What we were un-aware of is that right at opening, you cannot order food right away. Food is only served at 12 PM. Why? I do not know. But we took the opportunity to try some beer. The Guinness (half) I had was good. Typical of what you'd think it'll be. The hubs' pick of their house brand (half Young's original) was equally nice. It was an interesting drink in that it was not as carbonated in the fizziness. The fish and chips were surprisingly tasty! The fish was haddock coated with cyder batter which was crispy but not too doughy. It was hefty and crunchy. The marrowfat mushy peas were equally tasty. I'm not a veggies fan, but these were good. But I guess if you add fat to anything then it'll taste fine. Haha. The accompanying chips were pretty good as well. I have a thing where if the fries are too potato-y I feel like I'm eating undercooked fries. These had a good texture of both. The hubs pointed out that the potatoes here were a little different in that it was probably made from a yellow-type potato. Oh those bangers (or sausage) and mash were delicious! The sausage was definitely different than what I'd imagine: not too salty with a unique taste. I guess it's because it's Cumberland sausage where the origins is from Cumberland, England. The mashed potatoes were insanely thick and delicious. I guess it was the beer onion gravy that made it special. The seasonal vegetables were so so. They didn't have a lot of frills or seasoning/sauce to them so they were good but tasted plain. Everything about this meal was great from the food to the service. Not sure why the reviews on here doesn't truly reflect this, but to each their own experience I suppose. read more

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Very impressed either way the food. Ambiance was as you would expect and service was attentive. Food was the highlight.

Quaint English Pub in the heart of Westminster. Nice people, fast service and good pub food menu. Fish & Chips are my go to. Good selection of local beers read more

Went here for our first dinner in London to get a Sunday roast. The roast beef was decent, but the chicken roast was where it's at. Delicious veggies and Yorkshire pudding to help soak up the gravy. Really friendly staff. Beautiful interior. read more

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We were sooo excited to have true fish and chips and Sunday Roast!!! We chose Old Shades because of a high rating on "one" site. Bad choice! The haddock fish and chips was very greasy... chips were great, and I sent back the Sunday Roast back due to undone roast and potatoes. The roast was horrible and shouldn't have even been served. I hate going bad reviews, but the meal was very disappointing for our first meal in London! Would not recommend. read more

Cute little pub. Enjoyed some pints and fish & chips upon our arrival into London. Was definitely pricey but that comes with being in London read more

Old Shades - Fish & chips - Pubs Near Me - London, XGL

Besides the White Swan, this may be my new favorite pub in London, especially since it's hidden among overly touristy spots. A perfect sized crowd. A nice selection of beers, including quite a few cask ales. And wonderfully friendly, knowledgeable bartenders...especially Bekim. He's astounding! Whatever you are in the mood for, he's got you covered. Cheers to Bekim! read more

Our last night in London on the way to a show, my daughter and I slipped into Old Shades for a bit of food and a drink needing both caffeine and alcohol. We we well cared for by the staff, particularly Beks who catered to our drink tastes and made me a seriously delicious espresso martini. Not the typical, syrupy kind. More the coffee lovers, "I got you" kind . He made a great old fashioned, as well. The drinks & their creamy onion soup and the feta salad were just what we needed to start our night right. Thanks Beks! Cheers! read more

Apparently they like to give "the American Special " here. Awful service and old cold food served exclusively to American customers. This place was pure @ss, food was inedible, and if you don't speak with an English accent they will mysteriously be out of most menu items. This place just reinforces the worldwide opinion that the best part of British cuisine is other people's cultural foods. read more

Had the BEST Father's Day Sunday roast a little over a week ago. Everything was delicious and the staff were quite friendly and attentive. The atmosphere was traditional pub which is what we were looking for. All in all a wonderful experience within quick walking distance from the National Gallery. read more

Old Shades - Sunday roast. - Pubs Near Me - London, XGL

Our first meal in London was at this pub. We had a reservation, but thought it was for an hour earlier than it actually was. We got there early and they were kind enough to find us a table and let us stay. Our server was great, doing amazing magic tricks for us a couple of times. He was also attentive to us the entire time. I ordered the chicken Caesar salad, which was very good, with a big, tender chicken breast on top of the salad ingredients. Some of our group ordered fish and chips, which they all really liked. The ambiance was nice and it was a good first experience for our week in the UK. read more

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Pleasant and helpful staff, lovely atmosphere, yummy food. I got the chicken, ham and leek pie with mash and my friend got the fish and chips. read more

Our waiter,Beckham, was great fun! We went for Sunday roast and the food was very good. I have never really liked Yorkshire pudding but I gobbled this one down! I would recommend getting reservations and sitting back to enjoy! read more

This place was a great bar that served the traditional fish and chips and of course a meat pie. The difference here is that their meat pie is served over mashed potatoes and surrounded by gravy with some greens on the side. It's different but still delicious! The environment at Shades is warm and cozy. The place appeared to be a little bit bigger than most pubs and the service was excellent! read more

Old Shades - Pubs Near Me - London, XGL

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Solid pub food! I had the chicken schnitzel which was a good amount of food at a good price. Didn't feel touristy!

