St John's Tavern in Islington

Honestly I think this was the best roast dinner I’ve ever had in London. Incredible quality. Stunning hospitality, the best vibe. Definitely a place to put on your map. Bravi ragazzi!

What a surprise. Great food and choice

The food is fabulous, the staff are so friendly, helpful and lovely. We were a group with children and a dog but you could definitely go here on a date night.

The quality of food here is really high. At these prices though, that just doesn't make up for the very small portions, on a somewhat deceiving menu that suggests starters and main courses, but realistically is entirely small plates. I genuinely feel a bit disrespected paying £20-£30 for a main and it being a small fillet of fish, with absolutely nothing else. A few potatoes or a small salad would be such a negligible additional cost to the restaurant, so it simply feels like a way to justify charging another £6 or 7 when you have to order a side. The veggie gnocchi main for £17 tasted gorgeous, but was about eight pieces of gnocchi. £5 for three half slices of bread is painful, but when the server suggests buying two portions for your table of four instead of just giving you an extra piece, it simply stops feeling like the welcoming local eatery it's so close to being. I love the decor and the food, but feel too taken for a ride to come back here.

We had a great meal here this weekend. I had the sea bass and it was really well cooked with lots of lovely flavours. My friends also really enjoyed their meals. The service was really quick and efficient and Elizabeth looked after us really well. Super smiley and helpful and answered our random questions about the menu. My only slight criticism would be that I think the table are too close together. If two tables closer to the pass were removed and the other table speak out a bit. It wouldn’t feel so tight and would make for a more relaxed dining experience. But overall a really lovely experience. Food, cocktails and service were on point.

Amazing pub with great service! Shoutout to Liliana and Elizabeth :)

Nice pub with good food and friendly staff. Thanks to our waitress Niamh for the great service.

Great food, delicious drinks, great experience thanks to our waitress Niamh.

Terrible staff and somehow even more terrible food. Heard good things about this place but it’s nothing but tacky. I’d avoid

We had our wedding here at the weekend and the team could not have been more wonderful! From all the support in the prep and build up to bringing such amazing energy on the day, we are so grateful! The venue itself is beautiful, and everything from the food and cocktails to the art and vibe was so perfect. Big love to the team, highly recommend!!!

Would highly recommend this pub for a birthday, the packages are great, the atmosphere is amazing (Live music on the weekend!) and the staff are super friendly!

Happy to pay what we paid for quality of food, it was all good, staff were friendly. But we all left feeling unsatisfied- the serving size of everything seemed unmistakably stingy. Is that done on purpose? Not sure why, as for this reason I wouldn't recommend eating there.

It's always been an excellent pub but the food was outstanding last night. A bavette steak cooked to perfection. In terms of atmosphere, unless you are right next to a radiator, it can be a little bit chilly on the colder nights.

I had so much fun . Is like a whole new experience

Great food (the sticky toffee pudding is a must-order), a warm, cozy atmosphere, and a fantastic team (highlight was the maître d', Marco, who was engaging and appeared to know every single guest by name). Will be back!

Nice bar, nice food lovely staff but not wheelchair accessible if you don't have a wheelchair accessible toilet.

One of the nicest pubs in this area. I've not had any food here, but the beer and service are very good.

I had the pleasure of attending two different events at St John’s Tavern recently - one wedding and I also had my birthday party there. Both occasions felt very different but excellent. We felt very well looked after by all the staff, especially Marco the manager and also Noah. The food was superb - generous canapés of prawn tempura, mushroom arancini for example. The function room upstairs is classy but welcoming. Highly recommend.

Food is nice but quantities are very small. I still can’t get past the fact that we paid £10 for the plate of Iberico saucisson: 8 slices and 3 pickles… I just can’t.

This was one of the first pubs I visited in my trip from the US and can say that the food, service, and atmosphere was amazing! Both my servers (Henty and Elizabeth) in the morning and afternoon were very hospitable and provided great service!

Had an amazing meal here the other day - the sardines were delicious! My server, Hannah, was lovely. Highly recommend!

