Trying too hard
The Elgin, a seemingly on-trend gastropub, has come a long way from its existence as a boozer for old soaks - the format in which I first visited this venue some twenty years ago. Sure, it has improved in many ways and is much loved by the yummy mummies of Maida Vale (babyccino, anyone?), but a group of us who recently visited on a Sunday lunchtime couldn't help but feel singularly disappointed. Bring back the old times, one might almost be tempted to exclaim. By way of context, our group comprised five adults and two children. We had also booked our table in advance and received email confirmation to this effect. Disappointment number-one came in the form of an announcement from our server that we would be forced to return our table by 3pm since another party had requested it after this time. I remonstrated and highlighted that I had not been made aware of this fact when I booked the table and indeed my email had informed me that we had the table until 10pm. Our server responded by saying that the emails were 'automatically generated,' a poor excuse, one could not help but feeling. Begrudgingly we were allowed to keep our table, but the exchange certainly augured badly. It's all well and good to have a nice trendy venue with craft beers and exposed brickwork, but getting service right should really rank as a top priority. Disappointment number-two came in the form that several of the dishes on the menu were simply not available: no squid starter and also the somewhat implausible assertion that the Elgin had 'run out' of cheeseburgers before 2pm. Given its location close to several food stores, it surely would not have been an insurmountable hurdle to have obtained the basics required to prepare more burgers. Now, another gripe: how many five-year old children willingly want to eat 'wild garlic-infused' chips? Not many, in my experience. Bottom-line, the menu at the Elgin had a distinctly un-child friendly feel to it. Another failing in this respect was the uncompromising 'no' offered when we asked whether it might be possible to provide a half-portion of Sunday roast for a child. When the food we ordered came, it mostly underwhelmed: the roast was bland. and the broccoli side (at £6) thoroughly tasteless, to provide but two examples of where we found our meals lacking. All-in, given the pricing (not cheap), one would - and should - expect a lot more from the Elgin. My recommendation: by all means come here for a beer, or even a coffee/ child alternative, but don't linger - you might not be even made welcome to anyway...