Havelock Tavern, The Reviews

The Havelock is the best place to go if you want to see a fading belle sitting at the corner of a bar drinking and smoking her beauty to oblivion.

Oh dear! The Havelock seems to have lost the plot a bit. Portion sizes seem to have shrunk and the menu gets more verbose by the week. The old staff have all left to be replaced by part-time plumbers even more diffident than their erstwhile colleagues. Maybe I'm just growing out of overpriced, smoky gastropubs.

The Havelock is the best value gastropub in London. The food is delicious by any standard and outstanding at the price (£4 - £6 for a starter and £7.50 to £12.00 for a main course). The wines are great value and the ambience is very congenial and low-key. Can get raucous on a Friday or Saturday night - but isn't that the price of success?

I eat here once or twice a week and have done since 1996.The food is terrific, the booze overpriced and the service unspeakable - I absolutely love it. This is not a pub for the precious or the pompous who want pampering, it's a pub for people who want delicious and varied food, who aren't above sharing a table or waiting ages for their meal. Outstanding.

Yes, the food is good, however, it does not make up for the sloppy service and lack of attentiveness. Our empty glasses and dirty ashtrays remained on the table throughout our meal and for the hour following that. The staff took our orders at the bar only after they had finished their conversations with their colleagues and one of the young ladies actually continued to sip her coffee while taking our food order. The staff don't walk - they shuffle - and apart from a smile from a friendly Polish waitress - seemed generally disinterested in our patronage. As I said - food good - but staff a huge let-down. We won't be back.