Cast Iron Bar & Grill — Restaurant in London

Walked in Friday 3/28/25 at 5:30 pm. Empty restaurant, 3 employees visible.

Employee #1 (hostess). Standing at the hostess stand talkin on her personal phone, she could barely look up and when she did there was a look of irritation because I had interrupted her call. She did not pause the call, so I asked if the restaurant was open and I do get a nod, I told her I would sit at the bar.

Employee #2 (bartender) I sat at the bar for a couple of minutes until the bartender appeared. We made eye contact and then he just kept on walking, not greeting, nothing. He walked to my left and began a conversation with someone in the kitchen.

Employee #3 (manager). I assume he was the manager because he was dressed better than the first two. He was sitting in a booth to my right and, like the hostess, engaged and enthralled with his phone. He did stand up, make eye contact with me, and then walk off in the opposite direction.

That was enough for me, I assumed that if the restaurant/bar was being run this poorly, the kitchen was probably filthy. I am a former Marriott employee and a Bonvoy member, I stay at Marriott hotels all over the world because the consistent quality. I am currently staying across the street at the Hotel Xenia, a Marriott hotel that is excellent in every way. This was, by far, my worst experience at a Marriott restaurant. Whomever is in charge of the maintaining the quality of this restaurant is woefully incompetent, someone needs to step in and fix this. I see this afternoon as an aberration, I still will be loyal to the brand as this has never happened before. It’s a nice looking hotel in a great neighborhood, Marriott customers...

Lovely interior of the restaurant but it wouldn't kill them to put the heating on as it was freezing inside. The menu looks great and we were excited to try out the dishes. Sadly the service was incredibly slow to the point that we waited over 40 mins for our starters. For the starters we had calamari which was really good the katsu chicken is okay. We had to ask again where our mains where. Eventually they arrived. Im not sire why the delay, short staffed perhaps.

The steaks were good, cooked well. The burger wasn't the greatest. But I'm guessing it'd not ther speciality. I did expect more from a restaurant that was connected to the Marriot Hotel. I have dined at Marriot Hotels before and have never had a negative experience. Maybe it was just a...

What a major disappointment this turned out to be after a lovely day in London. I booked this restaurant based on some good reviews that I read but how wrong was I?!

The staff were lovely, I can’t fault them but the food and the atmosphere was dreadful. I ordered the katsu chicken which was dull and flavourless and then had the chicken escalope for main which again was dull and lacking in flavour.

Given the prices for the whole meal, and the fact that the whole place is just a bit lifeless, I feel really cheated out of a nice meal out. We passed by pizza express on the way home and I wish we had just popped in there!

Avoid...