Byward Kitchen and Bar — Restaurant in London

This restaurant is a bit difficult to track down as its primary entry is in the facade of an old church building and it has a small sign.

We arrived around 11:15am and were given both a breakfast menu and a lunch menu, so we asked whether we could order lunch. They said lunch started at 11:30 (then 8 minutes away) and that we could wait until then to order it. I asked for tap water with ice and the server went and stood next to the bar for 10 minutes, then brought a room temperature bottle of water to the table.

The server would not take our food order until then (presumably they could take it and then wait to give it to the kitchen until 11:30). We placed our order and waited 20 minutes for the food to arrive. It was a nearly empty restaurant; this seemed quite long. I ordered a chicken sandwich and my husband ordered fish and chips.

The chicken in my sandwich was very dry; I used quite a bit of ketchup to get it down. My husband was disgusted by his fish. The breading was only partly cooked and the fish and breading both were extremely oily in the center (thickest part). He ate maybe 1/3 of his food and couldn't finish it. He pulled the server aside and politely asked that his meal be removed from our bill. She took the plate and sent the manager over. The server had come by early in the meal to ask if the food was ok, so the manager argued that she had already asked if it was ok and we said yes. He then said fish and chips are supposed to be oily because they're fried. Once he was done defending the food and scowling at us, he sent the chef out, who did the same thing. The chef was on the defensive too, saying "it's fish and chips. It's fried in oil." We've had fish & chips several times in London (and they make fried fish in other cities, too...). None of those were like this.

We were pretty fed up with the staff by the time we left. The server was kind enough to apologize on our way out. Despite that, we'd still advise you to not waste your time or money at this place. If you want delicious, correctly cooked fish and chips, go to Hobson's...

The Byward team did a fantastic job of hosting our wedding party

We spent ages looking for a wedding party venue, in a central location that was good value but we finally found it at the Byward Kitchen.

The Byward is in a perfect location, very central close to the Thames and Tower Bridge but hidden away with its own private garden.

The restaurant is housed in a glass box connected to All Hallows church set within a bucolic private garden.

Indoors was big enough to house a band and 100 people for nibbles, drinks and a boogie.

There was plenty of space in the garden for a mingle or a sit down.

We even hired a magician to come in and keep our guests entertained.

Mark and Natalie were able to accommodate our requests and Winston and the rest of the team did a fantastic job of making sure our guests were topped up and well fed.

There was plenty of space to accommodate lots of buggies and the scotch eggs are out of this World!

We brought our own balloons and flowers and with a bit of set up before hand the venue looked absolutely stunning.

We would defiantly recommend this venue for a...

I went this week and will not be going back. Having read some previous reviews I am RELIEVED to see that a lot of other customers have had SIMILAR experiences to me and my friend.

This place 100% RACIALLY PROFILES individuals.

The care they showed towards the white men and women in suits , was different to how they welcomed us. 2 females dressed semi casually.

They were forceful in the way they rushed our order.

In the morning there were many empty tables and when we politely asked to be sat in a quieter space - they loudly and vehemently refused. Their spoken manner and rude approach was shocking. Both male staff , raising voices and attacking us verbally for asking for a quiet space to sit.

Customer service and attitude was diabolical.

The two men managing were from ethnic background. 1 South Asian and other a European older male.

Really disappointing to have this experience and I will looking to report this restaurant to trading standards - as such abhorrent customer service is unacceptable.

• look in past comments and see how many people...