The Southwark Tavern Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "The haddock here is truly glorious!!! Beautifully breaded and fried."
• "Tuck into some fabulous seasonal pub grub."
• "The fish and chips were some of the best I've ever had."
• "Very tasty food to match."
• "Food was prepared well and tasty."
• "The food is excellent and very reasonably priced."
• "Food was excellent and all in all a very nice time enjoyed by all."

Cons:

• "The food is solid, if not mind blowing."
• "The potatoes weren't crisp at all and the veg was quite hard."
• "The main course wasn't great, horrible roast potatoes and the carrots and parsnips weren't cooked right."
• "Roast left a lot to be desired. Food Was cold and Parsnips undercooked."
• "I tried a burger there... rather dry."
• "Had the fish and chips - fish ok, chips dry and uninteresting, and not many of them."
• "The vegan lasagne (10 pound) was terrible with raw vegetables inside that were even difficult to eat."

Service

Pros:

• "The waiter Arlind was really nice and made us a super nice birthday drink."
• "Staff were attentive and friendly."
• "Our server told us he was from Norway, and he was so great. Very kind and friendly."
• "Fast service is a plus."
• "Bar staff are really friendly and do a good job of keeping track who is next to be served when its busy."
• "Staff very friendly as always."
• "The staff is super helpful and gives out great energy, especially the bartender Arlind."

Cons:

• "The young blonde woman serving me was probably the rudest I have ever experienced."
• "The service was extremely poor, which frustrated many of my guests."
• "It just seemed very unorganised... the staff didn’t appear to have a clue and no one came with our drinks or to take our food order or even apologise for all the mix ups."
• "The place was not busy but I still had to wait a while to be served by the sour faced bar maid."
• "The only negative was the behaviour and attitude of the two members of non-bar staff."
• "However, the barmaid completely ignored us several times."
• "The bar staff are so rude, and the general service quality is poor."

Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Some really cool seating options in the basement, which includes some converted prison cells."
• "The pub has a really nice atmosphere, the original painted windows, has a lot of light upstairs with plant and the downstairs area with the old cells turned into booths."
• "Overall a lovely atmosphere in this pub and certainly would consider heading back for breakfast again."
• "The pub is in a great location and has a brilliant layout and atmosphere."
• "Cozy ambience, great food and amazing choices of alcohol."
• "A great London pub experience... you still feel like you are in your own local pub full of friendly faces."
• "It's quite beautiful as well with wooden interior and traditional London stained glass in the pub windows."

Cons:

• "Not a very friendly atmosphere from the energy in the place."
• "The place has many seatings. Noisy. Not the coziest place I've been to."
• "Loud is a minus."
• "We arrived and couldn’t find any staff. When we did they sat us in the loudest part of the pub."
• "The toilets were the most filthy I have seen anywhere."
• "There is no real 'atmosphere' in this pub."
• "Atmosphere a bit odd: lovely building and interior but the vibe inside just a little bit odd."

Price

Pros:

• "Prices are a bit steep but probably in line with the area."
• "Good value for central London."
• "Drink prices were reasonable."
• "Drinks are very well priced though."
• "Lovely, friendly, busy traditional Pub, serving a large variety of beers, lager and cider."

Cons:

• "It's around £7 for a pint, which is obviously slightly on the expensive side but as expected because of its location."
• "Beers are expensive at £7 a pint!"
• "A disappointing Sunday roast; the drinks were excessively expensive (£7.10 for a pint) and the food itself was sub-par."
• "Shocked at the drink prices too, £6.95 for a peroni which was flat and undrinkable and £5.50 for a single vodka and lime."
• "Drinks are fairly overpriced as far as London drink prices go (£11 for a glass of Rioja!) Ouch."
• "I used to run this pub way back in 1994... Totally different now. Fabby but £12.95 for 250 mls of wine. That's a piss take."
• "Not worth £23?!"