The Cow reviews
This is the best pub in London. Proper pub with decent Guinness on the one hand and really superb food on the other. Fish and seafood dominates the menu, especially oysters. The fish stew is also excellent. There's a real buzz about the place, whether you're there for Sunday lunch or a few scoops in the evening. This is well worth making your local or trekking across town for. Staff are friendly and patrons are a good mix and less pretentious than those at other local pubs.
by gossipw, 07 Apr 2008A big shake-up in the staff and it seems the bad apples have gone. The new bar staff are great, really friendly and fun. The food is fresh and so are some of the waiting staff! My London local. (Oh, and all the smoke is outside now...)
by mrkitch, 21 Dec 2007Had dinner here recently and the food was of an excellent standard and good value. Oysters were fresh and the pate was outstanding. Mains were also good - venison was cooked perfectly and the crab pasta was very tasty. It is very cramped downstairs and the service was a bit hit and miss, but hey it's a pub and the prices are pretty good. If you want a la carte, go upstairs!
by bellmeister (6 reviews), 19 Nov 2007Not recommended at all! Extremely rude staff. I love seafood but definitely not raw shellfish - don't be surprised when you see all the shellfish is indeed not cooked (which is very risky, very unhealthy). The atmosphere is not good, and it's too small, smelly and overly expensive.
by evrz, 02 Sep 2007Not recommended... or, you could go and pray that everything goes well. Otherwise dissatisfaction is pretty much guaranteed, because some of the staff are offensively rude.
by tanere, 02 Jul 2007The bar downstairs is always smoky, crowded and tended by rude offhand barstaff, as has been mentioned ad nauseam in other reviews. The upstairs dining rooms, however, are an oasis. A perfect little dining room serving delicious simple dishes. I hate the bar, but I love the dining rooms. The upstairs retains the charm the downstairs had when Tom Conran first opened and I drank downstairs all the time.
by Capt T (4 reviews), 09 May 2007Rude, inattentive staff; too small and cramped; kitchen seemed to be in the middle of the bar; oysters - always a risk (maybe they should stick to pulling pints...).
by DJT, 15 Mar 2007'Most fashionable bar in London' may be The Cow's reputation, but we found incredibly rude bar and managerial staff, some of whom seemed more interested in chatting up wannabes than running a pub.
The place was smoky (from the kitchen not the smokers). Food OK, but we were thrown off the table as soon as we had finished our last mouthful, despite having racked up a sizeable bill. When we asked to stay to finish our drinks we were informed that we could, but not to expect service next time we went.
We were very very disappointed and, needless to say, we won't be back.
Best pub in the world. The place gets packed, hot and smoky, and so I imagine service is sometimes not what people are looking for... but if that means I'm going to find it easier to get a seat then all the better. My local for years and years.
by Billyh, 13 Feb 2006Nice food however expensive and absolutely terrible service by a sullen American waitress.
by Anonymous, 27 Jun 2005The food here was exceptionally poor and very disappointing particularly for the price. Even if it was a "cheap & cheerful" it still would have disappointed!
We ordered the hare stew on a cold winter's day. Although the meat was of good quality it was clear it was not cooked like a stew, but separately then dumped together on a plate. In addition, the waitress was unable to understand the word "share" so she gave us one side dish but half the size!
Love the Cow. Crowd veers towards the worst of the Hillbillys so it gets very, very smoky but unendingly entertaining. The cooking is wonderful and the staff can be a total joy, until they nick your fags. Completely useless in the summer time, too hot and too small but still a great local.
by Anonymous, 08 Dec 2004Have we missed a great pub in London? Let us know.
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