The Drapers Arms in Islington

I always recommend The Drapers to friends and family. I have eaten here many times and can honestly say I’d give them 5/5 stars every time. This weekend they fell short on service, a number of times food was bought to the table without cutlery. Two diners had to send their food back to the kitchen twice to be cooked to the their liking so this wasn’t ideal. However having been so many times and had a faultless experience I would still book here again for any occasion. Nobody’s perfect.

Party of 4 for a Sunday Roast. We had a glorious time enjoying a traditional English Sunday Roast at this wonderful neighborhood pub. We thoroughly enjoyed the family atmosphere and delicious rib roast and roast chicken. Food was incredibly tasty, accompanied by yummy wine from a very approachable wine list. Staff was very inviting and attentive. Overall a great experience.

Having searched for “best Sunday lunch in London” I don’t think this place comes close. Firstly, the staff are really very nice and attentive: can’t fault them at all. However the food is a let-down: Sunday lunch for us is the traditional roast beef and trimmings. If “trad” nowadays means mass-catered, then the very soggy and limp Yorkshire pudding and the roast potatoes - unpleasantly overseasoned with a knife-challenging chewy crust - accompanied by a thin gravy and stewed red cabbage probably meets that description. One major plus-point, however, was the beef: a single, though thick-ish slice of good quality rare beef with a nice fat rind was in danger of rescuing the meal. Starters were good though the smoked mackerel rillettes were too salty. Ambience-wise, it’s bookings only and they will turn you out for a second sitting. It fills up quickly with an aspirational crowd that gets steadily louder in a high-ceilinged room, and by 2 o’clock the place resembles a crèche.

This time we shared beef rib (2-3) and a chicken (2-3) between 5 of us. We much preferred this beef to separate servings of sirloin we had last time. All delicious!

We went on Saturday for lunch. The food is great, truly. This means that we forgive a lot. We waited for over 1 hour between our starters and mains. Not so easy with a 3 years old! Apparently there was a big party at the back, but we had no proactive updates, we asked a few times about our food before it finally arrived. It was excellent and worth the wait. In addition, we love dog friendly restaurants and we love animals in general. Nevertheless at the table next to ours there were 2 small dogs which were allowed to walk on the table and drink from the owners’ water glasses. That’s a bit too far for me. Look, the food is great and we’ll be back. There’s definitely room for improvement on the service side though.

Great food in a lovely setting with obliging and helpful staff.

Great lunch venue and room for dogs. Lovely food and good sized portions and a warm welcome.

Food could have been a bit warmer

Food always tasty, ideas innovative, notably starters; source I don't know but hopefully good! Offered us what we requested- and we were able to have an intimate and happy evening!

Great bistro pub, delicious food, great ambience. Will definitely return.

We literally never have a bad night out at the Drapers. Great food, lovely atmosphere and great friendly service. Our Springer gets a warm welcome too.

Very good food and friendly service. We went for the magnet duck which was deliciouss

That was the best meal out we've had in 2024. I don't think it will be bettered over the next 10 months either. Thank you so much.

What a lovely pub with a great atmosphere and lots of dogs, perfect Sunday lunch. One little gripe though, sorry, the Sunday roast meats and veg were beautifully cooked and delicious however the gravy was just brown thin liquid with little flavor, it was disappointing as the rest of the food was so good, please thicken and season the gravy!!

Always a friendly place with good food. I would expect 2 large slices of beef for Sunday roast. The food was not hot by the time it reached the table which was a pity.

Have loved going to the Draper's Arms for Sunday Roast in the past; unfortunately this experience was really disappointing. Perhaps it was because our slot was at 4pm but the roast potatoes were borderline inedible (a hard inedible shell I had to scrape a tiny bit of the interior potato out of) and other food was either slightly undercooked or just not given proper attention. Service was ok and friendly enough but a bit haphazard. Prices have gone up, obviously because of cost of goods/labour recently, but this adds to the feeling that it is not just not a good value experience.

