The Kenton

My goodness, the worst roast my boyfriend and I have had in ages. I would have given it one star but they graciously and without question refunded one of our meals after we complained.
Potatoes: limp, lifeless and chewy. Barely warm. Tasted as if they’d been sitting in a tepid oven overnight.
Lamb: stringy and fatty. Gross.
Mushroom Wellington: flaccid and tasteless.
And £5.10 for a draught pint of Peroni… in Homerton?
Shame as the staff are quite nice. I don’t know what the food is like on other nights, but was quite disappointed with the Sunday roast.

Had Sunday lunch here yesterday, scouted it out before hand that it doesn’t take bookings, so we arrived and waited for it to open in order to get a table (Hackney Half marathon day). We succeeded and grabbed ourself a table ordered a few beers. Half an hour later the barstaff ask us to move as they need the table for a party of 8 who reserved. I contested the fact the website says no bookings, apparently they do for large groups. We move into the garden snug room after bribery of a free half pint each comes our way. Nice little room, until people come sit next to us and light up their cigarettes — oddly enough there are no smoking signs, yet someone has put ashtrays out (only annoying as we had a baby with us). Needed have worried though, as soon as this happened, completely coincidentally, the bar staff come to inform us we can have our original table back as the booking was a no show. Fair enough, happy once more.
We had roast lamb and beef — both delicious, although I felt like more roast potatoes could have been given. V good veg. Not cheap at £13.95, wasn’t worth quite this much. Great selection of beers.
it was rammed, to be expected given half marathon. Fellow customers a mixture of really friendly and nice to sit next to, and not so friendly and unapproachable. Upon closing a blind to stop my babys head being in hot direct sunlight I was met with a frosty ‘please can you open the blind instead of closing it.’ Even after explaining why I was closing it — she replied please open it, the sunshine is quite nice. She was rude.
We left shortly after, mainly due to baby being now a toddler and wanting to roam about, but after the above interaction I felt awkward.
We may go here again, but not on race day and will aim to be there on quiet days only.
Food worth going for and actually a really nice pub.

I went back for a food tasting, the bartender asked how many I had of the mini burgers then shamed me for eating them. Made me feel like shot and ruined my night. Used to love the place but never again going back. If you want to feel like shot, go right ahead and enjoy being shamed by staff.
I also just found out via their Facebook page that staff were talking about us and making fun of us while we were there. I thought they liked us. Pretty two faced. You’ll get negative reviews for rude behaviour.
It doesn’t matter how much or how little you eat, you shouldn’t be subject of ridicule and rudeness from staff, we were still paying customers.

I still don’t know what Northern Soul food means.
The Kenton is the local pub for my little nook of Homerton, and I finally popped in on a late Sunday afternoon for a Soul Classic burger.
£6.50 gets you a moo-​moo patty with a bisect of white cheddar and a smear of minced salsa. The brioche bun was good bread, but I wish it had been in the vicinity of a toaster to get it crispy and warm.
We were offered two mustards, ketchup, and a little bowl of mayo.
On the beer side of things, they serve a full draught selection, and a wider sweep of bottles than you might expect: Sierra Nevada, DOGFISH HEAD, to name the American ones that caught my eye. My liver lusted for a cold one, but next time, Kenton, next time.
Chill atmosphere, and we spent about an hour trivial-​pursuiting each other about news & pop culture from the 70s.
Did you know that Marie Curie is from Poland? And now you do.

The Kenton is the kind of pub that does well with the rackety and mismatch furniture, friendly and fun staff, and the quirky and unique niches. We live slightly out of the way in Mile End (easy enough bus ride) but I’d say this is our Local even though it’s a 30+min walk away.
I’ve never had a bad experience here, and have never been felt rushed out when it’s past closing. The food is good, albeit simple menu, but nicely priced. The first time I had the Thai Spiced Chicken Burger I was in heaven. Crispy, super tender, and the slaw and other sauces were exciting and savory. The second time though it was just OK, too much breading and not that much meat. Either way it’s a fair deal for £6.50. My wife has had the Veggie Burger and said it’s the best Veggie Burger she’s ever had. The fries are also good size with nice mayo on top, thin, crispy, delicious.
But back to the pub. There’s a good amount of tables and sizes around the bar, a quitter lounge area with books you can read in the back, and a nice decent sized patio with picnic tables and another smaller portion that’s covered with comfy seating and blankets for the colder nights.
For you pub quiz fans, one of the best in town can be found at the Kenton on Tuesdays. £1 buy in, great questions, and great prizes (£50 bar tab and Prosecco for the winners). The regular host is on break till March or May, but I’m sure the fill in is doing just as good of a job. Favorite pub quiz location so far.
Lastly heard good things about the Sunday Roast, but haven’t tried myself yet.