A proper public house. This pub had several quality beers and food. Lots of atmosphere and decor. A proper pub. read more

Old Shades - Pubs Near Me - London, XGL

Nice atmosphere and friendly staff, but my "roast beef with horseradish cream" was disappointing. It was impossible to cut the beef, which was awkwardly plated atop the vegetables, without a sharp knife There was no horseradish cream that I could detect, just brown gravy. The potatoes and vegetables were tasty. read more

Old Shades - Roast beef with horseradish cream - Pubs Near Me - London, XGL

Great lunch spot! The ambiance is warm and inviting, food and drinks are delicious, and our server Roger was fantastic! We had the french onion soup and pork t-bone with an egg on top - so juicy and delicious! And the passion fruit martini was so tasty! A big thanks to Roger for making our experience so good! read more

We arrived without a reservation at lunchtime during the very busy week of Christmas. Since no tables were available we grabbed a spot at the bar. While it was busy and service was slow (but friendly), the beer and food were fantastic. I had the steak and ale pie while my son had fish and chips. read more

Old Shades - Pubs Near Me - London, XGL

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Get the steak and ale pie. Yummmmm. Texas girl loves it! Savory, plus a beer and you're covered. BTW full of meat. read more

Old Shades - Steak and ale pie. - Pubs Near Me - London, XGL

Nice place for a drink! Bartender friendly and made us feel comfortable. I had a spritz and it was very good.

Delicious! Diana was lovely and the food tastes great. I think when we come to London again we will definitely come again

Great spot for pub food after a long day of sightseeing. The spot has a true "pub" feel, very relaxed but lively. The staff were quick, attentive, and happy to give their recommendations. We ordered a burger and a pie, both were warm, filling, and delicious. Would absolutely go back if I'm ever in London again. read more

Our second time here.. a nice cozy pub with great food and really gracious service! Fish N Chips here are so good & true to the photos posted.. sure, we could've shared- but we didn't . lol. Make a reservation so you are sure to have a table. Definitely return again and again! read more

We came across The Old Shades by chance when we were exploring the city. What caught our attention about The old shades was the exterior and the look of the restaurant. British food is something that I've never tried before despite the fact that Canada is connected to Britain. Well I guess it's more like we don't have a whole lot of British spots in Vancouver so when I was in London, I decided to try it out! What I noticed from my few days in London was that they like their beer, burgers, chips (aka fries), bangers (aka sausage) and puddings. This isn't to say they don't have other offerings but most of the menus at the pubs were pretty similar. After visiting Big Ben (or what's left to see of it during construction), we stopped by Old Shades for lunch. The interior was dim-lit but there were a lot of stained glass windows to help brighten it up. The seating were mostly booths with padded seating and bar tables. Since we were dining with a minor, we were led to the back of the restaurant to sit at a proper table which I appreciated because I'm not a fan of bar stools. Starting off with the soup of the day which was butternut squash soup. The soup was thick and creamy with notes of black pepper to add spice. My favorite part was the charred bread it came with because it was so crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside! read more

Stopped in for Sunday dinner in October while we were doing our autumn self-tour of National Trust sites, culminating with a visit to London. The staff were so chill and welcoming in this pub close to Trafalgar Square. We told them we were still full from a late lunch and wanted to split a roast dinner and they didn't bat an eye, inviting us in to sit anywhere we wanted. The place was maybe half full at 6:00 PM. The older gent who was manning the bar and took our order and served was just wonderful. We started with a salad, then a yummy, generously portioned medium rare serving of roast beef, Yorkshire pudding and fixins. The only disappointment was apple dessert with custard to pour. Kind of flavorless-I was expecting something like an American apple crisp, but this just didn't hit the spot. Would recommend this friendly, welcoming pub for a reasonably priced traditional bite and drink conveniently located to the museums and Tragalgar. read more

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Looks cool but the Guinness was nasty which is usually a sign of a keg line that isn't kept clean. 1 pint cost me $7.11 USD read more

Service and drinks were good, steak was very fatty and grisly. Definitely would not recommend the steak.

