The Thirsty Bear Reviews Summary

Service

Pros:

• "The bar staff were good for a chat and quick to serve."
• "The staff were polite, friendly and engaging, which always helps."
• "Drinks ordered through the tablet were delivered very promptly."
• "The staff were all friendly and helpful, the atmosphere was cheerful."
• "The bar staff were really great at looking after us and making sure our drinks were looked after when some guys started chatting to us."
• "Best thing was the staff, not used to staff going out of their way to give good service in a pub but that's what they did."
• "You were fast with a smile when under pressure and your service was flawless."

Cons:

• "The lady behind the counter was too busy having a chit chat with absolutely everybody at the bar instead of taking on her duties and serving drinks."
• "The waitress had a horrible attitude and said 'What do you want to know?! You just order, figure it out.'"
• "Ordered food that didn’t arrive in the following 2 hours we spent at the pub, despite chasing numerous times."
• "Service really bad, short tempered staff, couldn't pour a shandy."
• "Service was friendly but average to poor."
• "Service was reeaaallllyyyy slow. It's seat yourself so took a little bit of time for a server to bring us a menu."
• "The worst pub service I've ever had - and I've been to a lot of pubs!"

Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Charming decor and staff."
• "Looks cool and quirky with the beer pumps at tables."
• "Excellent mix of lively but not too busy, football screens on top floor but at just the right volume."
• "Cool men's toilet as well with beer barrels for urinals."
• "Nice mix of modern and old pub features."
• "Thirsty Bear Bar rocks! Dropped by for a games meetup and it was epic."
• "Music was a great volume and the 'social' atmosphere was really neat."

Cons:

• "The pub was tired. Staff not that engaging."
• "Music was too loud (and pretty abysmal, but hey - 25p to change the track to another rubbish track!), the bar feels grubby and dingy - not a particularly fun or smart atmosphere."
• "We left after one pint (from bar...) as the speakers were set to can't-hear-person-next-to-you-shouting volume."
• "Was a bit louder than I would have liked for a chat, and the card machine was down."
• "The gents toilet absolutely stinks and needs to basically be painted in bleach."
• "Grubby dirty place, tables were sticky and toilets are cramped and piss stinking."
• "Overall the whole pub was filthy. Men's toilets were overflowing. Loads of ants upstairs."

Food & Drinks

Pros:

• "Good cold beer served swiftly and happily."
• "Had the calamari, Baja fish tacos and the Truffle mac and cheese. Calamari seemed pricy at $19 but was so worth it!"
• "Good burgers too, will definitely go back."
• "They have a good selection of beers and wines including three real ales to choose from."
• "The food was really good and more than reasonably priced."
• "Had a burger every time and they are DELICIOUS. Better than independent places, texture was perfect and tasted so nice."
• "The food was absolutely delicious with the chicken burger being on point."

Cons:

• "Food was below average."
• "The buffalo chicken wings were the best in London but no more."
• "Overpriced and we had to essentially wait our own table as they had seemingly two blokes running the whole place."
• "The nachos were just tortilla chips with supermarket guacamole and salsa spooned on top."
• "The meals so bad! Not worth waiting for. Maybe if you didn't overcook your chicken to the driest it can be, the meals would go out on time."
• "Now it's too noisy and the burgers are overpriced now chips are a side."
• "The burger was an abomination. They ruined burgers for me and scarred me for life."

Technology & Innovation

Pros:

• "There is an iPad ordering system by which you can open a tab at the bar and order food and drinks at your table, with table side delivery."
• "Visited on a mid week night. Was worried that the online ordering was a gimmick but worked perfectly."
• "Pour your own pint via a personalised beer pouring tap on your table...just tap on your personalised iPad to select and pour."
• "The drink choices are great (nice selection of beers. Wines and gins!). They have an interative self-service tablet on some of their tables which is great for large groups!"
• "The stress of queueing at the bar is totally removed as you order on the iPad at your table."
• "Each table has an electronic terminal that enables you to order drinks and food, without having to get out of your seat."
• "Enjoy the iPad-at-your-table gimmick and it's always fun to pour your own pints with your table's dedicated beer pump!"

Cons:

• "Well the bear isn’t the only one who is thirsty, so is everyone who goes into this pub. I booked a table with confirmation of beer taps and on table ordering etc. absolutely non of which worked in the entire pub."
• "Pub heavily advertises ordering from iPads and pulling your own pints, but this feature is actually only present on a handful of tables."
• "There's a tablet on each table that lets you order drinks to the table, this should be a really good feature, however they are mounted on a pole in the middle of the table, the screen is super bright and it just gets in the way!!"
• "IPad software crashed a few times so we lost what we were doing on it at the time."
• "Ordering from your table took much longer than physically walking to the bar to place an order."
• "Have to make orders off an ipad that doesn't work efficiently."
• "Most of the beer taps and iPads seemed to be not working or missing from the tables."

Management & Staff Interaction

Pros:

• "Attentive team serving and lots of cosy spots to tuck yourself away in."
• "This is how all pubs should be - one of my biggest pet hates is waiting at the bar and not getting a seat. In the thirsty bear neither of these are a consideration as there is plenty of seating all with beer taps right by your seat."
• "You get to see who can pour a pint and who can't, and the service is even quicker!"
• "Swap your credit card for a key card and order your drinks and food from an iPad on your table."
• "The bar staff were so friendly, especially the gentleman who made our old fashioned."
• "Service was quite good (after the initial barrel issue). Even when there was a queue at the bar, we would put our order on the iPad, and our drinks would be first out (effectively jumping the queue)."
• "With the table we reserved, we could order drinks through a tablet there (with a payment card to secure a tab) and we could pull our own pints."

Cons:

• "On the whole, it was awful. The only good thing was that they eventually admitted their complete mess-up and offered suitable compensation."
• "Sadly, we will not be returning to the thirsty bear. The manager was incredibly rude and unwilling to help customers."
• "However this is all overshadowed by the way the owner/manager bullies the bar and waiting staff in front of customers."
• "After seeing a previous post, this supervisor clearly has an issue with Irish people so if you are irish I’d urge you to steer clear as you will not be welcomed by this racist bigot."
• "Would be your run of the mill average pub, but the landlord who openly berates his staff within ear shot of customers is extremely uncomfortable."
• "The worst pub service I've ever had - and I've been to a lot of pubs!"
• "The food was then put on the table next to us and we were called rude for the whole debacle."