The Cadogan Arms

«Who would like a glass?» Asked the French waiter.
«Oh, no sir that bottle is just for me.»
«You shouldn’t drink all of that,» he shot back.
The table burst into laughter, as the customer’s cheek burst red…
*****
As an American studying in London for the summer, I go out of my way to show respect towards other cultures that aren’t as badass as mine.
This restaurant has clearly illustrated that this respect is not mutual.
Yes, sir, I’m aware that I am drinking more than your government suggests. However, I am an American. I pride myself on my obnoxious, gluttonous drinking habits. I drink like Ricky Bobby would if he just beat Jean Girad… (If you ain’t first you’re last).
Go to this restaurant for its incredible burger, cod, or salmon cake. Do not go here if you plan on binge drinking. You’ll be ridiculed in front of the entire table. Try to enjoy a bottle of wine after your waiter tells you not to in front of the entire table…
To infinity and beyond,
Dissatisfied customer

If you want to wash down a pint of decent ale (from a varied selection including the delicious ‘Jugged Hare’ pale ale available on tap) in an attractively scatty public house that also boasts surprisingly affable bar staff, then Cadogan Arms should be on your list of Kings Road watering holes to visit. If you’re looking for a slightly more interesting pub visit, even better — The Cadogan arms has a couple of American pool tables upstairs available for hire that will elevate your gentle drinking session into an epic battle of skill and dexterity (or blind luck…).
Of course it’s not cheap, this is the Kings Road after all. But it’s certainly my favourite of the local options and somewhere I’m sure I’ll be returning to in the near future.

Gin night on Thursdays– Featured gin is a double for price of a single.
Pros: when we went on a Thursday evening after dinner, there was ample available seating and the the vibe was relaxed. We could hear each other and have a real conversation! Knowledgable bar staff was a real bonus. The guy serving us could have a proper chat about gins, which was a nice departure from the shrug I normally get when asking about different brands. Great assortment of gins, too.
Cons: it did fill up as the evening got on — by around 11:00PM, it was pretty packed. Pricing was average. £12.50 for a large house white and a featured G&T (double for price of a single).
If I lived or worked in the area, I would happily go back. Alas, I do not, and it’s not really worth the massive trek across the city. It’s good, but not Destination Pub good.

Terrific meal and warm service. As foodies, we found this to be our best London meal since being here. We’d go back any time.

I’ve never really viewed the Cadogan arms as a place to simply go for a drink but definitely more of a dining experience. I’ve been there several times in recent months (particularly on Sundays) and have always been overly impressed with the standard of the food. The roasts are great which is always a plus as it’s hard to find a good one these days. The pool and billiards room upstairs also looks great although I haven’t had a chance to try it myself, I certainly will do soon as from memory, you can rent it out for the day/​evening? Given the location, the prices are also fairly reasonable too!

We popped into the Cadogan Arms when looking for a quick cocktail, just before it started to rain, and of all the pubs we visited this trip, this was certainly one of, if not, our favorites! They actually offered a cocktail list (rare for pubs), and put in a great amount of time ensuring it was mixed and made well! My boyfriend and I both ordered the Strawberry Fields, reminiscent of a cocktail we both used to love at one of our favorite bars when living in San Francisco — only a much better version!
Served in a martini glass, with some sort of herb garnish on top (which I couldn’t place, but recognized), with a few raised tables in the front (where we sat) provided for watching the street action outside. I recall it being fairly reasonably priced, and crowded, but not packed, around happy hour (not that I recall any discounted drinks, or any that I would order anyway). While I didn’t venture to the bathroom or upstairs the other reviews mention, the main bar area is much nicer than most pubs. The crowd was extremely varied — from young people who didn’t look old enough to drink, to more middle aged locals.
I’ll certainly be be back — highly recommended, especially the Strawberry Fields!

Went here recently for a quiz night (which my team lost) but will definitely be a repeat visitor for many reasons…
Firstly its a great location. Now I may not be able to afford to go shopping along Kings Road, but that’s not to say if i didn’t I wouldn’t need a great watering hole such as this! Great selection of wine and beers and the food is good ol’ british grub. I had the burger and it was ma-​husive — great value for money!
The other reason why this place is great is it has a billiards room upstairs where you can host pool tournaments should you wish. Or alternatively just take a friend on one evening!
My only criticism if any, would be the stairs to the toilets — took a lot of concentration coming down those after a few glasses of red wine ha ha!

