St Johns

I went to St Johns after hearing mixed reviews and i have to say the food was excellent and the staff unfailingly friendly and helpful , i have been back with both friends and my teenage kids and all have really enjoyed the experience .

The place lacks the pretention of other nearby gastropubs (the bull , freemasons arms) and the atmosphere is always lively and its just a bloody good place to eat unfussy well sourced well cooked food .
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David Williams
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, October 09, 2007

We've lived in the area for some years, but have never quite got round to visiting the St Johns - as much to do with the mixed reports as anything else - so it was with a little trepidation that we went for dinner last night. I'm pleased to say, however, that it was a great evening! To be fair, some of the menu combinations are a little odd but overall the food was lovely, there was a decent wine list and the service was relaxed and friendly. They could certainly teach the Bull in Highgate a thing or two about to source and cook beef, that's for sure. We'll be back soon!
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Rob
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, September 30, 2007

My partner had booked a meal with family for this weekend and I then read some of the recent reviews for St. Johnsand was a little worried. Poor service and pretentious food!

Well to put locals and return diners minds at rest the meal yesterday was fantastic!. The quality of the food the best I have experienced and the service had no attitude and was friendly.

This place has always ouzzed atmosphere and still does. The food really is good compared to any other gastro pubs I have tried in London, and although I too have experienced service in the past that is not 100% I would after last nights experience still highly recommend St.Johns to everyone!
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Stephen Morey
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Sunday, September 02, 2007

Oh what to do on for food on a Friday night, ‘Lets go to the St John’s’ said my partner. So we got there nice and early. On arrival the restaurant was too busy, ‘table for 2?’ we asked i will have to check said the Manager, left us waiting 5 mins, oh you can have one these (begrudgingly) and gestured to one of 3 tables.

So we sat ourselves, then he gave us a wine list and pointed to the menu on the wall. Which looked lovely as ever, then the waitress came with some bread as usual, which for the first was slightly stale, and i thought ok. My other half tucked in while I paroosed the wine list, on deciding on a lovely Rioja. So we ordered pate, gorgonzola tart and 2 medium steaks, super yum i thought. Another couple had been sat next to us, offered a wine list etc etc. They ordered 2 soft drinks and their food, a few minutes later the Manager came over and said he made a mistake with the seating and if they didn’t mind, which smilingly the did not.

We waited nearly 30 mins for our starters, in the meantime the smiley couple next to us had received their main courses and we have finished our bottle of still water which was soon to snatched of our table by another waitress, so i was asked for another as she scuttled round the other side of our table. Mean while to the place is filling up steadily and out starter’s arrived - finially.

My partner’s tart looked, smelt and tasted amazing, mine was less appealing, toasted but cold slices of bread and huge slab of pate with a dollop some onion reduction thingy but heyho i thought. The pate was very very rich sickeningly so, someone people like that and indeed my partner is one of them, so I eat as much as I could. Another waitress came to clear our starters and she was very nice asked me if my starter was ok, i said yes bit to rich for me. Moments later our steak’s arrived, hoorah i thought, lovely glossy Ribeyes with home-made chips, bernaise, richly green watercress and gorgeous roasted tomato. With a big quaff of wine I dived in, LUSH I thought.

My steak was like leather and not medium as I had asked but still tasty so i struggled one, looking to catch the waiting staffs attention but to no avail and nor did anyone come to check back on our mains. Again I eat as much as could and left the rest, my partners steak was prefect in every way and he was a very happy soul, his happiness some what spoiled by my not so happy face. In the meantime the couple next to us had finished their meal and ordered some dessert, with lightening quickness it appeared. We had been cleared by this point and the waitress didn't ask how we had enjoyed our meal which I then pointed out my steak was some what over cooked. Again no apology.

So we had already decided on dessert and promptly order with a couple of glasses of dessert wine, the desserts arrived and the other couple had been hurried throughout their meal. They paid and left, table was reset, so we had finished our desserts which where fantastic. So sitting there feeling content now, at this point is getting on and we thought ask for our bill. Again trying to catch someone's attention i found irritating, finially it was the Manager who i finially managed to attract, and ‘YES?’ was the response i received, so i asked for the bill and he said ‘I thought so’ in smug way. Our bill came and we waiting to pay, which we did and left, surprisingly enough the smiley couples table was still vacant.......

The St John’s is somewhere we do eat on a regular basis but £100 for 2 of us might seem expensive, but we really don't mind as long as the basics are cover and to be bluntly honest, we have eaten in some of the best establishments in and round London and across the UK, every time we eat in the St John’s we are faced with the same shit just on a different day....

