If you're looking for an English speaking crowd in Geneva, you have Mr. Pickwicks, The Clubhouse,…read moreand Lady Godiva. Among these three, Lady Godiva is definitely the nicest.
We found ourselves hungry in the southern side of Plainpalais, when we happened on LG. We had actually been looking for another restaurant, which was closing just as we arrived. I convinced my friend, who was by then suffering from starvation-induced crankiness and despair, to give the generically-Irish looking pub a chance. Stepping inside is a surprise, as it's much nicer than you would expect from the plain black exterior. The bar is long and deep, with huge chalk-writing on the wall announcing their specials and cocktails. The windows are adorned with Christmas lights, which somehow avoid being tacky and actually creates a nice environment. And if you're like me and don't like pubs in general, the restaurant-like setting makes LG feel almost elegantly romantic, as long as you can get passed the big screen TVs showing football or basketball.
Most importantly, of course, the burgers. We both had the Town Burger with Cheese, and I was a bit skeptical as they didn't ask how we wanted our meat cooked. So I was very pleasantly surprised to find the meat with a juicy pink center! I'm apt to believe that the lovely Lady Godiva has decided that burgers should ONLY be cooked medium to medium rare, and has made an executive decision not to offer it any other way. The patty could have used just a little more spices, but I was very happy with the quality of the meat. I'd forgot to ask them to hold the thousand island dressing on the burger, but was very happy to find that the burger only had a very thin swirl of the dressing on the bun, just enough to add flavor without making the burger soggy. Oh, and did I mention that the bun was beautifully toasted and tasted really good?
The fries were thick-cut, "typical British fries," according to my British dining-mate. They weren't outstanding, and I had a few fries that seemed a bit under-fried.
Lady Godiva was one of the places that have been touted as having the best burger in Geneva. In fact, I think pretty much all burger joints in Geneva have been raved about by someone or other as having the "best" burgers. While I wouldn't say Lady Godiva was the best, I would happily give it a top 2 or 3 rating among the places I've tried so far. It's also on the other side of town from the other two English/American pub options, so definitely worth a go if you find yourself on the left side of the river looking for a friendly crowd to watch a game or just have a good burger.