Byron - Tottenham Court Road — Restaurant in London

awful awful awful. Bryon used to be decent.. what happened? guess this is why most of them closed..! (apart from a scandal i seem to remember - management stealing the tips of something?? doubt they get any tips now) If you know what a decent burger tastes like (Honest Burger) then you will not rate this at all... clearly all the decent reviews are people who don't know any better...! Firstly when we got there the woman wouldn't let us sit at a 4 person table (even though the place was half empty) so made us sit with all our stuff at a tiny 2 person table, which is bearly big enough for one person tbh! i pushed the table next to us to it and she said "we might need that one" who you kidding?! (place was even emptier when we left... you dreaming love!) Then i forgot you have to pay extra for the chips (unlike Honest) then when they turned up, the cheese turns out its that gross American cheese slop... made the chips all soggy. just vile. sent it back and made them take it off the bill. Didn't think to give us sauces and salt , then when we got the mayo it was empty. The burger bun was kinda soggy in the wrong way, the filling minimal, and the chicken pretty damn dry. Also Heinz mayo.. gross. Hellmans or don't bother. The one redeeming feature is they now do a vegan milkshake (im not vegan obvs, but don't know how anyone drinks that much dairy in one go - its basically a pint of melted ice cream) but only in one flavour. Nice, but took about 15 mins longer than my mate's dessert to come! how?! it was empty in there.. did they go out to get it??! £55 for a extremely poor meal for two. Basically if you want decent food and service, avoid avoid avoid like the plague!!! Run to Honest, Patty & Bun or.. well...

I stumbled upon Byron at St Giles after a visit to the British Museum, just as it started pouring rain. It wasn’t planned at all, but it turned out to be a great spot to wait out the storm. I ordered a burger with fries, which was tasty and reasonably priced at around £10. I only stayed for about 20 minutes, but the experience left a lasting impression.

What really stood out to me was the kindness of one of the staff members, Sarah. She checked in on me multiple times to see if everything was alright and even offered to help me close my suitcase when I almost opened it to grab my phone charger. Her offer was really thoughtful, especially since I later realized closing my suitcase again would’ve been a struggle.

Before leaving, I wanted to tip her for her kindness but she informed me that I had already done so when I paid for my meal. Not only that, but when I asked for directions to Big Ben, she noticed I was mistakenly heading towards a different place called “Big Bang” on my maps. Knowing my phone was about to die, she went the extra mile and drew me a map on the back of a receipt, making sure I passed by Chinatown and Nelson’s Column. Her recommendations were spot on—I had a wonderful time exploring these spots, especially Nelson’s Column which she insisted I visit.

Sarah even added a little hat to the Nelson statue in her drawing, with a note saying “Safe Sowneys” or something close to that—though I’m still not sure what it means! But her thoughtfulness truly made my visit special.

Great food, but even better service...

The caesar salad was very lackluster especially given the price—barely any lettuce, or dressing and cheese for that matter. The bacon and cheese were all two big clumps, the croutons were too big and also all in one section, there was almost no dressing even though the Caesar dressing left much to be desired in taste. And charging a service charge when your menu is a qr code, and you order online is laughable—pay your employees their worth don't put that on a customer. Almost 20 pounds for a coke, mediocre fries, and the worst Cesar in london is crazy.

Minor note on service, with the change to qr menus and ordering there is less interaction but the ones I did have were not very professional. I went during a not too busy time, yet was ‘welcomed’ with the question of if i made a booking beforehand, a weird question giving the time (almost 3) and the fact that it was just me but moreso by the connotation of the voice and where they choose to sit me when there was a lot of open tables elsewhere, this was made weirder by the fact that when he brought my drinks out he handed it to me from above over a railing which was unprofessional but also very weird that he didnt want to come to the table, the cherry on top was the fact that they tried clearing my plates and wished me off a good day literally the second I finished my salad. This place has gone from a nice sit down burger joint to a fast-food-esque, quick turnover for money type of place…disappointing to...