The Prospect of Whitby

A fantastic pub and great location. The food was superb and very reasonable. Although not a specific reastauarant area, there was a lovely atmosphere in all the bar areas for both eating and/or drinking. A delightful couple of hours spent on the terrace watching the boats go by! Highly recommended and well worth a visit.
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Helen Barlow
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, September 09, 2009

visited the POW Saturday evening around 9.30 very quiet and clean alas bar staff must of had (one hopes) a long day.

one just kept playing with the beer pumps cleaning lines (at 9.30 in the evening ??) and another just looked and ignored us untill he was beconed by a regular.

my drinks ?? a pint of Guiness and a half with a shot of blackcurrant. and low and behold I had to tell him the order twice. If I was a tourist one may have understood but being born and raised in the area I found it strange. in short inexperienced cheap labour working the bar.

all that said it is a very nice river pub. but I would recommend you try some of the others also. Grapes or Bootys or Captain Kidd etc.

visit it by all means but its not the only london river pub.

food looked good but its nothing to get excited about. standard B grade pub food. same as Wetherspoons etc.
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David Mansworth
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Sunday, August 16, 2009

The food and the service here is just so mixed that it's hard to recommend it. I live just down the road so it's easy enough to pop ino for a pint and something to eat but I wouldn't make a special trip. Sometimes the food is perfectly edible, other times it's horrible, sometimes it comes quite quickly, other times I've been told it will take at least an hour. Sometimes the atmosphere is quite pleasant, other times it's packed with tourists (who I hope don't think it's typical of London pubs). Anyway, it's worth a try if you're passing, but it's too hit and miss to recommend. A pity, as the pub itself and the riverside location are hard to beat.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Friday, July 24, 2009

I went to the prospect of whitby today for lunch with my sister in law, i have to say the food was perfect the staff friendly and ever so helpful, we enjoyed our lunch so much we are taking the family there. hats off to who runs the pub they have maintained the sense of history that everyone goes there for, i have to say the prospect of whitby and it staff captured our hearts today and i know we will become regular visitors.
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Jackie Gilmartin/Barbara Hunter
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, April 23, 2009

Went here with relatives for Sunday lunch. Have to back up the recent comments on the food - the sunday roast was dreadful. Soft potatoes, ready meal quality lamb, frozen veg - The sort of food you would expect from a dodgy cafe - not an historic London pub. They got rid of the gas lamps and with it has gone all sense of quality.
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HOLDEN - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, February 11, 2009

I also live in Wapping and it pains me to say that the dear old POW is now shockingly bad. Total indifference by staff; truly dreadful food; zero atmosphere and just sad, sad, sad. Whichever brewer it is that owns the place for goodness sake take an interest in what is probably the most famous pub in London
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Peter Morgan
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, December 13, 2008

I live in Wapping and have to report that the vies about the POW expressed here are pretty much spot on. It is just a tourist pub trading on its history, but what a huge disappointment for the coachloads of tourists who go there. The food is truly abysmal and the service is also very poor indeed. It used to be a great old pub, but now looks and feels like a modern pub made to look old (although the Capptain Kidd takes the prize for that, but then it really is a modern pub made to look old). And what the hell is an ugly fag machine doing in there in the middle of the place looking totally out of place. And the TV. Yuck! Thats not how you create the atmosphere people are looking for in an ancient riverside pub. Not worth going out of your way for.
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Phil Russell
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, November 11, 2008

I visited The Prospect Of Whitby with my family on Friday night for dinner. I don't normally spend time writing reviews such as this one but I feel compelled to share my experience with the world.

The food we initially received was extremely disappointing; three out of our five meals were stone cold. I hate complaining and making a fuss but I was out for a rare evening with my parents, my sister and my girlfriend, and I wanted everyone to be happy. We sent our meals back only for them to return five minutes later having been microwaved. The chips by this point were soggy and our burgers really dry. The tiny piece of lettuce had shriveled up and the ketchup on our plates was now warm.

What do we do? Do we eat the nine quid burger, smile politely, say thank you and go on our way, or do we take our complaint further? In hindsight I know which choice I wish we'd taken. What we did in fact do is ask to speak to the kitchen. Ten minutes later the barman (who had served us our drinks earlier) came upstairs to our table. My father asked him not charge us for all five meals as three of them were not acceptable. His reply was that he couldn't do that and we'd need to speak to the manager – Okay not a problem.

We waited 40 minutes for a response. Eventually we got the managers attention and when my father asked him why it had taken 40 minutes for him to respond to our complaint. The manager's reply was “I have 2 sick children upstairs and they are more important than any customer in this pub”. My father's response was “I am sorry, I'm not familiar with your family situation but you have 5 really unsatisfied customers”. The manager became more irate at this point and repeated his previous statement. He then accused us of being rude and told us he didn't want to speak to us and if we had a complaint we should write to the brewery. He then walked away and continued to ignore our protests.

So we left the pub hungry, 50 pounds out of pocket, and in absolute disbelief at the way we had been treated - our evening was ruined. It would have been so much better for us had we not complained and just eaten our food. I can safely say I will never visit the Prospect Of Whitby ever again, and I would encourage everyone else to do the same. A man as ill mannered and difficult as the gentleman in charge in my opinion should not be managing a pub. Customer service clearly does not exist in this mans vocabulary. And lets not forget the disgusting food we were served which began the whole episode.

p.s. I have just noticed the man in question has posted a comment below saying that things are going to improve when he takes over!? Love your work!
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- View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Monday, October 13, 2008

Oh dear. I stopped in at the POW on Saturday afternoon for some lunch on the way home from a Wedding the day previous. This was my first visit in about 18 months, and I must say it has changed. The previous owner/management were pleasant and friendly; the new bunch are rude and despondent.

I ordered a starter described as "a selection of sausages with a mustard dip". What I got was 15 of the same sausages - and no mustard dip. I asked the waitress where this elusive dip was - she responded by grimacing and by pointing to the pot of colemans that was already sat on the table. I tried to explain by pointing at the menu (English clearly wasn't her first language). She replied this time by slamming a pot of wholegrain mustard on the table infront of me.

Undeterred by this experience I thought I'd give the miserable girl a chance to redeem herself with main (which was the scampi by the way). When it arrived she plopped it infront of me without a smile and hurried away. There was no lemon nor tartare sauce so I approached the kitchen hatch where I beckoned over one of the staff. I politely asked for some lemon and some tartare sauce if it wasn't too much trouble. This chap (who didn't appear to speak English) just gave me a gormless stare and continued to pick at his teeth - saying nothing before walking away. I eventually managed to bag a dish of limes off the barman - although my dinner was lukewarm by this time.

My advice is - if you fancy a pint a nice view of the Thames then the POW will suffice. If however you desire good food, service with a smile and a decent atmosphere - keep well away.
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Mr G Silvester
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 2
Sunday, August 10, 2008

Just to let everyone one know!! We will be taking over on the 10/11th March - everything that has been noted on this site has been taken into consideration and will be dealt with! My name is Terry Standing along with my team we hope that you will give this great pub one last chance........
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Terry Standing
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Thursday, February 28, 2008