I had really high hopes for this venue but I was so disappointed and feel gutted because I suggested the venue for a group lunch (not reading any reviews because I always think you have to try for yourself) in essence the staff are so miserable and rude! why??!!! They make you feel like your being an inconvenience (that would be when they got my order wrong) & does it hurt to smile or be welcoming? Not impressed.There are so many nicer places to go to in Clapham don't be fooled by the pretty exterior. Food 4/10Service 4/10Value for money 4/10

I Vaguely remembered some good reviews when this place opened a few years ago and decided to try their cocktails on my wedding anniversary night.
I can't comment on the beer garden this being december but the inside does not feel special at all - it smacks of these pubs that have gotten on the gastro band wagon when they realised it was a lucrative business - charging restaurant prices for informal bistro food.

Anyway I ordered a whisky sour and a fruity lychee & mint number. The sour was probably the worse I ever got in London - both thin, too sweet and mouth twistingly acidic, without that normally wonderful oakiness of the whisky. I contemplated drinking it for a minute (it had taken a while for it to appear at our table), but eventually decided to ask for a replacement.

The reaction of the bar tender was telling - I thought I was transported to my native Paris! 'that's what a sour is supposed to taste like' 'you had it sitting for 10 minutes' etc. After a fight the drink was replaced by an espresso martini. It too was very crude, so sweet it was syrupy.

We would have had a better time in the local branch of the slug and lettuce!

I went for Sunday lunch and the service was dreadful and the excuses from the staff were outrageous. I enjoyed my food, but I received my food 30 minutes after my girlfriend! They only offered me a free drink, but I refused to pay and eventually they begrudgingly gave me it free.

Well I have heard a lot of good and bad things about this place so I decided to try it out for myself.

Nice decor and garden!

Service is dreadful to say the least, there was 8 of us at a table, the last person to receive the food was 40 minutes after the first person and we all ordered at the same time. We were fobed off constantly by the rude staff and at the end we only paid for 4 of the meals. The other tables next to us were victoms of the same disgraceful service and they only paid 50% of their bill.

Not a lot else to say apart from I wont be going again.

Love this place. Great service, Good Food, good beer.

Went here for Sunday lunch with friends. Get there early they said, and I'm glad that we did as this is obviously a popular place.

So the good bits - excellent Bloody Mary served by friendly bar staff and a good selection of beers. I also like the space - cut above the usual tarted up boozer, and big garden for sunnier days than our Sunday.

...and that's about all that was good.

Once the place filled up the service got increasingly frantic and several requests to find out why food was taking so long were brushed off with a "It will be there in 15mins" type excuse. When finally food did turn up it was only for half the table. My girlfriend and I waited another 20 mins for our food which when it did turn up was not worth the 'gastropub' label they apply to themselves. And they forgot my chips. Or rather, they turned up as I was finishing my main course but the waitress rushed off before I realised.

Looking around the table there was not really anyone that rated their food very highly - undercooked carrots, burnt burger buns, gristle in the pancetta, and a fish pie that looked dull and anaemic and mostly uneaten.

Checked the bill when I got home and realised that the beers I went to the bar and bought had been added to the tab and 12.5% service added. Nice little slap in the face. Not rushing back anytime soon.

Have been here before and liked the atmosphere but ate for the first time last night. What a shocker. Starter was fine but then we had a 40 minute wait for mains during which time we saw two tables which had arrived after us be served before us. They said it was normal for there to be a 20 minute wait between courses. (1) We didn't complain until we'd been waiting half an hour and (2) don't make excuses, just apologise.

Our mains eventually arrived and we frankly had the dregs of the offerings. The pie didn't look like any of the other pies we'd seen served that night which when we questionned it they said it was due to the dish they'd used and they had run out of the proper dishes. That left us with a stew with a pastry cut out on top rather than a pie.

My "rump" steak was not rump steak. It was tough, grisly and burnt on the outside, though admittedly rare on the inside as requested. But after such a long wait I would have eaten anything. Maybe that's the trick - leave your customers so hungry that they'll eat anything when you eventually serve it and will leave good reviews.

We complained but we were given excuses on each occasion - even told that that is what a rump steak is like - tough and grisly. Hmm. Not sure I'm convinced.

Having had shoddy service and shoddy food we declined to see the pudding menu but we were promised that the desserts were excellent and would be out quickly. After a 15 minute wait for the dessert menu we gave up and asked for the bill. The icing on the cake was that the bill came with service charge added on. By this point we couldn't face arguing with them any further. They wouldn't accept that anything was wrong; everything was our own problem and no one apologised - all we got were rubbish excuses.

Oh the fries were excellent - but judging by the other reviews we know that's because the Avalon did not cook them.

I have been to The Avalon three times and, although the food is always great, the service is always shocking. Meals never arrive together (so by the time somebody in your party has near-finished you'll get yours) and they are always running out of things (on our last visit they had run out of pork less than an hour after starting their 3pm Sunday lunch service and two desserts we wanted weren't available). The staff are also surly. They are very busy and rushed off their feet but there's no need for rudeness. This place just needs to hire some more staff. So it's the food that keeps me going back..it really is the best for a few miles and is appropriately priced for what you get. Just wish they'd sort out the other bits