Taylor Walker - Kensington and Chelsea

I booked a table for myself and my 3 teenage daughters. The restaurant is on the first floor. There was a couple at our table who were ejected, 6 other tables seating 5 or 6 were occupied by couples drinking beer only. Families of 4 or 5 were arriving constantly to eat but were refused, as no tables were available! 2 young men were doing their best to take orders but it was obvious they had zero training. Unbelievable! I 'm sure that turnover could be increased by 30% if a decent manager was in place. We waited an hour for one of the men to 'dare ' take our order, the food arrived quickly after that and was more than decent.

Wandering from our hotel we happened upon this pub in Earls Court. It was a very busy pub, it was after eight in the evening by this time and we managed to find a table that was free. The place was packed. We ordered food, which arrived very quickly indeed. I had the Cod Goujon and chips and my other half had the Lamb Shank Pie. To be fair, mine was okay but he was a little disappointed with his veg that accompanied the pie, a small spoonful of peas and chopped carrots. Otherwise all was good.

This pub is very convenient, just mere steps from the Earl's Court station. The pub was not crowded during our visit. It was not clear that we had to order food at the counter, so we sat at the table where menus were displayed. We finally flagged down a staff after a 10 minute wait, and was told that we needed to go to the counter to order, but since the pub is not busy, he will service us at the table. Our first night dinner in London, so Hubby and I both ordered the traditional fish and chips. The food was so horribly bland. Even the tartar sauce had no seasoning. We incorrectly assumed that since we were in a pub, there would be adults, but a family with two toddlers arrived and took the table next to us. These toddlers kept climbing up and down the shared banquet seating and screaming. Needless to say, it was the least enjoyable dinner we had in London in both taste and atmosphere. Not to mentioned, it was pretty pricy at £31.08 for two tasteless fish and chips and no alcohol.

We'd spent the morning exploring the collections of the Petrie Museum and needed to find something close by as we had only a short lunch break before heading over to the Egypt Exploration Society. We saw the sign outside this pub that said it served traditional British food so decided to give it a try. I was surprised that it had so few customers at noon but we found the staff very friendly. I decided to try the BBQ Pulled Pork topped jacket and it arrived fairly quickly accompanied with a nice tossed salad with dressing. It was quite filling and reasonably priced.

The meal is served upstairs and although, the food tasted good and arrived in a timely fashion there were not many people eating. The main issue is the staff, there is one woman and she worked hard and did a good job considering she took orders, brought the food and drink, as well as settle the bill, it is slow, why have only one staff member with so many patrons.