The Heathcote and Star in Waltham Forest

Our local boozer that has it all. Great selection of beers on tap, huge garden and entertainment including DJ nights, pool tables, comedy sets and cider tasting. Top service and always shows the best sports on big screens.

I thought I’d give the Heathcote another chance and try the food again (it’s been really hit &miss) but I wish I hadnt bothered. The food never turned up and after an 1 hour and 10mins and a lot of chases I got a refund from a member of staff who literally couldn’t care less. My friend’s food did turn up after 55 mins but it was cold. The staff member at the bar didn’t care about that either. After the refund he couldn’t even muster an apology. That is my last attempt to go to the Heathcote and I wouldn’t recommend it.

Quick stop for a drink after long walk. Beautiful atmosphere and very nice decor. Love the beer garden and pool tables for extra entertainment. Good to be here even for short time.

Ordered their Thai prawn salad. It was expensive, and small. There were no prawns in it. When I sent it back, I was told they were out of prawns. An Interesting coincidence I thought. The bar manager who refunded my money was annoyed at the hassle. I welcome Heathcote folding. It would present the opportunity from something better to come along.

This place is a barely functioning mess. Everywhere you look is chaos as poor, under-resourced staff (2 of them on a really busy Wednesday night before xmas work to serve the bar and bring out food!!) trying their best to make a dent in a huge queue of people who are in turn desperate to get a drink to go with their food. Dirty plates and glasses are left on tables for hours on end - no surprise given there aren't enough staff working. Some of the tables are awfully positioned next to open doored toilets or serving hatches, again layered with dirty plates. One half of the pub (the cavernous football watching / games hall) is cold, music-less and entirely without atmosphere. Pool table(s). One broken, the other terrible to play with old balls and a single, chalk-less queue. You have to pay £5 to use it! and then find someone else has been double booked onto it. Massive groups of kids screaming and running around huge dirty tables. The food, when it did arrive eventually, was decent - Krapow-moo never fails but other than that this was a dire experience that needs addressing by the management who are seemingly trying to maximise profits at the expense of customer experience. We were shocked and frankly appalled and felt really sorry for the bar staff who were doing their best under awful conditions.

Three vegan options for Sunday lunch 👌 so good. Came as a group of 8 (4 vegans/veggies, 4 not) and will come back again purely for the fact that they offer some choice as a vegan. Thank you for offering it! Great staff as well and a really good roast.

Came here for Sunday dinner and had the pork belly which was lovely. Only down side it was quite cold where we was sat in the back of the pub, but overall the staff were attentive and friendly.

Very disappointed with the food. Extremely salty and the chicken leg was off! Had to get a refund for that. Never again.

Sunday lunch was really disappointing. Lamb had clearly been sliced some time before, so was tough and only just warm. Buttered leeks & peas had no peas in it, and was stodgy and really greasy due to too much butter. Yorkshire Pud was dry and only just warm. It just wasn’t pleasant to eat - school dinners were better. Everything was clearly pre-prepared with the intention to warm it up before serving. Certainly not worth £18 for a main course! Come in, Heathcote! This isn’t how to do it.

Really disappointing visit today. Advertised as a six nations booking - they didn’t put the rugby on until 5 mins after kick off. Waited for ten mins to be served at the bar. The roast was disappointing - extremely fatty beef. Staff were lovely but there weren’t enough of them. Won’t be rushing back unfortunately.

I visited on a Sunday and there was only roast dinners available. That's fine but the quality of the beef was the worst I have ever had. I must have been able to eat about 1 inch of it. The rest was fat. They had the cheek to call it steak as well and charge £19 for it. I don't mind paying money for good food but this was disgusting. Small portions of everything else as well. I will not be returning. There are many establishments who care about what they serve their customers. This place definitely doesn't. Heathcote and Star. I suggest you up your game or you will be losing quite a few customers.

Ok, we didnt eat so cant comment on the food. However nice if not huge range of beers and good selection of wines. The service was excellent. Felt like a real community pub with yoga there and also nice garden. Still got a pool table and big screen for football so hits all the buttons for us. Wouldn't make a special trip but when we are in the area, it's a really nice place. Mind you they do a session where you come along with your instrument with the chords on the screen, so that would be worth a trip to see and hear...

