The Windsor Castle Reviews Summary

Service

Pros:

• "Friendly, competent staff and a large establishment with several distinct areas making social-distancing easier than in many other places."
• "Great service, beer and food. Real nice people both sides of the bar, no trouble or atmosphere."
• "Quick friendly service by good bar staff."
• "Staff were very friendly and the service was great."
• "Service was fab particularly given how busy."
• "Service fantastic Henrietta was so welcoming with me and my family, great hospitality."
• "The staff are all very efficient, friendly, hilarious, and knowledgable."

Cons:

• "Very slow service at the bar when we arrived."
• "Dreadful service meant that we waited 30 minutes without getting served once."
• "So really unnecessary aggressive bartender."
• "Slow service and rude bar staff."
• "Very rude landlord. Swore at me regarding a bag on a chair."
• "However, the manager gave me the most terrible experience I had in my life with pub staff. He is aggressive, demanding and stubborn, all of these with paying customers."
• "The barman was rude and aggressive and left disgusted by the service before eating food we ordered."

Atmosphere & Decor

Pros:

• "It's a lovely pub with a wonderful atmosphere and bespoke drinks selection."
• "An amazing find! This is why I love London. As soon as you get off the main roads you'll always discover old fashioned Victorian battle cruisers (boozers)."
• "Lovey traditional pub tucked out of the way. Kept in that traditional style as the wonderful Sam Smiths Brewery insist."
• "Lovely old school London 'boozer' this. Amazing traditional surroundings in a lovely part of London."
• "It's beautiful thought, with oak paneling, comfy sofas and a beautiful stained glass ceiling."
• "Looks wonderful and like it would have done in 1850s."
• "Enjoying a pint or two in this pub is like going back in time in Victorian London."

Cons:

• "Later in the week it is quite noisy - they could do with putting some carpet down."
• "An excellent Sam Smith's pub only marred by being slightly too loud during the week."
• "But no background music or anything and a very high ceiling so when there was a lot of conversation going around the sound level got very high and it was a bit hard to hear each other."
• "The pub itself is old, and in need of a lick of paint in several spots."
• "Also, it lacked sufficient seating around the bar."
• "A Sam Smith pub. Quite an old-timey feel to the place with a moulded ceiling and wooden and glass dividers in the bar. However, midway between Westminster and Victoria it gets very full very fast of an evening and the volume is deafening."
• "No phones policy is utter rubbish. They literally pulled pints out of people’s hands and physically pushed them out of the pub."

Food & Drinks

Pros:

• "Had a lovely time whilst visiting London and ended up in the Windsor castle where we retreated by the lovely Matilda she is an asset to your company keep her around and you’ll have very many happy customers."
• "Today a friend and I went to The Windsor Castle for drinks, happened to meet the new Chef at the bar who convinced us to have food. What a great recommendation. The fish and chips was divine and the pie and mash even better."
• "They serve food too and I got a portion of fish and chips which was really nice."
• "Great traditional pub next to the cathedral of Westminster. Pies are handmade and delicious and the cheesecake is exceptional!"
• "The food is astonishingly delicious, it seriously couldn’t be improved - as pub grub goes - and fantastic value for money."
• "Great pub food, especially their fish and chips, good house wine and really friendly service."
• "Nice decor, very friendly staff and amazing food! The hamburgers are great!"

Cons:

• "The chips were luke warm and soggy."
• "The breaded mushrooms... 2 slices of mushroom in breadcrumbs with a pot of mayo and a pile of iceberg lettuce for nearly a fiver?"
• "The food is terrable. Mash potateo tastes like a reconstitieted, (Wonder Mash in UK) powedered food and 'Cumberland' 'sausage' is neither a Cumbrian or even a sausage."
• "Ordered a burger and fries, fries were under cooked and burger was over."
• "I am somewhat of a regular at The Windsor Castle, but never tried the food and probably for a good reason. Sam Smith's beers are great, but the food was not even hot and probably similar to the Wetherspoons quality."
• "Food arrived cold and disjointed!"
• "The beer was OK, its a Sam Smith pub so that's what you get. Prices are OK, decor is brilliant. Food on the other hand was awful, slow, poor quality and not tasty and made you feel sick afterwards."

Accessibility & Policies

Pros:

• "The acces is pretty level, but the toilets are downstairs."
• "Really nice interior with a stained glass sunlight which glows nicely when the sun is shining. Toilets are always clean which is a big bonus as most Sam Smiths toilets are horrible."
• "The concept of no phones, tablets etc was bizarre but actually made it a much better night as you could talk and hear each other!"
• "One of my favourite pubs in London. Good food and drinks, for affordable prices."
• "It's affordable for the location."
• "Great bar and lots of cosy places to sit."
• "The staff are very warm and welcoming!"

Cons:

• "The only negative for me personally was their no electronic devices rule."
• "Once I was informed I needed to put my phone away I quickly felt uncomfortable and left."
• "Would give 0 stars, tbh."
• "Extremely disappointed therefore, that the key to the accessible toilet had gone missing so my friends had to negotiate two flights of stairs."
• "Definitely NOT A CHILD FRIENDLY PUB!!!"
• "Bigoted landlord who clearly has a problem with service dogs!"
• "It's a Sam Smiths pub, which has pluses and minuses. Minuses - I recently found they now have a 'no phones' policy."