Fern — Restaurant in London

I was challenged to try this restaurant by an ex colleague we used to work for a well-known restaurant in London. I have been told that they have dishes from different countries, but they are made in different ways but maintaining the flavour that these dishes must have. I wasn't sure about this, firstly because it's in Croydon and I've never found any restaurant that impressed me here. Secondly, because I'm an advocate of keeping the original recipe, and I'm not a huge fan of fusion cousin when it comes to renowned dishes. But I accepted the challenge, and off I went to discover this new space. First impression, I thought it was a small space, I thought it would be more spacious given the building it is located in. It didn't impress me at all... but quickly, my first impression changed! The host (Italian lady) affability when welcoming us was the starting point for an excellent experience. We had a reserved table, but it was next to a large window where the sun was hitting, I immediately thought "this table is going to be like being in a sauna" but the host quickly understood that I was uncomfortable with that and offered us another table. The table was next to the kitchen door, at first we didn't mind, but then with the staff coming in and out it ends up leaving you a little out of place, so we asked the waitress if we could move, again ups, to another table, with a smile he said yes! In other restaurants, there might not be as much flexibility. That's why, from the host to the staff, 5 stars! Excellent service, friendly staff, they explain well how the menu works as well as what the dishes consist of. About the food... First, unfortunately, not all the dishes I wanted to try were available. But the most important one was 😅. An amateur cook 🫣 who doesn't like these kinds of revamps of already perfect dishes... I was extremely surprised!! What a wonderful experience. The flavours and textures were perfect. Bacalhau à Brás was my purpose for coming to this restaurant. And it was fantastic!! This very traditional dish from Portugal, when I saw how it was served, I got a bit surprised because it didn't look like the traditional dish at all, but after tasting it, my goodness! What a delight! It is made different from the traditional way but with an excellent flavour combination. It tastes better than it looks. Congratulations to the Chef! This revamp of this dish was "refreshing" and made it light to enjoy. I loved every piece so much that I ordered it twice! The Crispy potatoes were on point, the prawns with pesto too. We try the chicken with honey and yoghurt and is a jump directly to the Mediterranean!! Fantastic flavour! The dessert was interesting but it was the only bit that didn't surprise me but it was good. My partner ordered the cheese board, and Woooww, it was very well served and good quality. The restaurant has an excellent wine menu, we ordered Portuguese Vinho Verde Alvarinho wine, but the price is high for this bottle! (Azevedo) It's not the best Alvarinho out there. To go with dessert, we ordered a prosecco without asking any specific, which was extremely good, we decided to order a second, but it was clearly not from the same bottle! But it didn't disappoint. Every time I asked about something related to the dish, or the bottles, etc... whether the staff or the host were excellent and knew how to respond accurately, they clearly familiarised with what they were offering. And to finish, the Limoncello offered by the host was the icing on top of the cake. The host even gave us vacation tips in Italy! I loved the experience, and it certainly doesn't even feel like we're in Croydon I felt that I was in central London, joying dinner in one top restaurant. I will definitely...

My friend and I visited on Friday 1st Dec. I ran 15 mins late and explained this via text received from Fern bookings. I was received with a positive attitude and the waiter was great at explaining the dishes and the food was of a great standard. What ruined the experience was that our meal towards the end was abruptly cut short when the lady at the door came over to our table unannounced and without making eye contact hurriedly cleared our plates. We got her attention and explained that we were not quite finished nor did she ask; she remained adamant that she made the judgement based on how one of our cutlery had been positioned. She then went on to justify her behaviour by saying she needed the table back. As this was happening, the waiter who had been great all throughout came to the table with a cleaner dispenser and paper towels to hurriedly start spraying and cleaning the table. He was in such a rush that he sprayed unto my hands and clothes (knee area). He saw this and when I looked disapprovingly telling him the spray was on me, he did not apologise but said the spray is 'human friendly' and ignored what had happened. I left my drink there as I didn't know if that had the spray in it.

The lady at the front of house then said that we can go downstairs to the bar area to order desserts/drinks and she will give us free items. We did think about it but politely declined to which she removed the service charge from the bill.

