Berwick Manor lounge — Restaurant in London

What an awful experience!!! We visited this restaurant on Valentine's Day 2023 following a recommendation by our Kenyan friend. iNairobi restaurant has a compelling and swanky-looking website, and the menu sounded great. We have been to the Kenya Kitchen in Edgware several times, and we have always had a fantastic authentic experience of unpretentious Kenyan cuisine. We just assumed that we were going to have a similar experience.

We made the reservation through a website, and there was no mention of a set menu for Valentine's day! I went there, particularly for the nyama choma, so I was very disappointed when we got there and were handed a set menu for Valentine's Day. There wasn't much we could do since we were already there, so we just rolled with it. Interestingly, the menu had no prices on it, and it came with a complimentary red wine bottle which was not explained to us.

I ordered a mocktail, and my husband ordered a beer. We waited an hour for the drinks, and my husband's beer was warm. We had to wait 2 hours for our starters, and thankfully there was a live performance, and the lady did her best to keep us entertained! We were happily singing away at Motown music. The Valentine’s menu did not include side dishes, so we ordered them separately. The sides were served more than an hour before the main course! We were so hungry that we ate the sides before the main course was served. The main course was subsequently served over 3 hours later, and at this point, we had both lost our appetites.

Our hearts went out to the waitresses. They were put in such an awkward position, and they did their best; hence we were offered a complimentary cocktail and a beer, but it couldn't make up for the appalling service. We were supposed to have dessert, and it never materialised. We gave up in the end and asked for the bill.

A lovely couple sitting next to us had a similar experience. They were given a 30% discount after speaking to the manager, who had initially declined to talk to them as she was too busy in the kitchen with the chef. Allegedly it was the Chef’s first day. The couple calmly insisted on speaking to her, and she eventually attended to them. We just assumed the discount would also be extended since we had the a similar experience! It turns out that was not the case at all. We were shocked when we were handed a bill of £182.00. They had absolutely no shame presenting such a hefty bill for substandard service and not-so-great food. The Tilapia fish was an epic disappointment. It was grossly under-seasoned, and it had no flavour whatsoever! The Matoki side dish was stone-cold and super dense. We were understandably displeased with the bill and challenged it. One of the staff turned around and arrogantly said, “ you eat the food”, inferring that we were trying to get away with not paying the bill, which was not the case at all, and I found his statement to be very offensive! He eventually apologised when I called him out!

It also turned out that the card machine was not working, so we had to transfer the money online. The manager disappeared entirely and was nowhere to be seen. She left her staff to deal with the mess.

I do not suffer fools gladly so I took the liberty of looking for her and I went to the kitchen! There was not even one Kenyan or East African in that kitchen! It felt like one massive con. I wouldn't go back there even if you offered me a free meal and drinks!! If you want a genuine Kenyan experience, please visit Kenya Kitchen in Edgware. iNairobi has a long way to go. I am pro-supporting black businesses, but I am not willing to put up with poor service! The waitresses were lovely but there is no leadership so to speak of and the manager uses them as scapegoats when confronted by customers. She practically threw them under the bus! They all seem to blame each other and I can’t imagine it’s a great place to work in. I just don’t understand why it took so long for the orders to be ready as most of the items on the menu could be...

AVOID!!!!!!!

The worst restaurant I’ve ever been to. Where do I even start?!

My friends and I booked this restaurant for our friend’s graduation party. The party size was 20+, the restaurant was informed ahead of time of our individual orders and asked us to pay a deposit of £15 each which we did.

1. My friend and I ordered a drink via the electronic menu on our table. After 20 mins, we asked where our drinks were and we were told that the code doesn’t work and the charge would be voided so we would need to charge our drinks to the table. We found out in the end that that wasn’t true and we were charged twice for our drinks! Our drinks eventually arrived just under an hour after we had spoken to the waiter about it.

2. We waited 1-2 hours for our starters and by this point we started to get concerned about how long the mains would take and asked the waiter in charge of our table to confirm. The waiter told us that we were better off leaving the restaurant at that point, admitted that the party was too large for the restaurant to handle and that whatever food we had received so far was on the house. We were later reassured that they could serve us the rest of our meals.

3. The main courses eventually came out in dribs and drabs (15-20 mins intervals between each order) 1-2 hours later with each meal being either undercooked, overcooked or a combination of the two. I on the other hand (as well as a few others in the party) did not receive my meal. I asked two different waitresses if it was coming and they couldn’t confirm. I eventually approached the owner to ask him the same question and he lied about a conversation that didn’t take place between us and implied that I informed him that I had already received my food. At this point only 50% of the party received their food and the other 50% had no idea if theirs was coming.

4. I paid a £15 deposit but received no food all night (I only ordered a main course) and was told that I would receive it back which I didn’t.

5. There were smaller parties who arrived after ours and received all their meals before we did, although they too had to wait a few hours. Some received their meals as soon as they were seated and were removing their outerwear!

6. Being a black owned business, I was very excited to visit this restaurant and show support but in addition to all the other things mentioned above, the icing on the cake was when a Caucasian party of three also started to voice their concerns about the wait time (they had arrived at the restaurant after my party) and were ready to leave, the owner apologised to them immediately, told them that their meals were on the house and their meals arrived at their table in less than 5 seconds!! My party didn’t receive an apology nor did the owner show any remorse for the terrible service we...

This weekend we had the unpleasant experience at this most overrated restaurant on Instagram. Once inside, you are greeted with nice deco. The service inside is the sort one that one would expect form a fast-food chain, but without its speed and simplicity. Not enough Menus, we had to wait for other tables to finishing checking, the waitresses, seemed like a competition and the one to take the longest time attending a table was the winner. Lots of an happy faces around. We wondered why?

After having endured all this nonsense, the thought of enjoying a good meal seemed to me impossible, this is when things turned interesting. We placed our order for the drinks and food, we thought, what can go wrong? after all, the menu descriptions looked ok! We asked questions, the waiters couldn’t answer, all the time kept going to the kitchen to ask!!!! No floor manager, Waiters all over the place, looking lost. We waited for over an hour! Our drinks and meals brought out at different times; tables not cleared on time for the next course. We had to call them to clear the table. massive red hot plates with little items inside- nosense! Missing items on the plates, we noticed lots of people going in and out of the kitchen, no uniform. No check backs to see if all is ok with the meals! This basic customer service and lack of floor manager.

At this time, I had enough of this torture and asked for the check. To my surprise we were over charged on missing items deceptive management. I won´t comment on the price because whoever pays to be taken for a fool deserves to be one. Never again will I lay eyes on this sorry excuse of a restaurant. It is banned from my list, and I would not be recommending it...