the old dairy, Finsbury Park, London

Myself and my girlfriend have just recently moved into the area. We have seen The Old Dairy a few times whilst scoping the new neighbourhood and thought it looked like a really nice place. After discussing long and hard about where we should go for our dinner this evening and checking out a few different places online (as well as the reviews) we thought tonight was the night that The Old Dairy would take our hard earned bucks.

The place has a lot of character and it sports a really good selection of beers (a few favourites of ours) it also has a really nice sounding menu to get the taste buds going. However it's a shame that the food was the the thing that got us going; straight for the door. The overall dinning experience was a huge disappointment and we felt totally let down by the quality of food and attention to detail.

To start we had calamari, this was a bit of a grease fest and not what we were expecting at all, left a bit of a dirty taste in the mouth that could be reminiscent of a chicken cottage parlour or other such establishments. When we noticed that we didn't have a wedge of lemon to enhance the flavour of the dish and to add a bit of zing we tried to catch the waiters attention to no avail. I then approached the bar to ask for a slice of lemon to compliment the dish only to be told that they were all out of lemons but they had slices of lime! I returned to the table to finish my half cold greasy delight with the lime slices in glass, classy!

The second course bland, bland, bland and a whole lot of it. We opted for the roast pork and roast lamb. If we had been invited over to a friends house for Sunday dinner and got served the same meals we would have politely eaten it, thanked them for a lovely meal and left thinking the same thought — we could have cooked a better meal ourselves!

Following on from a previous point, we really did want to enjoy this place and we could have made it our local but sadly we will not forget the sour taste left in our mouth...and don't get my girlfriend started on the service station style toilets...yuck!

The wife and I really enjoyed drinks here with friends. Great setting and atmosphere. Haven't tried the food but did look good!

God, I've really tried to like this place.

It's the closest decent pub to where I now live and, while the pub bit of it I can live with (plenty of choice behind the bar, plenty of tables/comfy chairs, not too surly bar staff), the restaurant bit flatters to deceive.

You glance over while drinking in the pub bit and it looks so inviting, with low lighting, big booths and a little window in to the kitchen.

But then you go over there and find that the booths are reserved for God and personal friends of the staff, all the tables give you a great view of the ladies loo (I'll leave it up to you as to whether that's a good thing or a bad thing) and you freeze to death as soon as anyone opens the door to go out for/come back from a fag - which is v often.

The menu follows suit, in that, it looks great but all the "interesting" dishes are terrible and all they can really nail are s&m/f&c/the burger - all of which are over-priced by between 2 and 4 depending on the dish.

When we tried to order dessert, the waitress didn't have her notepad on her so said she would be "right back" which turned out to mean getting her pad, taking an order from another table, chatting to her colleague for several minutes, checking on another table to see if they wanted anything then coming over when she saw we were waving at her to attract her attention.

The dessert, when it came, was v good rhubarb crumble on the inside of the ramekin but, unfortunately, garlic cheese on the outside.

My luck was out a little bit when it came to the Old Dairy. The respite from the rain and the friendly welcome I received bode well but I was hungry and thirsty and I felt the food was overpriced so stayed clear and my pint from the dregs of the barrel was decidedly below average.

I’m just trying to think back to when I first had the pleasure of drinking in this pub. I was taken there by a friend ignorant at that time of what this little corner of North London had to offer. And here it still is, going from strength to strength and perhaps it’s my imagination but expanding too? From the outside the building is impressive. Restored and glowing the carved brick façade wraps around the corner, with big black framed windows giving you glimpses of the wealth inside. Inside it’s a place to get lost. There’s a room for lounging in, a room for sitting in, t a room for dining in and a room (I’m sure) just for getting lost in. This place is enormous but with it generous and warm and friendly atmosphere. Gosh, I have to pinch myself. Bare brick walls, clusters of pictures and bits and bobs and big glinting chandeliers hanging from the ceilings. It’s luxuriously shabby. I like lunch here with British centric and rather meaty (I’m afraid) menu, all dishes save the rib-eye sit comfortably under the £10 threshold. Grab a book or paper mid week, order a pint and something from the menu, settle into a sofa and enjoy spending some time to yourself. We like you dairy queen.

