Bread Street Kitchen & Bar - Limehouse — Restaurant in London

A couple months ago we intended to celebrate our wedding here, but couldn't have been more disappointed.

After several weeks of communicating back and forth and hoping to find a way to make it work we decided not to host our wedding dinner at Bread Street Kitchen on the River as we were just too disappointed and upset with the lack of customer service, flexibility and motivation shown by the wedding coordinator and the onsite management. At no point did they make an effort to make us feel welcome or tried to create the impression of caring about us celebrating our special day at their venue. In hindsight this is even more shocking to me, as we now got to experience how caring and supportive other venues and teams treated us, bending over backwards to make your wedding as special as it should be.

I still think it is a real shame because we loved the location, the interior and the style of Bread Street Kitchen on the River, and I'm sure the food would have been great too. But unfortunately this couldn't make up for the terrible experience. From having to chase people for almost two weeks to get a proper response to the complete unwillingness to cater for our wishes or proactively offer alternatives to requests, that might not have been possible to fulfil.

One example: When we visited the venue with our wedding planner and asked about options to set up the tables for people to sit together the local manager rudely and unkindly just turned us down, explaining moving things around was not really possible. He also didn't seem too pleased about us planning to hire the spaces as planned or generally that we were planning to host our wedding dinner there.

While we heard a lot about what is NOT possible, at no point did anyone contact us to make any suggestions how to turn the wedding experience at Bread Street Kitchen into an unforgettable event. Needless to say no tasting to put together the menu was offered, despite the quite significant amount of minimum spend we already agreed to. In the end we frankly speaking did not feel that Bread Street Kitchen deserved or even wanted to host our wedding, which was all the more obvious by the fact that no one even cared to give us a call or respond to our feedback email when we cancelled the contract.

It's almost comical that on the website it is claimed to offer a “BESPOKE SERVICE LIKE NO OTHER” advertising “Let us create something wonderfully original with service that is perfectly tailored from start to finish”. I am still sad we did not get to see...

We have visited this venue several times in the past years, as we live nearby and enjoy exploring local dining options. Unfortunately, as on previous occasions, the experience did not meet expectations.

We initially planned to try the Sunday lunch offering, but were informed that food could not be served on the terrace, only indoors. Disappointed, we went to our usual lunch spot instead and returned later for drinks and dessert, as I was considering bringing visiting friends from Australia here the following week as part of a riverside walk.

We ordered two drinks and two desserts. While the drinks were satisfactory, the desserts were overly sweet, looked unimpressive, not unlike the menu, and were significantly overpriced at £9 and £10 each, plus service. The desserts resembled something one might expect at a local East End pub—certainly not the level of quality I anticipated from a Gordon Ramsay establishment.

Service, which has consistently been underwhelming over the years, was again disappointing. Staff appeared disengaged, unfriendly, and unaccommodating. Upon seating ourselves outside, no one approached to greet us or provide menus, so I had to go inside to request them myself. The waiter then appeared to take our order without asking whether we were ready or offering any guidance or recommendations, missing a basic opportunity for hospitality.

Despite it being late lunchtime on a Sunday, the venue was surprisingly quiet, with only a few occupied tables both inside and outside. In hindsight, I regretted not choosing a different location for dessert.

In spite of all this, did end up bringing my friends for a drink the following week, hoping for a better experience. However, the service remained equally inattentive and unwelcoming, and we left after just one round of drinks.

There is an undeniable sense that something is lacking here, from both the service culture and overall atmosphere. It's disappointing, particularly given the restaurant's potential and prime riverside location. Its a pity. I am not planning on being back...

This was our first experience of a Gordon Ramsey restaurant. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment. We were seated in a lovely spot and left for 25 minutes to look at the menu. The restaurant was extremely quiet and I genuinely thought we had been forgotten about.

The waitress did not take any record of our order. I personally hate that, use a tablet or notepad! My wife ordered a burger without the mayonnaise.

When a waiter brought the starters instead of moving round the table he leaned across and almost tipped her barbecue chicken wings into her lap. She managed to stop it sliding off the plate. Waiter should have held the plate level or moved round to her side.

When the main course arrived the waitress did say my wife's had mayonnaise (I knew something would go wrong! WRITE THINGS DOWN!) She did offer to replace it but this would have meant another long wait and I'd have finished mine! So my wife scrapped the mayo off and we carried on.

She apologised yes but no offer to top up our drinks or reduce the service charge. We had told them it was our Anniversary celebration (25 years, a gift from my sister) and they did give us a celebratory ice cream and brownie. Nice touch.

Then dessert was very tasty. My latte was pretty small and expensive for its size.

Throughout service was very, very slow. Attentive on occasion, but we arrived at 11.45am and left at 2.20pm. Even had to chase them for the bill. My wife really wasn't happy that we were charged £10 as a discretionary service charge. Slow service and the wrong order!

Overall, under the circumstances, the meal was okay. I like what I've seen of Gordon Ramsey, but I'm sorry your restaurant was not up to scratch on...