The Fox, Excel in Newham

(Writing on behalf of my partner) The girls toilets are absolutely vile. Covered in sick, toilet seats falling off and no toilet roll (you are expected to pay a toilet attendant for toilet roll.) Attempted to stand in a corner outside of the crowd (in the smokers area) to avoid the business of the area whilst booking / waiting for an uber and was ushered out the way into the crowd where I did not feel safe (I explained this to the guard). Ushered back inside to leave through another exit. However, as I approached to leave the pub via the exit that he said to use I was then pushed backwards into the pub by a blonde, female security guard without explanation (my friend had just walked past her without any issues). I said to her calmly not to put her hands on me (as I had done nothing but try to leave the bar) and told her to use her words to explain but yet I was ignored with no response after having her push me away from the exit I then returned to the previous exit, tried to explain to another security guard what just happened who told me I had to stay and talk to the manager but I told him I had an uber to catch to go home but he wouldn’t let me leave until I said no a few times and then finally left (via the smokers and the initial exit I was at) and was finally allowed to leave. I was having a really fun night until this moment but unfortunately the venue was let down by the security guards who are supposed to keep us safe and as a female I would have hoped the security guards would understand not feeling safe in a busy crowd and seeking a safe space to wait for an uber home

We really enjoyed large gatherings here, outdoors in the front was lovely in good weather around tables with next to know traffic, right outside ExCel. When it was busy, the queues for drinks were very long and took ages to get served. There was live music, which was Awful ! So outside was better, couldn't hear it! Otherwise a good experience :-)

Let's start with the positives (which won't take long!) - We arrived without a booking and were seated really quickly. - the location was good for somewhere to eat after an exhibition. That was unfortunately as good as it got. - Cod and Chips - the cod was actually burnt and saturated in fat. It was inedible. -Brought me a bottle of wine instead of the glass of wine I had ordered. -Got my husband's order wrong. He wanted the Steak, they brought him Steak Sandwich. They could have clarified what item he wanted if they weren't sure. - my children have food Allergies and they didn't follow their own Allergies procedure which is documented in their Allergen Matrix book. -kids Sausgae and Mash marked in allergen book as Soya free however the Gravy had Soya in as daughter had allergic reaction on the way home! -Service awful. I asked for the bill, waitress brings over the card reader with the amount pre entered. When I asked to see the actual bill (to make sure they hadn't charged me for the bottle of wine I didn't order) before paying she actually huffed, slapped her leg and stormed off. Absolutely awful, my recommendation is find somewhere else to eat !!!

Right opposite the Excel centre, we went in after getting off the tube, to have a sit down and drink. Staff friendly and helpful.

Sat for an hour with no food, waitress forgot the drinks. Had to ask for knifes and forks and was given a fist full whilst they laid the other tables up. Even the other waiter referred to it as " they have taken the piss". Now Sat with incorrect meal and only half have arrived.

Visited Sunday 13th Oct Terrible service Awful food, to the point I've left a review on Trip advisor Management need to resolve staff issues and the food

What a god awful bar. Served by the most grumpy bar staff. The bar is inadequately staffed and they clearly don't care about customers because all they do is serve people who come for events at the Excel so they don't have to worry about returning customers. Avoid!!

The average bar near an event venue. Super close to ExCel so simple choice to get here.

The fox has really gone down hill. The staff standing behind the bar kissing their teeth at customers and eating / playing with their phones. A very clear agenda on who they serve first. The outside is feral now, 2 guys brought their own boom box to play outside smoking weed, zero management, really messy, drinks served in any old glass….pre covid the fox was great.

Restaurant has blue sofas with bedbugs in I was asked to not sit on them by the Starbucks staff

Good pub grub with the football on the tv

This review is for the bar / restaurant: service is non-existent: restaurant was almost empty and they were still not able to serve customers. Asking for ketchup with the fries represented a major challenge for staff. The burger came just like that on a plate, no knife, no napkin. Other patrons were loud and enjoying (playing music on their phones non-stop). Avoid this place!