The pub in itself is nice and the staff are friendly but the Krapow food is a huge mistake. Not sure what me and my family were served last night but it wasn't authentic Thai food. The red thai curry was light pink and runny like water. The chicken was grey and spongy. No vegetables apart from a piece of baby corn and a bamboo shoot fighting for the supremacy of the bowl. Talking about the bowl, still confused why the dry and stale jasmine rice was served in a separate bowl from the "soup" with no serving dish or spoon...? Everything was also over spiced with mountains of chillies, probably to hide how bad the food was. The drunken noodles were equally as bad with noodles cooked Italian style Al dente. And way too spicy again. Overall the quality of the food we were served last night was shocking, especially when you have to wait over an hour for it. We waited 20 mins for a waiter to take our plates away so we could comment on the food but nobody ever came. By then we were so annoyed we decided to leave and avoid making a scene. Pubs like the Heathcote need to stop trying to be hipstery and go back to basics because this gastro pub trend clearly isn't working for them. The Heathcote and Star is my local pub and I used to like it but I will not go back as long as they will be serving Krapow.

Excellent service and a great place for families to come and eat and socialise. Lovely service from the bar staff and the Thai food is to die for!

This pub is beautiful with great outdoor seating. However, the service and staff were terrible. We waited about half an hour just to order a drink so we thought we better order our food at the same time. Food took about 45 minutes and the staff still hadn’t taken the glasses and plates left on our table before we sat down, this was after asking them to take it a few times. One member of staff took a few glasses and never came back for the rest. Once we got our food my sisters rice was not cooked and our chips were cold. My husband asked someone for some ketchup and the staff member said sure and then never came back. They definitely didn’t have enough staff and the staff they did have did not seem to care or want to be working. A massive shame as it could have been my go to but I’m not sure I can deal with the poor service.

I used to live in this community, before I sold and moved to the sticks. This pub was never going to be top of pops, however it has become just another overpriced gastro pub serving mediocre food. Although there is plenty of space and adequate service, the price of drinks and food are astronomical. This pub may claims to serve the community, but it only serves a small section of the community, in regards to the fact that the only people they can afford this pub are those with massive incomes. We decided to go there to celebrate the jubilee, however there was no bunting and no sign of the Queen's 70 year reign. I would avoid this pub if you're patriotic, or on a low income. They don't want your money.

Went here the Saturday before Christmas and the staff couldn’t have been better. Had a 3 week old and a puppy and they were so accommodating. Treats for the puppy, making sure baby changing was ready and clean.

Beer prices have shot up. 5.80 for a pint of Big Hug IPA. Mediocre burger came without any garnish, tofu was a bland, saucy, inedible mess. Thank god for the chips.

We had a lovely Sunday lunch, food was great but there were people with dogs who kept barking through our whole meal. We had to leave. At one point the owner lost control of her dog, who then ran around the pub barking. I love pets and have no issue with well behaved dogs in pubs, I’m only annoyed the staff did nothing at all to “manage” the situation, when it was clearly irritating lots of customers.

Ordered krapow which appeared to be fried egg and mince beef on rice. It had a strange overly salty taste and the rice was stale. Definitely not worth the price. My partner had the drunken noodles with chicken which didn't taste great as well. It was like gravy was just poured over the noodles. Over priced low alcohol beer. Loved the prawn crackers but we won't be returning. They need to stop cooking Thai food and try something else.

Visited on a Friday night and had a pretty bad experience. The service was really poor. Staff had an attitude. The table service was utterly chaotic with staff not knowing which table ordered what frequently giving orders to the wrong table. Empty glasses and plates were left on tables. At times there were long waits for orders and to top that the food was poor quality and over priced. I appreciate the pandemic offers significant challenges for pubs but that is not a valid excuse for the all round poor experience.

Came with my friends and wife on a couple of occasions, and really enjoyed the atmosphere. The service was great. But most of all, the bar mate (the Portuguese one) was an exceptional. Such a great guy! People like him, make you wanna come back...

Good food for omnivores but great for vegans too. Some portions a lot smaller than others. Food took almost an hour to come but perhaps just finding their feet after lockdown.

