Burnt Umber Brasserie — Restaurant in London

I booked a table online for myself, my 1 and a half year old and my mum visiting from Italy as I thought the excellent reviews would mean we could have a wonderful Sunday roast. Unfortunately we didn’t taste any food as we left and I wouldn’t have posted anything had the behaviour towards us following our decision to leave not been, frankly, quite belittling. When booking online, I specifically added that one of us was a child under two. I thought that would help decide which table to allocate us as well as it would be helpful in terms of baby chairs. Once arrived, we were seated pretty much in the centre of the room, in everybody’s way, where people would come and go, not exactly where I’d put a baby chair. The lady asked us if the baby was a third or fourth person which already showed my note upon booking had not been read. No baby chair was at the table and when I asked if they had one the reply was ‘yes we have three I just need to find one’. I could see the place was very busy and, as anyone with a young child knows, wanted to avoid added delays so I said it wouldn't matter and I’d sit my daughter on a normal chair. We place our order and only then find out that there’s only one roast type of meat per day - I made sure I read all the information online prior to coming and think that’s quite an important piece of information that should be on the website. We also find out that roasts are not served until 12.30 - information that you can’t find online - but the food would be quickly with us ‘maybe 25 minutes’ to which we decided to leave. I was very friendly about it all and explained my daughter wouldn’t manage to hold through that time as there had only been minor issues until then (the lady said - we usually give children plain croissants whilst they wait for their food?!? Which I thought was quite odd. I think I’d like to choose myself what my child eats) but as we stand up the lady who was dealing with our table and another member of staff decide to have a conversation in front of us about why we were leaving and whatever feelings they had about it. They were shrugging and gesturing that they didn’t care if we left to which I decided to intervene and pretty much explained the above to help them get some context. Something so small and not a big deal turned out into such an unfriendly exchange because in front of us and other customers they decided to discuss our decision to leave. We were told ‘what can we do to make it better’ - trying to keep it professional could be...

Expensive, Keep an eye on what you order.

A friend and I decided to visit this place for breakfast. The staff there were incredibly friendly and the service was excellent. But, when we looked at the bill later while chatting, we realised that the food was overpriced, and clearly we didnt check. The eggs benedict we ordered were decent, although they had gone a bit overboard with toasting the muffins. It made them hard to cut and chew, but it wasn't a big deal. The coffees were a bit bland too. - Side note: we did see where someone had complained about slow service but dont see much about service on here so maybe it was a one off.

Looking back, I'd say this place is pretty good. It was packed, and if people are willing to pay those prices, more power to them. But charging more for eggs benedict compared to a more central spot like St Pancras Searcys and others seems a bit extreme to me. And these days, you can't escape the 12.5% service charge, even though it's technically optional. It sneaks up on you, so always keep in mind that the menu price isn't the final price. It's like we're moving toward the American model of tips. But businesses would rather sneak it in and rely on someone taking it off.

In a nutshell, spending £41 for breakfast for two seemed a bit steep for what you get here but it seemed very busy so you cannot blame the cafe for doing it, and we understand that we also chose to eat here so its our fault for actually ordering and not checking. I'd recommend checking out other places and doing some research. If you don't mind paying above average for breakfast, then go ahead and give it a shot. 3 Stars is reasonable for the staff friendliness , but price has to be a big factor when on the upper end and unfortunately it hasnt matched up to the food/drinks we got.

*Update - i see the management has replied. Im happy to remove my statement about other places being less expensive, but cannot verify what they have said....

Came in for a Sunday roast (£26??), before ordering we asked the waitress how big the portions were, according to her it was very big and “there are loads of vegetables”.

The food took 1 hour 15 minutes to come as they forgot about our table, when the table next to us (that ordered 25 minutes after us) received their food before us (also Sunday roast) I had to go in and ask where our food was. They just said they would find out and I should go back and sit down.

The waiter then came out an put the food down without saying a word and we were greeted by the picture I have attached, two small potatoes, half a carrot and three stems of broccoli with some dry discs of meat and overly salty gravy. The roast dinner is misrepresented on your Instagram - there is around 3x more food on the post (that the waitress showed us for reference).

The food was eaten in 10 minutes and it was underwhelming to say the least. It then took over 20 mins for the waitress to come and clear the plates.

The waitress was not aware that we had been forgotten about, she also asked if we were told the Sunday roast would take a long time to prepare - which we were not. I doubt we would have even received our food if I had not gone in and asked. Eventually they graciously (sarcasm) offered to remove the 12.5% mandatory service charge.

I am happy to pay more for a roast dinner, but both quantity and quality of the food was well below par. I understand that things occasionally go wrong in the hospitality industry but the mark of a truly good restaurant is shown in what is done to remedy this situation. In this case no one even realising/apologising that we were sat there with no food for over an hour in a relatively quiet restaurant until I mentioned it to the waitress, is unacceptable.

From reading other negative reviews I can see that there is little accountability taken when things go wrong and fair criticism is not...