Delicious Sunday roast, very speedy service and great value overall

Great duck and good value. Great to have Harvey’s on tap!

Always great! Love this local pub, with great tasty food and a very solid classic offering

Best roast in the game. We always go for the whole chicken between two (and our baby) and it never disappoints. Very busy on a Sunday - everyone has the same idea

Fantastic Sunday roast and a great ambiance, would highly recommend.

Second time we have visited The Drapers Arms and had a great time! Great service and delicious food. Thank you

Excellent pub, with lovely staff. Best roast in North London

The best service, food and general ambience. Very satisfying meal.

Sunday roast was exceptional. Beef was actually pink unlike most places! Definitely going back for another.

the lamb is to die! best sunday roast in london!!!

Incredible food, delicious wine, a beautiful space and lovely staff. We came for a Sunday roast on 21/01/24 and the meal was the best I've had at the Drapers' Arms yet - which is saying something because the food is always excellent. Thanks for a wonderful evening. We'll be back soon!

Great as always. No criticism about the service but it was very busy and whilst we were quite happy with the slow pace, others might not be.

We had a delicious lunch yesterday (Friday) , the service was excellent and the ambiance was lovely, warm and friendly. We were downstairs which feels quite spacious and we had a very good meal.

The food is fantastic, really lives up too the hype! lovely place and a great place to spend an evening! the kind of place i would want to take people im trying to impress and show that I'm cool as mustard to!

Great lamb shoulder for 2-3 & service & wine & everything!

Wonderful best roast in London. Potatoes almost as good as my Mums

The food was delicious and there was a good selection of quality beers. The service was very good and the ambience was relaxing

A customer complained about us having a dog in the pub on a Friday night. It was a fairly bitter looking pair who didn’t speak to each other for almost the entirety of their meal and created a bad atmosphere to be near. The manager probably should have managed them better as it was clearly a Karen being a Karen. Don’t go if you want a relaxed warm environment

A roast without cauliflower cheese makes me sad - please add it to the menu!! Roasties were so crispy some were inedible, but overall good Sunday roast, great wine selection!

Great meal, attentive service and superb food. The kitchen had already run out of a few items by the time we arrived for 7.30 booking (incl bread) but did their best to suggest alternative options. Had a gorgeous turkey pie with suet crust and partridge. Been before a few times although we don’t live locally and will definitely be back for more.

Loved this charming neighborhood pub. The people were friendly and helpful and the food was delicious. Would recommend!

Fantastic as always! Attentive, friendly staff and beautiful food, one of the best pubs in the UK

Always reliable and consistently delivers on all fronts. Excellent wine selections, well kept beer and affable staff. Deserves all its plaudits.

Great service paired with traditional British food and a homey/cozy atmosphere. A real gem and you can tell that its much loved within the community!

Sunday lunch was delicious, service was accommodating, bloody mary was made to perfection. I would definitely recommend.

Fabulous food, incredible wine list, attentive and friendly service. Vegetarian options v limited although what was on offer was delicious. Noise level was high so quite hard to have a conversation. Definitely a gem of a place and we’ll be back.

Interesting menu. Fantastic bone marrow with baked camembert, anchovy and herrings dish was a bit overwhelming by the potato aspect.. Onglet steak was perfectly cooked and the Toulouse sausages with lentils was very rich but delicious. The service is impeccable. Great atmosphere.

Really delicious food. Great service.

Service was friendly and helpful, wine list was interesting and varied. Enjoyed the “orange” wine and a nice vacqueras. The venue is great and all the better for its pubbiness. The food was variable. The salmon and the pheasant rillette were both good. The baba ganoush was very poor. It had no flavour or smokiness, was fridge cold, consistency of baby food and served with a stale cold pitta. Unpleasant. If this was made in house don’t bother you can get better in Tesco’s and that is a very low bar. The mains were better an excellent sea bass for two, a good steak and a pork chop. While the sea bass was hot steak and pork chop were tepid. The cold garlic butter would not melt on the steak (which is kind of the point) the rind of the pork chop had not been rendered so was chewy rather than crackling. Finally the gnocchi served with the pork were the wrong side of slimy. Most people seemed to be quite pleased but the finishing of the dishes could be improved upon.