What a difficult time to be a pub - but the heathcote and star pulled it off! Delicious food and brilliant service during very difficult conditions. The staff are super accommodating and helpful and the food is delicious! I recommend the beef massaman / squid...

I was booked to have dinner with 4 of my friends but we had to leave as we were so concerned at the lack of evident Covid protocols in place: - When we arrived there was one entrance where people were both entrancing and exiting,...

Visited for the first time for a catch up with friends & really enjoyed the atmosphere. Very chilled and relaxing. Speedy service, good drinks and lovely food. Will definitely visit again soon.

Lovely pub but poor Thai food I booked a table for four to take advantage of the eat out help out Scheme and to support local businesses. Having eaten and cooked Thai food for 30 years makes me a lover of Thai Cousine. Unfortunately what...

Best pub around, Mark, Hope, Richard, Emma, and Ben are class. Great beer garden and bar seating area.

I was surprised by the negative reviews as I have never had anything but a great experience here. Amazing food, good service and a lovely pub. Must have been a bad weekend as we were here the weekend after and no problems at all.

Booked a table on Sunday over phone all fine, got email confirming they were full but turn up anyway which was odd. Turned up, told full but if we could find space in the ‘games room’ with kids running round screaming and pool balls smashing...

Half an hour at the bar to buy a drink. An hour and a half for the food. Bar staff clearly don’t recognise customers standing there for a while. Plate taken from under our nose whilst in the middle of our cold, average lunch -...

We love this pub. It is very close to where we live and it has great vibe no matter what time of day you go. The food is always very good, especially the roasts and burgers and they have a good choice of drinks.

I live in the area and this place is my default! Great food, nice outdoor space, table tennis and pool table!

The food was very good. The atmosphere was no to loud so my daughter and I could still carry on a conversation.

First time and loved it Excellent food and service friendly staff would highly recommend. we had the Sunday lunch desert and drinks Will definitely be back to try something else nice atmosphere

I visited this pub for few drinks with friends, their beer selections are really good and the venue is brilliant with a lot of space and a big garden area. I loved it will come back definitely

We came here for Sunday lunch. We all enjoyed a variety of roasts all well cooked. Delicious meat, great roast potatoes and lots of vegetables. Which were perfectly cooked . Also a great environment. Would definitely return here.

17 of us got together for Christmas dinner on a Saturday night. The staff make this busy buzzin friendly pub a delight . Nothing was too much trouble . They worked so hard , they smiled even harder. As well as a large bar area...

This pub is very aesthetically pleasing, it looks great inside and uses space well. It has a games room, plays sports and music. It also has a lovely outdoors area which is open till about 2200/2300. It’s just a shame about the staff, most of...

Wings and fried chicken burger are exceptional, and a portion of fries is enough for a few people. Good selection of beers.

If you ever need a pub to make you feel like one of the family then this is the pub for you and for me this is the case with the Heathcote and Star. The staff are outstanding and welcome me with open arms. The...

Tasty Sunday lunch with huge portions although a little costly. Pork was a little fatty and served as a fat steak instead of normal slices.

Visited with some friends and their dog for food. This place is supposed to be a dog friendly establishment, however unfortunately we were moaned at as their dog is quite young and barked a few times. Apparently the dog was not in keeping with a...

Not recommended, food is so so and not value for money, staff is not very helpful. During order told us the kids meal inclusive with ice cream. Turn out they came back and said she made a mistake herself and won’t be able to offer...

Beautifully decorated and furnished- chic and rather sophisticated for E11. There is also a very nicely planted beer garden. I so wanted to like this place as I live just around the corner. They claim to have a carefully curated cornucopia of drinks though the...

Spacious, nicely furnished pub with a great garden and a menu with gluten free options marked! (So you don’t have to ask/wait for an answer 💕) sweet potato fries were gorgeous, and burgers can have gf buns (for a small charge - better than the...

Excellent pub with good range of beers, plenty of seating inside and good sized beer garden. Food is of very high quality, excellent burgers and Sunday lunch on previous visit was very generous portion and high quality. Staff always greet in friendly manner and are...

I visited The Heathcote and Star and can say this is my favourite pub in London. Not just for their lovely interior and a beautiful beer garden and the delicious food, it’s for the people who work there. The shift manager Tara provided an excellent...