Service: horrible Food: meh… Audience: trashy

Great location if attending a conference unfortunately that’s it. Waited to be seated as its table service, nobody came so grabbed the menus and sat at a table. Ordered food at the bar, food eventually arrived, two out of the 4 dishes were cold. Pizza was very ordinary, would not recommend.

My husband and I had been to the excel centre for an exhibition, we looked up some local pubs / restaurants for a bite and a drink to finish off the day. When we got to the fox we thought it looked really nice. Which the settings inside was so we thought we was on to a winner. There wasn’t anyone at the welcome desk nor a sign to say wait to be seated so we found a seat and spoke to a member of staff to find out of it was a case of going to the bar to order or table service, by which it was table service. At this point the pub wasn’t particularly busy. She had taken our drinks and food order, to be fair the food had arrived really quickly, but after 30 minutes and still not received our Drinks we followed This up with the waitress, a further 10 minutes later we still didn’t have them by which point we had already finished our food. We called over who I assumed was the manger and told him, after 45 minutes we finally had our drinks, unfortunately it wasn’t the experience we had been hoping for, the food wasn’t very nice and a massive delay on the drinks.

Im actually changing this review after many years from a 5 to a 2 star, the place has really gone down hill, I've been coming here since it oppwned as the fox, when it was a really good pub with good food, drink and comfortable sitting areas, it's now a poor attempt at a restaurant (Whoevers idea it was to do away with the sofas needs talking to). I ordered 2 drinks and 2 pizzas, the guy taking my order looked as if I was asking him for a drink from his own fridge and his pizza he was gonna eat when he gets home. When he finished my order he just stared at me and said "it will be with your shortly" to which I asked confused "do you bring the drink over to the table instead ?" he then said I can do with an annoyed face, (either give me my drink or bring it over I don't care) when the drinks came, 1 of the drinks was wrong and 1 pizza didn't even turn up, (how bad at your jobs do you have to be to mess up a 2 drink order and a 2 pizza order???? ) when I asked where it was, I never got an apology to say they forgot they just said it will be a bit longer. (20 minutes after the 1st pizza was placed at the table). Definitely the last time I'll be going here.... really disappointing as I use to drink here alot when I was younger and through it might still be a nice place to go.

My son accidentally ordered the wrong thing and the team were great replacing it

Fine restaurant. We had good chicken, burger and Guinness. Good prices.

Sign says wait to be seated, which we did. The waiter took out drinks order then never came back. 20 mins later we went up to the bar and he said oh yes you have to order here, which we then did (and took our own drinks) the food was ok but took a long time to come. Then a couple came in, were given water (which we weren’t) and their orders taken from the table. Terrible service

We had a lovely experience today. Leah was fabulous- attentive and friendly- nothing was too much trouble. Great venue, very spacious and child friendly which we needed. Food and drinks good quality and not overpriced. Overall a brilliant experience. Thank you.

Leah was fab. Super nice and helpful waitress!

Beers cold service was fantastic, big shout out to Ro

Georgia was fantastic!! Lovely nachos and a great valued pint in London!! Will be back 😁

Just bought a couple of pints, the person on the bar managed to do that without speaking a single word, no smile, great location though 👍

Food was miserable, Service take too long time.

If I could give this no stars I would. The toilets were absolutely disgusting. I am sure the health people would close them down. If the toilets are like this I dread to think what the kitchens are like. They were so bad I couldn’t even wash my hands. My own germs are probably more cleaner. If the toilets are that bad imagine how the food is ??? Avoid the place at all cost

Plenty of staff on but service was poor No check if things were ok or needed anything else Nobody came near us even though the meal was finished ages I had the chicken burger which was nice Wife had nachos and they were awful Wife also stated the toilets were shockingly bad, Stevie Wonder must have checked them at intervals