This Gastro Pub is definitely worth visiting. I recently had my first visit here and I was impressed.

This former Dairy has been beautifully restored leaving a very spacious venue.

The decor is typical of what you would expect. It has distressed looking tables and old chairs with settees which all adds to the atmosphere.

The menu is limited and is slightly pricey. However, despite this the food they cook is very good and well prepared.

The only downside was with the bar staff who I did not find to be particularly helpful.

Overall an enjoyable experience and I will be going back

I’ve been to The Old Dairy a few times now since moving to Harringay a couple of years ago and it’s a great local “Gastro pub”. Beautifully converted old dairy with good food and friendly staff.

We’ve eaten every time we’ve visited and only on one occasion were we disappointed with the service we received (we had taken my parents out on a mid-week night last year and the Dairy wasn’t particularly busy, but we spent 4 hours in the restaurant for a 3 course meal to be served - too long!), but since that slight slip-up, I’ve been with family and friends and the service has picked up and the food still delicious - locally sourced and fresh ingredients is the diary’s claim and it certainly tastes good!

The only warning I would make is the price of mains seems to have gone up more recently (last visit chicken sunday roast was near on £15 - a bit of a climb up from prices only a little while ago and pretty steep by comparison) and also book on a Saturday night! I went with some friends recently expecting to be able to get a table for 5 in the main restaurant pretty easily, but they were booked for the whole evening. Disappointing, but understandable given this pub’s popularity. In the end we opted to stay and eat in the bar area. Too noisy really to dine (it was a Saturday after all!), but a good evening all the same.

Would definitely recommend anyone to visit both bar and restaurant. Thumbs up!

After years waiting for a decent renovation, this last incarnation (two years ago?) has turned the Old Dairy a decent pub. The gastro side of things has also gone up in the world with some decent food. Quality Sunday lunch - also surprisingly baby-friendly.

The pub (yes, it is an old Dairy) is a series of smaller rooms off one big one, so always tends to feel a bit more intimate than it actually is.

Fine range of booze - but it always strikes me as a bit pricey. It’s one of those places where you can buy small plates of wasabi nuts or olives, but you can’t get a packet of dry roasted for love nor money.

Still, technically it’s my nearest, and therefore local pub. And I’m not complaining. It’s a good place

The building housing this pub used to a dairy in the olden days, hence the name. The decorative details on the outside of the building reflect the history of the place. The space inside is large, but rather dark. It is decorated in good taste, making the space feel very snug and cozy.
This is very much a gastro pub, serving modern version of traditional pub fare. I wouldn’t go here for the food. It’s really nothing special.
This place is good venue for watching sports on the big screen TV, while having a pint of beer. You’ll find it’s always busy at the time of important football matches.
At one time I visited the Old Dairy, they had live music as a part of the evening entertainment.
The staff can be rude at times, as I had a chance to experience when complaining about a dirty glass my drink came in. They weren’t very happy about that, which I found weird. It kind of put me off going there for a while.
This pub is a decent choice if you’re a local, but there’s no reason to make a special trip here from further afield.

This is a lovely little bar/restaurant with lots of character to it. You can eat in the general bar area or go to a more formal restaurant. Both serve really nice food and delicious wine and me and my friends had a very enjoyable evening here. There’s a good mix of people - locals and people heading here from the office after work.

This bar is quite has a lot of character, having been converted to a pub from an actual dairy - they even have a plastic cow on top of the roof! Because of the layout, there are a lot of nooks and crannies for hiding away, or to give your night a romantic feel.

One side of the bar tends to house the locals, but they seem quite a friendly bunch so you don’t feel like an outsider the mintue you walk in.

The bar staff are very friendly, and there’s a good range of drinks.