Incredibly good ingredients and the care and skill taken to cook them results in the great food you get here. Very good wine list too and the staff are professional and wonderfully friendly and relaxed. LOVE this place, one of my favourites in London. Please don't change!

What a modern, relaxed gastro pub. High resturant quality food in a cozy setting. Attentive staff that are personable and funny. Marco was really thoughtful, personal and took time to make the experience special on a Wednesday night. Great mid-week deal, loved the 2 course for £20 deal! Exceptional quality 🙌 if I could give you a higher rating I would!

Fantastic pub! I'm a new customer, primarily attending for the new and utterly superb Thursday evening Jazz/Funk Quartet sessions. Lovely pub, nice beer selection, great service and fabulous staff. Hopefully I'll get to spin some Jazzy vinyl there one day soon!

Diabolically rude staff, I haven’t experienced customer service like that in my whole life. Please by all means go to this pub if you like to be patronised and belittled.

Oh my. The food. Seabass, broccoli, sardines. Everything cooked to perfection. The bread mmmm.

Stopped by when it had just opened on Sunday for a roast as my friend was staying in the local area. The building looks awesome from the street, very well kept up. It is located just a little down from Archway tube station. Staff were nice, the interior is very nice, kept up and well appointed. The bar is quite long and wraps around to one end that leads into a back section with more casual seating with some sofas. There is some outdoor tables as well. Prices for pints are typical more central London ~seven to eight pounds or so so was a little surprised but likely represents the gentrification of this area. There are some good choices for beer/lager/ale etc. Roast was 24 each plus a service charge. The roast was adequate/average, it was very well presented on the plate. Overall a nice stop although can get pricy if you're having a meal and a few pints.

Superb and really helpful service. Great food too!

Really great food and great happy hour drinks to enjoy in the sun! They have the bar area or dinning room bookable.

Very nice traditional meal, and wonderful service!

Good to be back after not having been for many years. Food was really good and still a great venue to catch up with friends.

Now then. I don’t usually eat at such a price, but my mate was paying so I got stuck in. I asked the first waiter to translate the menu to chav, which she did instantly and graciously without batting an eyelid. The second waiter, Noah, was so enthusiastic, but not pushy, about a brioche pudding that we added it to our choice of chocolate mousse. He came to see if we were into it- again, not obtrusive, just keen, and ooooh I was grateful! It was like a cloud with a crispy shell. The food was so good that I’m all moved and sleepy, and the service was kind, fun and smart. Five Fat Stars!

After a horrible day in Camden my wife found the St. John’s Tavern on her phone and booked us a table for a rescue beer and some food. It turned out to be a haven of lovely people, lovely music and lovely food. The draft beer was excellent too. Highly recommended.

Tapas that you would get at a Spanish bar served as mains for close to mains prices. One dish was £10 plate of 5 sausage slices with a fragment of gherkin - we ordered lots off the menu “to share” -as there was no other option and nothing listed as a main (in a poorly designed menu) all portions were meagre - left hungry and annoyed having spent a lot of money for very little. The whole experience was confused and designed to extract cash from the punters for as little as they could get away with. All the photos show a plate that is just over the size of tea cup saucer. This used to be my local pub that I went to for 10 years - if this is what it has become I will not return. Deeply frustrating and undermined what was meant to be a special event.

They hosted us for a private event in the upstairs function room. Food and service were truly outstanding. Would particularly recommend the olives and the cauliflower cheese croquettes!

Great place. Very tasty food. Fantastic service. Thank you.

Outstanding service, outstanding drinks and food. Everything about this place is fantastic. Going to recommend to everyone!

Myself and 2 friends called in early evening. The staff were not welcoming or friendly. No eye contact or care. My friends wanted to talk so we asked if it was OK to sit in the dinning area . Despite a couple of folks being in there we where told no its not really open ??? I don't mind watching or listening to the football, however the sound was stupidly loud ! We ordered chips ...the oil in the fryer clearly needs changing . More staff arrived but where very slow to clear our glasses and bowls etc. The worst staff experience I have ever had in our local area . They are clearly unmotivated and can hardly lift there heads from gazing at the ground as they plod slowly around. Guys I feel so sorry that your bosses do not motivate you or train you to do better. Its not cheap to drink or eat out so when people do it really needs to be a good overall experience.

