pricey and the air is always thick with choking fag fumes.
They really need to invest in a decent air-con system.
Still, it's usually packed and has a good atmosphere so they must be doing something right.
Peter - 30 Oct 2004 13:48 |
yeh fair enough the refurb is well done and quite nice, but i just feel that we are loosing all of our 'traditional' pubs to these 'new style' establishments with not much character. on the whole however, a nice place to eat and drink.
Tom Riding - 29 Jul 2004 14:54 |
great comedy downstairs. V. popular pub, and contrary to some opinions I like the refurbishment.
anonymous - 8 Jun 2004 16:09 |
This pub is fantastic. I drank there before the re-furb and it was cool, now it's even better. Its trendy but without trying, brilliant place to chill out with mates. Fab salsa classes on mondays, and excellent jazz band on quite regularly as well as feature performances from comedians. Highly recommended!
Ally - 7 Apr 2004 11:23 |
Great food, good beer and loads of comfy seating
Tracey Ellis - 20 Jan 2004 13:36 |
Just been refurbished and a nice job too. A well needed but unoffensive update and totally fitting with its corner location. At last the sort of place you walk into without having too look over your shoulder.....
Matt - 14 Jan 2004 16:37 |
Its famous for the 'Downstairs at the Kings Head' caberat club where the likes of Eddie Izard and Rich Hall have played. I can' believe you didn't have it on her but then the pub itself used to be quite grotty, its just had a face lift and is now fab (wasn't very women friendly before now has great food and wine menu).
Jenny - 15 Dec 2003 14:06 |
