The St Johns Tavern, Archway

I had the misfortune of going to this place last night (a Monday night). we had rung in advance to see if we could get a table for 5 and were told that it was fine as they were not busy. we got there(2 of us) at 7.15 to be greeted by a surly guard of a woman who asked us since the others had not arrived to go to the bar. we peered into the restaurant and noticed that it was crowded out by at least on couple and all the other tables were empty. Two bored staff were chatting away to one side. It took several attempts to get passed this pubescent but finally she agreed that they were not busy and we could sit down and wait for our friends. We brushed passed the tumbleweed into our cramped booth. Within a blink of an eye she was there asking us what drinks we would like, we asked her to give us a minute and well trained as she was: dead on 60 seconds she was back. Our friends arrived, we choose our drinks and meal and started to relax. The wine was ceremoniously plonked onto the table and an order for coke took a good half an hour. Throughout our time here we were regarded as an imposition and irritation by the staff. If surly became an Olympic event than these staff would be in with a big shout for gold in 2012. The food was okay and I think the kitchen did a good job but the front staff were obsessed with their attitude problems. Obviously this place is perfectly placed amongst the kebab shops, the pound shops and the homeless of archway and that is why the staff are so snooty. Are they trying to make something here? The locality is fine without this pretentious restaurant/pub. ... At the end of our meal we were presented with a bill. The service charge was included on the bill. We refused to include this when we paid. The staff member was bemused by this and the discretionary part of the bill had to be pointed out to him (you see, the female guard has already decided she was bored with us). This apparently had never happened before..hmm. The service charge is for service not for us to be made to feel uncomfortable and resentful. This place is terrible and I urge everyone to ignore this pseudo gastro pub restaurant until the management understands that it will run out of customers very soon if it does not improve. Maybe they can't be bothered, it certainly seems that way.

5 Feb 2008 10:42