The Cross Keys, Aldeburgh

Is this the same pub we're all talking about? Went there this weekend with a large mixed crowd of adults and children and couldn't have been made more welcome. Not only was the food fresh, generous and delicious (good enough to appease all our group's gastro-snobs) but we also had the landlord coming over to praise our children for being so well behaved. An absolutely lovely pub.

25 Mar 2009 13:20

The Marquess Tavern, Canonbury

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.

13 Sep 2006 14:23

The Marquess Tavern, Canonbury

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.

22 Aug 2006 15:45

The Marquess Tavern, Canonbury

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.

20 Jun 2006 17:04