The Black Lion Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "The fish and chips was good, although not the best one I've eaten."
• "Good food with great range of pizza's."
• "The food was really tasty and fresh, perfect place for beer with friends and Sunday Roast as well."
• "The food is delicious and the portions are big."
• "Their Sunday roast was really generous in portions and tasted well."
• "The pork was excellent veg and gravy and crackling was all great."
• "The fish was absolutely delicious! Super crispy skin and soft fish."

Cons:

• "Unfortunately yesterday took a friend as I highly Recomended their food and end up so diapointed."
• "Loses a star because of the food. Sometimes the dishes are good, but sometimes it doesn't seem good value for money."
• "The roast sirloin was very disappointing and fatty, not very much meat."
• "The burgers were so bad, dry and hard, they seem cheap."
• "Ordered the chicken liver pate which had gone absolutely vile bitter, and pizza which I’ll be damned if it wasn’t just a frozen pizza with suspiciously green-ish prosciutto on top."
• "Bang average roast today. Did not look like the pictures on Google reviews!"
• "The pizza itself wasn’t particularly great."

Staff and Service

Pros:

• "Staff are helpful and will challenge you if you don't stick to process."
• "Staff is friendly and hardworking."
• "The waiter was so kind and the food was serve quickly."
• "Staff were extremely helpful and friendly, actually went and bought milk alternative for allergy sufferer in dire need of a coffee."
• "Very warm and kind staff."
• "The staff were excellent and added to our overall enjoyment."
• "Service was prompt and efficient by two different pleasant members of staff."

Cons:

• "We were told we couldn’t order for 20 mins which actually ended up being about 35 mins."
• "Although the bar ladies tried to be friendly & helpful they were clearly overwhelmed."
• "Nice location, shame about the Management. Poor service & zero scruples for customer service."
• "Horrible and rude staff. Literally ignoring me at the bar on a busy sunny afternoon."
• "The owner makes it clear that to serve coffee is such a chore."
• "After waiting over 30 minutes, I went to ask them if our order was coming soon since we had to leave to catch a train and the waitress was just really rude."
• "Very disappointed with the service and very unprofessional."

Atmosphere and Location

Pros:

• "They played good commercial music and we were dancing there."
• "Located just off the river in Hammersmith this little english pub holds lovely weekend BBQs during the summer."
• "Nice location right on the river with a massive firepit and a ping pong table in the large beer garden."
• "A delightful place to drink or eat."
• "We enjoyed our pints here, nice atmosphere, calm and relaxing."
• "Love pub! Large outdoor seating shaded and sunny spots with TV showing live sport tennis when we attended."
• "With the location so close to the river and a massive beer garden, this is the perfect place to hang out on a nice day."

Cons:

• "Unfortunately I wasn't super impressed with the food."
• "Slightly overpriced, but pleasant atmosphere and plenty of outdoors seating. Sadly, it is separated from the river and you can't admire it directly."
• "Only problem is that the entire outdoor seating area is also a smoking area. You are very likely to have cigarette smoke blown into your face while trying to enjoy your dinner."
• "The smoke and ash wafted around in the tented area more than I expected and now my clothes and dog stink of smoke."
• "At our new table we had children shouting and screaming next to us."
• "downside was the place seemed to be full of kids who looked about 12 and they kicked everyone out at 11pm even though the website states 12pm."
• "Smelly dog was allowed to roam around the pub."

Management and Organization

Pros:

• "Jola, the manager, was amazing with helping me organise a staff party for 50 people."
• "Great transformation of the outdoors, the Black Lion has really raised their game through lockdown."
• "Service was really great and you can see that managers of this place try to create a unique atmosphere where everybody can feel good."
• "Fantastic place, very friendly staff and the management are just lovely couple."
• "Everything was very well organised and the service was lovely as always."
• "The outdoor seating area worked like a charm, the tables were spaced out to accommodate groups."
• "Cracking pub that's managed to make social distancing an improvement on the pub experience."

Cons:

• "Nice pub but my god is the management terrible. Tuesday evening, maybe 100 people in the extensive beer garden, only 2 people on the bar and 1 in the kitchen."
• "I'm afraid pub has gone downhill since mgmnt changed hands a year or so ago."
• "The customer service was lacking, we weren't asked how the food was, even though it felt as it was heated at 300°C and just tasteless."
• "Bit of a nightmare with the queuing system which was different, which some people stick to and others just go to other parts of the bar to get served quicker and jump the line."
• "Quick service 2 filthy glasses when I asked for another glass was given attitude about it being the water it was lipstick just serve clean glass."
• "Avoid if you have a foreign ID... Ignorant staff and management."
• "staff unwelcoming and there seems to be high staff turnover."