Great for watching England win the qtr final

What a shame. It was very quiet in the Fox, we were seated immediately by a great member of staff and the food was great, no issues there. The problem was, we waited more than 20 mins after we had finished our main. We were going to order a desert but no one came to our table the staff were all sat around the bar so I got up, walked over and asked to pay the bill. I tapped my card and the guy behind the bar asked me if I wanted a receipt to which I said no. I walked back to my table, my wife finished her drink and we walked out. We managed to walk across the road when a member of staff ran out and shouted to me that the payment hadn’t gone through, in the middle of the street! How embarrassing! Not impressed at all. Up until this point it had been a decent experience. I put the same card in the machine and put in my pin, it worked fine. The only reason why you are getting a 2 star and not 1 is because the first member of staff who seated us was great and so was the food but the rest of the experience - 0 stars. Very, very poor you made me feel like I had done something wrong - ruined my night!

A bit harder to find but Im glad we reached this pub. They serve the best Guiness beer I have ever drunk. Guiness here is perfectly smooth and creamy and you can really taste the difference. If you love Guiness you must visit this place. The price was also good.

Nice bar just outside the excel centre and custom house station. Attended an event there and the staff were friendly, quick and efficient.

These guys at the Fox are just amazing! Everyone is so helpful and makes the whole process from start to finish a great experience. A few massive thank yous to Joel, Josh, Jenny and Georgina for looking after the Solution Junkies team on the 6th June. You guys worked so hard and absolutely pulled it out the bag and I promise next year I will do a much bigger pre-order! See you in 2025!

I visited back in February, it was London vs wales in the six nations. Food was great, such a lovely setting. Staff were lovely and had great conversations with them! Had amazing banter about the rugby match as I am Welsh and it was an overall great experience

We were ignored by the staff and not served, even though there were only two other couples inside. After 10 minutes we left because we felt we were treated rudely.

Was massively underpoured when ordering 2 doubles i saw the bartender fill a single measure up to the 20ml line for both drink, i asked him to correct and he did but still only up to the 20ml line. I then watched him proceed to do the exact same thing to other customers throughout the night. Baring in mind the fine for underpouring is £5000, i would make sure my staff are doing it right

When you have a ticket to an event they host they will still ask you to buy another ticket on the door with a marked up price. They used to host a really fun comic con after party but year upon year it gets worse and worse with more stupid rules and restrictions. They oversell tickets, have no courtesy for customers and the fact comic con ends at 7 and they expect you to be there before 9 is stupid. Horribly rude staff and security. I'm not sure if it's been taken over by new management but as a customer since 2012 it's just turned into a complete mess. Please don't give them your money. I know it's tempting because it's con but they just take advantage of that fact and have no respect for comic con customers. We are all just money. They don't even spend it on a good dj.

Booked the fox for an after party after comic con!! They over booked and caused massive overcrouds!! Obviously over booked and poor booking!!, they wouldn't allow me food in which I completely understand that's the rules!! But I asked them to keep my food which was fudge to the side which I paid £20 for and I asked them to keep it to the side and write on my name which they did only to find when I came out they have thrown away my possession which I asked them kindly to hold for me!! And spoke to the manger only to get a strug of the shoulders and an apology which isn't good enough!! Beyond let down and horrified by the service and the organization of the after party event!! Would recommend going elsewhere!!

The service was very poor. After a stressful exam we went to this place to have a good burger. We ordered the southern fried chicken burger. It took more than 40 mins for it to come. The coleslaw was not fresh and the chicken was so dry and bland. The chicken seemed as if it was cooked in old oil or something. The entire burger was not at all tasty for all five of us. After paying the bill, we told our waitress about it and she dismissed it with a carefree 'thank you'. It was not at all worth the fourteen pounds. I will not recommend this place to anyone, especially students after an exam at the Excel centre.