My partner is into real ale and was agitating for a visit to this venue for ages. We had high hopes for this visit. We visited today at 12.33pm. We wanted a pint and a meal. We eat and drink quick. There was not one...

Pub ristrutturato di recente quindi non proprio di atmosfera, bella saletta bigliardo e un piccolo ma delizioso bier garden. Ottimi...

Siamo stati qui a cena. Cibo buono e porzioni abbondanti. Servizio sufficiente. Location non proprio tradizionale, ma gradevole. Bello il...

The Heathcote was doomed, threatened with development and being split into flats. Then it was taken over by the Star pub people who with foresight and a fabulous revamp it’s been redirected. It’s dimply really good. The good is exactly what we wanted, high quality...

Ran the Hackney Half on Sunday and the Hipster guys i know recommended i meet with them and get my wife and 2 yr old here for post-run decompression, I'm not from East London so trusted their recommendation on this venue. It was super busy...but...

I couldn’t believe how big the roasts are in the newly re-opened Heathcote and Star. Such a great new venue for people in the area with friendly staff and an epic garden. The food is simply superb. Everything I’ve eaten there is ridiculously tasty and...

Often go here for their amazing burgers, but went on Sunday and the roast menu was on. The slow cooked Lamb was on point the gravy and salsa verde making it much more flavoursome than the often bland usual pub fare. Great garden too with...

We had lunch on Sunday and the food was incredible. Cooked perfectly, huge portions (as a good pub lunch should be) and the pub’s atmosphere is great too. It got really busy as it was a hot day but the food standard was still awesome....

The Heathcote took our group (nearly 20) on Sunday after the Hackney Half Marathon. They stepped up, served delicious and generously portioned roasts to everyone and kept us sensible with hydrating waters in between a few well deserved beers! Cheers - will definitely return.

We ate here on a Sunday as a party of 14 with three children. The pub was not particularly busy and all three of the reserved tables around us were empty. It took half an hour to get served at the bar then the food...

We went for Sunday lunch. There’s not table service so you have to queue at the bar to order. This took close to 20 minutes. We were never shown a wine list so took a chance on the house wine. This was fine. The food...

The revamp is great! Well done! Before the pub looked dingy and not welcoming towards women. Now there are a good mix of people and it was busy. The food is great, some really interesting vegan and veggie options - I went for the Mac...

Visited here last week for Sunday roast on my anniversary. I booked the table about three weeks in advance and included in the booking that it was my anniversary. Upon arrival the person on the door was very unwelcoming and barely said hello, she pointed...

The revamp of this pub has totally gone in the direction as many other establishments in the area, and that is one of social cleansing. Gone has the traditional pub feel replaced with a soulless venue which appears to model itself on more socially trendy...

We took two friends here on a Tuesday night as we live locally but usually go to the Leyton Star which is owned by the same company and is also nearby. We were pleasantly surprised. Decor wise it still has the charm of the Leyton...

This pub has only been open since around November 2017. The 5 of us booked a table for Saturday evening for dinner. When we arrived at 07:30 pm, the place was very busy. It is nicely decorated and has a large outdoor garden area, part...

We arrived on a Saturday night at 1845 to meet some friends at 1900 - we had booked a table as it was recommended and we had not been there before. The barman pointed to our table when asked and 4 of us were sharing...

So pleased to say that the Heathcote and Star is our local pub. We are so lucky to have such a great pub around the corner. Bar staff are awesome and super friendly. The burgers are delicious and I highly recommend. The Star Card is...

A very good pub with fantastic food, friendly and helpful staff and an energetic atmosphere. Suitable for both a family meal or drinks with friends.

This place is a gold mine! Amazing food, ambience and location. Initially thought the Christmas menu was a little expensive for Leytonstone but after experiencing the Christmas menu I can say it was worth every penny. We had been a couple of times prior so...

The refurbishment and change of management has been a great success!! The food is really good - best in the area for sure. There is a slight lack of variety when it comes to beers/wines but the staff are friendly and the decor feels modern...

This is the new revamped Heathcote Arms saved again and transformed into a vibrant and popular pub. For most using this pub, they may not remember the previous pub which was screaming for a revamp. Whilst the revamp was definitely needed, the pub has laid...