The Marquess Tavern, Canonbury

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.

24 Aug 2006 18:58