This place is just lovely! Been here a few times and absolutely have nothing bad to say! It’s off the main road which makes it nice & quiet but it draws a lovely crowd all looking for the same thing!!! Their garden is just beautiful and cosy and if your lucky enough to get there on a sunny day, it’s just delightful! Cocktails are delightful and food is delicious also! I hosted a Christmas Party here last year and everyone was full of compliments on the venue! It is quite pricey… to say the least! But definitely worth going & treating yourself every once in a while!
Carolina V.
Rating des Ortes: 3 London, United Kingdom
Lovely Chelsea pub that makes a great Sunday roast. The waiting times are very long and the staff tends to forget you — and man, pints are expensive. It’s a cool place, but the quality/price ratio isn’t great.
Martina C.
Rating des Ortes: 5 London, United Kingdom
Very nice cocktail bar in Chelsea, on a quiet street and with a nice outdoor patio. From the reviews it seems a posh place but it’s actually a very relaxed one and you dont really need to dress up that much(even though it’s still not a pub!) I had Argentinian wine so I can’t really tell about the cocktails but the seemed nice.
Ming B.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Singapore, Singapore
Things started off great. Walked in, great ambience, amazing menu, amazing cocktail menu(almond milk skinny cocktails?!?) and a really chilled looking outdoor area. I was already texting my friends about it and planning a return visit. We however had to wait AGES(almost an hour) for our starters and then another hour after that for our mains. Which never came! My sister and I had to leave for a party which we ended up being super late for and my entire family left before the mains arrived because they were too hungry and upset with the wait! I will give this place two stars because I wanted it SOOOOOBADLY to be good and I’ll hopefully find another chance to come back with friends(I don’t think my family will ever step foot in there again which is a shame). The starters we had were very good except for my mums soup which was too salty. This was then confirmed by a waiter to tried it and agreed that it was salty beyond belief! I think they had recently changed their menu and obviously hadn’t tried it out beforehand. Possibly why everything was taking so long! Will probably wait to go back a time when they are not so busy and when they’ve been running the same menu for a while. If I do.
Larry G.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Washington, DC
Started by a nice couple of beers outside and at 8:55 on a beautiful Sunday evening we were told we had to move inside and were seated in the dining area because we’d asked about ordering dinner. 10 minutes later we were told the kitchen was closed. So strange.
Danielle J.
Rating des Ortes: 3 West Village, Manhattan, NY
Still love the phene, though sadly having now eaten here, I really wasn’t a fan of the food. They only had one fish option, which was quite overcooked and not visually or in actuality appealing, and my friend was quite upset he couldn’t get their sandwiches(or something off the lunch menu) for dinner. Parents weren’t too wild about their food either, so consequently ended up canceling a birthday dinner scheduled here shortly thereafter. Do still love the outdoors, indoors, ambiance in general, and fact it’s dog friendly. The lobster dishes at lunch look great, but don’t eat lunch, so sadly only had the fairly disappointing dinner menu. Highly recommend the garden on a nice day — or even a cold one, as they have heaters. Also a cozy fireplace indoors, if it’s lit.
Jim O.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Charlottesville, VA
Stellar spot!!! Delicious gastropub. Incredible ambience. Superb service. Peaceful and charming outdoor beer garden. Just a wonderful and quite place off the beaten path and madness of the area.
Linda J.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Noord, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Went on a Friday night with a girlfriend to grab some beers, enjoy the sun on their outside patio for the short bit it while it was out and have dinner. Food: My girlfriend and I both ordered the burger. She added the pulled pork and I added the bacon to our burgers. Clearly we know how to eat! Unfortunately being from the states we expected our pulled pork and bacon to taste differently and were both disappointed. The burger itself is yummy as is. Drinks: We ordered two beers with dinner. Price: For two people we paid 45.28GBP. Ambiance: The outdoor patio is great when the weather is nice. Definitely get there early since it’s first come first serve. The space inside is very welcoming and cozy. Service: Everyone from the bartender, hostess and server were all very friendly. Would I go back? Definitely! It’s a great spot in Chelsea.