This is a great pub located halfway down the Kings Road, in the nicer, swankier part as opposed to the touristy and chainy part!
We went here on Thursday night en route to The Big Easy and enjoyed a pint and also banter with a couple of the barmen who were very nice and friendly.
The service was quick, polite and friendly and there was a good choice of drinks on offer.
The pub is a large size with a gastropub part too which looked worth a try, though I’m less keen after reading the reviews on here regarding that! When I popped upstairs to use the Ladies, I heard the clink and tap of pool balls so assume there’s a pool table or two up there which is always good in my book.
As there was a telly in there and the Paralympics was on, I assume this is the sort of pub that would get busy with the Rugby and Football crowd.
Would recommend.

This pub has a second floor with 3 pool tables of very poor quality, but pool tables nevertheless. I often go with friends to play pool because it is the only place aside from Miss Q’s in the vicinity, and unlike Miss Q’s, it isn’t a subterranean refuge for extremely sexually aggressive gay dudes.
The pub itself has a pleasant atmosphere, and definitely fits the gastropub aesthetic to a T – think loads of taxidermy, wood, fishing tackle, and associated desiderata. I’ve eaten twice; the first time was excellent and the second time near dreadful so cannot recommend nor dissuade.
It’s quite cosy in the front, and tony regulars accompanied by spaniels is the typical clientele. These have a few ales on tap, and a limited selection of bottled beers, though in their defense they aren’t the ubiquitous Stella/​Fosters/​Kronenbourg. I had 2 different ales on my last visit and both initially had a slight sour and effervescent tongue which dissipated as I drank (could be a cask temperature issue or something). Anyhow, not a major complaint.
The pool tables aren’t great quality so the balls have a tendency to roll far more than normal — I scratch a lot more than is normal.
All in all, a decent pub and better than those in the vicinity (i.e., the AWFUL Goat in Boots).

I have a hard time giving much of a review. I went in on a weekday (Thursday, I think?) for lunch. Right about 12 noon. It was dead as the place had just opened. Great! We’ll get quick service!
Wrong. The food was ok but very overpriced for what it was. The servers were friendly, but not very attentive and quite slow.
I wouldn’t object to trying it again, but I wouldn’t recommend it if there were other options available (and, when wandering down The King’s Road, there are usually many options to be had).

The service was terrible.
They are always out of FOOD, and they don’t tell you until after they’ve brought out the other guests at your tables’ food!
SO TERRIBLE!
WORSE SERVICE on Kings Road I’ve experienced.
The waitresses that «supposedly waited» on me, were so slow and not helpful. They never pay any attention to our tables, EVERY TIME I’ve been there. I’ve always had to get up and ASK THEM to come around to help us.
The dessert is good here, I have to admit, the honeycomb ice cream… but its not worth the TERRIBLE SERVICE.
Disgrace to Kings Road, Chelsea.

Gastropubs seem to be the ‘it’ thing to be in the restaurant world these days. The next pomegranate martini craze, the new taste to replace pesto, what comes after the slow food movement… You get the picture. It has become the equivalent of the flavor of the month/​year. So when The Cadogan Arms started to be given the title of a gastropub I was a bit skeptical. Even though, lets face it, Chelsea is a perfect place for it.
This very well may be a universal crowd pleaser. It IS a pub. It feels like a pub, it has a good selection of ale, it is comfortable but not too trendy. Yet, it does have that little something more added without being flashy or pretentious. For one thing, they have a solid wine list, especially good wines by the glass. And the bartenders know their trade and how to mix it up, literally. Yet none of that takes away from that reliable pub feel of a casual place to meet up with mates and share a pint.
The back room gets a little cozier with a more ‘formal’ dining space including a fireplace and stag’s head on the wall. It boasts an impressive seasonal menu of modern British fare.
Easy going crowd, efficient, yet not in your face service. I like it.

I don’t go to Chelsea unless there’s a really compelling reason, so probably won’t go back to the Cadogan Arms.
Saying that though, it’s absolutely fine for what it is, and the billiards room upstairs has a great old school houseroom feel to it. The tables themselves are lovely and it’s been thoughtfully decked out.
So if you’re in the area and fancy shooting some pool with a pint or two, you could do a great deal worse.

