Elephant & Castle

I have been here about 5 times. I usually get a burger or a club. It is usually good. Occasionally the service can be slow. At the bar however they are always quick and have great martinis. It is a good happy hour spot. The poutine is also good.

In trolling for a place for dinner while in Philadelphia for business, I came across this place. What drew me in was the availability of poutine. Not something I see everyday down here in the Carolinas.
Service was good — the waitress took excellent care of me. The availability of beers was decent, with a couple of local offerings among the mix of domestics and imports. As for the poutine (I ordered the bacon poutine), it was just okay. It didn’t really wow me, and it would have been nice if there would have been more cheese in it.
Price point was about what I expected. Overall, it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t awesome.

Came here for casual Valentine’s dinner and drinks. I really liked the atmosphere (relaxed pub atmosphere). I got the reuben with a side of poutine which was pretty yummy. I deducted a star for the wait staff. He was very nice and informative, but he didn’t come over too often despite the lack of other patrons. Overall though, check it out. Nice place to chill with some beers.

Stopped in there for a quick lunch on my way home from the office, since it was right around the corner and my company is new to the neighborhood. We found it all but empty, apart from the bar, which gave me pause, but we decided to give it a shot anyway.
Our server was good — not great, but good. She was as attentive as she could be, but never intrusive. The food came out fast and was generally passable.
It definitely wasn’t as bleak as the reviews would lead one to believe. My partner was with me and was so excited to see they had Yorkshire pudding on the menu. She’s been craving it for months. When it arrived, we were sad to find it deflated and lifeless — although the flavor was generally nice and she said that it wasn’t the worst she’s ever had (but certainly not the best). My shepherd’s pie was a tad oily and didn’t overly excite me. I ended up eating about half of it, but I did leave full.
We did, however, split the traditional poutine and both enjoyed it.
2 stars for food, 4 for service = 3 overall

Ordered jalapeño Mac and cheese to go for my hotel room. The place was relatively slow with bartenders and servers mostly standing around.
I was told the mac & cheese was a full meal with garlic bread. I got to my hotel room, opened the bag and not only was there no bread, but the size was slightly more than a side.
Not worth $ 10. I am still hungry and not happy.

Very good lunch. Surprisingly great lunch. But salad is ordinary dry lettuce. Get cooked dish like fish.

Staff is friendly and atmosphere is OK. Food could be better for sure. The mashed potatoes were too cold and not fluffy at all. Maybe microwave. Agree that the place survives because of the Hotel next door where I stayed.

Meeeeeeh. WORST SERVICE EVER.
I stayed at the Sonesta hotel, which is attached to this Elephant & Castle outpost. I’m familiar with the chain. I’ve never been super impressed. However, when you’ve been traveling all day and desperately need food and it’s on the late side of the evening and you’re from Chicago and not really in the mood to get lost in Philly hunting for a restaurant, this was what it was going to be.
Our server couldn’t have been lamer. He took at least 20 minutes to bring me a Sprite and a Coors Light when there were maybe 10 other people in the restaurant. He was talking about how he’s leaving soon to be a ski bum or some shit and I was like, ‘Bro. You may be quitting your job soon but I need a drink now. Hop to it.“
Food? Eh.
I’m not into it.

In town for a wedding and our friends stayed at the hotel so we met them for drinks. I’ll admit, we did not try the food. However we did drink at the bar for a good four hours. Unfortunately the bar service was an absolute joke. Besides being absolutely inept the bartenders were rude. The bar is large but that is no excuse for slow service it for attitude. For those visiting the area this is NOT the place to be.

Happy hour is good. $ 3.50 well drinks and $ 4.50 wine and 20oz beers. The staff is also friendly (I’ve been down there the last 3 nights and it’s been different people everytime, so I can say it’s been good across the board).
The food is horrendous. Chef Irvine would spit it all out and flip a table and maybe stab a puppy. They use no fresh ingredients. They douse things in rosemary and other spices to cover for it. Most of the food comes out lukewarm. Salads are drenched and soggy. I was comped meals by my job as I’m here for a conference (and staying in the attached Sonesta), but I would never buy food here with my own money.
If you do go, the sweet tater fries are very good. The pretzel sticks are amazing. Seriously. Shepard’s pie is awful. Avoid. I also had one of the open faced sandwiches. Nothing special at all. Wings are mediocre and have almost no sauce on them.
Skip this place unless you want some happy hour drinks and a nice app.

This pub was decent. We went specifically for typical British/​Irish food for St. Patty’s before going out to Irish pubs, and were not disappointed. The shepherd’s pie and the chicken pot pie were both really good. The drinks were fine — nothing too fancy or special. We had whiskey and Guiness, so nothing too unusual. I’m not sure I would return since I am looking for more exciting items on menus, but if you are looking for good quality British food, then this place will not disappoint.

