The Island Queen, Islington

Last autumn, having heard great reviews from friends, I visited this place in a group of 10 people for Sunday lunch. After well over an hour's wait, and a gentle reminder to the bar staff, we were informed that the lamb was finished. We were pretty peeved at this but chose other dishes, and, after visiting the kitchen to see what was going on, were given a free round. The food then came in dribs and drabs over the next hour so that some of us had long finished before some had started, and one person, in famished desperation, had to make do with the wrong order.
Last weekend myself and three others from that party found ourselves in Islington, and, after finding the Narrowboat pub packed, thought it reasonableto give this one another try. After all, we had been in a large group before. Forty five minutes after ordering we enquired after our food with the surly barman, who suggested that we had only just ordered (we ordered with him!) and that we were at the back of the queue. After three more visits to the bar over the next half hour we finally got our food. A couple of mouthfuls of roast meat, plonked on top of a pile of mash to make it look more plentiful, was worth neither the money, wait or general stress levels of eating in this place. There are loads of great pubs in this area, i'll be staying away from this one.

11 Apr 2006 14:20