Nice pub, good vibes, home made crisps and good beers

Very pleasant dining room with good food, slightly expensive for what it is: ‘gastro pub’ fare. Admittedly at a high level of execution and quality.

Wow! We came in for a Sunday dinner, both my partner and myself were amazed by the quality of food and service was brilliant too. Lilliana (I hope I spelled the name right) went over the top catering for my special Picante request and she was lovely. Will definitely be coming back, thank you.

Tried the two courses for £20 offer. Excellent food and friendly staff.

Liliana & Petronio, absolutely superb, thank you for making my experience of the local area an experience I will never forgot. Best pub to visit here for sure. Recommend

We ate near the bar as the main dining room was so busy and noisy at Sunday lunchtime and we wanted to talk. Waiting staff were very helpful and moved us.

Not 100% sure I like the idea of pricing sides separately on a roast dinner, though on the flip side we then get to choose our own veg. Roast broadly good, marked up to 5 stars because they had a Polly's beer on draft. Service also notably good. Food more 4 stars.

Elegant environment. Relaxed atmosphere. Excellent quality food and very well presented. Portions not generous. A round of applause to Gioia, the friendly, efficient, super professional Italian maitre who established the right feeling with us customers! We will be back!

So, here's the deal: the food, it's nice, cooked well and all, but it's like it's missing that little kick, that extra oomph. Fresh ingredients, yeah, Mediterranean menu vibes, but could use a pinch more seasoning to really make it sing. Started off with the aubergine and the pardon peppers, which were lovely but frustratingly underseasoned, so nothing to write home about. Then onto the mains – the lamb chops, a tad under seasoned and chewy, but not a deal-breaker. And the fish? Surprisingly tasty, certainly the best dish that we tried and yet still begging for a bit more flavour. This gastro pub's got potential, no doubt about it. But the service? Let's just say it was a bit off. Looked like the staff might've had a brawl backstage before hitting the floor. The mood was quite sombre. I guess there are off nights and that was a Tuesday. I'm certainly willing to come back and give it another go!

Absolutely delicious food. I found it strange that you had to order veg to go with your main. That bumped the price up. Delicious though.

Popped in for a late night drink last Friday - very attentive and friendly staff! Reasonable prices for drinks too, will be back to try the food menu soon

A really excellent Gastro pub. Exceptional food, wine service and dining room. And the Tuesday and Wednesday 2 courses for £20 is incredible value for the level of cooking being done here. Bravo!

Really good Sunday Roast. A lot of Gluten free options - just bring your own gravy if you want that with the roast! Would definitely recommend. Lovely vibe too.

Amazing Little gem! Super tasty Sunday roast, the beef and the pork where gorgeous, service friendly, fast and knowledgeable, music super cool! Love it!

I love this restaurant, food is wonderful, and staff super friendly, and the dining room is lovely.

Great selection of beers available within a decent sized venue

Noisy but friendly pub. Food and drink reasonable

Came here for a drink during a pause in renovating our new flat, when we were both thirsty and had throats full of dust. A good choice of craft beers and wide range of wines and spirits. Lovely atmosphere and, though we didn't have a meal, their home made crisps were the best ever.

Fantastic birthday meal last night Great waiter Super selection of fish Great house white Atmosphere was great until the music level was too much for the last hour

Nice food and marvelous surrounding. Nice place to go to. Please give the staff their time…

The Sunday roast is amazing, you need to book a table though as it fills up.

Delicious food and a lovely atmosphere! Scallops were cooked beautifully

I’m not a big drinker, but I will always go here for a pint of Pilsner Urquell in a frosted pint glass with the correct head until they stop doing it. Best pint in town - without question.

Lovely ambience, attentive staff, decent food. Loved the fireplace.

