The Understudy Reviews Summary

Selection and Range of Drinks

Pros:

• "The bar offers a wide range of largers and ales and has very friendly staff."
• "Very impressive selection of craft beers. Friendly staff. Great outdoor seating area with views of the southbank and river."
• "Surprisingly good craft beer selection for a theatre bar."
• "Great beer range."
• "Good selection of London beers."
• "A great selection of craft beer, wine and hot drinks."
• "Really good beer, loads of craft beer. Great selection."

Cons:

• "Selection of beer is alright as they don't offer any main stream beers e.g. Carlsberg."
• "Soft drink selection is dismal also they've never had the non-alcoholic beer in stock when I've asked for it."
• "No lagers on tap, just a bunch of nonsense IPAs and the like. Rubbish experience overall."
• "Dirty beer lines. Deya was oxidised in the line."
• "Their good selection of craft beer is punitively expensive."
• "However, not much choice in terms of drinks and less so in food, which is overly-priced... 10£ for 2 tiny tacos is not cool."
• "Drink selection is good, and prior to the pandemic they'd let you try tasters on drinks on the tap."

Service and Staff

Pros:

• "They're really well organised with table spacing, ordering from the table and check in at the door - felt safe and comfortable."
• "Always busy but staff friendly and happy."
• "Staff pretty friendly too."
• "Great staff at a finally more relaxed bar-café on Southbank."
• "Polite staff who were super quick at bringing our online orders."
• "Staff were all lovely, and recommended drinks."
• "Staff are super pleasant."

Cons:

• "The boy with the hair parted in the middle was very rude from the moment we arrived in the bar."
• "Not overly friendly staff."
• "Several other customers served before me and then was told that I had to leave the bar to pick up my food from another building after I had paid."
• "The female staff are more distracted by their youth and good looks and talking amongst themselves rather than serve customers."
• "Rude bar staff as they continually ignore people who are next in the bar queue."
• "Frequently uninterested bar staff who seem more interested in themselves."
• "Very slow service, probably not enough staff."

Ambiance and Location

Pros:

• "Offers blankets to use if you are sitting outside so even if it's a little chilly you can still enjoy the fresh air."
• "The atmosphere was lovely."
• "Lovely place, good location with a view of the river."
• "Wonderful bar under the national theatre."
• "Best bar buzz in London."
• "Great, lively bar with lots of outside seating."
• "Loads of outdoor tables on the Thames."

Cons:

• "The queue to the bar was ridiculous."
• "There was a whiff of urine in the air which slightly unpleasant."
• "The levels of noise from several hundred people makes it difficult to think let alone hold a conversation."
• "The experience is extremely stressful due to the loud music and stuffy air."
• "Apparently you have to book a table only to arrive and find that it's basically a free for all and all the good tables get taken by those who just sit down rather than book."
• "The Understudy is unfortunately too often too crowded to be comfortable."
• "Popular bar because of its location. Crowded and noisy."

Price and Value

Pros:

• "Prices are alright given you're in Central London."
• "Honestly great place for a date, service is good, nice selection of drink."
• "Reasonably priced as well for the area."
• "Drinks are relatively cheap too given london."
• "Always a good rotating tap selection and not at an extortionate cost."
• "Very reasonably priced drinks."
• "Relatively quick service."

Cons:

• "Which you pay for in terms of drink costs."
• "Beers are INSANELY EXPENSIVE these days."
• "Overpriced and terrible service."
• "Prices are too high and can get a bit busy with tourists and theatre-goers."
• "Expensive (even for London prices...?)."
• "Awful prices (£25 for two pints and a single vodka and coke)."
• "Overpriced but conveniently located bar."

Food and Drink Quality

Pros:

• "Great vibe, and convenient for theater goers."
• "Good cask ale and really nice chicken food."
• "Selection of 3 different fast/street food eateries in the same location."
• "Just had an amazing Indian thali meal from Mumbai Mix at the Understudy."
• "I recommend their vegan pizza which is one of the best non-cheese pizzas I’ve tried."
• "Food is nice, although is geared towards snacking rather than meals."
• "Nice pub under the NT with a good selection of Gipsy Hill beers."

Cons:

• "Couldn't order coffee at 9:30pm because they'd 'put the chemicals in the coffee machine'."
• "The food was awful. £12 for a “Caesar Sando” - a dried tiny piece of chicken thigh daubed in sauce."
• "Frankly very disappointing. The bar was out of any kind of lager, and the food was awful."
• "Ran out of food by 8pm and also didn't have my table reservation after booking online."
• "But food is too awful to make up for it, paid £10 for a spoonful of one type of curry that had two pieces of paneer in it."
• "The food is not great. They give a shame to indian cuisine and they definitely shouldn’t call it thali."
• "Food options could be improved (we had chicken strips, which were okay - a bit dry, but fine)."