We ordered three Sunday (beef) roasts. Beef was cold and hard to cut. Yorkshire pudding was room temperature and disappointing. Try the pub a few doors down the road for a Sunday roast that is 10£cheaper. read more

Went to London in February with kids and grandma. Based on glowing reviews, this looked like the perfect place to experience classic British pub atmosphere and food, at its finest. What can I say? Our experience was so lovely, we ate here twice on our short trip. Very friendly service and top-tier food and drinks. Still dreaming of those meat pies. This will be our first meal, when we return to London! read more

After a long day of site seeing I really wanted to love this place, warm up and have some good food. It was full of people so that's always a good sign. I ordered the fish and chips, it's my husbands fave and since he was not able to travel with me the choice was to send him some love and to have an authentic UK pub experience. The portion was massive and I was excited. The waitress brought all the fixings, when I popped the top on the ketchup it shot out all over the table. The bottle was under pressure from the ketchup inside being rancid. Luckily I had the bottle aimed down at the table and no where near the new white shirt I had on. Some went on my plate but most went all over the table and covered my silverware. The waitress passed by the table only to say she had to get something downstairs and she would be back. WTF! We caught the attention of the host who cleaned the table, removed the ketchup bottle, brought more napkins, silverware and a new ketchup. But it was only after I called him over to look at the difference in the color of the new ketchup and the exploding ketchup and to tell him to dispose of the bottle he removed that he offered to get me a new plate of food. After all that drama the new fish he brought was so oily that I got a icky feeling while trying to eat it. The check came with 20% off for the exploding ketchup. They tried to recover but left me wondering what else in the place is rotten. read more

Old Shades - Pubs Near Me - London, XGL

Love this pub! Stopped in while exploring the area and absolutely fell in love. Great bartenders, who absolutely know what they're doing. They even play great music. Jazz during the day, popular hits after 4:00. Will be back. read more

Such a great find! Old Shades has a full menu, but nothing overwhelming. We tried the fish and chips, the fish portion was huge and the reading was great, thick and salted nicely. It came with smashed peas, which I have no taste for, but my family loved them, and chips of course, which were piping hot and very good. The smoked salmon sandwich was good, the salmon was on the rather salty side, so be aware of that. My dad had the Brie sandwich aka a grilled cheese with Brie aka everything was right with this sandwich, very good. Gin: they had an entire gin menu. I'm not a gin drinker but my dad was pleased with the large open mouth glasses and the gin. He had the Monkey 47, which was served with grapefruit and a black berry. I had a cider, which is pictured, they had a huge selection of cider flavors. They're sweet, but SO flavorful. read more

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Here you get dinner and a "show". Marius was slight of hand with card tricks and was just as friendly and efficient a waiter. The food and ambiance was good, though the music got quite a bit louder toward the end of our visit. Would recommend trying this place out. read more

Friendly, great pub food. We liked the steak and mushroom pie and the BLT. Great service, too

Great time st this pub. We went for Sunday toDt. Bzr tender and wait staff were attentive. Food and drinks were very good. I highly recommend. read more

We stopped here for lunch on our first full day in London, place is perfect for anyone coming from the riverfront, Buckingham, or the square down the street. My wife said the roast beef Sunday roast was the best meal she has had in our England trip. The drinks, service and ambience are top notch. A must stop for anyone visiting! read more

Old Shades - Pubs Near Me - London, XGL

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I found this place on my first trip to London and have visited it every time since! I even got to bring my wife and daughter to experience the awesome Fish & Chips! I am not really sure what all the negativity is all about, but u am a rookie pub goer and simple come here for the food! Staff if friendly and service is pretty quick for London :) read more

Old Shades - Pubs Near Me - London, XGL

Marius magic is the guy to know when you are here! The service here is absolutely amazing. Everyone is so friendly and the drinks/food are really good. They even have Marius Magic performing tricks for you at your table. It's a great vibe and would recommend to anyone from the UK or abroad (we were from America). read more

Overall, bad food and even worse service - the worst meal we had in 5 days in London. The table next to us waited so long they got up and left. Our waitress left half way through the meal - assume her shift was over - and no one bothered to let us know. The fish and chips were simply awful as one other reviewer indicated. It was so full of oil we could see the oil literally drip from it when picked up. We ordered the 'Artesian' Bread which was truly a joke; it was a couple of pieces of day old toast. The buffalo wings were even worse; it looked like microwave chicken with BBQ sauce poured over it. My daughter couldn't eat one bite. I rarely give 1 star reviews as try to focus on positive experiences but our meal here was so bad other should be warned. I have no idea how others have rated this place 3 or more stars. Maybe I picked a bad day - the day anyone who knew what they were doing or cared about customers took the day off. read more