I took my family to this pub for Sunday dinner and wasn’t disappointed but oh my dayz I was not expecting the chocolate fudge cake, now I’ve had a lot of chocolate fudge cake in my 48 years and I have to say this beat the lot of them no contest! It was light, melt in the mouth and just utterly perfectonly problem is it is also mega more-ishhmmm.well done guys and thanks! :D

Dropped in to try the Sunday roast, the best Sunday roast lamb I’ve had in a long while, recommend for the food and the atmosphere.

The Kenton is one of my locals and I’m a huge fan. It’s a very relaxed, friendly place with a decent drink selection, super-​friendly staff and a variety of things going on to keep the good people of Hackney entertained, including free movie nights on Mondays, clothes jumbles on Thursday, and the traditional Sunday Roast. The food looks good, although, unfortunately, it is not very vegan-​friendly…
What I like best about this place are the comfy sofas and armchairs and the fire place — there is also a beer garden in the back, although, sadly, it doesn’t get too much sun in the afternoon.
The people who work here obviously take pride in what they do, so this is a place run with lots of love, but at the same time completely unpretentious.

I am normally a massive fan of the Kenton, as friends live close-​by an it’s there local. We headed in for a few pints of a Friday evening…
There was a DJ playing, what I can only assume he thought was really hip obscure 80’s music, to a small ‘dance-​floor’ where no-​one was dancing. It annoys me when a place gets the atmosphere so wrong. The volume was too loud for anyone else in the pub to have a conversation… I’m surprised the bar-​staff could even hear the orders.
HOWEVER — I have been to the Kenton a number of other nights, for table quizzes and Sunday Roasts and it is an ACE spot, the vibe is always right and the décor and colour of place is bright and open.
My only advice is for them to change the DJ. Obscure is no fun when you don’t have an audience…

I had a disappointing first visit to The Kenton and did a review, and Egil the owner very kindly offered a couple of free pints and roasts. I wasn’t able to go back soon, so my friend who came with me the first time went with his housemate and they fed back saying it was really good and they enjoyed it. So I’m happy to re-​do my review and may go back next time I’m down in Hackney.

This pub is sooooo ace, but then maybe i am feeling a little fickle and would love any kind of cool back street pub that was being a little bit cool, but not too cool that came my way on this snowy evening
Its nice and relaxed, with a decent selection of board games tucked up on shelves to keep even a board mind entertained. The staff are also super relaxed and dont do one when you get excited about spotting said board games and kicking over your dudes drink. Shit happens, people get excited and knock over tables and spill pints of drinks, crap happens, its all okay and no one even bats an eyelid.
Drinki prices are not so bad, until you go and order two double gins and you get charged £12! Thats quite a price. should you be four star maybe???

We wandered in here for the first time tonight, although we’ve been meaning to check out the refurb for a while. It seems to have gone through a number of changes of ownership over the last year or two: I’m holding out a great deal of hope for the current incarnation.
A wide selection of spirits, Timothy Taylor on tap, and Pieminster pies as the grub. Roasts were on offer from 1−5pm today as well and they have a number of different themed nights, including a quiz and a film night.
There’s something really right about the atmosphere in here. There were three populated tables — a lively bunch of lads, including a young Jarvis lookalike, three guys spiritedly discussing the state of public service broadcasting in the UK and a mysterious gentleman reading a novel and finishing a martini. The décor is slightly dishevelled literary music chic — Rage Against the Machine skateboard mounted on the wall opposite rococo framed landscape miniatures.
There appears to be wifi and it’s very cosy for a good sized pub. On days when there are events in Victoria Park — like fireworks — it would be worth heading down here rather than fighting your way into the Britannia.
My main concern was that the G&T I ordered didn’t seem to contain any gin. Then I wondered if I was being insane and decided not to raise the matter — yes, that’s a fairly glaring omission if that is actually the case, but perhaps it was the world’s smoothest gin and I’ll just have to go back again another day, perhaps during the day. Either way it’s definitely worth another shot.