Busaba at the O2 — Restaurant in London

Truly vile experience.

I read somewhere that in order to gauge how bad a restaurant is, one ought to look at the '2-star' ratings, as opposed to the '1-star' ones because those are usually unreasonable. For this reason I initially wanted to give this place 2 stars but I just couldn't bring myself to do so. The experience was truly vile.

We waited 30 minutes outside with no clear instructions from the wait staff. This lead to a LOT confusion amongst all the customers waiting.

We were seated at a large sharing table with other customers - 3 separate groups. We were all females and yet none of us had enough space. The menus, napkins, and crockery were all dirty, crumpled, or tattered. The restaurant was so noisy that everyone resorted to shouting to even have a conversation with someone next to them.

I ordered the 'black pepper beef'. For one - it was served cold. At this point of time we had been waiting 40 minutes for our food (just mains!) after being seated - this was on top of waiting to be seated. Obviously, I didn't send it back because I didn't want to wait another 40 minutes to be served.

The beef was as tough as leather boots. I don't think I've ever been eaten anything quite as gristly or chewy.

The noodles were soggy and mushy - no doubt from either overcooking or being left out after being cooked (explains the coldness?).

The sauce was sweeter than full-sugar coke. In fact, it may have been sweeter than pure sugar. It was cloying. That explains the 1000+ calories listed for such a small dish.

The execution of the dish is embarrassing to the the entire continent of Asia. The green onions look like they'd been cut up by a child who was blind folded.

The portion was, thank god, tiny. I hate the idea of wasting food and was glad that I only had that much to waste. Unless you are a child, a main would NOT suffice.

If you think this review was exaggerated - feel free to look through my account. I'm not a terribly negative person and I don't go around writing long-winded reviews of places that I dislike. This instance though, I think of as public service.

Another point - this restaurant, as of today, has a rating of 3.7. That's the lowest of all eateries in and around the O2. There's a...

Terrible service, bad experience. Me and my sister took the kid to climb the O2 on Sunday 21/8 and I add clim and dine at busaba eathai for £18 per adult and £15 per child which thought was reasonable so I prepaid £90 total for 5 of us. So we came in restaurant and ordered our food and drink, me and my sister then order 2 extra cocktail and 1 lemonade for my niece. In the end because we order extra so I asked the waitress for the bill and when she brought it out it’s was £116 something and I told her I already paid online she then said I will ask my manager but she didn’t even ask how much did i pay so I thought it might be in the system. After she brought back to me a new bill of £43.67 left to pay I then ask her why is this so much then told me she can’t do the math. Then I said the old bill you gave me was £116 why £43.67 left to pay and she explain to me that I have to pay for all the drink we have order 3coke, 1sparkling water, 1 lemonade, 2 cocktail. I asked her again then she keep saying she can’t do the math, the manager didn’t even come didn’t even care, my sister and all the kid was telling me just pay and go otherwise I would stay until he come and talk to me. I don’t understand we still pay for the food, we pay the the extra drink like everyone else why does they treat us different, we waited 45 minutes for the food to come, if they can’t do the climb and dine probaly then don’t do the package with climb the o2 then. I even ask them what drink can we order with the menu that we paid for she said she ask and come back but didn’t even come back to tell me so I told the kid just order soft drink and water. Could the staff there please tell all your climb and dine what they can have and can’t have so people know so they don’t have to be over charge like us. I wouldn’t recommend this place anyway. Sorry for my very long review but I feel so angry that I have to...

Vinay was serving us today. We've been to this branch a few times now and have had the pleasure of Vinay serving us a number of times.

Vinay has a way with his customers to make them feel at home, or like you are visiting a friends house for a meal as you get a warm and friendly welcome, an effortless smile and get looked after throughout your entire visit. He was clearly busy dealing with a full area of guests, but he kept cool and kept it all under control and still finding time to lay tables etc in between everything else.

We were served quickly, the bar staff were quick with the drinks and the was generous and spot on as always. The team at the O2 are doing great. The manager on duty and Vinay gave us a friendly goodbye on our exit :)

The only feedback for improvement that I have, would be to still serve rotis at all times. We wanted them but was unable to order them as the menu was reduced. I understand that the menu gets reduced at peak times, I'd imagine it's because its the O2 and it can get swamped with people during show times. So it's is understandable that the kitchen may not have the capacity for it all. So again it's not a complaint just a suggestion if ever possible to keep a full menu. However, being veggie I'm pleased to say that the veggie options are good. I particularly like the Soymari, I can't believe it's not chicken. Any specials you can bring back would be great, I visited another branch that had a special curry in December.

Great service from a great team as always, BIG up...