The vibe here is warm cosy and inviting. Service was attentive and helpful. We had booked a table of ten and there was some confusion when we arrived as they had give our table away but that was quickly resolved and we had a fantastic evening. The food was very tasty. We went on a Sunday and the roast was impeccable. The only complaint I’d have is that greens and trimmings with your roast are charged as an extra.

Uno de los mejores pub que he conocido en Londres! Excelente servicio!

Really nice food and good beer.

Two occasions I made a simple order at the bar, and two times I received rude service. It was so weird. Never coming back to this place.

Lovely pub. Great staff, very friendly and quick service at the bar. Great handcut and cooked crisps. Interesting painting on the wall. However, it was kind of cold in there, and the loo was absolutely freezing 🥶 They did have a log burner, which was lit, and they added more logs throughout the night. Would definitely go back again, as the staff were so lovely and the food (we didn't order any), but it looked delicious! Just may not choose such cold weather to be out in.

Amazing Christmas Dinner - hosted by Ian & Marco etc.. We had 30 people, food was above anything I've tasted in London & the service was exceptional - so much fun. A glorious evening - I'd recommend to anyone :)

My friend and I had such an unpleasant experience there; the staff was really rude. While enjoying drinks at a table, the manager told us to ‘get away from the table right now’ because it was booked, not even letting us finish our drinks. He didn’t apologize and mentioned that they don’t use reserved table signs, which is why we were asked to leave so suddenly. Find yourself a nicer place to spend £7 on a lager; try The Parakeet or The Junction Tavern

A little more upmarket and pricy than most Sunday roasts, but quite frankly the best I've ever tasted. Great roast potatoes, tender delicious beef, nice horseradish sauce and a crispy Yorkshire pudding that's soft and delicious inside. Spent 62 quid for two, including cauliflower cheese, a coffee, and a chocolate stout cake (which was absolutely delicious).

This used to be a great place. I've just had the worst experience... Despite booking Sunday lunch, there was only half the menu available. All the key dishes were gone. Not even roast potatoes. The food that did arrive was undercooked, overpriced, paltry poultry. Never going back.

It's a great place for friends and family.great a great service, fresh food, cold beer, and a vast drink selection. Will highly recommend it to anyone

Sat in the dining room for a spontaneous weeknight meal with my wife. I must say, Daniel provided the most excellent service - a rarity these days in the big smoke! Turned a spontaneous weeknight meal into a dinner to remember. Would recommend to any friend.

Finally got back here after 9 months. This time we were in the restaurant. The food was fantastic. Whole plaice and rump steak. Superb scallop starter and amazing home made focaccia. The wine list is great and my husband loved the beer. Service excellent. Log fire an added bonus. Loved the music too. 10/10. We will come back.

The food is so tasty. So much so, I ate it before realising I didn't take a photo. I had lamb with roast potatoes and cabbage, which had a little too much fat on for me; I cut around it, but I got a good portion. The service was friendly. Bit rubbish that the kitchen closes at 5.30pm. Otherwise, no complaints. The art on the walls are also interesting

Wow. Recently refurbed with a wood-fired oven, the five star cooking has just gone up another star or two. A great pub, even just for a drink, but the restaurant team are (ahem) on fire right now. Wood-fired leg of lamb was amazing. As was the supporting cast. Well worth the journey

Food was average. Service was good. Price a bit too high for was offered.

Great staff and atmosphere And in my opinion the best Sunday roast in north London

Delicious food and wine, great music and most of all, incredible service from Moon - highly recommend

We have been to St. John's many times and it is consistently good food, and the ambience is very nice. We chose to go there yesterday for our 20th anniversary. On booking, there was no instructions about returning the table after 2 hours, and so we were quite upset that a rude waiter told us to leave soon, as our 2 hours were nearly up. It was the manner in which it was said which was the problem here. We could see that they were busy. We explained that it was your 20th anniversary and had chosen this place especially. The waiter told us that 2 hours was perfectly adequate time to eat a lunch. We finished our meal hurriedly, and the asked for the bill. When the bill arrived, the waiter said that he would offer a discount, but when he returned with the "new" bill, it was the same as before. I understand that the table was needed, but firstly, it should mention this on booking, and secondly, the manner in which this was delivered was rude. It totally ruined our meal.

