Norfolk Arms

I keep returning to this pub but after a recent visit, I won't go again. It's just not good enough to bother with.

The tapas is ok but as most of what we ordered was made elsewhere - cheese, charcuterie, bread, babagnoush [to be fair: probably made by them and it is good] - then that isn't hard. What lets it down is the quality of the food for the mains. Between us we had fishcakes [dry]; pork cheek with lentils [not cooked long enough for this type of dish] and lamb kebabs with tabbouleh [very tough, chewy lamb]. My lamb dish reminded me that I'd had exactly the same complaint last time I ate at the pub - the meat isn't good quality or it's cooked badly, or both.

Service was pretty much what others have said in reviews, brusque, rushed and not particularly efficient. At 10.45 we were told it was last orders - although surely in a restaurant that rule doesn't apply? They were very clear that they were closing soon however and the lights went up at 11pm on the dot. The interior is noisy and it was hard to have a conversation. Almost £200 for four of us although we did have 3 bottles of wine and some beers so that accounted for a fair proportion of the bill.

Quite simply - never again. There are other more pleasant, better eateries to be found in London.
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cut2quik - View all reviews by this user
5 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 6
Sunday, August 14, 2011

I thought this restaurant a rather inventive and accomplished Spanish/British mix and very much enjoyed the atmosphere and service. I will certainly go again; the second visit always being the clincher!
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8 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, March 22, 2011

This place is not worth visiting. In fact, I dislike it intently, quite an achievment given that I've only been there three times.

The food itself is ok. Not horrendously bad, not amazingly good. Just mediocre. Likewise, the drinks are ok - a decent wine line, expensive beer (but it's in central London, so no surprises there).

The loos are disgusting: one was irretrievably blocked, the other had its seat hanging halfway off. The floors are dirty, the lighting subdued.

However, the service (if you can call it that) is quite frankly some of the worst I have ever experienced. Waiters push past you with barely a grunt to acknowledge your existence; if you want to sit at the table you have booked they won't let you anywhere near it until you've provided a DNA sample (and even then they cast suspicious glances your way until you feel like they're about to haul you off to Gitmo).

After finally managing to flag down a passing waitress (having been ignored several times by a waiter too busy standing around doing bugger all to actually stir himself to work), I ordered a bottle of wine, and discovered that they slap a 12.5% service charge onto the total - for opening a bottle and plonking it down on a table. When I remarked that this was rather steep the waitress shrugged and said that "you have to pay service charge on everything". It was only after a lot of searching of the menus that I found a line in front barely 3 milimetres high saying "a discretionary service charge may be applied". On the food menu. No reference is made to it on the drinks menu.

There was a huge crush at the bar, despite 5 waiting staff lounging around doing sweet FA.

Avoid this place like the plague: it might look warm and welcoming, but it's staffed by the rudest, laziest bar-staff this side of the Channel.
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Em Press
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, October 15, 2010

I don't know if the staff or ownership have changed since the reviews below but we went here for dinner on a Saturday night and had a great experience. The atmosphere was just right, informal and relaxed yet not too noisy, charming interior, service was top notch andboth friendly and punctual, and the food was excellent (we stuck to the main menu and has seafood starters and roast duck, so not sure about the tapas).

Good selection of beers and wines too and I think the prices and portion sizes were very reasonable (left spending £70 for three courses for two). All in all a perfect gastro-pub night out if you ask me.
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Peter, Fitzrovia - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, September 20, 2010

I had an experience very similar to other customers at the Norfolk Arms last night for a birthday meal which left me feeling very sad and angry. The night started off by being ushered to the bar by a rude and dismissive member of floor staff, then waiting a long time to be attended to at the bar. Once we had the attention of the lackadaisical barman, we then had to explain for about ten minutes that we had booked a table. After spelling out the name we’d booked under about five times, and the barman just stopping short of asking for our passports as proof of identification, he gestured vaguely towards the table which I had known for fifteen minutes was ours, as it was the only one set for four at the time requested.

On sitting, we were approached by a very brusque waitress who challenged us again about our reservation and succeeded in making us feel very unwelcome. Once we had again proved our eligibility for the seats on which we were sitting, we ordered. The food took a long time to arrive and when it did it was slammed down on the table by the increasingly aggressive waitress. Although the food was quite handsomely priced (as we were expecting for a Kings Cross pub with pretensions), it was not very plentiful, so we found need to order a couple more dishes. We were told that we could not order additional biscuits (I think three were provided on my cheese plate). One of these further dishes the waitress misheard as being cider (to be fair, some terrible house music was playing quite loudly by this point), and an argument immediately ensued during which it became very clear that the customer is always wrong. Altercations with other members of staff, all of which made it very obvious that they did not want to be there, proved the same house philosophy.

We wound up the meal as quickly as possible, keen not to create additional trouble by ordering desserts. When I refused to pay the service charge which had been added to the bill, the waitress was fuming and clearly wanted to reach for a steak knife with which to dispatch the lot of us.

The pub itself is a lovely building, rammed though it is to the rafters with an unsurprising Kings Cross demographic of tourists and yuppies. The food was fine, and although all the things I ate required no cooking, they were well-sourced and fresh. But never have I encountered such relentlessly terrible, confrontational and unapologetic service. I was embarrassed that we had taken visitors to London there and shown them its very worst side.
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The Grey Fox - View all reviews by this user
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Friday, July 09, 2010