Emma D.
Rating des Ortes: 3 London, United Kingdom
Ugh. I really hate Chelsea. And I think maybe it is a little unfair because it is a dislike built up over time as a result of constant pestering from my friends about Made in Chelsea and all it’s ‘cool’ characters and all the ‘cool’ places they go and how we should also go to those ‘cool’ places in ‘cool’ Chelsea. Ugh. So this is the attitude I carried with me on my trip to The Phene, a strange little bar and patio buried behind rows of terrace houses in Chelsea. Oh and just in case you were wondering, as seen on Made in Chelsea. The outside area was very nice, even on a cloudy day, but there was no room so inside we went. I personally loved the inside more than outside. We sat in a section with a transparent ceiling so it was ultra-bright and cosy. As expected I felt vastly underdressed as people walked in at 1pm on a drizzly Saturday afternoon in stilettos and full faces of make up. My biggest issue though was that I was there for lunch, but I didn’t want anything on the menu, it was a long list of gastropub fail in my(possibly uninformed and potentially unwanted) opinion, so I played it safe with a burger. Which was definitely not worth £13.50. So with that and a 5-way share in two bottles of wine, I paid £26 for an underwhelming lunch at a restaurant I didn’t really want to go to. U-G-H and M-E-H. EXCLAMATIONMARK.
Natalie L.
Rating des Ortes: 4 New York, NY
I came here for a friend of a friend’s birthday. They had rented the patio out, and it happened to be an absolutely stunning day. I had a great time(was able to enjoy my first Pimms of the season!) and the atmosphere was great. I didn’t try the food but a few of the other partygoers did and it looked pretty respectable. Would definitely stop in again on a sunny day for some patio and pimms time
Andrew R.
Rating des Ortes: 4 London, United Kingdom
A nice gastropub with one of the few beer gardens in this area.
Priscilla T.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Manhattan, NY
Yummy hummus platter and chicken skewers with tzatziki. Terribly slow service between apps and mains though but I shall forgive it since the atmosphere inside is so cozy and warm with just the right amount of lively energy without overwhelming you. Too bad London weather isn’t nicer more often because the heated garden patio is quite charming.
Jessica M.
Rating des Ortes: 4 London, United Kingdom
What can I see, the Phene is a pub to be scene(see what I did there)… If you are looking for a chill pub to catch up with a mate or watch some sport, then DON’T go to the Phene… but if you are looking for a spot to spy some cute boys put on a fun outfit and waste away an afternoon then the Phene is the best spot in the neighborhood! I always have a great time here!
Christie K.
Rating des Ortes: 3 London, United Kingdom
I wish we could’ve sat outside but it felt like it was a strange pecking order of how you get a seat out in the beer garden. There is a strange pretentiousness about this place but hey when do I ever mingle with strangers? The food was okay, I think you’ll find better gastopubs around London.
Alexan
Rating des Ortes: 3 London, United Kingdom
I haven’t ever eaten here so I can’t comment on the food but what I will say is that the outside area is one of the nicest I’ve ever been to. However, there is a downside– the outside area closes at 9.30 and the doormen really harass you to get out of there. We did get told off a couple of times as well for ‘making too much noise’ when my friends were only having a laugh and giggling at 7pm on a Friday night. It is on the pricey end of things. The only reason I go back is because of the outside area.
