After yesterday’s disappointing pub experience at The Mitre, let me tell you about a better pub/restaurant in the West London area.
The Prince Bonaparte is a spacious corner pub, perfect for a lively Happy Hour, a weeknight meal, or a Sunday roast. The place has a classic charm with nice large windows and a sharp blue exterior. The smart Art Deco font labeling the restaurant completes the perfect entrance to this fun gastropub.
The menu, like the easy location and spacious venue, is also accommodating to all. The place is comfortable and there’s something for everyone. I’ve never had a bad meal when dining on their simple classics like a cheeseburger or fish and chips. And their toffee pudding is amazing. Second in the neighborhood to the Ladbroke Arms, but pretty amazing.
A Bonaparte burger, London
A London classic at The Prince Bonaparte
My only complaint from my last visit was the bathroom. It was very dirty and smelled horrible. A few of us girls took trips there throughout the night and it never got better. No one from the staff ever checked on the situation, which (you would think) would be part of their regular duties.
That’s just a small strike, though. Overall, The Prince Bonaparte is a lovely pub worth a visit with your partner, folks, colleagues, friends…
Enjoy!
The Prince Bonaparte
80 Chepstow Road
London W2 5BE
This one is an absolute DON’T, which is such a shame. The Mitre is in an easy location, large enough to accommodate big groups, and even has outside space. It would be a fantastic go-to if it had redeeming qualities beyond the building.
Holland Park’s The Mitre
Everyone knows The Mitre is horrible. I was warned not to try it by four different people in completely separate social circles. I still had to, of course. What kind of restaurant reviewer would I be if I didn’t aim to check every London spot off my own blog-purposed checklist?
So, on a weekend night we went, and just as all the hopefuls before me, I gave it a fair shot, but it turned out to be a true disappointment.
Ah, where to start. I guess we didn’t get off on the right foot from the beginning. We had a reservation, but it took almost twenty minutes to seat us. One of our friends had a baby with them, so you would think they would try to speed things along for the sake of the child. Nope. We had to remind the staff we were waiting multiple times.
Once seated, we were faced with an extremely high-priced menu for English pub fare. This restaurant was not nice enough for prices like these. A £30 steak at a basic pub had to be fantastic (right?), so three of us took the challenge to find out. The rest of the dishes also sounded appealing, so we opted for an assortment of apps and entrees, including some oysters to start.
Let me start with the oysters. One of them was bad. Not just bad. Rancid. The smell coming of the plate was putrid. For the cook or server not to notice this is downright criminal. The worst part, when we let the server know, he just took the single, bad oyster off the plate, with his bare hands and carried it away. So tacky. Again, prices too high for tacky service and spoiled food.
After that we actually enjoyed some ox cheek mac n’ cheese before being thoroughly disappointed in our meals.
Our six entrees came to us ICE-COLD. And we waited a longggg time for those entrees. They must have been sitting on the line, far from a heat lamp for way too long. It was disgusting. This was a roast, three steaks, and a couple of fish & chips. So disappointing. And, since we try to be good people, and the idea of wasting all that food seemed horrible (and waiting forever to remake it sounded just as bad) we sucked it up and ate our cold, dry, sad meals.
Dinner at London’s The Mitre The Mitre’s Fish & Chips, London
The management did take our complaints seriously, I have to say. Well, they weren’t all that apologetic, but they did heavily discount the bill and offer us dessert. They made it right, but, unfortunately, nothing was good enough to warrant a return visit.
After the meal, the incompetent server had us reviewing an outdated dessert menu, so when we ordered, everything was from the previous week and we had to then do the whole song and dance over again. When the desserts finally came, I had to get up myself to get silverware for the table, and then again to find someone to give us or check.
If I had to pick one word to describe the experience, it would be painful. Horrible service, rookie mistakes, cold and overpriced meals. It pains me just to think back on it all. And, to top it all off, I was recounting this experience to a friend and she told me a SHOCKING Mitre story. This place never ceases to amaze and disappoint. My friend was given £100.00 gift certificate as a gift (from an out-of-towner that had no idea being sentenced to The Mitre was no gift at all). When she tried to use a portion, The Mitre DEMANDED it was to be used all in one go. How in the world is a girl supposed to spend £100.00 in one sitting by herself? Is she forced to use her gift on other people. Their prices are high but not £100.00 per person high unless you order the shitty steak, an appetizer, sides, dessert and drink a lot. Still, I’ve never heard of a restaurant doing this to a patron. PATHETIC!
In conclusion, I went to The Mitre after hearing horrible reviews, but I had to see (and review) for myself. Do not make the same mistake I did. Trust pretty much everyone in West London and avoid this horrible place.
The Mitre
40 Holland Park Avenue
London W11 3QY
The London Checklist 