London Hotel, The

6.8 Recommended

Food  8      Drinks  6      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  6     

A lovely old 1870 pub. Lunched there today in the restaurant section (food also served in the bar where you can choose from the bar menu as well as the restaurant menu). Food very good although serving sizes barely adequate. Definitely needed to order sides to supplement the quantity. Service very attentive. Prices somewhat above normal pub food.

Aug 26, 2011 

7 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

Had lunch here yesterday a Sunday with two others. Food was good, prices a tad higher than other pubs, but the atmosphere is better than a lot of pubs too.

Sep 20, 2010 

3 Below Average

Food  2      Drinks  2      Ambience  7      Service  2      Value  2     

Having been to the pub several times (without eating) and having a great time, my gf and I went along with her parents on the Friday night of ANZAC weekend. Booking a table to ensure we could try out the back restaurant, we expected great things, sadly we were mistaken.

The menu's quite small, and this was 8 pm on a Friday night, we couldn't believe it when we were told a 1/4 of both the entree and mains had already run out. The prawn starter and the lamb main were both luke warm, and the vegetarian pasta looked like it was covered in bubble bath. Our bottle of wine was given free to make up for the lack of dishes, but this isn't enough to make me want to go back there. A real shame: a great pub with an awful restaurant.

May 03, 2010 

6 Average

Food  5      Drinks  5      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  6     

Wow. How bad has the food here become? I've been coming here for years but I have to say the London Burger they served me up the other day was a mere fraction of its previous glorious self. The pub itself is still great but without good food to soak up the beers, it's not much of a decent Sunday afternoon option any more.

Mar 31, 2010 

8.6 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Drinks  9      Ambience  7      Service  9      Value  9     

I recently moved to Balmain and given the awful weather of late and my reluctance to venture too far away from home I have been visiting various pubs and restaurants in the 2041 post code. My girlfriends and I ventured down to the London on friday night as we'd heard that it was the quintessential watering hole in Balmain, so thought we'd better check it out.

Well the pub was packed! Great to see! and the vibe was pumping! and the staff were great, The only problem I had was deciding on a draught beer! So many options on tap! After a few drinky-poos my girlfriends and I decided it was time to check out the menu, the pub grub that was being served around us looked great! but my girlfriend is a coeliac so we decided that the restaurant fodder might be more suitable.

We were warmly welcomed and seated and were very pleased to discover that most of the menu was gluten free and very accommodating of my friend. We shared natural oysters and grilled prawns for our entree, and for mains we ordered the mulloway, the spatchcock and the rib eye. I was blown away! My steak was cooked to perfection, and the red wine jus it came with was phenomenal! Right up there with one of the best steaks I've ever had. I skipped dessert but my girlfriend got the panna cotta and was very impressed.

All in all a great night! I will definitely be back!

Feb 08, 2010 

5 Average

Food  5      Drinks  5      Ambience  7      Service  4      Value  4     

The food is shockingly bad, what more is there to say. The pub part is amazing and well worth a visit, to either sit in the bar or if lucky enough to sit on the verandah, just steer clear of the food.

Having ordered the 'London Burger', which you would guess is the signature dish of the kitchen, considering it is named after the pub, I was expecting quite a meal. It was miserable to begin with. I cut the burger in half to be able to eat it, and I found the minced meat still raw in the middle, not pink, but still blood red. So what to do but send it back. Round 2, the burger came out with all the apologies that almost sounded scripted as though this wasn't a once off. So I cut it in half again and, well yes the meat was cooked but some of the other ingredients that came with this 'london burger' were missing. Send it back or not to send it back?

Having looked up towards the kitchen, to see if it was busy, my eye's were meet by a middle aged man, who appear to be running the kitchen (telling staff what to do etc), stared at me and then shrugged his shoulders as if to say 'yeah, whats wrong now?'. So obviously I didn't send it back, didn't even eat it, just stood up and walked out.