Delicious dinner yesterday in the renovated gastro pub. Service was superb & food delicious. I’ve been dining here for decades & it’s finally back to its best. Marco was especially friendly & charming!

A great experience. Eating in the dining room is a joy. Staff are knowledgeable and friendly. Or if you are just after a drink and a chat, its great for that too.

5 star all round, exceptional food - literally the best roast I've ever had in London and I've lived here 6 years, service was incredible and the place is gorgeous. I recommend you go and experience this 100% also there weekly food menu looked next level so if you're looking to visit in general - definitely go!

Great cozy atmosphere for a cold Sunday. Very friendly and helpful service. And the best Sunday Roast I have encountered in London!!! Nice thick gravy, crispy and fluffy roasties and a good portion of perfectly cooked beef. Will definitely be back even though its a 1h commute from South London. So worth it for the food and staff 👌🏼

We went here on saturday night as a group of 6 for a friend's birthday. The vibe was great but the portions were small and overpriced (they served only 2 scallops for the starters). But the thing that shocked me the most, is we told them it was our friend's birthday and they served him a quarter of a piece of lime with a birthday candle in it (yes a piece of lime). No small pudding, no biscuit.....only a piece of lime. Ive eaten out in so many restaurants and NEVER have they been too stingy to serve a small cake. The bill cost us £450 for 6 people which is a lot of money. I wont be going back which is a shame as I think it has some great things about it. #empathyfail

Really tasty Sunday roast (beef) but it did take ages till it was served and it came with a risible amount of roast tatties. When I asked for more for the three of us who'd ordered that dish, the waiter's lengthy negotiations with the chef resulted in an extra 3 potatoes....for all three of us to share. Pretty poor service/attitude from the chef at the price. Overall I must say everything was really, really tasty.

Had a family Sunday roast on the terrace. The food was very nice and arrived quickly and the the service was great too. Definitely recommend this place.

Very good Sunday lunch, and we'll be back to try the menu on other days as well!

Love the vibes and food, very good. We will be back soon. Thank you

Great Sunday meal , and don’t sack the South African , real person for a change, total pleasure 👍🏻

Looking forward to the St Johns reopening, fantastic customer service in this pub, they really value their customers..

Quiet pub atmospheric but far from pub grub type food. Wonderful steak and rabbit for our group.

Eine gute ehrliche Küche und ein zuvorkommender Service... Schöne Atmosphäre und gute Musik...

Reliably the loveliest place - so delicious, warm and friendly service, prices extremely fair for the quality of the food and the most beautiful room to be in. Lovely for a family celebration or a romantic date or just for any reason.

Great atmosphere for a drink after work.

Fantastic staff, we felt really welcome and they went above and beyond. It is a little humid inside in the summer, just be warned! Food was delicious with big portions, so although it's pricey you're getting a good amount.

Terrible manager helped little about the food and drinks. Cold food and terrible service. Do not go here

Already been twice for great steak one evening and delicious fish on a different night ...nice team working there with good choices for drinks ....good vibe and if its sunny well worth a sundowner outside ...thanks St John's

I've eaten here many times over several years - both lunches and dinners - and I think that the current average rating (4.4) is on the low side. The menu changes frequently and is unusually ambitious for a pub. Fortunately, it delivers on the promises made and the food is high-quality, skillfully cooked and generously portioned. The dining room has very high ceilings, giving a welcoming feeling of space. Although the kitchen is semi-open, the extraction system means that cooking smells stay away from the diners. The service is very good. The art on the walls is something of an acquired taste. The only points of improvement I can think of are that the smell of cigarettes can waft inside when people go into the covered patio to smoke and the toilets could do with a little tlc.

Wow, had a family meal yesterday and it was spectacular. Great food, great atmosphere in a fantastic room, staff knowledgeable and super nice. New fav place.