Duke of Cambridge (Angel)

This is a pub well worth supporting, especially if you have animal welfare in mind, as you can be sure that they go the right way about choosing their produce. Only their fish is not organic as that would involve them being intensively reared which is not part of the ethos. The food is homely and I haven't encountered anything that wasn't very good. There are nice British beers and cider on tap, as well as a good selection of wines and spirits. The interior is more pub than restaurant but it is tasteful and you can feel very relaxed. I would avoid Friday and Saturday nights as it is too busy and too smokey to eat, but with a smoking ban in Islington being enforced in January that should become less of a problem.
Comment on this reader review

Dan Press
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Friday, November 24, 2006

Had my birthday drinks/dinner here last night for a group of about 15 in the pub. I want to support this place because of the ethics, and to tell you the truth, most of the food is pretty good. I'm fine with paying a little more because of how they source, but be aware it's a little on the expensive side.

Unfortunately, the service lets the place down. Both times I have been, we've had problems and they were not easy to resolve. Last night they ran out of a dish we ordered and instead of saying that when we ordered, they just brought a replacement. One we didn't want. Then they wanted us to pay extra to order something else. Didn't like the new food, didn't eat the new food, and they still wanted us to pay! Mind you, the rest of the party was eating and drinking up quite a bill, so you'd think they could afford one main course that was ordered under duress when they failed to inform us of the menu change! And as I said, we had a problem the last time I was there, too.

I should mention that the beers and ciders I tried were all good. The wines were hit-and-miss, but I find that always the case with organic wines. My starter of chicken liver pate was well-received by the whole table, and my bream with anchovy butter was quite tastey.

I like this place. I like some of the food and I like what they stand for. Too bad they think that means they don't have to worry about how they treat paying customers.
Comment on this reader review

Dan
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Friday, November 24, 2006

This is a good place to go for a quiet meal on a weekday evening when the staff-to-table ratio is as close to 1:1 as possible. Any more than that and expect confusion and complications. We were a table of 12 on a Saturday night and it was pretty woeful. Delivery of the coruses was staggered to say the least, more plates than diners seemed to arrive (and were charged at the end, despite us pointing out to the contrary), and the food was mediocre at very best. Many of the dishes sound exciting but it's an example of organic food being lacklustre rather than lush, and at the prices they charge, it's not really worth it. Our verdict: stay away in large groups and at busy times.
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Hmmmmm.... went for dinner on 5 September 2006 and had glamorous but off-hand service (which was, I admit, an improvement on the outright hostility you used to get in this pub), and an extremely odd tasting risotto - an unsuccessful combination of butternut squash, mackerel, white wine (by the taste of it) and horseradish. At restaurant, rather than pub prices. By all means charge an organic premium, but make sure the cooking warrants it...
Comment on this reader review

Neil
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Thursday, September 07, 2006

Went with a party of 15 and was treated to dinner. I found the food and service to be excellent. Yes, we do pay a bit more for organic and well worth it.
Comment on this reader review

Marilyn
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, August 24, 2006

I'm very glad we ignored all the bad reviews. Warm June saturday evening, breezy interior, relaxed atmosphere. Good fishcake, good mushroom crepe, both tasty and filling. Good beer, an excellent dessert wine. Pleasant friendly staff, and a bill that is relevant to freshly prepared organic food. This place is a gem.

If you want cheap pub grub, that's probably sourced unethically, is prepared in bulk elsewhere from cheap, chemical laden products, and microwaved on site then please go elsewhere. You get what you pay for. Mike & Kathy
Comment on this reader review

Mike Edwards
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, June 25, 2006

On first impressions this place looks great and to be fair the staff were very attentive when we arrived and showed us to a well located table. I was surprised to find that there were no menus and our well appointed table proved to be in not such a great location for reading the blackboards (this being the only way of establishing what was on the menu). But that is no big deal.

The menu was very limited, as I recall there were only 4 starters and 4 mains, which I thought expensive for a pub, (mains ranged from £12 - £16, starters were around £6/7) There were six of us and we all had difficulty finding something of interest. Four of us ended up ordering the Sausages and Mash, but at 8.30 there was only one portion left. I got this portion and which was tasteless and bland. The mash was watery and flavourless, which at least complemented the sausages, which were tastless and rubbery. Honestly they would have done better to send one of the many idle chefs up the road to Sainsburys to purchase some of their organic range, they really could not have been worse.

As the restaurant got busier the service became very slow, though it was always polite and we all felt a bit sorry for the poor waiter. There seemed to be an abundence of kitchen staff, who seemed to spend a great deal of time arguing with each other and the waitering staff. To top it all it is expensive for what it is. My tastless main cost £12.00!

I will never darken the door again.
Comment on this reader review

Joe - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, May 09, 2006

The Duke of Cambridge is one of the most handsome pubs in Islington. Unfortunately on a recent visit, it had little else to offer. The menu was short, uninspiring and expensive. Our food was entirely disappointing; a braised chicken leg with cannellini bean stew was bland and at £14, overpriced; organic or otherwise. A similar experience with the Sausages & mash - £13.50 for three. The portobello mushroom & cous cous main course with Gorgonzola cheese (£12.00) arrived with Camembert instead and the Jerusalem artichokes accompanying the dish were virtually raw. An aloof waitress adopted the 'they are meant to be slightly al-dente' approach but finally conceeded after returning the dish to the kitchen and testing them for herself.

We declined dessert. The pub was pretty busy on a Saturday evening. If the quality of food we experienced is the norm at these prices then I'd say they are very lucky business indeed.
Comment on this reader review

JG - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, May 02, 2006

This is a truly sackcloth and ashes experience for those foolish enough to equate 'organic' with 'quality'. A party of eight of us went there for Sunday lunch and, without exception, were all disappointed by the experience. The food was either bland, undercooked, overcooked or burnt. With the exception of the wine, the organic drinks were decidely odd-tasting. In the process of using ingredients produced exclusively by pre-war agricultural methods they seem to have also somehow managed to revert to pre-war cooking techniques. It's food your grandparents would recognise but they might baulk at paying the equivalent of a downpayment on an Austin 7 for the experience. One for Islington-ites only.
Comment on this reader review

Rebna Woac
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Monday, January 16, 2006