I went to a birthday party at The Albion a week ago. It’s a lovely looking ‘country-style’ pub, with a large beer garden.

I was expecting a great afternoon, the sun was shining, and The Albion has great reviews.

That said, you’d have to pay me to go back. I couldn’t believe how monumentally rude the staff were.

When I asked what ‘St Telo’ was on the menu, the barman barked ‘CHEESE’ as though I was being offensively stupid and turned his back on me.

It took three attempts to even find out where I could place an order for food, and had to ask another three waiters to actually take my order.

And shamefully, it’s not just the barmen or waiters, it’s a problem that goes to the top. There were about 15 of us there so we spent a lot of money that afternoon.

When we tried to pay the bill, the manager (yup, manager) repeatedly turned his back on us and walked away mid conversation. We were gobsmacked. How can a place like this get away with it?

By buttering up critics from newspapers I imagine.The true ‘icing on the cake’ was the fact that the birthday boy’s girlfriend had made him a cake the night before.

She was told that to have it on the premises, everyone in the party had to pay a surcharge of £2.50.

When she said this was ridiculous considering we had booked a large meal and were paying through the nose for it, the restaurant manager eventually relented, graciously saying we could have it in the pub, but we weren’t allowed to ‘publicise it, let the staff know we had it, or even eat it’. Thanks a bunch.

We felt so welcome we left soon after.Having read other reviews about the service at The Albion in Barnsbury, I shouldn’t think anyone would want to go.

But if you’re a bit of a sadist and want to feel like a scumbag who shouldn’t be in a pub, by all means go and meet the staff there.

The Albion is a beautiful pub, undeniable. The food is good but a little expensive (good restaurant prices but similar quality)

The staff, including general management are rude, unhelpful and missing huge opportunities to make a lot more money.

Booking a table for 12 people to eat a £300 suckling pig at 3pm in the afternoon to have 10 additional people joining us later to drink until the pub closed would be seen by most pubs/gastro’s/restaurants (I’m not sure what the Albion wants to be?) as an excellent opportunity to earn a lot of money and an excellent advertisement for the pub to a group of young professionals who live in the area, and invariably, spend a lot of money in pubs.

This wasn’t our first experience here. Unable to find seats just to drink is a common problem and a shame with the garden.

And previous experiences made us weary, but with the Observer on side and a great garden we decided to book for the 30th birthday gathering and give it a go.

Big mistake.After making a surprise birthday cake and with honourable intentions by calling ahead to prepare them and ask for a bit of fridge room, I was told we would have to pay a £2.50 surcharge per person (10% of pig cost) to have it on the table / kept in the fridge.

When I explained the cake was quite inedible but looked lovely and was for surprise and effort value as opposed to eating for desert, this was still disregarded.

After a lengthy chat with management who agreed to contact the general manager they came reluctantly back and agreed to let us have the cake…..

However, we couldn’t eat it on the premises, nor would they keep it in a fridge for me (It was 26 degrees), they couldn’t even “touch it”, nor could we publicise that they had made such a leniency. (Woops)

It is beyond comprehension or business sense to be so difficult and have such tight regulations which leave a sour taste in your mouth and

A truly unforgettable meal- we sat out in the stunning garden surrounded by the wysteria and tucked into the most delicious food I have had in quite some time.

Particular highlights for me were the melt in the mouth bone marrow and capers (quite experimental for a pub) and a half lobster grilled served with seasonal spring greens and jersey royals.

Delicious and a real feel of a country pub despite being in Central London. Service was impeccable but unobtrusive.

25th April 2009.How disappointing!

My first visit to the Albion and I most definitely will not be going back!

Firstly, this is the first review I have ever written. I am not the sort of person to complain about things, and this was the first time I have ever had to ask to speak to the manager, who i doubt was the manager anyway!

As you enter The Albion you think, this is going to be good. The waiters, well to be honest pretty poor!

First thing was to order a bottle of wine. The first bottle was presented to us, wrong bottle, second bottle presented, wrong bottle!

It's not that hard when you write it down.The menu is limited, and because of this you expect the food to be of a high class.

Our starters were brought out and once again, they had got my order wrong. Crab/Trout, surely they don't sound that similar!

I started with the Crab and Apple on Toast. Well the toast was burnt, and the crab and apple was pretty tasteless.

My girlfriend had the Oysters, which can only be described as average.

My girlfriend had the Sea Bass, which was nice but only because the amount of butter it was in!

It was poorly presented! I went for the Venison and Root Veg Pie. Sounds nice doesn't it..now i'm no pie expert, but this was terrible.

The meat was dry, and the whole dish lacked taste and there was a distinct lack of gravy.

I managed about a third, and was extremely disappointed. I would advise a visit to Pie Minister on Upper Street instead!

I decided not to order dessert so as not to be further disappointed. My girlfriend went for the Sticky Toffee Pudding. Having waited over 30mins, enough was enough.

I informed that the dessert was not longer required and we wanted the bill and the manager. The bill obviously came first, and looking back at it, i should have refused to pay the £63 (£17 bottle of wine!).

Had Sunday lunch at The Albion today.

Booked a table ten days ago, offered no choice of inside or out, and when we got there it was packed, our table was outside, the sun had gone behond the clouds,

it was getting v chilly and we were not allowed to move to a vacant table inside - too complicated for the staff apparently as we had already ordered by that time - though once we'd placed our order we were told that it would take half an hour for the food to come.

In the event it was closer to 45 minutes. When it came it was adequate. 4 main courses and 2 bottles of wine = £125 - no starters, dessertss, coffee. Would I go again?

Probably not: there are better, and better organised, places. Shame really.

This is without doubt the worst pub in London! It has all the makings of a great pub - it's a nice looking building, beautifully decorated with lovely outside space but beware for this is a wolf in sheep's clothing! The staff are miserable and rude and tried to charge us a 12% service charge on a bowl of chips which we went to the bar to order - the bar man was so rude when we refused to pay it he called the manager out! If you're looking for an exceedingly mediocre experience - this is the place for you!

The steak costs £18 (sic), and is comparable to a small Sainsbury's rump steak chucked in a frying pan. I know there's a recesssion coming, but they might want to consider cutting their prices as well as their costs...The staff are very unwelcoming as well.

I booked The Albion for my partner's 30th birthday and it turned out to be a brilliant night. I left it until the last minute, calling them a week before the big event, and was surprised when they agreed to squeeze in 12 people for an early evening dinner.
It was bustling with people by 6pm when we turned up, but they'd come up trumps and reserved us a big table right in the midst of the atmosphere. I booked the meal for 6.30pm, and was originally told we had to get our orders in by 6.45pm, from a limited menu. So i was a bit anxious by the time the whole gang arrived around half an hour late! But the staff were really relaxed about the whole thing, happy to take several rounds of drink orders until everyone turned up.
Turned out we were able to choose from the whole menu, and the food was gorgeous. Especially the choc pudding! The staff were all really friendly and on-hand for drinks orders (of which there were many).
I was also under the impression other people had booked our table and we had a set time to eat, but this wasn't the case. We were having such a laugh we stayed in the pub until closing time and our grand plans for a pub crawl were thwarted.
Really good night and would def go back.