Red Lion

Ealing. So it can be a bit boring. Like it has one foot in and one foot out of the city. It’s a little bit suburbia, and good drinking places can be hard to find. The Red Lion is a good place to get a beer; particularly cosy garden in the winter when they have their fire cans lit, dotted around the small garden. The Beer selection could be improved on, but staff are friendly, it has character, and a good, young but also mixed and interesting crowd. Try Wild River for a nice pint of slightly but not overly hoppy ale.

Totally unique pub and one of my favourites anywhere. It is a complete time warp bound up as it is with the Ealing Studios across the road. Alec Guinness, Alastair Simm and the rest spent so much time in the pub it was given the nickname «stage six» as there were five sound stages in the studios. The walls are covered with black and white photos of Ealing greats and other less well known personages-​Meg Mortimer and even David Nixon (who the hells David Nixon I hear anyone born after 1979 asking!). There are some great snugs at the front of the pub and tables out the back, with a nice beer garden. Sunday lunch is great and although a Fullers pub they always have a guest ale on. A pub of destination not just for locals.

Nice pub, staff are great, interior a little cramped. Great garden summer or winter. Good selection of beers. Never eaten there so cant comment on that front

We went here for dinner with a cousin who was visiting for a few days to give her the pub experience.
The pub itself is nice, not a ton of space indoors but it looks like there were quite a few tables out back. We were cold so opted to sit indoors. The bar is quite small and there is a separate area to order food.
They appeared to only have one paper menu but the choices for food were pretty good. There were the typical starters, a list of about 5 – 6 sharers, 5 – 6 burgers, and then the mains. We ordered the fish & chips, a beef burger with stilton and mushrooms, and the ribeye. We also ordered 3 Guinnesses which were around £4 each.
Overall the experience was pleasant and pretty typical but the food did take over 35 minutes to come out. This may have been because the ribeye was ordered medium well (to my horror…) but it wasn’t so thick as to need that much time. The presentation of the food also wasn’t the best. The chips were small and seemed like maybe the last batch of the night (we ordered around 8:45pm and got our 9:20pm). The burger was good but not giant like other reviews have mentioned (seems like that may have been a few years ago). The ribeye was good enough and I didn’t try the fish and chips. The tartar sauce was pretty good though.
Overall, this is a fine place for a drink but it’s not a place I’d go rushing back to, especially not for food.

Not my type of cooking. I do not say that the meals are bad, but I cannot eat them.

Great
pub, I had a Sunday brunch here, it was delicious. The bacon eggs was
one of the best I’ve ever eaten. Also thy have wide selection of ales
so everybody will be happy. If the weather is fine try the garden, it
is cozy and charming.

Didn’t eat there but maybe will this week. Nice pub. Staff good. Need a bit of training but I will return and eat there next time.

Fantastic place! Excellent service and first class meals! Was there last week with my mates and had a great time. Definitely one of the good places in London to visit on a Saturday night. The garden is awesome too. Very cool place.

Nice enough pub but expensive. Great beer garden. Ealing studio pics add atmosphere. Lack of good veggie food though.

I love the atmosphere very pleasant and cozy, cuisine is also very delicious, so I love to go to this place!

Great place offering a wide range of delicious meals. Recommend you visiting!

Came in here whilst waiting for a table at Santa Maria’s next door. Nice little pub, great outdoor area and interesting to browse all the Ealing Studios memorabilia!

go to the red lion alot, love it

This is a lovely old pub that qype has been steering me in the direction of for a while now.
I found it busy, but not rammed, on a Friday night. The inside a nice traditional pub, but the garden is the prime location if it ain’t rainin’ or freezin’.
Just fullers beers available (I like choice), but the pints I had were in good nick and were served by various visions of loveliness. The bar can get a bit tricky to get to though, due to the locals propping it up.

Usually get in here once a week as short stroll from where I live. Lovely homely atmosphere, feels like a real pub should do with excellent bar service and what seems like a regular crowd.

