Bars & Pubs

Not a great experience had...Fish pie was terrible, so disappointing (it is my favorite dish after all) dry flavorless, almost burnt pastry and as for fish, well there was a bit of salmon in there. I would have normally complained but we waited 25 mins for our mains and i had been told it was the last one so i really couldn't be bothered, i just won't go back there to eat. I will say that the staff were lovely as was the wine!

We were quite excited about our award winning sunday dinner but unfortunately were bitterly disappointed. The service was absolutely horrific and they still had the cheek to try and add the 10% service charge. What was supposed to be table service ended up us having to order food and drinks at the bar and when my soup arrived (without cutlery) I waited a few minutes, whilst it got cold before we asked for everyone elses starters to arrive. When they eventually did, we had to ask for clean cutlery. So then we got to the main courses. £34 for an overdone-ruined rib of beef, £14 for cold roast chicken (with dirty cutlery again) .......there wasn't even salt and pepper. The Observer awarded this place the best Sunday Lunch 2009, I think the Observer need to stop eating at McDonalds and dodgy kebab houses before they start rating potentially decent gastropubs. All in all , the worst and possibly the most expensive Sunday lunch we have ever had! An utter disappointment!

Best sunday roast I have ever had and the sticky toffee pudding sundae was divine too. Atmosphere in the beer garden lovely too (although a few too many kids for my liking!) couldnt recommend this place highly enough

So, I think that The Albion is a very nice looking pub. You would think it's large beer garden is great for a few summer drinks with friends, so long as you friends are huge, dull, TOFFS.
I don't think that the staff are particularly rude, but they're obviously told how to behave.
I recently decided to invite my friends to The Albion because it was my birthday. My friends are designers, writers, scientists etc. They may not wear corduroy slacks, Ralf Lauren shirts with a v-neck jumper slung over the shoulders, but certainly respectable folk. They all felt that they were made to feel uncomfortable.
We decided to order some food, but were then told (at 8.30pm) that we couldn't, because the garden would be closing and they were not going to serve more food. But, people around us were still ordering and being brought food and the garden didn't close until 10pm.
So we decided to eat a slice of my birthday cake (we were hungry!). Only to have a waiter rush over to tell us that if we cut into the cake, we would have to pay £2 each person. For what? We inquired. This cake was home made, certainly not using any of their ingredients or equipment. We even had brought a knife and serviettes. It would have cost us around £30 to eat the cake! NOT how you would treat a group of people who chose your pub to celebrate a birthday in, so we had to retire to The Draper's, which is altogether a more welcoming and enjoyable experience.
For the record, the single malt whiskey I had tasted awful, I don't know what they did to it, and the Black Sheep ale (a good one) was very poorly looked after. Not what you would expect from somewhere with such a high price on their drinks.
If you don't like the Great British pub, but want somewhere 'posh', pretentious and soulless to go, then I'd fully recommend The Albion.

This plase is sooo NOT worth going to!!! i was so dissapointed with the service but most of all the FOOD was terrible. cold , dry, tasteless, pathetic really. i want my money back including pertol money as i drove my boyfriend there for his borthday from south london. i still so upset about it

The food is still good (for these prices it should be) and the atmosphere is really lovely but I can't help feeling that standards are slipping.
I recently went for a Sunday evening dinner and the service, although friendly enough, was pretty terrible. It took around an hour for (some of) the food to arrive and when it did, one of my companion's orders had been totally forgotten and this despite much discussion with the waiter regarding her selection. To make matters worse, the waiter seemed to think the entire calamity was totally hilarious!
Vegetarian choices are limited and the chocolate in the chocolate pot may have been mixed with lead, such was its density.
I would only return again for a drink in the garden and perhaps a light snack but probably won't risk further disappointment by having a full meal again.
I fear this is theAlbion has sucummed to the familiar story of being a victim of their own success.

I recently had lunch at the Albion on a sunday, and I have to say it is the perfect place to relax and spend your afternoons. The atmosphere was great, great food, and the staff were very attentive, but not in your face.

What a wonderful pub1 The food was absolutely delicious and the ssetting is idyllic with a beautiful garden and the inside so reminiscent of a cosy country pub that we relaxed the moment we arrived. Great service too.

I atehere this weekend and had a really lovely time. The food was great, staff were attentive and polite and the atmosphere was just right. I will be recommending The Albion to my friends.

I had an marvelous meal here at the weekend, top nosh. I realise it is the norm to have a swipe at this kind of pub, gastro/makeover et al but I really have only positive experiences here.