Bubala King's Cross — Restaurant in London

I really wanted to walk away from my dining experience at Bubala Kings Cross as a memorable one and for all the right reasons, unfortunately there were a few things that hindered it and I’m sad to say that it doesn’t live up to the hype. Whilst the venue, food and ambiance are lovely, there are some bigger things that are lacking that could make this place more worthy.

The tables provided for a party of 2 are way too small for a menu that is designed for sharing - once you add a bottle of water and glasses, plus wine and wine glasses, there is not much room left for the plates of food, making you feel rushed to eat certain dishes for the sake of decluttering the table.

The service was the biggest disappointment. There is nothing warm, inviting or professional about it. The staff are robotic and do only what they feel is required of them up until the point the food hits the table, at which point the service completely falls off a cliff. No one came back to check on the table at any point of the meal which is common practice and sadly, despite several attempts to get the attention of any server for some service, we were ignored and sat at the table slightly shocked at how oblivious/disinterested they were, appearing to not make any eye contact with any diners almost as if it was on purpose and then subsequently they became passive aggressive when they were called out for it, which is never a nice position to be in, particularly because up until that point we were willing to overlook at how poor the service was and carry on enjoying our evening despite some of the downfalls.

Staff at Bubala Kings Cross: We are terribly sorry for interrupting your conversations amongst each other and inconveniencing you to do your job-it’s because of you, we left with a bad taste in our mouth. I feel really bad for the waiter we had no previous interaction with that was sent to deal with us because the “manager” on duty couldn’t even be bothered to turn the situation around herself - shame on you for hiding behind your staff and leaving them to pick up the pieces caused by your incompetence.

This place could be so much more if it had the right people running the show in the front of house, making it more of a warm and welcoming environment and somewhere you would leave, wanting to return to again, not just because the food is good, but because you were made to feel so welcome. Unfortunately, I will...

My wife and I visited Bubala in King’s Cross for a date night, and while the evening itself was enjoyable, the overall experience didn’t quite hit the mark for us.

We had requested seating at the bar, expecting a chef’s-counter style setup where we could watch the kitchen in action and enjoy a bit of interaction. Unfortunately, the “bar” was more of a basic countertop without the atmosphere or energy we were hoping for – definitely not the immersive experience we imagined.

The service was decent – friendly and competent, but nothing exceptional. The food was fine, but not particularly memorable. We’ve had much better meals elsewhere in London, especially given the city’s high standards and diversity of culinary experiences.

One thing worth noting is that Bubala is entirely vegetarian, which may appeal to some, but for us, it felt a bit limiting and not clearly advertised upfront. While the dishes were creative in presentation, the flavours just didn’t wow us.

That said, it was still a pleasant evening, and we enjoyed the opportunity to be out together. The setting is relaxed, and it’s a nice spot for a low-key night. However, based on our experience, we’re...

We had a really disappointing experience this evening. Firstly, there were three of us - and we wanted to get the set menu for 2, and then add some a la carte dishes (we weren’t hungry enough for 3 set menus!). Our waitress was pushy and rude, kept trying to get us to get 3… even when we clearly said we didn’t want 3. We then spoke to the manager who gave us some nonsense about the kitchen can only cope if the set menu is for the whole table. In the end we got the set menu for 3 because we just felt so bullied into it. Then our drinks didn’t show up, we had to ask, the waitress behaved as if we hadn’t ordered them, which we had, from her, about 30 mins before. As the food started to come, the general attitude was grumpy and curt. And then there was SO MUCH FOOD, which is why we hadn’t wanted the 3 set meals in the first place. They did give us the drinks and some extra food (which we took home), for free, which was much appreciated. But we won’t be going back, which is such a shame because the food was nice and the other branches have always been good. But this was a miserable experience...