I don't know if I'll be back for a drink again, but I know my friends aren't risking the food and neither will I and I recommend that you don't either.

Nov 05, 2009 

7.4 Recommended

Food  8      Drinks  8      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

I have been drinking at the London for many years, after seeing the restaurant changing ownership recently I thought to try out the dining room. I must say the food and service was a fantastic improvement on the past. The restaurant is now a destination to go.

Oct 20, 2009 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Drinks  9      Ambience  10      Service  9      Value  8     

I have been to this pub a bit and noticed that the restaurant had changed hands pretty recently, decided to risk it for a party upstairs.

Outstanding venue! Great feel and a really nice room. The staff were friendly and helpful, even when we requested some pretty exotic drinks that there was no way they could fit into the little function bar upstairs, they were only too happy to grab what ingredients we needed from downstairs.

The food, cooked in the kitchen of the restaurant was spot on. A great day that I am getting complements on (even though all I did was book)!

Sep 28, 2009 

1.6 Not Recommended

Food  1      Drinks  1      Ambience  2      Service  2      Value  2     

I'm not sure about the pub food, but the restaurant is absolutely atrocious. Went there on a Sunday for lunch with 3 others. The menu is very small and so there is little to choose from so we all went for the rib eye steak, 1 well done, 3 medium. After waiting 45 minutes for our food the steaks were severely under cooked, I mean mine (which was supposed to be medium) was red raw. The waitress took it back to be recooked, and after waiting another 15 minutes as it was such a thick steak re-cooking it made it tough and it was still not cooked.

I will definitely not be returning to this place, and truly can not understand why anyone would return here.

Aug 28, 2009 

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Drinks  1      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

I am writing in regards to how I was treated on my visit to your establishment on Wednesday. A girlfriend and I were looking for somewhere to eat, and thought we would drop in to “The London” as we were told food was served there.

We walked in through the bar and waited to be seated in the area where others were eating. We were unclear if the restaurant was still serving lunch or if we needed to wait to be seated who took our orders, as there was a white board with the day’s specials blocking the entrance.

The bar was empty for patrons and there was one man with short dark hair behind the bar. It was about 2 pm. We were there for about 2 minutes, when we decided to visit the ladies’ room first.

When we returned, there were two barmen talking together. My friend and I resumed our positions in front of the white board, clearly not knowing what to do or who to ask. Clearly, the bar staff were too busy with each other to notice the potential clientele.

After a longer time than before, I am guessing 4-5 minutes, the man standing in front of the kitchen to our left finally acknowledged us with a raise of the eyebrows and smug grin and we had to ask what to do to order food.

He informed us that we needed to make our order at the bar. We walked up to the bar but obviously getting your bar staff to take an order is by no means an easy feat.

Frustrated, I suggested to my friend that we find another place that is capable of performing the task of taking an order.

I am suggesting to you that if you are going to hire people to work in hospitality, please ensure they are indeed hospitable.

I am disgusted and repulsed in the manner in which we were treated, and am asking you to send me a reason that we were treated with such lack of respect.

I find it truly offensive that you would dare treat potential customers in this way. All I think is no wonder there was no one drinking in the bar, with people like this being the face of your premises.

Please note I have never said I was a customer, and by the look of things, I never will be. I saw on your website that you claim to be the friendliest locals’ pub in Sydney. (I truly hope not, for all our sakes’.)

Well, there were no locals there when I was there, and I can understand why. You have to be kidding! No one that worked there on Wednesday afternoon was friendly.

There was no eye contact, no smile, nothing to make one feel welcome, no apologising for treating clients badly, nothing at all. We might as well not even exist. That is first class hospitality!

I trust you will see to this matter promptly. Thank you for making our first journey to Balmain memorable. Perhaps for negative reasons, but at least you can hold your head up high, knowing that you have made the place unforgettable.

Regards,

Simone

Aug 11, 2009