My husband and I used to love this pub - particularly for its Thai food, but it has been a few years since we've eaten here. And it couldn't have been further removed from how it used to be. We had some of the worst Thai food we have ever eaten. I ordered the sliced sirloin steak with lime chilli sauce on a bed of lettuce - after checking that it was lean meat. But it was so fatty and gristly I couldn't even cut some of it, and the sauce was like cheap jam. The waitress agreed the meat was very fatty and said it wasn't usually, so I ordered spicy Thai fish cakes instead. These were like thin slices of tasteless, deep-fried shoe leather and inedible. My husband had the Tiger Roar 'speciality' roast duck red curry. The meat was mostly fat and the sauce tasted like it had come out of a jar. No wonder there were so few diners - the place used to be packed and you'd be lucky to get a table. A real disappointment and a real shame!
Was poured a really dodgy pint of Amstel. Fair enough, that happens. What normally doesn't is being refused a new drink in replacement. The only way would be to buy a new pint. It was the baldy guy who in another review was labelled with "poor service". am definitely of that opinion. What was a good pub is now awful. Not coming back.
Where do these people all eat Thai at? This place serves terrible Thai food!! Its the Mr Wu of Thai food, and not cheap considering the artificial dyed bland commodity food they serve...
Good bar out front though!!
Blinding pub, great friendly staff. Definitely worth a visit
I've been coming to the KA on and off for at least five years. Last night was a bit of a shock:
1) Haughty bar chappie with a shaven head who treated customers with terse [Gallic?] incivility and exuded angry 'I don't have to be here' vibes all evening.
2) Two out of four beers available and those not particularly well kept.
A pub can survive on surly service with wonderful beer; or average beer with great service. But both together are fatal.
I've never seen the guv'nor behind the bar. Is there one?
What a disgrace. A pub that deserves so much better than its incredibly rude and superior staff. I will never go there again, and have to agree with many other comments here regarding how far the service has slipped. How can any business treat its customers with such contempt and expect to get away with it? A hateful experience.
This pub used to be one of the best. I popped back a couple of weeks ago and was horrified to see how far it had slipped. Only one real ale on offer, and it was so bad (not off, just totally incapable of supporting any froth even with prompting) that I left most of it and moved on to lager (quite an exceptional thing for me to do). And, as others said, variable prices being charged. But, very good Thai food.
Sadly, the food won't be enough to lure me back there and I've switched loyalties for Waterloo-pub to the Fire Station.....
This used to be easily my favourite pub in London. I'd go at least once a week for the great beer, friendly staff and thai food. Unfortunately a change in staff to the much ruder variety (notably the guy with the shaved head) means I have with sadness had to look elsewhere for my commuting pint
Wonderful walk to the pub from Waterloo. Friendly crowd and staff.
Great pub and setting, shame the bar staff charge variable prices for drinks!
...congrats to the staff...
i do like this pub but recently the service has been really poor. especially the baldy bloke who struggles with english. only one real beer on as well tonight - london pride - they'd 'run out of everything else' dispappointing.
cracking thai though.
My husband and I used to love this pub - particularly for its Thai food, but it has been a few years since we've eaten here. And it couldn't have been further removed from how it used to be. We had some of the worst Thai food we have ever eaten. I ordered the sliced sirloin steak with lime chilli sauce on a bed of lettuce - after checking that it was lean meat. But it was so fatty and gristly I couldn't even cut some of it, and the sauce was like cheap jam. The waitress agreed the meat was very fatty and said it wasn't usually, so I ordered spicy Thai fish cakes instead. These were like thin slices of tasteless, deep-fried shoe leather and inedible. My husband had the Tiger Roar 'speciality' roast duck red curry. The meat was mostly fat and the sauce tasted like it had come out of a jar. No wonder there were so few diners - the place used to be packed and you'd be lucky to get a table. A real disappointment and a real shame!
Was poured a really dodgy pint of Amstel. Fair enough, that happens. What normally doesn't is being refused a new drink in replacement. The only way would be to buy a new pint. It was the baldy guy who in another review was labelled with "poor service". am definitely of that opinion. What was a good pub is now awful. Not coming back.
Where do these people all eat Thai at? This place serves terrible Thai food!! Its the Mr Wu of Thai food, and not cheap considering the artificial dyed bland commodity food they serve... Good bar out front though!!
Blinding pub, great friendly staff. Definitely worth a visit
I've been coming to the KA on and off for at least five years. Last night was a bit of a shock: 1) Haughty bar chappie with a shaven head who treated customers with terse [Gallic?] incivility and exuded angry 'I don't have to be here' vibes all evening. 2) Two out of four beers available and those not particularly well kept. A pub can survive on surly service with wonderful beer; or average beer with great service. But both together are fatal. I've never seen the guv'nor behind the bar. Is there one?
What a disgrace. A pub that deserves so much better than its incredibly rude and superior staff. I will never go there again, and have to agree with many other comments here regarding how far the service has slipped. How can any business treat its customers with such contempt and expect to get away with it? A hateful experience.
This pub used to be one of the best. I popped back a couple of weeks ago and was horrified to see how far it had slipped. Only one real ale on offer, and it was so bad (not off, just totally incapable of supporting any froth even with prompting) that I left most of it and moved on to lager (quite an exceptional thing for me to do). And, as others said, variable prices being charged. But, very good Thai food. Sadly, the food won't be enough to lure me back there and I've switched loyalties for Waterloo-pub to the Fire Station.....
This used to be easily my favourite pub in London. I'd go at least once a week for the great beer, friendly staff and thai food. Unfortunately a change in staff to the much ruder variety (notably the guy with the shaved head) means I have with sadness had to look elsewhere for my commuting pint
Wonderful walk to the pub from Waterloo. Friendly crowd and staff.
Great pub and setting, shame the bar staff charge variable prices for drinks!
...congrats to the staff...
i do like this pub but recently the service has been really poor. especially the baldy bloke who struggles with english. only one real beer on as well tonight - london pride - they'd 'run out of everything else' dispappointing. cracking thai though.