Burger & Lobster - West India Quay — Restaurant in London

I am writing to express my disappointment with the experience my partner and I had at your restaurant yesterday, where we came to celebrate my partner’s birthday. Unfortunately, the evening was marred by poor service and an overall lack of care from the staff.

We arrived at 8:00 PM, looking forward to a special evening, but our food did not arrive until 9:30 PM – a full 1.5 hours later. Initially, the staff seemed to expect us to simply accept the long wait, and for the first hour, we were completely ignored. When we finally approached the staff to inquire about the delay, there was no apology, just a vague mention that they would “check.” At no point did we feel that the staff acknowledged the frustration or inconvenience we were experiencing.

When the food finally arrived, the explanation given was that there had been a mix-up with our order. Again, no apology was offered, and at this point, the atmosphere had already been soured. What made it even worse was that other tables arrived after us, ate, and left, while we were still waiting.

Given that we were celebrating a special occasion, I had planned to surprise my partner with a cake at the end of the meal. However, because of the long wait, we arrived at 8 PM and didn’t get our food until 9:30 PM. When we received our food, the staff announced last orders, and when I asked my partner if we should order a cake, he rightly pointed out that we would likely have to wait another 1.5 hours to receive it. By then, the birthday mood had completely been ruined.

When we asked for the bill, the waiter’s offer of a free starter (£11 value) as an apology felt completely insufficient and frankly, offensive. We came to your restaurant to celebrate, and it was clear that the staff’s attitude showed little regard for our experience. I would have preferred no gesture at all rather than one so trivial in the face of such a poor service.

The most frustrating part of this experience was that we could have understood that mistakes happen, but the complete lack of communication, the absence of any apology, and the apparent indifference from the staff made it clear that our discomfort was not a priority. What was even more unsettling was overhearing the staff speaking in a language we didn’t understand while passing our table, giving us looks that made us feel as though we were being mocked.

This entire experience was deeply upsetting, especially since we came to celebrate a special occasion. I can confidently say that we will never return to Burger and Lobster again. As my partner said, the customer service here was far below expectations – we’ve had better service at fast food restaurants like McDonald’s.

I hope you take this feedback seriously and make the necessary improvements to ensure no other customers have to endure the...

Visited the Canary Wharf branch for the first time last Sunday and felt I had to leave a review. This is only the second time I've ever taken the time to post a review, with my first being to talk about the exceptional food and service provided by another restaurant. Unfortunately, in this case, and for this restaurant, I'm posting for the complete opposite reasons. As said above, I visited last Sunday, accompanied by three other guests including my 14 yo son. The first thing I discovered is that this place does not cater adequately for those with food allergies. That goes for the processes (or lack of processes) they have in place, as well as the actual food options available. My son has allergies to nuts, eggs and sesame and we struggled to find much he could eat as even the burgers are served in brioche buns. The member of staff that took our order said they could replace the brioche bun with a regular one so eventually, my son settled on a regular beef burger. 10 minutes later, the staff member returned and advised there were no regular buns and instead offered to serve his burger wrapped in a lettuce leaf...Just what a 14yo would love right!!! Anyway, my son agreed to take the burger without a bun and when his food arrived, it looked absolutely abysmal (with an £18 price), a bland burger with no bun, served with a small amount of over-cooked fries. I ordered the chicken thigh burger, as did another member of our group and we both quickly discovered that the chicken was cold in parts so we both chose not to eat it. Then to make it worse, my fries looked like they were the broken, over-fried, oily bits scrapped from the bottom of the chip fryer. There was no salt/pepper on the tables and we even had to request condiments as the meal was served without even an offer of abit of sauce. We asked for tomato ketchup, waited 5 minutes for it to come, and when it arrived, it was served in two tiny bowls barely bigger than thimbles, for the four of us to share. Between the four of us, not one of us received a decent meal. The bill was £130 (with a soft drink each only) but I left there still hungry and extremely disappointed. Will never...

Extremely Disappointed with the Service – Unacceptable Behaviour from Staff

We visited Burger & Lobster as a group of four and ordered four lobsters, nothing unusual for a table of our size. However, from the moment we placed our order, we were met with unnecessary attitude and uncomfortable behaviour from two staff members, both of African ethnicity, one male and one female.

The female staff member questioned our order with an unwarranted tone, asking "Who is it for?" as if ordering more food was a problem. We then overheard her speaking to the male staff member about our order while both gave us uncomfortable prolonged stares. It made us feel judged and unwelcome.

Every time we asked for assistance, whether it was for drinks or the bill, we were met with dismissive replies like "1 sec" said in a loud sarcastic tone, only to be ignored while she cleaned other tables right in front of us. She returned after 10 minutes without even acknowledging the wait.

We also noticed inconsistent service. She offered hot towels to other tables but not to us. Despite the restaurant being nearly empty, we were treated as if our presence was an inconvenience.

To make things worse, the male staff member later dimmed the lights so low that we could barely see our food. When we asked to turn them back up, his response was full of attitude, saying "Can’t you see?" I stared back at him thinking, is he taking the piss? Then he said he would ask someone and later sorted it out.

It genuinely felt like we were being treated differently and poorly just for ordering a decent amount of food.

Burger & Lobster management, this was completely unacceptable. Please train your staff to treat all guests with the same level of respect and professionalism. If customer service is too much to ask from your team, maybe it’s time to reconsider who’s on it.

incident happen 7th aug 5.30 to 6pm

reading lowest review looks like multiple people have complained about same stuff memeber for last 4 months. what a shame management! this is how great business goes...