Literally the worst food experience ever. Order took 45 minutes and 2 chases to receive only 1 out of 4 pizzas. The 1 that arrived was essentially raw dough with some semi melted cheese on top. 2 more arrived barely more cooked with raw onion on top and the 4th has yet to arrived. We cancelled it… Staff didn’t care and seemed genuinely surprised we did. If this was my only experience with pizza, I’d choose steak and kidney pie next time.

This is not a hotel, but a restaurant only needs to change the trade. Very welcoming staff, freshly cooked food, and nice coffee to finish the meal

Nice pub. Really appreciated how knowledgeable one of the staff members was about gluten free/coeliac. Their chips are safe, as fried in a different fryer from other stuff, and their wings are safe too and prepared in a different area.

Had a Saturday lunch. Food served cold - saw it sitting in the bar waiting for the chatting bar staff to bring it out. Just handed it and no service saying how to get cutlery etc. Why can’t they be interested in providing a service? Quite processed food, bland. Advice: Find don’t eat here.

A place where they ran out of coffee before 11am and making few teas and pouring few glasses of soda takes 25 min. The staff know that they can capitalise on their place being one of the very few in the immediate Excel area and are abusing it to a full extent

This is the worst food in London with London prices. I will never come again.

The food is average pub food but the service is amazing. Benjie was really helpful and smiling guy while the other staff was also good. The service was great.

The food was not good but manager called Benji came and saved the place! Great service but not for food

Terrible experience! We had to wait half an hour to order the drinks, than after 50 minutes waiting, still nothing was on the table, so we just left this place

Real Ale tasted of vinegar. Horrible atmosphere.

Amazing,I’m telling you.you need to get burger and the chips and a side of lemonade it is SO DELICIOUS and the pepperoni pizza ABSOLUTELY STUNNING.I GIVE BIG THANKS TO THE CHEF.BETTER THAN MCDONALDS

The service at this pub is awful. The lads behind the bar spent more time messing around than serving paying customers. Way overpriced and no atmosphere.

Google seems to think this is a hotel, but it was a restaurant. The bartender agreed to take our orders, even though the kitchen was closing in 20 minutes. The 5 people in our party began to order, and things quickly went off the rails. The first person was ordering from the menu, but it turns out we were all handed outdated menus. The bartender got disproportionately angry. He was cursing about how if he couldn't order the half roast chicken, nobody could. I was last of the 5 to order. He took part of my order, but refused to let me finish. He also repeatedly told us that if the kitchen messed up our orders, we better not be mad at him. One of our 5 orders was wrong. We told the waiter we could just accept it, but he insisted on getting us the right food. Food was average, a good price. Hostess and waiter were supremely professional and charming.

Handy for awaiting a passport application, nothing special but perfectly serviceable. Cavernous place.

Been a while since I've been here. Sadly seems to have gone down hill a bit. Not at all helped by the surly curmudgeon behind the bar. Frankly could do with a better selection of beers too. Or any actual beers at all. Neck Oil hardly counts.

Came back try again, and again not disappointed, returned this time with two friends as one of them was 60, and we had an excellent night, we all had starters mains and desserts with drinks and cocktails, The staff were amazing and looked after us all evening... I said I would return and we did, and we will be back again, this is going to become one of our regular places to visit. Stumbled on this place while taking an evening stroll, what a gem.. Had a couple Guinness and my partner had some cocktails, wow! Best Guinness I have had in a long time, we had some nachos off their nibbles menu and they were superb. The staff were just amazing, happy, funny quick service and nothing was too much trouble, made to feel so welcome. I would travel across London to go here and we will be returning..

Honestly - what is going on? I’ve never seen a venue look so horrid and run down. Everything was a mess. It’s in desperate need of a refurb. I can’t plead with people more - don’t go in!

We came just for food and drinks, waited 30 minutes for the waiter before we went order directly on the bar (the place was maximally half full). We waited another 45 minutes for food. The food was good but unless you absolutely have to, I wouldn't recommend a visit.

