The Coal Hole, Strand

I have to admit I was impressed by The Coal Hole. Impressed that service could get as bad as that which I received. On attempting to order a round which included a couple of pints of one of their guest ales, Becks and Staropramen I was informed that they had none of their listed guest ales on tap and that they had run out of both Becks and Staropramen. Impressive stuff. Then the bar staff serving me changed her mind; Becks was available. Yet, instead she mysteriously decided to furnish me with 2 pints of London Pride instead of Becks. Sadly, I paid before I pulled these 2 pints into the light to realise they were not Becks. In this time, she'd already run off to serve someone else in this busy bar. I attempted to catch her attention so that she could rectify her mistake, but instead she proceeded to drop a glass on the floor and then disappear somewhere out of public view for some minutes. By the time she did return to serving and see me, she claimed that I had been standing at the bar "for well over half an hour" since she'd served me and thus she could not take back the 2 wrongly delivered London Prides. I had been there for 10 minutes, max 15. Eventually she extremely begrudgingly exchanged the pints for what I had originally ordered.
Avoid this pub.

7 Feb 2010 22:21

The Harcourt Arms, Marylebone

Really friendly pub, popular with the London Swedish community. For instance, shows Swedish Elitserien ice-hockey and Allsvenskan football matches on its screen. Most of the staff are Swedish and the food menu has a slightly Swedish flavour (although I think they should really increase their Swedish dish offering)as well as more English/pub dishes.
Patio courtyard area out the back is nice in the summer - it's very much surrounded by buildings, so not very green - but pleasant for London.

3 Apr 2008 14:54

The Vintry, St Albans

Whilst the recent refurbishment has certainly improved the interior of this pub and got rid of the chav element that plagued it before, the service is appalling. When we were there, at a quiet time, the bar staff treated us as if customers were an extreme annoyance and continued their loud conversation with each other as they served us. Service was also very slow despite the pub being very quiet. It's a shame as it's in a prime spot and looks good inside.

3 Apr 2008 14:50