The cheeseburger there is monstrous and comes with brie and 2 slices of carmelized bacon. It’s called the steak burger. But it’s good and very filling for only 7quid. A beer will run you about 2 quid and they have a fair selection. But since I am no longer a beer lover like I was when I was 18, I prefer wine. There is a decent wine list but when in the UK drink beer. Sometimes they serve some special Christmas brews and those are always interesting to try out.
For the Americans visiting, Red Lions are pretty much the chain pubs in London and are everywhere. It’s to a lesser extent like Starbucks. Reliable product and clean toilets. FYI smoking is no longer allowed in pubs and bars indoors. So take it outside.
All in all the décor was pretty cozy and I enjoyed the fireplace I was sitting next to. It was a relief after being out in the cold blustery wind. It definitely has the feel of an old time log cabin.

Another decent pub in Ealing. and the more I think about it, one of the best.
A Fuller Smith and Turner house, which keeps good ale and serves top quality food. Loads of seats and a nice garden and as has been mentioned already, aviseable to get there early at weekends and evenings as it is very popular.
The staff seem to know what they are doing and judging by the fact that they know most of the regulars names, I suspect they have been there a while. One of my pet hates is a high turnover of staff and in this respect, The Red Lion ticks another box.
All in all, worth jumping off the 65 bus 2 stops early if your visiting Ealing!

My favourite pub in Ealing and the reason why I moved to a street just round the corner (from a place near my second favourite pub, The Plough). Excellent well kept beers from Fuller’s and their associated breweries, along with occasionally interesting guest ales.
Food is good, with an ever-​changing menu of top quality gastro-​pubby food. It’s not cheap, but it is very good. They also do roasts on Sunday, although they stop doing food at 5pm then, and 9pm the rest of the week.
There’s a nice beer garden out the back, a fairly darkened back area to the bar with tables and a front area near the bar with booths and tables. The walls are decorated with photos and posters of the various actors and films filmed over the road at Ealing Studios, including a Stage 6 plaque by the front door
Best pub in Ealing.

This is a top pub. I count it as my local, even though it’s not the closest.
The building façade is well-​kept, white and with hanging plants. There are a few picnic tables out front, but since they’re right by the busy road I don’t use them much.
Inside, you’ll find a marvellous pub, though. Nice surface, rails, windows and booths. There are some bench seats with stools. There’s a great fireplace in the front room, too.
The middle rooms are dark and cozy, with benches along the wall and chairs or stools on the other sides of the table.
The back rooms have larger tables for groups (one in a dim area, one under a skylight), plus some two-​seater cast-​iron-​foot tables. The entire pub, being right across the road from Ealing Studios, has framed pictures and posters from the Ealing comedy films throughout. Good for fans of The (original) Ladykillers.
Out back is a really nice beer garden, renovated just a few years ago. Most tables are under a roofed area or under the immense retractable umbrella. It’s a really nice vibe back there in the summer. People often bring their dogs back there.
The typical Fullers Chiswick beers are here — London Pride and the rest — and there’s usually a guest ale on.
Food is top-​notch, too, with huge portions. The menu is relatively small, but I’ve not been disappointed by anything. The sausage & mash or the burger is usually my fave.
EDIT: 15-​Mar-​09. On Sunday nights, the Red Lion now serves Pieminister pies (
) from 5 – 9:30pm. They’re £8.95 and come with mash, gravy, and minty peas. If you’ve never had these pies, get in and try some. They are amazing.

A great boozer that serves a selection of very well looked after ales. But it is the food menu that really makes this place worth a visit.
Mid-​week visits are great. The place is quite small so its best when it isn’t too busy. Food-​wise, there’s a great selection of specials to choose from and although the beer should really be recommended, they do a reasonable selection of wines. The menu seems to change quite regularly so repeat visits are to be encouraged. Recent meals have included an intensely tasty lamb shank and an awesome blue-​cheese burger.
Sundays are when this pub really shines though. It gets busy so get there early for one of the best roasts in London. Unlike other pub roasts, the veg is never soggy and the spuds are never cold. And the portions are huge. A definite thumbs up for the Red Lion.