Really lovely service even though the (Canadian? Maybe?) guy looking after us was clearly being kept busy with all the dining room tables. We enjoyed everything and I’ll definitely return!

So personable and cozy vibes! Incredible Sunday roast and service. Very memorable.

We had a lovely Sunday Roast. Really quick service and lovely people working here. Wine was fantastic, with a great choice. The food overall was good although I suspect the roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding had been ready and under a hot plate for some time as they were both hard.

I must say I was very impressed by how busy the Drapers Arms was and how well the staff copped with all the tables and serving customers at the bar..the service was excellent and they had to change where we were going to be seating but it was a better option…definitely worth a visit.

I like the Drapers: the food is good and the staff very amenable. I have a personal objection to pie 'toppers' being listed as bona fide pies. A pie has a pastry case all round - thats a fact. That said, the turkey and ham 'pie' is very good and I would recommend it. Maybe I'm just a pie obsessive? Do go!

Love the Drapers Arms! Never disappoints. Food was great as always

Excellent food, great service, wonderful pub ambiance which allows to have fine dining in a more relaxed and casual environment. A bit noisy, but it was Saturday lunch time, so it was expected.

Great food and really impressive wine list! So long as you can handle the noise, is a great venue.

We regularly drink at the pub. We had a really nice evening with friends. Great food, service and atmosphere. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

There was sadly not any vegan food on the menu at all. It’s very strange in london, where there are so many vegans, for their not to be at least one or two vegan options on the menu. Very disappointing as most pubs have a veggie roast option but they didn’t even have that.

Great local pub with serious food menu and an interesting wine list. Real fires for the winter and a garden for the summer. Engaging service. What’s not to like?

Beautiful setting, lovely friendly staff and really great food. Thoroughly enjoyable evening all round.

The Drapers Arms was as fabulous as always - great food and service in a lovely room.

It is very busy, perhaps it has become famous, but I didnt think it was super good. The sunday roast was average. I was expecting more.

Friendly staff and great food. Good local location.

Lovely food and lovely room. Good service too. Noisy!

One of my favorite pubs and places to spend time with friends and family for a Sunday roast!

Fabulous evening/meal at the Drapers Arms as always.

I was waiting for the Sunday roast for a month and they served a horribly-looking flat Yorkshire pudding and RARE BEEF STEAK. When it comes to Yorkshire pudding, the server mentioned "It's not uniform". And he didn't care about anything. The server has been working at this restaurant for 3 years and has no issue with RARE BEEF being served on Sunday roasts! Normally you get asked whether you want it well done or rare, however they did not even bother to ask us :S .. Because he said everyone is happy with RARE BEEF STEAK. And the fat hasn't rendered much. I think they knew it's our first proper Sunday Roast in England, it seemed like they igonored us because we are not local people. They decided to heat our steak up but it tasted not good of course. It ruined our lovely Sunday and my exprience for my first Sunday Roast!! So I do not recommend this restaurant for your lovely Sunday lunch!

This was our fourth meal at the Drapers Arms, and we'd had great experiences before. This time, though, was a let down. We were seated at the end of a trestle table right by the bar; the noise level was unbearable. Perhaps because it was a Saturday night, the staff seemed harried and inattentive, and the food, while good, was not at the level we'd experienced before. Even dishes we'd had before, like the cote de boeuf, seemed to reflect cut corners (fries and undressed salad greens rather than a vegetable assortment and roast potatoes). I'm afraid we won't be back.

Excellent food, AMAZING wine list, cool bar snacks and cocktails, great staff, wonderful atmosphere, what's not to like. Strongly recommend

A very good dining experience, service was very attentive.

