Halfway down Upper Street lies Keston Lodge, an alternative to all of the generic wine bars in Islington.

The Venue
Islington is bursting with restaurants, bars and cafes but Keston Lodge is worth saving yourself for as you wander past its competitors. Outside there are two-seater wooden tables with heat lamps and black awnings, which lend a certain welcoming appeal to the exterior.

Inside, there’s a long bar to the right with some tables and chairs against the windows. Further back there are some huge brown faux leather booths and sofas with an outdoor space out the back. Upstairs is more sedate with a long booth running the length of the wall, and a quiet, small bar. This area is perfect for private parties. The decor of the venue as a whole is purposefully random with retro leather booths, wide wooden veneer tables, and funky paisley overhead lights. It’s pretty mainstream eccentric but certainly beats the bright lights and laminate floors of chain bars. They also provide free WiFi to customers.

The Atmosphere
The bar staff are incredibly friendly and helpful and seem to have a great time, which definitely rubs off on the punters. The space here is big enough on a week night for it to be busy but not packed, the vibe is upbeat without being too in your face. The clientele consists mainly of Islington locals - generally, young twentysomething professionals. There are women catching up with friends for cocktails and gossip, and guys meeting up with mates for a few pints.

Upstairs is tangibly more relaxed, there’s no music playing and people head here to relax and chat without having to shout. The bar upstairs isn’t overlooked either and is well staffed, meaning you don’t have to sacrifice service for a quieter night. At the weekend, all this changes. Friday and Saturday nights are extremely busy and the place takes on a real party vibe. Open until 3am, they have DJs as well as BBQs, musical bingo nights and on Sundays they provide a great hangover-cure: roast dinner.

The Food
The menu has had an overhaul and the pies are long gone. Now the focus is on a traditional English menu with sharing platters also available.

Starters (for about £4.50) include delicious, if a little salty, Portobello mushrooms topped with spinach, sundried tomato and parmesan cheese. It’s not a light option and the serving is generous but the flavours and textures are great, from the salty bite of the sundried tomatoes and cheese to the mellow mushrooms and spinach. A lighter choice is the halloumi, beetroot and pine nut salad. The halloumi is salty but the earthy, fresh beetroot undercuts it well. It’s a decent, fresh salad.

For mains, the wild mushroom and goat’s cheese pie is a fabulous choice. It comes in individual pots – the pastry is flaky and buttery and the filling is wonderfully flavoursome and creamy. And there’s plenty of it. There is a strong goat’s cheese flavour to the pie, and it’s certainly not traditional, but it is a great little dish. If you’re a meat lover then the 8oz rib eye steak will probably catch your eye. For £11.50 it’s not the best steak you’ll eat in London but it is cooked on charcoal, adding a nice smoky flavour. The steak comes with a lemon thyme butter, which is really punchy and zesty and undercuts the steak perfectly. It comes with a decent side serving of hand cooked chips, which are much better than the average pub chip.

Something that cannot be recommended enough is the Keston Mess pudding, so save space. Like a traditional Eton Mess, this is a meringue, strawberry and whipped cream combo. It comes served in a martini glass and is the true taste of English summer – sweet, rich and fruity. It is a little heavy though and definitely not for the faint hearted. There are also roasts served on Sundays for about £9 (there is also a reduced menu run on Sundays for those who don’t favour roast lunch), and a decent range of sandwiches at lunchtime.

The Drink
The cocktails at Keston Lodge are pretty decent. There is the obligatory raspberry cocktail Very Berry Collins, which packs a lot of flavour and is Keston’s best seller. It’s ripe with fruity raspberry flavours and comes in a tall glass with crushed ice - a perfect pick-me-up after a hard day in the office. There’s also an extremely creamy Toasty Lodge containing amaretto, Kahlua, milk and cream (definitely not diet friendly), which is dangerously smooth and delicious. A decent short cocktail is Jack and Jerrys, which is very strong with both Sailor Jerrys and Jack Daniels served with blueberries. The blueberries get lost in the alcoholic kick but this is a nice, smoky cocktail for those who hate sickly sweet drinks. The Honey Daiquiri is very zesty thanks to the lime juice and has a hint of mellow honey.

The cocktails are about £7-£8 each, which is average for the area. However, they run a good happy hour on selected cocktails - buy one cocktail and get the second for £1.

The Last Word
Although Keston Lodge isn’t a revolution in cocktail bars, it is interesting and fun. The staff care about the bar and there’s a pleasant personal touch to the service.

venue information venue map view london review user reviews (20) image gallery (7)