Forza Wine at the National Theatre — Restaurant in London

Booked for a party of 20, with many organisational emails before with the 'events' contact, booking the library area. On arrival ,the events host, who didn't now seem to know who we were , and didn't introduce himself, told us our tables were to be various occupied tables near the entrance,I corrected this and the library room was hastily set up, no explanation offered no apology no smiles. Our party arrived and he pretty much disappeared. The food we arranged for our guests was the ' better menu, it was ok ,a lot of the plates,are of a fairly loose constituency, so the bread given is the rather ungenerous, one portion served between four, so 1 slice each, the new server that now attended us,again zero smiles, brought the plates no explanation of what was being given.

There is minimal cookery involved in the dishes we received, apart of course, the onglet that was a healthy portion , but arrived after all the other the other plates had been finished.

After finishing the evening we asked for the bill, the server , gave us the bill and muttered find some one that you can pay it with ,and just wandered off.

After complaining later, we were offered and given our service charge back.

So the takeaway here is the staff are generally poor and unhelpful and don't seem to be able to smile, and for the price, you would question why they are a little ungenerous regarding the food. It's quite obvious that for each bad Google review here the managers generally reply with a passive aggressive response, essentially doubling down and not accepting any blame,which is typical of the general attitude to it its customers.

It's a nice space and they will continue to get custom from nft attendees pre and post show, whether they return is...

"Absolutely disgraceful service from start to finish. The hostess was rude and dismissive when seating me. Got handed a menu and then was completely ignored for 10 minutes while staff served other customers around me. Just sat there watching everyone else get attention while I was treated like I was invisible. When I challenged the manager on the way out, they offered the pathetic excuse that they "thought I was waiting for someone." Why would they assume anything about any customer? If they genuinely thought that, why not simply come over and ask? And even if I was waiting for someone, why couldn't I order a drink while waiting? Who are they to judge customers or make assumptions about what we want? Their job is straightforward: seat customers, take orders, bring what's ordered, and be polite and respectful throughout. Apparently that's too complicated for them. Left and walked 20 meters to the BFI bar instead, where I was able to order at the bar in under a minute - quick, easy, and professional service. Basic customer service really isn't difficult, but this place seems determined to make it complicated. When you can get better service literally next door, there's no reason to put up with this kind of treatment. Would strongly suggest others do the same - save yourself the frustration and go somewhere that actually wants...

I’ve been here a few times now (most recently, March 2025) and have always had a good experience. It’s a bustling restaurant and bar at the top of the National Theatre and is well placed in an area with pretty limited food options beyond bland chains. This is no stuffy theatre restaurant; it’s got its own personality and more often that not I’ve come here for this place alone, rather than pre/apres theatre (which speaks for itself). The food menu is modest but varied and seasonal, with a few staples such as the delicious cauliflower fritti. I’ve never had a bad plate here but there’s almost always one or two stand outs with the rest between good and great. Occasionally, a plate doesn’t really feel much more than the sum of its parts. And the kitchen can sometimes be a bit too liberal with the salt. The wine and cocktail list includes a good mix of classics and more leftfield options. The service is friendly but because it’s typically packed, not always super quick. As with most small plate places, you can quickly rack up the costs but if you stick to the top half of the menu for food and wine, it’s pretty decent value. Bonus point for the late closing time at the weekend (by Central...