The Hawthorn in Acton

Great new pub for the area! Went for Sunday lunch and enjoyed the stripped back pub vibes. Glad it’s not been made over too flashy. Snack menu was very inviting and had a great 1/2 pint of prawns with mayo and 1/2 pint of scampi with tartar sauce. Both were fresh and tasty. Sunday lunch menu was good with lots of options. The food was good, but not great. Both starters we had, were heavily under seasoned and therefore a bit underwhelming. Roasts were fine, though at 3pm on a Sunday they were already running out of gravy, so Yorkies and roasties left a little dry. Beef was nicely cooked. Service was good considering its so new, but lots of room for improvement. Ordered wines with each course, both of which took an age to arrive and some of the wines advertised on wine list weren’t available. All easy fixes which I’m sure will iron out as they find their feet. All in all, a good pub with lots of potential!

I booked a table for my birthday and called the pub a week earlier to ask them if I could move the booking earlier, the lady I spoke to over the phone said “they don’t normally allow bookings for drinks but would do it on this occasion” and assured me it was done. I then showed up at 5 with 2 others and they said that wasn’t the case and there wasn’t anything they could do about it. The boys behind the bar were friendly and trying to help but the lady with the table reservations was not and didn’t seem to care that it was my birthday (despite me wearing a tiara and badge my friends had gotten me). One of my friends then showed with his 2 young children (4 and 2 years old) as he couldn’t get a sitter and this also caused an issue for the staff. Before we were even moved over to our large table I was approached and spoken to about 3 times about the concern of how many people were on our booking (bearing in mind we had had one drink at this point and there were 9 of us with 2 children that I wasn’t aware were coming and I couldn’t enjoy myself or relax at this point). I have also moved back to the UK after living abroad for several months so my friends had invited others to surprise me which of course then made the staff even more stressed and we were made to feel extremely unwelcome. When we moved across to our table booking at 6 PM the rest of the restaurant side was empty so we took one chair from a nearby table. This also caused an issue for the staff who came over to tell us off immediately to “put the chair back” and we asked if we could use it until the other reservation showed up and we were told no. The staff were so unwelcoming that my friends did not want to eat there, where most places would have been happy to create more revenue we were interrupted several times (not for being drunk or causing problems just because more people showed) - bear in mind this is (meant to be) a public house. The rest of the restaurant area was empty, during our time there none of the other dinner reservations had arrived. I ordered food but felt pressured to eat earlier than I wanted to. It was awkward and I could not enjoy my time there at all as the staff kept talking about us in an obvious manner and were quite frankly being rude and unwelcoming so we left early after one drink at the table and it ruined my birthday. I understand that the maximum people I could book for was 8 and more people arrived - but the circumstances were some people showed without my knowledge and it was a special occasion. Working in hospitality or any customer facing role these things happen and not every day goes to plan but the service was incredibly unwelcoming and they lost business from many locals who will never go back and have already shared this story with plenty of people.

Fantastic and well needed addition to the area. First visit last night, dinner for 8, and the place was buzzing. Local vibe, drinks and service fantastic, starter sharing plates were excellent and then we all had Weds steak special. Highly recommend and well done Peter and Tom.

Really happy a stylish pub with good music, great menu and lovely service was opened in the neighborhood last week. The pub was very busy and we were unable to book a table for a Sunday roast, but enjoyed the delicious an exquisite bar menu. Scotch egg is the best I ever had!

I love this pub, really impressed! We needed a good pub in the local area, and this ticks all the boxes. Good range of great tasting beer, really friendly and welcoming staff, separate dining room (looking forward to having a roast). Only thing I would say is that I’d love both hand pumps to have some classic bitters on. That is what could put the place a step above the competition for me. Hopefully I’ll be a regular before too long!