Desi F.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Mount Pleasant, Washington, DC
The Phene has a nice beer garden which has been transformed for a couple weeks into a themed event, the Midori Chi Garden. It was for this themed event which I traversed the city to experience. Upon approach, and seeing the two bouncers(at 7pm on a Tuesday) stationed outside the front door, I realised I may have made a terrible mistake. But, I was there so I decided to try my luck at cashing in my voucher for a free Midori sour(oh the lengths to which I’ll go for a free cocktail). The bouncers let me in easy enough, with a nice smile whilst opening the door for me, but I was ignored by almost everyone else. It was that kind of ignoring which doesn’t make you feel invisible so much as simply judged unworthy. I was eye-balled by everyone and then simply dismissed. Apparently, since I don’t look like a douche I was obviously not worth anyone’s time. The pub is nice looking with a big open space in the front and easy access to the bar. The garden is just on the side. We stood for about 10 minutes wondering what to do: do we wait for a table(they were all full) or is there bar service? It was very unclear. Everyone was at a table with a menu, there were waitresses wandering around, and no one was standing about with drinks. It felt very much like a sit down joint but no one was acknowledging us. We finally just took our vouchers up to the Midori bar, asked the bartender if there was bar service or just table service to which he replied table and to which we said we only wanted to cash in our vouchers for our free Midori sours. He very kindly said he’d make our drinks and then we could try to find a table if we wanted anything else. He made our drinks, we tipped him for his effort, drank our drinks and were outta there. This was not a pleasant experience. I think if the staff had been friendly(not counting the friendly bouncers and bartender) we may have stayed for a bit. If the crowd had been fun rather than douche-y we probably would’ve stayed for even longer. As it was, we played a quick game of Mock the Douches and left, never to return. The free Midori sour was almost not worth it.
Ali P.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Arlington, VA
After reading the other reviews I was concerned that this place would be too pretentious and over priced. But after a quick review of the menu online we decided we would give it a go. As this was a beautiful day the garden patio was packed, but the indoor restaurant was pretty quiet with plenty of seating available. Which was nice since we came for the food and not the scene. We started with the large portion of fried squid and it was delicious with a perfect sweet chili dipping sauce, which went great with my glass of prosecco. My husband ordered a bloody mary and was not disappointed. We have both found that a good bloody mary is hard to find in the UK. For the mains I had the salmon with rice and a kind of spicy pineapple salsa. The salmon steak was grilled to perfection and it came with a tzatziki sauce served on top(a bit too much if you ask me, as i removed about 2⁄3 of it from the salmon) which was a nice compliment to the spicy pineapple salsa. My husband ordered the rib eye with cajun chips and green beans. He asked for it medium and it was closer to medium well, he described it as overcooked and under whelming. As it was the most expensive thing on the menu at 18.50…you would think they would get it right on the temp and cooked to order. All in all I was impressed and had a great meal. I felt that it was a good value for the quality of the food. Would we go back? Maybe… but I will probably go the Orange off Pimlico Rd. before I do.
Mark S.
Rating des Ortes: 3 London, United Kingdom
I want to like this place, I really do, it’s so close to my flat… but in the end it’s just ok. It’s certainly overpriced, but considering the clientele most people in the place can afford an £18 Sunday roast without blinking. At the Phene you’ll probably see some beautiful people(or people who once were beautiful before booze and age took their toll). If it’s nice outside go out and sit on the patio, you’ll probably have fun and enjoy it, but there are plenty of other options in the area that offer the same thing…
Katie B.
Rating des Ortes: 3 London, United Kingdom
Yea, a little douchy. But not gonna lie, sometimes I LIKE a little douchy(just a little.) Really swank patio(small) with swinging chairs, heat lamps, and nice patio furniture. On a nice day, I could see this place being very enjoyable. If it is sunny, you’re in Chelsea, and you like things that you might find in Los Angeles or on Entourage, this might be the place for you. Otherwise… meh.
Stanho
Rating des Ortes: 4 Kettering, United Kingdom
Lovely gastropub in the middle of Chelsea. Set back from the main road in a small mews the Pub is catering for the well heeled clientele of the area. Nicely furnished inside over 2 floors with an additional outside garden area. There is also a deli counter. We attended a wedding here and was impressed by the pubs charm and their pleasant staff. The food was good — a lovely buffet of italian and English classics — Gnocchi and Roasted Lamb. Delicious. My only issue was the rather draconian rules on noise. They are based in a very residential area and so have obviously had problems in the past with their neighbours. While enjoying a post dinner nicotine hit, we had a doorman standing by our elbow reminding us to be quiet and then hushing us if we went over a meagre decibel — anything over a conversational voice was frowned on. I do feel sorry for them because the local residents are obviously making their life hell. Maybe they should just call time and turn it into a block of flats instead. Another independent pub gone to the wall!!!