Fox & Anchor

Fox & Anchor
115 Charterhouse St
EC1M 6AA
020 7250 1300

Date of Last Visit: A Wednesday or Thursday night in February.

The Victims: Geoff, Bevin, Karen, Chris

The Damage: Unknown. Bevin paid.

The Background: I've been wanting to try the Fox & Anchor for ages and having some American colleagues in town seemed like the perfect excuse. American colleagues are often in search of Fish & Chips in London. I thought the F&A might deliver on that aspect. No one got the Fish & Chips, but that is not my fault.

The Entrance: It's PACKED. This is not a relaxing place to have a meal on a busy night. Lots of traffic back and forth. Make sure you get a bench seat facing the bar...if you don't, you'll have people bumping into you all night.

Tap Water Test: Jug provided. Frequently refilled.

The Food: Steak and oyster pie. Pie was full of steak. That was good. But there didn't seem to be anything else in there? It was just steak. Is that weird? This was my first steak and oyster pie ever. Are they all like this? Why? I'm very confused. Was I ripped off? But the oysters were delicious and the side of spinach was nice.

Service: You know, it's interesting. After four years of blogging around town, I guess I must have low expectations of London servers. As long as they are cheerful and friendly and helpful, I can forgive most things. Because at the end of the day, cheerful and friendly and helpful is more than you get at most restaurants. So I thought our server was pretty good because she was cheerful and friendly and helpful. But as Geoff pointed out, she didn't seem to know a whole lot about anything on the menu.

The Verdict: Hmmm. The burgers looked great. And I liked the atmosphere. If I had friends in town from the U.S., I'd take them here for some upscale pub grub if they put in a specific request for pub food. But I wouldn't get the steak and oyster pie again.