Bad Service, Rude Staff and a feeling of not being welcome, strange I think, because this place has everything else right : location, decor, size, much more so that the Junction Tavern down the road or indeed the Lord P round the corner. This place should be an astounding Gastro Pub but sadly it ain’t, come the St John’s get your head out your arse and pull your socks up!!!!! I still have hope but its beginning to fade, sadly i don’t think it will ever change.
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JM
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 4
Saturday, August 18, 2007

I'm truly surprised by some of the negetive feedback on here. I have been going to St Johns even prior to its establishment as a gastropub. Whilst I wouldn't wish to comment on what the food and service offering was like back then, for the last decade my family and I have found it to be one of our unfailingly favourite dining experiences. Not because the food is the best I've ever had, nor the service the most effecient or friendly, but because I think the overall formula works wonders. It certainly does for me. The prices are reasonable, the food is seldom disappointing (and frequently astonishingly good) and the atmosphere is lively, airy and general comfortable and alive. To top this off, I truly believe St Johns is one of the few places that has really managed to remain a gastropub and not an overpriced restaurant in an old pub building. It is also so rare to find an establishment that manages to retain its staff for more than a few weeks, yet alone years on end as this venue has. It is nice to be recognised and even more fundamental to be served by people that know the place better than you, which should be a given, but, in London, is unfortunately not, all to frequently.
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KM
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Having been to St Johns three times, I feel I have given them a fair shot but every time the appalling service has been worse than the last. I have worked in restaurants for over fifteen years and I know every place has a bad night and as the food is okay (but at the price is should be) I have been persuaded to try them again but I really am staggered by how awful the service is. Its almost like they are going out of their way to be bad. They will do standard rubbish service things like clear your table before you have finished but they will also do things I havenever experienced in a restaurant before like taking a starter order and not taking the mains, waiting for you to ask three times for your drinks which dont materialise until the middle of your main course, bringing one dessert when you ordered three, 45 minutes for an expresso. These are merely a few choose examples but I could add more.

I have never written an internet review but I have made an exception for St Johns to tell people there are many other great places to eat in this area please don't waste your money here.
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Sarah
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Monday, August 06, 2007

Truely one of the worst dining experiences we've had in London in a very long time! we arrive for sunday lunch to discover they hadn't got our reservation (we had only reserved three hours before) and where then subjected to several hour of poor service, cold food and an expensive bill. the staff's attitude was appalling, they simple couldn;t be bothered to make any effort. when the food did arrive it was mainly cold, the vegetables barely cooked. Not once did any member of staff ask if we wanted any drinks or if the food was ok.

When the bill arrived they seemed unsurprised when we declared that we weren't paying the £15 service charge, no efforts to find out why we were unhappy just a grunt and the now customery lack of eye contact.

avoid at all costs.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Sunday, July 22, 2007

As a regular patron of st john I must admit that it has been through a couple of brief dodgy patches in the past years , however my friends and I all agree that it is the best place to get together for exceptionally good food in a friendly atmosphere,and the staff have always without exception done their best to ensure we are kept happy.Many people I've taken as guests have continued to visit and introduce new diners themselves which speaks volumes of the quality of this restaurant.

The best way to give the overall impression of the service is that it is friendly and sometimes irreverant,occasionally too slow, but the friendly faces working hard and buzzy feel of the place are part of the joy of dining there.

It's nice enough for a birthday party, but equally you can go straight from work-(unless you're a dusty builder!or the like!) and still be comfortable.

Friends and I who live in highgate village where there are a good selection of similarly priced eateries regularly choose to travel to archway to St.John which we prefer...........yum yum yum........
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Friday, June 29, 2007

I've eaten at St Johns more than 250 times in the past eight years and I really don't recognise the place from some of the more negative reviews here.

In all that time I reckon I've had no more than three or four average meals, all the rest have been wonderful. I've taken scores of friends there, they've taken friends, I've recommended it to others and billed the food as fantastic. Yet despite all the expectation it's a rare occasion when someone comes away disappointed.

I'm particularly surprised so many people seem to think the staff are poor. To me, their ability to consistently find just the right kind of people, people who are informal yet thoroughly professional, is one of the things that gives this place it's longevity.

I go in with my dog and there’s a bowl of water and some doggy treats at his side almost as soon as I’ve sat down. Most of my off-menu requests have been fulfilled (though I agree it is strange they wont do tomato sauce). I’ve gone with big parties and we’ve taken ages to order yet I’ve never heard a peep of complaint from any one who’s served us.

And just today, when it was pouring with rain outside and I was waiting to walk home the restaurant manager came and offered me one of their umbrellas.

So I thoroughly recommend St Johns. If my experience is anything to go by the chance you’ll get a bad meal is around 125/2 and there’s an even better chance you’ll get looked after properly.
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David Crane
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, May 13, 2007

St John's is a below average gastropub that thinks it is a top West End venue. They operate a "sitting" policy that means you have to be out in one and a half hours, but the service is so slow we were actually there for two, stuck next to two chain-smokers. The food is quirky and both my starter and main were slightly unpleasant although the pudding was OK. We didn't pay the added service charge and won't bother to go again.
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Sadie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Thursday, May 10, 2007