Okay, the only reason I’m giving this place 2 stars is because I’ve had worse service and [I realized at the end of the meal] this is a hotel restaurant.
The hostess seemed confused by my boyfriend and I entering, and decided what table to place us at after visually scanning the restaurant twice (rather than any seating chart or table: waitress ratio). The waitress came to get our drink order before we even finished getting our winter gear off. Additionally, she asked if we knew what we wanted before we looked at the food menu; and then, came back a second time while we were clearly still discussing the menu. I’m not sure if I’m being overly critical; however, I was a server for two years, and I know it’s not that difficult to pick up on body language for appropriate timing.
The appetizers were the best thing about the meal: the onion soup (really good with a variety of cheese) and the bruschetta (lotsa tomato). I got the bacon & blue cheese burger (which came with a pickle. really?) well done, which was so awfully charred I had a few bites. My boyfriend (who is biased because he’s had real English shepherd’s pie) said his shepherd’s pie tasted somewhat similar to pulled pork and his salad was clearly a near-​expired bagged mix without dressing.
I won’t give one star because our waitress was nice and the appetizers weren’t bad.

Wow, from others reviews I must have hit this place on a good night! Went on Saturday night at 6 pm, and was pleasantly surprised. The atmosphere was pub style (which I do like) and the service was good, though a bit pushy considering the restaurant wasn’t sold out. Dinner was good, hot & fresh, we had the meatloaf & mash, and the fish & chips. I will go back again to try another entrée, it was definitely a good experience.
The booths are comfy and seating is not too close (which I like), prices are reasonable, and it wasn’t loud and although connected to the hotel, it didn’t feel like a hotel lounge type restaurant.

T’saigt. Pronounce that exactly as written. Tss-​ay-​t.
For a Brit pub, I figured it would be dope. I’ve been to tons of pubs in London and all dem ishes were dope and note-​worthy. This spot… not so much.
They do have London Pride (my fave) and a bunch of other craft beers on tap, so that’s a plus. The bartender was chill yet chatty, another plus. The burger I had was not tender and juicy, yikes.
This spot is connected to the Sonestra hotel… and bars connected to hotels tend to be cheesy (cuzadatouristsstayinthere).
As we were getting tanked, I noticed the patrons sitting all around us and thought to myself, «man, there are a lot of fat people in the United States».

1 quick caveat; I was here for St. Patricks Day, so this review is obviously going to be different than a normal visit here. I’ll make this one quick and be sure to update when I actually make it here for a proper visit.
While roaming the streets, just looking for somewhere to whet our whistles, my friends and I decided to pop in the The Elephant & Castle. (I think the fact they had karaōke had something to do with it.) We came in and the place was a bit crowded at the bar, (which, of course it was… it WAS St. Paddys Day) but eerily empty everywhere else. In spite of that, and really, BECAUSE of that, we decided to sit down and grab a bite to eat.
First impressions were that the menu is EXTREMELY small. There may have been 4 or 5 items; standard fare: wings, burger, nachos, wrap… I got the burger, Jon got the wings and Brian the nachos. Everything came out quick and tasted good. Pretty standard pub fare. The nachos plate was HUGE.
Because we were drinking, both there and before we got there, and that, because of my Irish heritage, I was treated to the meal, I don’t remember what it all cost. I didn’t hear any gasps or complaining so I can assume it wasn’t anything too outrageous.
Again, I’ll make it there one day and give it a proper review and update.
Oh, the people on karaōke absolutely sucked, but thats not the Pubs fault.

2.5 stars, to be fair.
The turkey club (wrap) was decent; sweet potato fries were good enough. The happy hour cabernet tasted like a rejected Two Buck Chuck but what do you expect for $ 5?
I’d go back for lunch and a beer — mediocre bar food at best.

I am so disappointed with this Elephant & Castle location. I have eaten at the one in Ottawa (Ontario), the two in Washington DC and now this one in Philadelphia. This experience was not like the ones I have had at the other locations.
My food was served warm, not hot. The staff wasn’t particularly attentive. And the food was overly salty. It has potential given it’s location, but needs a lot of work.

I tried to avoid coming here based on the other reviews but my buddy insisted. Unfortunately, my experience was in line with what other people thought.
Stopped in here for Friday happy hour and grabbed a table outside. First, we attempted to order Guinness. That didn’t work because they were out of it. Ok, let’s try Boddington’s. Same story. I inquire about the beer selection and the most interesting things on the list were the Fuller’s London Pride and the Dogfishhead 60. I get a London Pride.
We order some food. Spinach artichoke dip and fried calamari. Chips and dip tasted re-​heated. Calamari actually wasn’t awful but it couldn’t save the whole experience. We got ditched by our waitress for a good 40 minutes at one point. Other tables in our section nominated one person from their table to go to the bar to get beers.
I really have no reason to come back here. At least I gave it a shot.

This is everything you could want in a pub. Short of importing people from Great Britan, they have it all. A great selection of beer on tap: Boddingtons, Guinness, Harp, Smithwicks, Bass and my favorite, Fuller’s London Pride.
The staff is friendly, the place is clean, the TV’s are big and the beer is cold. I had the fish and chips. The fish was cooked to perfection — crispy.

— Crappy bartenders
— Expensive beers/​cocktails
— Boring, mass produced food
Please don’t make me go again :*(