The Guildford Arms (Bar, Restaurant)

Top 10 things I discovered about the Guildford Arms pub in Greenwich:

1) Quite difficult to find: you think of Greenwich and maybe you are expecting the nice market area approximate to the river or the area by the Observatory park. Wrong: this pub is off the beaten track and in a quite hidden corner;

2) The venue is pleasant. Spread over two floors, it is a mix of traditional pub style downstairs with a more sophisticated look upstairs (I also found a third floor where there are private dining rooms). I loved the pale green walls and the huge, beautiful, classic English windows;

3) The waiters are courteous but a bit detached. Don’t expect them to talk about the food or the venue events, characteristics or strengths. No manager in sight, which would have definitely made the difference;

4) The service is extremely slow. We waited a long time for our starters, 45 minutes for the main and half an hour for the dessert. It was worth, however, waiting for the lovely rustic rice pudding;

5) The clientele is mixed; all ages, all tastes and absolutely all styles;

6) The main focus of the restaurant is definitely the food; amazing scallops with artichokes, beef filet that melts in the mouth, duck leg roasted to perfection, although I personally wouldn’t have laid it on the bed of lentils it came with. I loved their crisp pork belly with beetroot and avocado. The restaurant’s fortes are definitely meat and fish and the way they mix them with “revisited” vegetables;

7) The tableware is minimalist, but this matches perfectly with the elegance of the rooms;

8) The wine list is quite rich: Italians, French, Californian and South African wines, it offers a choice to all palates;

9) They always serve homemade bread with olive oil and balsamic as a pre-starter, but the olive oil didn’t seem so rich in olives and the balsamic was almost non-existent;

10) Overall, this pub is a decent choice, a bit on the expensive side but still interesting: especially as a date night restaurant, since you will have plenty of time to chat whilst waiting between servings....read more