Gastropubs in London have evolved to the point of ubiquity... if you can't find one in your neighbourhood, you're probably too drunk.
However, the popularity of the category has predictably led the term to become meaningless. Nowadays, I'm pretty sure the only qualification for the term gastropub is that you have a menu which: (a) contains at least one item with chorizo, and (b) where the description for Bangers and Mash has been rewritten to read "Fresh English Pork Cumberland Sausage with Roasted Garlic Puree and Sweet Onion Jus."
I guess what I'm saying is there's a fine line between pretense and reality, and Lots Road is on the right side of that line.
First things first: Lots Road makes a great hamburger. Not only that, but asking that it be cooked a certain way (i.e. rare) is not a futile exercise... the burger will come back the way you requested it. Seems simple, but I can't tell you how very exceptional this is in London.
The rest of the menu varies, but I've been several times, and as of yet, nobody at my table has been served a clunker.
Service is extraordinarly nice and attentive, and they even bent over backwards to get my visiting mom's absurdly complicated and obscure drink order right.
The only caveat is that they have some kind of chocolatey treacle pudding that they advertise as something you must not miss, which advertisement is false. It's not that this dessert is horrible, it's actually just OK, but rather it's a case of the build-up setting expectations too high and then the actual product being disproportionately mediocre when contrasted against the now-elevated expectations.
I guess the only other caveat is that from Thursday to Saturday, I'd strongly recommend you book in advance.
But it's good, and the prices are reasonable. And even if you don't live in the neighbourhood (Chelsea Pier), you've certainly travelled farther for worse food.
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