The Albion

Delicious cakes poor service. I would recommend the eaten mess, perfect for an afternoon delight. The cherry tart with clotted cream was also delicious, however I wish I had asked for ice cream as the tart was a little sharp.

The only reason we stopped by this pub was to watch Sky Sports while we were in the city, and I can’t say there was anything that really stood out. They had two TVs facing different directions, so you could see no matter where you sat. That was nice. Beyond that, the service wasn’t anything to write home about — in fact, the girl behind the bar was fairly unhelpful, and it seemed like she was put off when I asked her for a drink suggestion. All the male employees I interacted with were friendly, but obviously a negative interaction has more impact.
I had the fish and chips mostly because I was in London, and had to do something mildly touristy. Honestly though, my English-​style pub back home serves up better fish and chips. To be fair, my friend had the sausages and said they were good, but I can’t confirm. Overall, it was just overpriced pub food in an okay environment. I had fun, but I wouldn’t go back.

Went for Lunch and the service was very slow and they didn’t have any menus to give out.
Once food finally arrived it was pretty awful, the burger was very overcooked and the ‘twice cooked chips’ were under cooked and soggy! And they charge £11.40 (£1.20 for a slice of cheese) for this!
Worse though was the Chicken Caesar Salad. It only consisted of lettuce and slices of very dry chicken and the sauce. It wouldn’t have taken much to add some tomatoes/​croutons to make it a bit nicer.

found this bar from after wandering around central London trying to find a bar with Sky Sports. was quite a crowd in there for the game so seems to be a bright spot in the sports wasteland that is St Pauls. Bonus was a few new craft beers on tap. didnt try and food so can comment but had to give 4 stars for beers and TV screens

Silly, silly me. I didn’t do my homework before Mr. Snarky and I headed out to Blackfriars to meet one of my good friends from uni, another fellow American. I am not really familiar with that area, so we ended up walking toward Fleet Street. Of course, no one really wants to make a decision and I was thinking we should walk down toward St. Paul’s because there are some nice options there. However, I wasn’t sure how anyone else felt about it and knowing Mr. Snarky, there could’ve been a Snark Attack if he didn’t get fed soon.
So across the street from us was The Albion. We walked over, menu was standard pub fare, and everyone seemed to see something on the menu they could eat. So in we went. The inside is nice, but it wasn’t very busy. There was a sign that said restaurant upstairs, but you can have a meal on the ground floor as well. We grabbed menus and found a seat. None of the menus we grabbed were the same. Fortunately, I ended up with the correct menu! It wouldn’t have been a huge issue, except there were just a couple of items that were different and of course… of course, both my lunch dates would choose something that was not on the weekend menu. Up to the bar we went to order. Mr. Snarky wanted the Roast Beef… they were out. Ang wanted the Pulled Pork Sandwich… he said they don’t usually serve that on the weekend, but he called to the kitchen to see if they had any left for one sandwich. Of course, when he said that, Ang’s first reaction was, «Will it be any good?» And the guy said, «Yeah it is good.» She stuck with it.
Mr. Snarky regrouped and ordered the Piri Piri Chicken Burger and I had the Chicken, Ham, and Leek Pie with Chips. Ang’s sandwich appeared way before ours and when it came out, I actually thought, «She didn’t order a hot dog!» It was served in a long roll and Ang said, «This is not what I anticipated.» Eventually, when she was halfway done, our dishes arrived. The Chicken Burger looked really good and I didn’t hear any complaints from the peanut gallery. The pie actually wasn’t half bad, but when they say gravy… they mean all over the plate and chips and none on the pie. So my chips were all soggy. It also comes with braised red cabbage, which isn’t mentioned on the menu. I like braised red cabbage, but just wasn’t expecting it. It wasn’t the best I’ve had, but I did have a couple bites.
Overall, we should’ve known better, but we were hungry and everyone was being all British (no one speaking up for fear of being rude), so we had a mediocre lunch. I will say that if you want to catch up with some friends (or watch a football match), go on a Sunday afternoon because it will be dead quiet so you won’t need to yell over music or other patrons!

One of my fav locals in the area!

Decent pub.
Funny slightly disgruntled girl behind the bar made it very entertaining.
Good service, standards on tap & all essential bases covered.

came here for a quick drink. nice london pub good service and friendly people. could sit in a corner and chat easily.

Ducked in here to watch the Chelsea/​Arsenal match on a rainy Sunday. Nice big screen, not too many people.
Decent beers (inc. an «American-​style» IPA that my boyfriend loved), nice setting, and okay beers. Nothing to complain about, but I can’t say I’d go out of my way to go here either.

There are far better choices for an after-​work pub in THE CITY, so don’t bother with The Albion. Its saving grace was the friendly bartender downstairs and the fun pub quiz on Monday nights upstairs.
Food: the one healthy option on their menu is a goat’s cheese and roasted veg wrap or salad. Good thing they were out of both goat’s cheese AND wraps last night. FAIL.
Staff: as mentioned before, lovely guy behind the bar in the downstairs section, but upstairs stood the most frazzled stressball I’ve ever seen in my life. He was two broken pint glasses away from a meltdown.
Drinks: in case you didn’t already know, I’m in the midst of Sober September, so this doesn’t apply. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves and I didn’t hear anyone complain about the prices.
Clientele: after-​work suits, and regulars. The other teams present at the pub quiz clearly go there every Monday. One team was made up of a hammered couple who kept drunkenly making out with each other on the couch at the back of the room. Gross.

This pub was formerly a standard O’Neils.
It’s had a name change and a major refit to make it a very attractive and popular City pub.
Although it’s only been open a short time it’s gotten a reputation which means it’s really busy during the week with the City lunch brigade.
When The Albion opened the food was fantastic. Sadly I went back today and they either were having a bad day, cannot cope with their popularity or have a new chief (or all of the above).
My Haddock, Mushy Peas and Chips were piping hot and battered well but the chips were a little overcooked.
My friends Fish-​cakes with Rocket Salad were a real disappointment. The salad contained nothing more than wilting Rocket and the fish cakes, although ample, were 95% potato.
I really want to rate this place more but based on todays performance I cannot — not helped by the fact that I have spent the afternoon running to the loo — as I have had little else to eat today apart from toast it has to be the food from The Albion.
Go there for a drink but currently check what other people have on their plates before ordering the food.