283-285 West End Lane,
West Hampstead,
London,
NW6 1RD
(020) 7431 8818
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Alice House
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I've been to Alice House three times. The interior is inviting (and one would think), the perfect place for a Sunday brunch. The food is standard fair but slightly overpriced. The service, however, is utterly atrocious. On my third (and last!) visit, I entered and, though there was a woman walking around with what appeared to be a list of names on a clipboard, no one greeted me at the door. After waiting a few moments near the entrance, I finally asked the bartender if I could just sit anywhere, to which he replied with a friendly, "Sure!" I sat alone at a table for two near the center of the restaurant and waited for someone to come and take my order, offer me water. 3 minutes passed...5 minutes...7 minutes...and finally 10 minutes. Not a long time in the grand scheme of things but when you're hungry and watching the clock, hoping a waiter will notice you, it is an eternity. Several waiters walked past me during that 10 minutes--not even one stopped to ask if I'd been helped. I finally got up and went to the less fashionable (but light years ahead in terms of service, quality of food and price) La Brioche across the street. From there, I phoned the manager of Alice House, hoping he'd redeem my experience. To his credit, he did apologize. Then he said he would remind staff to be attentive to customers who might need service in the future. Considering that's the basic tenant of a waiter's job, he might want to rethink his management strategy. I watched the crowd at Alice House from the window as I finished my breakfast. A couple, who had been waiting as long as I had been eating, finally got up from the table and went inside just to secure themselves a couple of menus. I guess that's just the kind of place Alice House is.
I've been to Alice House three times. The interior is inviting (and one would think), the perfect place for a Sunday brunch. The food is standard fair but slightly overpriced. The service, however, is utterly atrocious. On my third (and last!) visit, I entered and, though there was a woman walking around with what appeared to be a list of names on a clipboard, no one greeted me at the door. After waiting a few moments near the entrance, I finally asked the bartender if I could just sit anywhere, to which he replied with a friendly, "Sure!" I sat alone at a table for two near the center of the restaurant and waited for someone to come and take my order, offer me water. 3 minutes passed...5 minutes...7 minutes...and finally 10 minutes. Not a long time in the grand scheme of things but when you're hungry and watching the clock, hoping a waiter will notice you, it is an eternity. Several waiters walked past me during that 10 minutes--not even one stopped to ask if I'd been helped. I finally got up and went to the less fashionable (but light years ahead in terms of service, quality of food and price) La Brioche across the street. From there, I phoned the manager of Alice House, hoping he'd redeem my experience. To his credit, he did apologize. Then he said he would remind staff to be attentive to customers who might need service in the future. Considering that's the basic tenant of a waiter's job, he might want to rethink his management strategy. I watched the crowd at Alice House from the window as I finished my breakfast. A couple, who had been waiting as long as I had been eating, finally got up from the table and went inside just to secure themselves a couple of menus. I guess that's just the kind of place Alice House is.
The Alice House has been my favourite local for the past year since I moved to the area, consistently providing first class service. The vibe of this place is smooth, chilled and atmospheric during the week and a place of energy and a real buzz at the weekends. The staff are great, drinks are first class and the area is fantastic. I had my leaving drinks there a couple of weeks ago - sad it won't be my local now that I've moved to NYC but totally recommend this bar and will definitely pop in for a drink when I visit London again!
The Alice House is a busy, buzzy venue in West Hampstead (very good public transport links by bus, tube and overground), there is real atmosphere about the place and a lovely informal air, just lots of groups of all sizes enjoying themselves. We held an 18th birthday party at here using 'The Den', their attractive, informal private room (with full bar) and all had a very good time. The 'maitre d' and staff were uniformly excellent, charming, helpful and friendly (special mention to the superb young lady who acted as our resident bartender for the evening and the hardest-working 'maitre d' I've seen in ages). The food supplied for the party (a wide selection of sharing plates) was very good and 2 of us had an excellent meal upstairs while the party was going on below. The restaurant and bar menus are great and the range of cocktails very impressive both in choice and quality. All-in-all a brilliant place to go.
I went to The Alice House for my mums birthday meal on tues 22 Feb 2011 with 8 people and was so disappointed I thought I`d write a review. For a start the venue is actually very stylish with nice outdoor area in front of the restaurant with some wooden decking. Inside the cieling is pretty weird with loads of dimly lit light bulbs and hardly any visibility at night. Not a bad setting if you are havin a romantic meal with partner. The place is more of a fancy wine bar than a restaurant as the food choice we were given was non existant. There were 2 hindu vegetarians with us who had to just eat chips as the choice was appalling. There was about 7 choices of main course ranging from Alice House burger to some winter vegetable dish. When we did order the food, and we didnt order anything too complicated or fancy, it took ages to get served and when it arrived it was served on wooden cheeseboards which allowed for a handful of chips and not much else. £9.75 for a burger and some undercooked chips was not good. It was so dark in there I could hardly see what I was eating. The staff seemed disinterested and unhelpful and were not enjoying their jobs I feel. Utterly overpriced and pretentious. Got a terrific venue, but could be much better. Not a restaurant at all! Not going back again.
Really love this place. Really friendly staff, excellent service and a great atmosphere. food is pretty dam good too. Probably my favourite place in w.Hampstead.
Really love this place. Really friendly staff, excellent service and a great atmosphere. food is pretty dam good too. Probably my favourite place in w.Hampstead.
Gorgeous decor but that's the only good thing about it. Overpriced, average food, terrible service and I couldn't have what I wanted from the menu because the chef was 'temperamental'.
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