The Spencer

3.5 stars, but I’m pulling it down to 3 for the chips, sorry.
We came here around 8pm on a saturday, and while it didn’t seem too busy (there were definitely still enough tables free) the waiters and barstaff seemed incredibly rushed. My friend was local and said that you usually get seated but we waited and waited and it didn’t happen, so we grabbed a seat and ordered at the bar, where we again had to wait quite a while. It did seem that there were enough different staff but they seemed to disappear for at least as long stretches of time (ie the guy I saw wait the tables was gone for at least as long stretches as he was around).
I got two pints, the starter fishcakes (£8) and chips (3.50), which meant that alltogether it came to over £20, which is probably what it will cost in the area but still seemed high enough for me.
The fishcake was ok, and the salad that came with it tiny but nice, but I have to say that for £8 I had expected either two, or at least one that did not consist 80% of potato. The chips, unfortunately, missed the mark completely. In their defense I did order chunky chips (and not fries), but these were basically soft tater tots. The little bowl they came in literally had 9 chips in it (I counted!) — they were enormous and soft, and were the reconstituted chip kind (ie not cut from a potato but kind of reconstituted and fluffy like tater tots in the middle), and they were note great. I desperately love chips/​fries/​all things potato dipped in ketchup, but I didn’t even finish these.
So I’d come back for drinks but probably won’t, because it feels like sacrilege to go somewhere that makes chips even I don’t like.

Lovely pub that is not too long a walk from Barnes Station. From the station you get to walk past the place Marc Bolan of T. Rex crashed in his mini in 1977. You will notice tributes and flowers there. The Spencer Arms is a very friendly pub. It has changed management three times over the past three years but remains friendly and cosy. The menu is varied and the food good. Ask the management or bar staff about the Marc Bolan Fans Visitors book. Sit back, relax and leave your written tributes in it over a drink or three. The pub expands out onto the common during the summer months and gets very busy.

MOST Terrible Sunday roast I’ve ever had.
I ordered the Lamb which costed £15 and looked like I got a £8 portion. I could’ve had more lamb had i gone to a kebab place. 3 tiny pieces appeared on my plate accompanied by some tasty root veggies and some gawd-​awful potatoes that were intergalacticly bad. Yep. terrible potatoes. They were LITERALLY almost impossible to cut through. My husband tried and it sorta pushed back like a foam bed. The middle was tasteless and bland and BAD. Just BAD. Man. It was really upsetting how bad the potatoes were because the chips were perfection. If you can make perfect pockets of heat chips then whats up with your potato making ability?
–The lamb was overcooked and They forgot to bring my mint sauce until i asked for it and by then i was almost half way done with my tiny portions of lamb.
–potato (cornerstone of the meal) sucked the big one. But not just mine, EVERYONE that had potatoes did not eat them. That makes 3 of us.
–The Yorkshire pudding was barely decent
–Argentine wine was delicious — but they didn’t make that.
Go because you have kids and its dog friendly. Don’t go for the Sunday roast. I need to have another roast this week to make up for the lack of proper roast.
DO-​OVER!

I never knew the place existed until a friend took me there recently. It is really nice to sit out by Putney Common or even sit inside where it feels really cozy. I ordered the Halloumi and mushroom w/​pesto burger… DELICIOUS! I tried to convince myself that it’s a little healthier than a regular burger but if I had the choice, I’d definitely get this again. It comes with a heap of fries.

I had sunday roast with some friends at the spot and loved it. The food was delicious and the perfect «comfort» food for sunday.
I would have given this place a 4 star review, but the wait staff was SUPER slow. Once food was ordered you might as well order drinks from the bar. Getting drinks from the waitress proved to be possible, and then it felt she just gived up on fixing the mistakes.

Its recently renovated here and it shows. A cosy pub that you can bring the kids out for dinner to, they have a kids menu which I didnt look at as the kids were not with us. lots of big comfy lounges wooden tables and chairs, reading material, great bar of wines and across the road is a common. I had the roast chicken, yorkshire pudding with parsnips, roast potatoes, honeyed carrots, peas with bread sauce and gravy. It was the last one left and I was expecting it to be the scraps but it was plentiful and delicious. Husband had the beef and they said they were low on vegetables and gravy but he was not complaining. You cant go past the roasts if you saw them come out of the kitchen which is in view of the customers, but not too much. The rest of the menu looks great too. I want to try the Haloumi, mushroom and pesto burger next. The roasts are a bit more expensive here at £13.95 for the chicken and £14.95 for the beef but its a proper restaurant rather than a pub meal. A lovely pub and lovely people running it all.

Pretty nice place, a bit out of the way so never seems to get too busy. Tables outside, food, beer, all the standard pub stuff really. One of those places that doesn’t seem too inspiring, but I’m glad it’s there.