I would say that Betsy Smith service is quite unpredictable. We are living very near and regularly come for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Someday you will be greeted nicely and will be served quickly while someday (and this is actually the 4th time it happens), the chefs will get your order wrong or completely forget it.

Today again (20/09 at 20:40).. My husband just ordered a take away pizza. After waiting for 30 minutes and after querying for our order, we finally received a pizza, but unfortunately not the one we ordered (obviously less expensive that we have been charged). The worst of all is that no apologies have been formulated by the team, one of the waitress at the bar was even arguing and being rude. Luckily another more experienced lady came to help. (and the restaurant was not busy at all)

I am very sad that this restaurant does not take this regular issues more into account as they really have a great menu and the food is very very tasty.

I went to the Betsy smith on Sunday 3rd for mothers day. I was in a bit of a tizzy because I forgot, so called late on Saturday night to book a table since I have enjoyed all of my previous visits.
I found the lady on the other end of the phone vey accommodating and polite, especially when I asked to be sat at the front since I was bringing my Nan and she cant tackle stairs.
It was about 3pm when I arrived and the atmosphere was perfect with jazz playing in the back ground.
How ever within half an hour it got very busy.
We had the burger that was a bit disappointing it was over seasoned, after relaying this to the waiter he was happy to change it, and we got the roast, which was delicious.
Just one thing that was disappointing was the attitude of the new supervisor who seemed to be making things worse and was totally incompetent
All in all we had a good experience. And that was because of the tall waiter and the girl behind the bar who dealt with our problem and ratified the mistake.

After reading about the Betsy Smith in Square Meal's Venue and Events my friend and I decided to visit on Saturday.

Although it looks fantastic, eating there was a miserable experience

Our plates arrived with old mouldy salad leaves

Crisps were delivered when it clearly states chips accompanied the sandwich on the menu. When we questioned the waitress we were told that that was an error on the menu and they meant crisps. Which frankly is a bit of lazy printing if there was indeed a mistake. They did begrudingly offer to bring us an order of chips, which arrived 20 minutes later when we were ready to leave

They were of the shop bought oven variety and pretty vile.

Tables remained dirty for the duration of the service with plates piled up in the service area, which made for a pretty naff first impression.

The sandwiches when they arrived ( we ordered Club Sandwiches) were made of cheap nasty bread, were bland dry and overall pretty revolting

It was just such a shame that someone had clearly gone to a lot of effort to make the space look so interesting and different that this didn't carry over into the food and it really let the venue down. It was £20 I'd rather not have spent, we both left feeling queasy with a pretty bitter taste ( if you'll pardon the pun) in our mouths.

Go for a drink avoid like the plague if you want to eat there.

I have been to Betsy Smith 4 times now, I want to love it, its a fun environment, but each and everytime, different days, different times of the day, the service has been unbelievably awful. They are slow, rude, grumpy, understaffed, under-skilled, they try and over-charge you, it takes forever to be served, they don't know what half the drinks are, and don't know how to make most of cocktails. The food is, a little over-priced for the quality. Please please please get some staff that have worked in a bar before, help the waitress more by getting her some guys that can actually help, get everyone training, and replace the manager, he's useless! Betsy Smith could be soooo good, but teething problems can only be accepted for so long, I dread what it will be like in there on New Year's Eve.

I went in here today for lunch. Nice and bright and airy(especially compared to the other Kilburn High Road Bars) with patio doors opening out onto the pavement, and more female-friendly. It's very tastefully decorated while slightly quirky. I had a non-alcoholic cocktail - ginger, apple and mint which was really refreshing. All pizzas are £5 at lunch and very good quality - generous toppings and a good size - we shared between three. Perfect for lunch.
There are loads of cocktails on offer - some are quite unusual - I can't wait to try them. There are a few that you can have in a teapot (you don't have to) if you want to share with a friend. But most aren't. The cocktail list shows you the type of glasses they are served in.
There are quirky features - such as the seating alcove made of a mirrored wardrobe - which just makes it a bit more interesting. It's very nicely designed.
Although I would say that women would really appreciate this place, I was there with two men and one said he thought it wsa the best in the area.
I'm sure it has a completely different vibe at night.
The staff were friendly. Hopefully the problems that a couple of the other reviewers had were just teething problems - I would say to give it another try.