The reason I am writing this is to say that the actions of both staff in the last 5 minutes of the evening ruined the previous hour or so really good service and meal. I think your staff should be reminded of how the last part of a meal is just as crucial as the prior parts. Also, being condescending or dismmising the customers concerns is really unprofessional. No amount of free items offered can make up for the poor service at the end especially when it seems the expectation is that we will put up with that behaviour from staff if they dangle a 'free' offer in our faces. Please remember, some customers do not mind paying whatever it takes for good service, ambience and food; we didn't visit Fern because it had discounts or free items. We wanted to have a good all round experience but unfortunately this was not the case.

We understand that sometimes staff feel under pressure to turn tables around for back to back bookings but there were so many different ways this could have been managed. Staff could have advised on what meals may take longer, suggested we reduce the number of meals we ordered if time was critical or even tell us 10/15 minutes before that the table would be needed back shortly. Also, it's good etiquette to ask if the guests have finished their food and more importantly, this should come from a member of staff who originally served rather than someone walking hurriedly to our table which felt like that matter was escalated unnecessarily. My last comment on this is training your staff around handling of cleaning products; the spraying should never have been carried out so close to people at the table. Given the benefit of doubt, if the incident that occurred was due to a faulty bottle then I (and the glasses/drinks) would not have been covered in the product if the spraying was done away from our table.

I do hope that Fern takes this feedback in the way it is intended - a balanced view of where you can improve a few little steps towards the end of a dinning experience so they don't ruin the great effort your staff put in at...

I just want to say - I really want this place to succeed. There’s nothing in Croydon like it and it has so much potential.

But…

A friend and I recently visited for brunch (Saturday about 12:00.) The environment is pleasant, if the music in the warehouse-y acoustics is a bit too aggressive to be relaxing (but that’s just a personal thing). The decoration is comfortable and minimal. Lots of concrete and velvet. The split levels create a real feeling of space. It’s the kind of place I can imagine gets really loud (in a buzzy way) in the evenings.

As it was warm, the charming host thoughtfully sat us in the breeze from the door and handed us our menus. Then that was it. For 30+ minutes. No one came to take our order, and despite being at less than 1/3 capacity and SO MANY STAFF it was like we suddenly went invisible. We looked around. Tried to catch peoples eyes. Nada. The staff there were seemed to be running round but didn’t seem to be achieving anything. We noticed other tables with the same challenge.

Eventually, someone realised and came and took our order. A tea, an Americano with hot milk on the side and two salmon Benedict with crab hollandaise. Two of the most interesting options were already off the limited menu (including one of the two gf options).

The tea and coffee took ages to arrive. Someone delivered it. We asked for sugar and milk. They said they’d be one minute. Then everyone disappeared again. Eventually we had to wave and get someone’s attention and ask again. The milk was retrieved. The tea milk was warm. The Americano milk was cold (or at least the same temperature.) My friend had to walk up to the bar and ask for it to be reheated.

Then we noticed that a large party who had clearly been seated for a while before we arrived, was presented with food. We must have been there for an hour at that point. Uh-oh.

Eventually our food turned up and it was fine. The quality of everything on the plate was good. The hollandaise was honestly just normal hollandaise. I couldn’t see, smell or taste any difference (ou est le crab?!). I was hoping for something a bit more interesting tbh but 🤷🏼‍♀️

Again, once everything was cleared it was a long old wait for the bill. I will say this, the staff all seemed lovely but just completely at sixes and sevens. People weren’t working on specific covers. Boxes of stuff seemed to be being unpacked. People appeared to be standing on the stairs by the bar dropping things. It’s not a massive restaurant, and when we were there wasn’t full, so it’s all a bit confusing why it was so disorganised.

We didn’t hate it, but at the same time, neither of us were like, “I can’t wait to go back.” We were there for about 2.5 hours which feels like a long time for one cuppa and fancy eggs on bread. We would have had more to drink but it felt like a lot of work, so we ended up decamping somewhere else for more coffee.

Price-wise - it’s about what I would expect and happily pay for a chi-chi brunch if the service was just a bit more with it.

I believe Fern is related to Mr Fox(?) which I really rate, and the running of Mr Fox has always been impeccable in my experience. Maybe I just visited on a bad day but not sure if I would rush...