Directors Box Canary Wharf — Restaurant in London

Booked 22 person bottomless brunch with friends, everything was bad, we prebooked all the food and yet 2 people were still waiting for their food after 90 minutes, its a 2 hour bottomless brunch. When it finally arrived this food would make well done look rare, everything was overcooked (solid poached eggs, burnt toast), the only thing that wasn't overcooked was the unripe avocados.

The drinks, which are the main event of the bottomless brunch, took forever to come out, I'm talking 20-45 minutes a round, and even then not everyone at the table would get one. It took so long, people struggled to eat the extremely dry food, some even gave up.

We were told they were understaffed, hence the slowness. Fine. So we proposed some things to reduce the load on staff like bring out the bottles of prosecco to be poured at the table and mixing cocktails in larger quantities that could then be poured at the table. But No, turns out that was an excuse, not a problem to be solved, we were told the manager wouldn't allow it and so they continued pouring each prosecco glass at the bar and mixing each cocktail individually then carrying them over. Never has a bottomless brunch had a more solid, immovable and tedious bottom.

By this point we were getting irritated at their failure to deliver the bare minimum of what was promised, they did extended our time after some complaining , which didn't mean much as the service was still painfully slow. Most people at the table were enduring the long wait for the next round of cocktails, so we asked for everyone at the table to get a glass of prosecco, which hopefully fill the gap. This is when the manager came over and started having a go at us. He said each person is only allowed one drink at a time, completely ignoring the reason why we asked, and the fact that most of the table didn't even have a drink. So instead of trying to overcome his staffing issue with some basic thought, he decided to come berate us.

This was £40 each, my friend had enough and want to move to the next place, so paid, I think the £5 deposit we each paid was a more appropriate amount. They got £880 for that...

Well, where do I start???

On arrival, no meet or great, now if you're taking bookings for Bottomles Brunches, pool, darts, surely you need an obvious point of contact.

So we eventually get someone's attention, and we find our table is already occupied. Not even reserved. So we waited for the table to be vacated, then cleaned. Finally, we got sat at 5.15. Bearing in mind, we booked for 5pm. We have a drink order taken, 20min later drinks turn up. That then sets the precedent for the speed of service for the rest of the 2hr period. Slow. We managed a total of 4 drinks in 2hrs. Now just because the football was on, West Ham v Arsenal, shouldn't mean that the rest of service has to suffer. You knew we were coming, so it's not a surprise and it's guaranteed money. Fortunately, the food was excellent!

Would I recommend this place, maybe. For football, yes, I wanted to watch the F1, but it wasn't an option. Every TV was showing the same game, so no. Bottomless brunch, probably not, as has been mentioned in other reviews, service speed needs to be improved, and bottomless area managed in order to accommodate these bookings.

If you are going to offer these things, then they need to be managed, a set area, and staff allocated to that area to ensure your guests are looked after. Not a free for all, with all the other customers.

Edit - As has been pointed out to me, I made no complaint at the time. looking at my review it wasn't very fair and I didn't mean to give one star. Because I didn't hate it, it was just OK. Hence why I have changed...

Greeted by an uninterested waitress and brought to a table where we then waited 20 minutes before we eventually flagged someone down to take our order. It wasn't busy, yet the staff were wandering aimlessly around, frowning, and trying not to give anyone eye contact. We then waited 30 minutes for our food, which is reasonable. However the third meal we ordered did not arrive, and we had to tell the manager at the pass who then hurried it out.

When the meal arrived we were then surprised that the meal (Sunday roast) had no stuffing. Again we flagged someone down and let them know, and the waitress went and told the manager. The manager then came back about 5 minutes later saying that unfortunately they had sold out of stuffing. He apologised and had already offered us a free dessert for the wait and said 'well as I said you're going to get dessert on us'. No offer of extra Yorkshire or anything to make up for it.

So here we are. Still waiting for our free dessert twenty minutes after ordering.

I'm not some complaining customer, I'm a restaurant manager and have worked in restaurants for twelve years.

The food is expensive, the service at best is inattentive - and this place should be vastly avoided...