County Hall Arms

The Service: SLOW!!! You have to order your drinks and food at the bar. Bartender will take your order then you pay at the spot. Then find your table… you will be given a number that is how server find you.
Kitchen is working very slow… might take a while to get your food.
The Food: Bar food… a little bit pricey but worth it because the location. It is right next to the water and London Eye. And across street from Big Ben. They have nice outdoor seating are but always crowded. So maybe come after lunch and before dinner crowd and get a table outside the restaurant. Enjoy the view… they don’t rush you.

If I could give this place zero stars I would. Came down for a bite and some pints, when we walked in a male Bartender was massaging a female Bartender instead of greeting us at all. Went up to order beers and the female Bartender was completely rude, pretty sure she got even more rude when she heard my American accent. I’m industry and you just lost out on a lot of money.
Took the beers back to our table and they gave me a food menu, my friends and I made our decisions and headed back to the bar. Time being 830pm. She told us that the kitchen opened in 30 minutes so we sat down to drink and wait.
Went back up and the Bartender then tells us NO THE KITCHEN IS CLOSED FOR THE NIGHT AT 830?!?
the women’s restroom was trashed, one toilet was clogged and the other had no toilet Paper. There was a liquid in the floor I couldn’t define but I left footprints on the floor. Also there were shoe insole inserts under our table, yeah you read that right.
Also some guy just literally walked by us with 2 Togo boxes of food, apparently the kitchen is only closed to us

This place is awful. Rude bar tenders. Don’t need a holes to serve me when there are a million place to spend your money where they are friendly.

I’m sure the owners of this bar wouldn’t be happy knowing their staff were discouraging customers from ordering drinks 25 minutes before last orders by saying «We’re about to close». I’m also sure they wouldn’t approve of their staff telling customers the bar had stopped serving drinks 15 minutes before last orders. I personally saw 6 customers turned away well before the 11pm last orders time. It was obvious the young man in charge expected to leave work AT 11pm!
On our visit the outside seating was being removed at about 10.30pm, and we were told we had to sit inside. We were looking forward to sitting outside for a drink or two in the open air with the great view.
As we started to order our drinks (we were a party of 5) the music was turned off, the lights started to be lowered and raised, and the inside bar started to be filled with outdoor seating.
The young bar staff were carrying on behind the bar, giving no regards to their work environment. They obviously just all wanted to leave as soon as possible.
When the young man in charge came over and told us to drink up as they were closing (at 10.50pm, which is usually last orders time) I told him I wasn’t happy about the situation, and that his boss certainly wouldn’t be very happy about all the lost customers.
I feel sorry for the owner, because on this particular night he lost a lot of money due to BAD STAFFING.
None of us will be back, and we told the staff in another nearby bar (open later) about our bad experience.
What a shame a bar with such potential, in such an amazing location is run by a bunch of feckless employees!
As someone who has more than 30 years of nightclub and bar experience, it really pains me to see an owner taken advantage of in this way…

Wonderful menu, food, décor, location– great. Had a club sandwich and the seasonal merengue pie w/​custard. Simply amazing. Huge sandwich, unbelievably crunchy chips (crisps) and a pie to keep coming back for!

Very cozy little spot. I adore the outside seating – perfect for people watching. The inside is how I imagined an English pub to be.
The furniture and décor are charming and cozy.
I enjoyed the wine here, although it seems most had beer or cider.
Definitely a spot I would enjoying returning to again.

A quite puzzling experience at the County Hall Arms.
We asked the bartender if we could grab a seat outside & were told yes, and to come inside when we were ready to place an order. On deciding, I tried to give our order to the bartender and was told that the kitchen was closed (don’t mind the others eating) and to check back in ten minutes. Fair enough, we’ll have a couple of pints while we wait then.
About fifteen minutes pass and I notice another customer put in an order for food. Grand. I ask the bartender to confirm, and he tells me yes, they’re open for orders. I order the Fish and Chips… but apparently they are out of fish. Seems a bit odd, but ok, I’ll go with the Steak Pie then… nope, they’re out of that too. A brief bout of eye contact seemed to indicate that they would be out of anything else I’d ask for as well.
I could feel the stereotypical American welling up inside me, so we quietly finished our drinks and left. I’m still scratching my head over this, but it’s safe to say we won’t be back.

For a riverside London place, with fab views of the houses of parliament and the Thames, they could charge through the roof for their wares. OK, it’s a wee bit dearer than what I would consider the norm, but it’s not as bad as it could be.
Other than that, it seems to be a fairly nondescript middle of the road kinda place. Nothing awful, but nothing to write home about. Great location, good choice of draft beers, but sadly, nothing too memorable.

After walking out of the Aquarium we were all very hungry. This was the first place we noticed. Everyone had Bangers and Mash. I had Stilton and mushroom pie. My pie was alright, but it was really cold on the inside and a little to hard on the crust.
Service was lacking. They make you get everyting inside and they bring your food out on a dirty table if you are sitting outside. Never came by to clean it.

Can’t miss this pub, it’s right along the Westminster Bridge in the County Hall plaza. There’s plenty of outdoor tables making it good for groups and to people watch. Given it’s closeness to to the London Eye and Parliament Square it was a great place to recharge.
Inside, with it’s dark wood décor and loud music, it looked and felt pretty authentic. The taps caught my eye and I went with a Hobgoblin. What was cool was the tap was hand pumped. Yes!!, real cask conditioned ale.
HOBGOBLIN — £3.75.
Without getting too technical, it’s the natural live yeasts which made it taste fresher, richer, more spirited in a non-​carbonated way than regular keg beer. Refreshing. (
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FISH AND CHIPS w/​MUSHY PEAS — £10 — 4.25 star
The mushy peas reminded me of baby food but the fish was great, a thick juicy flaky piece of cod. The difference is in the crispiness of the crust. I’m not sure if its in the batter or the oil they fry it in, possibly both? This is some of the best fried fish I’ve had. The chips (steak fries) were dusted in some sort of curry powder mixture. (
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BEEF BURGER w/​CHEDDAR and BACON — £10 — 3 star.
British Beef, British Ham, lettuce, cheddar, onion, and tomato on a soft brioche bun.
The beef had a different texture and flavor that I’m used to, not as beefy. I should have asked for medium rare since it was cooked til a dry well done. (
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4 star food, 4.5 star beer, 3 star service = 4.5 star experience! Now, only if I could find some real cask ale back in America.
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