The chips took ages , the waitress couldn’t find our table apparently however the ticket had the table number on … the manager couldn’t be bothered to help - disappointing experience we’ll never come back.

This is such a great place to visit Very well priced for it's location, staff are amazing and super accommodating and the building is kept to a very high standard of maintenance and cleanliness Will always be my go to when visiting the excel for multiple days

Good place for a beer after work

I was served by a lovely young man called Harvey. The looks of a movie star and the kindness and compassion of a sainted nun. 5 stars.

Came here for pug event and it was soo cute!

Great pub, good service and a good atmosphere. A bit pricey but it's London so it's only to be expected

Not great food, not great service

Just popped in for a beer after a visit to excel, however very busy and also pretty expensive

Nice pub with decent drinks and ok food. Pizza was a bit underwhelming but I was hungry and it satisfied me.

Nice large pub, good food but a bit pricey.

The only reason I gave 2 star is because of the price of a pint of diet coke for £5.50!!! I think that's ludicrous and an absolute rip off for fizzy pop, I can't honestly believe this place charges that on a Sunday that is on a quiet day. There is no excuse and don't pass the ball to the supplier and say 'ah well its their price, and fizzy drinks are super expensive' Thats not an excuse or good reason for ripping off consumers/customers in these difficult financial times. I thought Dry January some places reduce prices since the season is dead and cold. From now on for any comic con events I am never coming back to here which is my gurantee.

Fantastic venue good live music, went during mcm October, so had £5 entry tickets. Other days was free entry. Not to crowded. And excellent service by bar staff.

Great venue by the Excell and Passport office

Do a decent veggie burger and a pint - a refreshing change from Costa / Starbucks, the Bagel place, the Deli, and the other slightly samey eateries at the ExCel. They also got me a burger + chips within 15 minutes and apologised for the delay so really impressed. Oh, and not a rip off like the ExCel places either - was just £22 for a main + a pint.

Hard to understand why a pint is £7,50.

Amazing food and restaurant staff.... Lady behind bar no manners at all, dam right rude. Ruined the visit for us.

Great location and great looking venue. Some of the staff look like they don’t want to be there and not very talkative. I brought a very expensive disarono and coke. But that’s probably due to location.

Disgusting bathrooms inside. They're being renovated but they are in no state for the public to use. Bathroom attendant was rude as well. Staff are very overworked on busy event nights and queues for drinks took 45 mins - 1hr even when the bar wasn't very busy.

There was a party of 10 of us and we had been told we had to book as they would be busy . They weren't that busy . Despite taking our orders and only 2 of the party having starters all the food was bought out together although there was a wait for 2 of the meals . Two of the party order extra chicken to go on their meal and to be honest the portion of chicken to be shared between 2 was not a proper portion . For dessert some of the party ordered waffles and ice cream .The waffles were served cold 🥶. Question Why ? Some of the party ordered tea and was brought Earl Grey no discussion if they wanted it . 3 people had to wait for their meals . The toilets had ko locks on the doors and were filthy Now I work in the hospitality industry and although it wasn't the worst meal I'd eaten it definitely was not up there with best . It seems to me that more staff training is needed both front of house and in the kitchen and cleaning department I would not recommend this restaurant to other friends

Worn out furnishings. Toilets all blocked. Food average. Undercooked batter but good chips. Verg good service. Friendly and efficient.

Useful big pub if you are going to an event at the Excel, food is ok and not too expensive. The staff are nice. Can get packed if there is a conference on, especially after it ends because everyone wants to have a drink, but at least it has tables and plenty of seats. It's also connected to the Starbucks upstairs if you prefer coffee and has some sofas to get comfortable. Can get a bit mucky when it's super busy

Ladies toilets were so grim I decided not to go!

Fine pub designed to cater for a lot pf people. Food was nice but no atmosphere and was hard to get servers attention.

An amazing bar, the after parties for comic con are amazingly fun!

