Cross Keys

I went with some friends for sunday lunch in the restaurant at the back. The set menu is good value and the food was quite good, although some of the food was either overcooked (roast potatoes) or undercooked (brussel sprouts) by virtue of it having been all pre-prepared and sitting there waiting to be ordered. I am sure that is not unusual for a place which serves sunday lunches, but it was just that they did not seem to deal with it very well.

Whilst the food went down well, the service was bordering on being a complete joke. I fail to understand why service should be so bad. Our drinks took such a long time to arrive that I went round into the bar area to go and see what was happening; they were just sitting on the bar waiting to be collected. When the waitress asked whether our drinks had arrived (clearly not if she looked at the lack of drinks on the table..), I told her they were round the corner waiting to be collected. This lack of communication was replicated in the dining area where the food sat for long periods of time on the chef's bar waiting to be delivered to tables. The waiting staff seemed more concerned with joking around with each other. They all need a serious kick up the backside in my opinion. I just hope someone from the restaurant reads this website and takes some action.
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Rick Brown
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, December 10, 2007

We organised an event at the Cross Keys for 40+ people. It really was a very simple two-course lunch, the first course was two choices for our guests plus a vegetarian option followed by three choices of pudding. We waited for 55 minutes for our main course despite having gone through the day's 'timetable' with the staff time and time again. The food when it EVENTUALLY came was lovely but the service appalling - this continued throughout the day. I would not reccomend the Cross Keys to anyone - a great shame as a lovely pub in a fantastic area.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 1
Thursday, November 01, 2007

Is this restaurant a joke? I went here for dinner with four friends from out of town to enjoy an English gastro pub experience. Although the food was quite nice, the substandard service made the evening one of the worst dining experiences I have had in my five years of living in London. We had to repeat our orders and requests three or four times, as the waiter staff didn't seem to understand what we were saying (for example, we asked for bread and the waiters brought out more napkins); one waiter dropped a bottle top into my glass of water and was generally fumbling all night, another waiter brought unclean silverwear to our table, when we asked for a recommendation the female waitress said "everything is good, does that help? and walked away. We asked for a description of the deserts and the waiter had no idea how to describe anything on the menu. Then he shouted at us about our dissatisfaction with one of our deserts. My guess is that they were short-staffed and had to pull someone off the street, put a white shirt on him and throw him into the fray as they clearly had no proper or professional restaurant experience. There were a multitude of mistakes on our bill so we asked for the manager, who was so busy flirting with a female guest at the bar that it took him a good 15 minutes to saunter to our table. He was shockingly dismissive and rude and reluctantly adjusted our bill with no apology whatsoever. Apparently he had better things to tend to. He and his wait staff reaffirm why England has a reputation for bad service. Terrible dining experience.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Sunday, July 01, 2007

It is truely amazing how they produce such yummy food for upto 50 people in such a tiny kitchen. I have always liked being able to see into the kitchen, you couldnt have a more direct view than in the cross keys. Quick, easy, tastey, pleasant and reasonable. Perfect venue for catching up with old friends and possibly carrying on for a few hours more than expected!
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EJ - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

I visited the Cross Keys recently for Sunday lunch with friends.

It was very busy which indicates that it is more popular than these reviews would lead you to believe.

I will admit you shouldn't go here if you want friendly chat with the staff. They were quite cold and I had to ask if our order could be taken.

What I will say however is that if you don't mind being left alone a bit and are looking for really good food you won't be disappointed. The Roast Beef was really tender and the desserts delicious!

Don't let the reviews put you off and try it for yourself.
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Kayte Turner
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Beautiful venue and great location. However. And that's a big however. The staff are the most arrogant people I've ever come accross and if I owned this pub and was aware of how they treated their staff I would fire them all immediately. I spent well over £1000 there and was submitted to the most sheer arrogance I have ever had the displeasure of being on the receiving end of. The French manager clearly feels that it's alright to ignore customers and to add insult to injury, does it all with a mocking smile as if to say "Je m'en fous". Having grown up in France I was tempted on a number of occasions to break into French in the hope of being taken more seriously but in the end just left the building.

The canapes cost an arm and a leg and are horribly average.

All in all, I do NOT recommend.
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Isabella Bossalichi
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, November 21, 2006

I found the Cross Keys through the internet when looking for a venue for our wedding reception.

Both Barbara & Manu were more than helpful. They made everything so very easy.

We had the room at the top for the sit down in the afternoon and the Gallery for the initial champagne reception & evening reception.

We were able to have the Sunday Menu which meant that our guests were able to choose their starter and main courses from a list of 5 choices. They also made a profterole mountain for our wedding cake (which we asked for). They laid out the tables with flowers sent from our Floristed.

In all they did their uttmost to make it a lovely day.

Everyone commented on how lovely the food was both at the sit down meal and the canapes in the evening.

We were also able to use out ipods for the music, which meant we had exactly the music we wanted.

All in all they took the stress out what could have been a very stressful day.

We had a lovely and wil be going back to eat in their restaurant in the near future.

I would recommend it whole heartedly.
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Sarah - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Monday, October 02, 2006

A prime example of how not to run a restaurant. Average to good food but shockingly rude staff and manageress. Delays over food; sulks over menus chosen; general shoddy workmanship - go there at your peril!
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Tamarin, London SW6
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Having last been to the Cross Keys for a friends wedding reception 18 months ago when we all had a delicious dinner and the service was outstanding, I was very disappointed to return recently to outstandingly rude service and extremely disappointing food. The starter was warm (ish) not hot and the fish cakes for main course were soggy and plain filthy. It was very sad to see such a great place go so down hill.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, August 22, 2006

The food was only just edible the staff very rude - and I won't be going back in a hurry.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, August 22, 2006