We had lunch on Monday and it was unbelievably short-staffed. There was one guy doing all the drinks and food for every table. It took us 3 mins to be seated, 10 mins to get a menu, and about 30mins to order. When the food came we ordered 2x mussels which I thought came with njuda butter and sourdough - however this never came. When we asked for the bread, we were given one serving to share between us but with normal butter, which felt like a mistake. Overall the food is fantastic but for the prices charged the level of service was absolutely horrendous. It's a shame because it ruined the experience for us, and I was going to recommend my wife take her friends there but given this experience I absolutely wouldn't.

My wife and I met here 12 years ago and held our wedding reception here. They never disappoint

Five adults and an 18 month old all had a fabulous lunch in this lively pub. The service was excellent and the food was exactly what we all wanted. Sunday roast , pork belly , Mackerel and one Suet crust pie. We all enjoyed our food and the deserts topped off a boozy family get together. Just what we all wanted. Well done to all at the Drapers.

The food and the ambience at the Drapers Arms is second to none (as always), however the service was really lacking this time around. We stood at the door for around 5-7 minutes before we were acknowledged by a staff member. Our waitress was very standoffish from the start. I asked for a vodka martini, which I have had before at this pub, but was made to feel very difficult for doing so. She then told me they didn’t have any vodka (!?) but said they would make me a gin one instead. My drink arrived at least 20 minutes after everyone else’s. The rest of our table (7 of us) said they also felt like they were inconveniencing her every time we asked for anything, even just water for the table. We ordered 2 bottle of wine at the end of our meal, to which the response was ‘well you have to be out by 7’… it was 18:15. We ordered the wine anyway but got very regular reminders of our departure time, which did not make for a relaxing evening. It’s a shame because we travelled across London for a Sunday roast, as it’s all our favourite. I will be returning as my positive experiences here have outweighed this one negative one. However, maybe the managers need to talk to their staff about being more hospitable.

Really beautiful pub, great service and great food

It’s not local to where we live but worth trekking an hour across town on a grey Sunday afternoon to enjoy a late long Sunday lunch to celebrate our son’s birthday with friends. It was my son’s first visit and it didn’t disappoint. Baked Camembert, bone marrow, toast and pickles followed by côte de boeuf, Yorkshire puds, roasties, cabbage two ways and finished off with sticky banana pudding and toffee sauce. Super friendly service, great wines and the odd cocktail. I only wish we had a local of this quality.

I booked a table for 8 for my daughters birthday 4 of us ordered the leg of lamb what turned up was 4 lamb chump steaks dry and cold with reheated potatoes, so as not to cause a scene I complained via e-mail the next day , Rosie who answered my e- mail offered me a refund I accepted the refund which 1 month later I am still waiting for , the food was diabolical which is completely in synch with the customer service

Fantastic food and cheerful, attentive service. A little bit loud at times but everyone was having a great time. Would definitely recommend the Sunday Lunch menu, particularly the banana sticky toffee pudding - incredible!

Great kitchen and service, nice atmosphere too, but as its one large, bare high-ceilinged room it’s very noisy and can be hard to keep a conversation going.

Great as always!!! Not the cheapest but value for money!!

Recommended the Sunday roast from a few friends and also saw it is in time outs top roasts in London - a very decent roast with friendly and helpful service.

The best Sunday roast dinner I've had in London. The lamb was exceptional!

We came here with a group of friends and were really pleased to see so many gluten-free options available. The pork belly was divine!

Couldn’t have loved our lunch more, it was amazing

Super great pub with nice vibe, friendly staff and good food and drink.

I had been recommended here a few times, but I wasnt read for how much I loved it, I will be back as soon as possible, the best cabbage ever (and everything else, just the cabbage blew my mind) , delicious wine, lovely staff, beautiful room and just a really cosy & special atmosphere. Im just amazed i hadnt been before!