This watering hole is situated adjacent to the Excel Centre on the walkway from Custom House Station. The bar offers good quality food with a large selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Please note that this place gets busy and service could be improved on during these times.

The Fox is quite amazing when it's not a Comic Con weekend. Great staff and service, highly recommend.

It's fine. You wouldn't go here unless you've been to a conference. When it's busy it's unbearable. Whne it's quiet it's boring. I don't know if theres a happy medium.

Bartender Jade is absolute lovely, so sweet and took time to tell me the prices of anything I asked

Waited over hour for some chips. Food was not edible slow service only 2 bar staff which considering with an event at excel would be more staff

Great for comic con. Expensive drinks. Literally none of the toilet doors closed, the doors didn't fit in the frame. Friendly staff, large social space

Just no. Do NOT come here! I've been coming to the excel for business for a year now, and spent the last month here. The staff in this pub are rude (some exceptions), food has thankfully improved somewhat recently but still very basic. But the lack of care from the staff can not be overlooked. Just this evening, I ordered and paid for some drinks. The guy behind the bar (beard, hair in bun) poured them and I asked for a receipt. He proceeded to pour another pint and I assumed it was for another person but he handed me the card reader. Obviously confused I asked what the drink was for, he said very blunty "you asked for a Moretti". Surprised I said sorry no I asked for a receipt. Bearing in mind there was a singer playing in the background so sound levels were loud and it's easy to mishear people. But he was adamant I asked for Moretti saying "no, you asked for a Moretti". Just for clarification, I don't even know what the hell a Moretti is 🙄 I'm a cider drinker. So yeah avoid this place at all costs

Food was good, but we only saw our waiter 3 times the whole time we were there, we were never asked for a second round of drinks despite the table full of empty glasses, never asked for desserts, and both waiters disappeared for around 30 minutes. When trying to split the bill apparently "the system doesn't allow it" and we had to use one payment card, I've never encountered a system that doesn't let you pay on multiple cards The toilets were a building site, with signs stating please bear with us, they are under renovation. Well based on the other reviews, the renovations have been at a standstill for at least a month I've never looked forward to leaving dinner before this

Relaxing Friday evening here. There was no stressed customers but the staff were running around like headless chickens. We got forgotten so many times & had to wait quite a long time for taking our order & receiving food. But the staff were really nice, food good

The food was ok but took ages and arrived luke warm. The service was incredibly slow and ridiculously inconsistent. The majority of the staff were pleasant but clearly lack training and leadership. Our server was rude and that’s a polite description at best. The whole place needs a thorough clean and the toilets looked like something more suited to a concentration camp than a bar/restaurant. I won’t be returning and I’d suggest others avoid.

Very friendly staff and pretty good choices for beer and wine. 2 glasses of medium Sauvignon Blanc for £18.

Very poor and rude service . Food was either over cooked or under cooked . Toilets were a disgrace in both men's and woman's. Need alot of work.

Very poor service in the restaurant

Attended a private drinks function. Good service and very tasty food!

Oh my word what a find! You walk in and because it’s quite big, you kind of get the impression that you’ll have a weatherspoon experience, but because it’s at the Excel you also expect prices to be inflated. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The staff was friendly, and exceptional, the food( Burger) top class and a good selection of quality drinks, and reasonably priced and good value . Very pleasantly surprised, don’t look further…

Quick bite to eat while waiting for passport

Only came in for a drink. All good but very noisy.

Food was acceptable and arrived quickly although partially cold. Staff were very friendly, polite and helpful. The biggest shock was the condition of the toilets. There are around 10 cubicles 7 of which were completely blocked and in a disgusting state. Plaster falling off the walls exposing damp woodwork and carpet seeping with who knows what. The most unsanitary facility I have ever seen. When I asked a member of staff if they knew about the condition of them they were most apologetic but said it was a long standing issue and were waiting for the owners to take some action.

Buona location, personale socievole e cibo davvero buono.

Nice friendly atmosphere good pub to go to .to enjoy