I came across the Betsy Smith on Tuesday lunchtime and have to admit that i was impressed. I have always known of the building but never went in because it looked a bit shabby, but its actually a beautiful space thats been done out in an awesome, quirky style that somehow doesn't have the pretentious feel that allot of newly refurbished bars have. the service was fast, friendly and fun, and I had steak and chips, which was cooked to perfection (and i'm well fussy about my steak!). I normally automatically go to one of the other bars on the high road when im in the area, but ive a sneaking suspicion thats going to change!

Absolutely love this funky new bar!! The decor is amazing, and totally different to anything we have ever had in Kilburn.

Really can't wait to work my way through the cocktail menu too, only managed to try 5 different ones on the opening night. They were absolutely delicious though, particularly the Quincy with real edible rose petals floating on top.

Went down for the opening party and had an amazing night, We were given free canapes [mini burgers were a particular fave of mine!] and also we were welcomed with complimentary champagne cocktails, the bar was super busy at the start of the evening making free cocktails for everyone but this soon died down and the service was wicked. The staff were all dressed up with waistcoats and top hats and were smiling and dancing behind the bar..DJ was amazing and the live band really rocked the house with each musician jumping into the middle of the dance floor to dance with everyone!What a great atmosphere!
The fairground style warped mirror in the ladies toilet was getting a lot of attention as was the scratch and sniff wallpaper ...cherries...yum!
Looking forward to more late nights partying at The Betsy Smith!

Found this new venue yesterday and thought it was absolutely stunning, the new design is beautiful and unlike anywhere I have seen before. It has an entire wall made of real plants and a giant wardrobe seating area among many other cool features.
I found the staff to be extremely polite and helpful, we were welcomed into the bar and were given table service as soon as we sat down. We decided to try out the food so I had a Full English breakfast, it was a pretty good size and really tasty. My friend had a pizza with parma ham, Parmesan and mushrooms, which was huge [she had to take the rest home with her as she couldn't finish it all!] and my partner had the Betsy Burger which was with avocado and bacon...we all enjoyed it thoroughly and the pizzas are only a fiver every lunchtime [I think this is an introductory offer].
Drinks were great, good selection of beers for my other half and my friend and I tried a couple of the Cocktails. They have the most unusual cocktails, one of them has Hibiscus flowers in it and another one with Honey Parsnip would you believe. I wasn't quite daring enough to try the parsnip one but I gave the Hibiscus cocktail a try and it was so delicious.
My friend tried the Bright Eyes cocktail which was passion fruit, apple and Bison grass vodka...really really refreshing...went down a little too easy I think!I would definitely recommend this place to anyone who is in the area!

I had a similarly awful experience to the last reviewer (Jo_mackerel). I went in the evening with a friend and had a nightmare of a time. It took so long to get served that we only managed to get through three drinks in our two and a half hours there. Some of the staff seemed eager to clear the queues, but some prefered to laugh about and chat amongst themselves, which frustrated those queuing and helped create a pretty angry atmosphere. They also served people out of order - and when I complained to someone I think was the bar manager (he had a different colour waistcoat to everyone else) he made out like he was doing me a massive favour to even serve me at all after I dared to suggest that after 40 minutes queueing he ought to serve people in the order they arrived at the bar. Like the other reviewer, I won't need him to do me that favour again as I won't be coming back. Every time my friend and I were served, the staff were rude, and the mediocre cocktails are not worth that. Very disappointing

Just popped into the newly refurbished Betsy Smith (Sat 25th Sep 16.00) previously Ostereria del Ponte. I happened to be with some friends with children, and being a polite individual I went in to ask if children were allowed during the day - I was rather rudely informed that 'the kitchen was closed', and when I replied that actually we just wanted a drink the person behind the bar again rather rudely said, and I quote 'well, okay then'. Don't do us any favours, please! Needless to say we decided not to spend our money here but moved on elsewhere. Either you allow children or you don't - and you aren't doing me a favour letting me spend my hard earned cash in your pub. Maybe being really rude is the new way to run a successful pub, what do I know? Anyway, bit of a shame as this local won't be darkening your doorstep again!!