Firetop

So other than telling Suzie_Q to meet us at the ‘Pig and Whistle’ (don’t know where I got that from) last night’s Thanksgiving celebration for an American colleague went smoothly. The Whistle and Flute in Putney did their usual Thanksgiving meal of turkey, beans, mash and yams with mini-marshmallows, and pumpkin pie for dessert. In addition they showed the NFL on the TVs and gave us a quiz to name the 43 presidents of America to win a bottle of house wine. Luckily, despite only naming 28 presidents (we didn’t cheat with WAP this year), I realised on the way home that the final bill was unexpectedly low… they forgot to charge us for two bottles of Pinot Grigio saving us £30! A welcome Thanksgiving present, and due entirely to their inefficient waiting staff I suspect.

The main course itself was cold when it arrived and the turkey was reconstituted (not natural cuts), guaranteed to give you wind. The desserts we ordered at the start of our meal (at 7:30pm) had all gone by the time their staff realised we hadn’t yet received them (9:30pm), we settled for ice cream instead. We had four different members of staff take our dessert orders through the duration of the evening, the first three orders seemed to go into a black hole. The end of meal teas were interesting, arriving wih plastic cocktail stirrers instead of spoons because they’d run out (had Jack Dee been in?).

All in all the evening was still enjoyable, but this isn’t a place to go for good service or good food, just an average pub trying to keep up with the professional restaurants around. Wagamama (next door to the Whistle and Flute) was rammed, perhaps we should have gone there instead. If they’d had the NFL on I suppose we might have considered it.

The Whistle and Flute
46-48 Putney High St, London, SW15 1SQ
Tel: 0208 780 5437

Technorati Tags: thanksgiving london, whistle and flute, putney

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