The other folks at the pool comp have covered the essentials of setting, food, and drink, so I might just leave a few random comments…
— one of the pool cues will forever be a little greasy and smell of fish and chips, because we couldn’t stop eating them.
— on the same night, the London Lite reported that Roman Abramovich has been spotted in here with his girlfriend…
— which is no surprise: the general consensus was that the refurb has made the bar the sort of place you could now bring a date. Or as Kate put it: «you could totally snog someone’s face off!»
— the requisite framed set of pool rules includes an interesting game by the name of ‘Cut throat’ which sounds like fun, but maybe don’t try it if your opponent is a local with a Russian accent…

Pool tournament last night at the Cadogan — in their jazzed up billiard (s) room upstairs. Standard of tables was great; standard of play? Not always so great.
A note on the wall decoration (photos, general pool arcana) described in an earlier review — and I’m aware I might sound a bit dull here; they are actually genuinely quite interesting… proper effort has been made and it shows — not a dog-​playing-​pool in sight…
Perhaps they’re a bit too proud of their walls, as my only criticism of upstairs was that it was a bit too brightly lit for a dedicated pool room I reckon. But the food (an upscale take on pub standards: burgers, fishnchips) was as good as it needs to be these days. Wine (I tried an ETM Cabernet and a Chardonnay/​Viognier from the same producer) was very drinkable for the price, which is more than sufficient in a pub — however ambitious it may be.
Downstairs after the pool we relaxed into a lovely three seater Chesterfield & assorted comfy leather chairs to nurture the rest of the red. I get what Alex says about the mishmash of formal/​informal downstairs… but it didn’t offend me in perhaps the same way. And I never noticed the stuffed animals — but maybe that was the red…
Overall, I think it’s definitely still a pub; but one which can just about get away with being a restaurant too.

What do you get when you mix together the funky edginess of Brooklyn, a dash of old school Essex, and a large helping of Chelsea style? The love child of a freaky tryst between David Beckham and Paris Hilton? Maybe. The all-​new Cadogan Arms? Definitely.
This pub is slightly schizophrenic, but in a wholesome, Jack Nicholson in as Good as it Gets, kind of way. Downstairs you have a classy pub that wouldn’t look out of place full of tweeded up gents just back from a hunt in the ‘shires (which on brief inspection it actually is). Upstairs you have less salubrious, but equally comfortable, billiards room — where you might expect to find the Teds of this world, as the Ralphs sup pints downstairs (sorry vague Fast Show reference…).
The food is top notch, again varying from exquisite mushroom risotto all the way down to a rustic fish and chips.
Highly recommended. If you see Ted, do me a favour and ask him what he’s fishing for.

Interesting to note how the newer west London pubs in this group’s network are rather more ostensibly upmarket (particularly the Botanist on Sloane Square) than the original eastern locations, though this particular outpost does have the requisite amount of taxidermy for an ETM pub (antlers! everywhere!) and the same easy atmosphere.
A fellow Qyper at the event last night accurately identified that the upstairs billiards room needs some big comfy sofas. Would probably necessitate sacrificing one of the tables but might be worth it? As Chelsea is a bit of a schlep for me I’ll probably stick with The Empress and the Prince Arthur which are more in my neck of the woods, however I enjoyed the food (mini Yorkshire puddings, mushroom risotto, fish and chips, onion tartlets), liked the wine, sucked at pool. Just as I expected, really…

Apparently this place is good on rugby match days. That may be well the case, I haven’t been then but at all other times it is pretty f£^*ing terrible. It’s big inside but only about 5% of the space is occupied by anything decent. That’s the bar, it’s good enough — plenty of bitters and largers on tap including Peroni. They don’t have any guest ales as far as I could tell but all the spirits are somewhere there.
The crowd are pretty mixed but only in the sense that some left Eton in the 80’s, some in the 90’s, plenty are still in there and the rest only went to far more inferior minor, public schools. No excuse for this one really — there are better places than this to go to in your left armpit.

Meh. I’ve been in here once before just because I was thirsty and it was empty. Last night we went upstairs to the pool room (two tables) and had fun. But that was more because of the company (and the game of killer: next time you’re mine, Hinchcliffe!) than the pub.
Ordinary. Not bad, not great.

Well it’s not that bad pretty empty apart from pretty boys with spiky blonde hair. I bet they play cricket at the weekends.
But we played the biggest game of killer ever upstairs in the ‘pool lounge’ (is that too grand a way of putting it guys?) Killer was lots of fun, my wine was nice and we were all silly and happy. Although we kept on accidentally losing our drinks and I’m not sure if that was our fault or theirs. Ours probably.
I wouldn’t make a point of coming here. I’m not even sure if I’d pop in again if I was on Kings Road — but this whole area is untapped territory for me — it’s not a bad pub, but me, I’ve got lots more Qyping to do down the rest of the street so you’ll probably find me exploring in one of those pubs instead.
And just a quick note as much fun as pool is, it’s not fun paying £1.20 for a game! Shocking, even if we were in the posh bit of town!