Cottons Notting Hill — Restaurant in London

I went to Cottons to celebrate my birthday during one of its popular Bottomless brunch. I was very excited to take my friends there as I remember going to eat to the Shoreditch branch years ago and having a marvellous experience. Summing up, the bottomless brunch is a good idea…But! I booked it via email, and the first email back I received was full of very strict rules, for example you have to pay EVERYTHING in advance (not just a deposit), which meant I had to then ask each of my guests to transfer their money to me. And it’s not refundable. The drinks are for 90 minutes, no matter if you or some of your guests arrive later, their time has started. Then when you get there they also tell you to stick to one of the two drinks only, you can’t drink both. The two girls who served us at the start were really nice and friendly. They put my cake in the fridge and started serving us the first drinks. Then the food started to arrive and it was really good, all the courses. When we got to the dessert, that’s when things went wrong. They brought the cake, with a big candle. I blew the candle, and immediately after that, the other waiter came to our table and said: guys now I need to table. Please can you pack up your cake and have it somewhere else? There’s some people waiting and I need the table right now. This straight after I blew the candle (6 minutes past the end of our booking time). There was no way of convincing him that we only needed a few minutes to eat the cake. We ended up standing with the plate in hand, near the entrance. I was so embarrassed. That was the moment I was waiting for all lunch, i had bought quite an expensive cake and we had to eat it so quickly and definitely not relaxed. I understand the table must have been booked, but we finished our cake and no one had yet occupied the table, so they could have let us finish the cake seated. My guests were a bit frustrated, we also had two older gentlemen with us, and I was so sorry they had to have the cake standing like horses. Such a lack of empathy. The whole thing left us a very bad taste in our mouth. End of Cottons, at least that brunch! No more. I brought 10 people and we really felt rushed out, and unfortunately when it happens at the very end, that’s all you will remember and talk about. I do understand that there are bookings that need to go on, but please try to leave gaps in between them. You can’t rush every group out like that. That’s their special moment. Have empathy, it’s not all about the money, and on the flip side, the money also comes with the reputation, which your customers spread around. These very avoidable slips, cost you much more than having a non booked half an hour in between groups. Also, on the side note, the customer service who deals with the reservations has lack of empathy and replied to email in a very impersonal and cold way. ChatGPT is much more human. Im reading the email trail now and is shocking, I don’t know why I stuck with the idea of booking with it til the end. I had to wait for a reply from them about a friend who wanted to join us but couldn’t have garlic. They never got back to me until I had to ask again, and they said sorry we can’t accommodate her. So my friend couldn’t come to my birthday dinner. I’m adding some extra stuff to my review the morning after, as this is all that’s now coming back in my head about Cottons,...

Wish could give 0 stars. Myself and my party were some what shocked at how our evening went at Cottons Nottinghill!

I had booked a table of 24 for a 50th birthday and I have to say ALL my guests were so disappointed and mentioned that they would never come back here or recommend!  I was so embarrassed.

My reservation was booked atleast 3 weeks in advance and so I am unsure how it could have been so chaotic!!!

I had pre ordered the food, including the names of all guests a week in advance however when arriving at the restaurant this was not followed.  I had made amendments etc to the list however this was not updated and provided to the restaurant.

Half of the guests starters came out, however half the people waited more than 45 mins for their starter to come which is completely unacceptable.  All food should come out pretty much together.

One of my guests found a long hair in their starter and returned it. They didn't want any more food after this.

I, myself, had to hand out the food orders to my party as the staff did not know which meal was for who (even though they had a whole list of each guest and their meal which I thought they would use). Might I add that I have been to the Camden branch for a large party and we had no issues when the food was being served.

Service was non existent. Not one member of staff came around to take drink orders. We were forced to order at the bar, which was incredibly slow and was greeted by staff rolling their eyes and looking completely uninterested, stating they are busy (whilst drying cups).  The restaurant definitely lost money as we were a large party and would have order plenty of drinks, had we had service.

The mains - again half the mains were wrong and a few of my guests were waiting for almost an hour, watching others eat.  The food then started to come out however the staff kept bringing the wrong food - more than once!

Sides- NONE of the sides came out. Some of them came out when everyone had finished their food. So we sent them back.

Our tables were not cleared AT ALL! The whole night, we had every single plate on our table.

We had a cake which we wanted to cut and so asked for plates. These were not provided.

It really was a shambles! It was embarrassing for myself as the organiser and for the establishment.

Honestly, cleanliness and service was not up to scratch.

I never leave reviews however after my experience yesterday it has just left me shocked.

Completely ruined  my...

Calling all rum lovers! Have you visited Cottons restaurant in Notting Hill yet? Did you know they serve 372 different rums in their bar/restaurant?! Well it’s true, and the Guinness Book of Records confirmed it this year. I absolutely love rum but sadly (and quite sensibly!) didn’t make it through all of them!

On arrival I was served a gorgeous Jamaican Mule, which was delicious and refreshing, The rum in this cocktail was the Appleton Signature Blend, aged for about 4 years with citrus and woody notes. It is quite dry on its own, so fits perfectly as part of a delicious cocktail!

Next we tried the Appleton 12 in a Mai Tai which was powerful and delicious – exactly what you expect from a Mai Tai! According to the experts, the Appleton 12 is as close to the Wray & Nephew 17 Rum which was the rum that invented the Mai Tai. I absolutely loved this blend of rum and it was not only great in a cocktail but really tasty to sip on its own.

After indulging in some wonderful drinks, we thought it best to try some of the Caribbean food. For starters we opted for the Peppered Prawns (with lime and paprika dressing and fried dumplings) and the Kidney Bean Kievs (with jerk mayo and a chilli pineapple sauce).

We were absolutely blown away by the flavours on both starter. Cooked and seasoned to perfection, these were the perfect starters to whet our appetite for our mains! We particularly loved the dressing the prawns came in.

For mains, we ordered the Jerk Spatchcock Chicken with rice ‘n’ peas and a red cabbage, pineapple mango slaw. We also had the Braised Pork Belly & Jerk Pork Ribs with a potato gratin, coconut puree and callaloo.

Now this food should come with a warning – it was so tasty and there was so much of it. I had a whole chicken on my plate which was extremely tender and the jerk sauce was incredible. The pork belly and ribs were fantastic – again so tender and well marinated. The sweet potato side dish were some of the best I have had, with such a crunch on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside.

Caribbean cuisine is fantastic so I was happy that Cottons restaurant in Notting Hill did not disappoint. With a lively atmosphere, great quality food and super friendly staff, Cottons are on to a winner. Make sure not to miss out on the incredible bar where they have hundreds of...