Maybe we had bad luck with choices but the smoked herring starter was chewy and a bit rubbery and the beef pie just a bit heavy. But the terrine was good. The acoustic/ noise level in the dining area meant we had to lean in and raise our voices to talk to each other. Noise level in that part a real problem. Service willing and charming.

- Food was ok, started were very good but mains were mediocre. Especially the pork dish we had was so salty it was practically inedible so we had to leave most of it on the plate. - Cocktails were good, wine recommendation so-so. - Value for what we had was not great. £130+ for 2 starters and 3 mains but one of the mains we did not eat pretty much, the second was the onglet where the fries were terrible so did not have those either, and the third was the pie which was good but it was tiny. So considering 2/3 dishes we didn't finish and the starters were TINY (max for 2 people to share) it did not feel like very good value. - Service was lovely, very nice friendly people. Mains did take 1 hour to arrive though, which was less good as we got starters quickly, and then had to wait an hour for the mains - Finally, they should be better with guests with pets. I am really allergic to dogs, and at the start the table they sat us on had someone with a dog that was immediately rushing towards me. We asked to move, which they kindly accommodated. Then a big group arrived with two dogs that were not on leashes and so roamed freely and rubbed against my leg. I spent the rest of the evening sneezing and not feeling well. Primarily fault of the owner who was careless, but would be good if the pub had asked them to keep dog on a leash, or asked them to keep dog to the side of the table where I was not sitting for example, rather than me having to ask them several times to not let their dog come up to me.

My wife and I had a lovely experience. The front of house clearly work hard to provide a great service and the roast was delicious.

Lovely pub in a smart leafy side street in Islington. Great food and a really interesting menu. The staff were friendly and helpful despite the pub being very busy. Prices are readonable given the quality of the food and great location. Thoroughly recommended.

A delicious meal and fab service, as always! Highly recommended.

Service was exceptional. Food never misses! Will definitely keep going back.

Amazing place, best pub food in the area by far and superb wine list!

Food and service was amazing, as always. I just wish the chairs were more comfortable and padded for my poor arthritic back.

Had a wonderful evening with friends. Smiley helpful staff, interesting items on the menu not seen elsewhere-it’s a first world problem! 😀😀 Difficult to choose amongst the many wines. But we managed. It was unanimous that we all had the suet topped beef bourgignon pie. With new potatoes and cabbage. Yum! Prawns on bottarga sourdough and rabbit rillette as starters. And shared a chocolate tiffin for dessert. Wonderful evening

Some of the side dishes were good. The service from the manager was excellent but the waiting staff are pretty unenthusiastic.

Great food and service, great for a mid week dinner or special occasion.

The day we went to the Drapers Arms, it was absolutely sweltering, incredibly busy and yet all the staff were friendly and accommodating. Lovely place.

Ive had beautiful food at the Drapers before, however this unfortunately was not one of those times.

We had a great time at the Drapers Arms, the food was incredible, the staff were warm and attentive, and the atmosphere is lovely- relaxed and mature (I.e. not just full of people on their phones). Highly recommend.

Managed to secure a table at short notice. The Sunday Roast is meant to be the stuff of legends. Unfortunately on our visit the beef was full of sinu and most of the meal arrived luke warm and became cold very quickly. It’s incredibly noisy/vibrant depending on your disposition. My guest and I couldn’t hear one another over the table. Service is exceptional and everyone was lovely.

Awesome as always and had very patient staff for our late arrival on a Sunday evening.

Very good food, definitely a step above the standard gastro pub food in London. Friends had the shared steak (looked great) and we shared the pie and the duck. Very clearly this place is not just serving the classics and instead gives variety to its accompaniments, which coupled with well executed meats sets them apart from most. The venue was nice, if not quite similar to competitors in the area and Good crowd for a Saturday. If I was to find a flaw, the bar service could definitely be better. Not rude, just a bit slow and disinterested. Overall very good experience