Hoppers Marylebone — Restaurant in London

I walked into this restaurant with my Sri Lankan family members who were visiting London a few weeks ago. They travelled from Australia and we wanted to have a Sri Lankan meal and had high expectation cos of their reputation online. So I recommended it for my family but it didn’t take that long for us to regret of our decision.

Here’s a snapshot of our experience.

Welcome The guy at the reception not even greeted us. He hardly made an eye contact and not engaged with us at all. He allocated a table for 5 of us and spoke with another person to take us to the table. I should have decided to leave the restaurant at this point. I regret for not doing it.

Seating They allocated a table (2 tables use for 2 individuals were out together) for 5 of us where there were no room to sit comfortably or to enjoy the meal. When we asked for a change, we were taken to another area where they had a slightly a bigger table but no leg space for 3 adults to sit in the corner. There were more space available by this time so they could have moved us. Someone like a manager, a Sri Lankan looking female came with an attitude and moved the table to make room. She didn’t apologise or said a word. No eye contact and we felt like they didn’t want us there. At this point I asked to cancel the order (placed about 15 minutes ago) but we were told the meal is ready. Obviously there wasn’t enough time to cook a fresh meal or even to warm up the food.

Customer service I felt that the staff never no clue what customer service my opinion. It was evident that they didn’t have passion in what they were doing and wasn’t enjoying working there.

Portion size, taste and quality of food The portion size of curry dishes was so tiny for £11. The dishes were warm but the food was cold. Chicken dish had 2 very small pieces. The fish dish had 2 piece on belly side and one more tiny piece. No plain rice was served. Taste of food was ok. It wasn’t authentic. It was done to cater European taste.

In summary, I have never experienced such a terrible attitude and unwelcoming restaurant at any place not just in London where I live or anywhere I travelled. I’m not sure whether it was a racist reaction since we were Sri Lankans or whether that’s usual behaviour of the staff. I will not step into this restaurant ever again and would not recommend it to anyone who want to feel they are welcomed, able to enjoy their time over a meal, have warm freshly cooked meal that’s get value for money. This place won’t deliver them but there are plenty other places that do...

We visit London fairly often, and since we first tried Hoppers back in 2022, we have always returned to this location for what is seriously the best Sri Lankan food we have ever tasted, and its not even close. Take it from someone who currently lives in South East Asia.

The food is absolutely excellent, the Buriani is some of the best I've ever had, and everything makes my mouth water. Even typing this review at midnight in Hamburg makes me crave Hoppers again.

The service is typically spectacular, but I would like to bring up my recent experience where we came back to Hoppers (2nd dinner in a row here), and were seated at the bar. We had the lovely opportunity to chat with the new barman at the Marylebone restaurant, Valentino. He was absolutely lovely, and he really helped make the meal even more enjoyable. He shared some experiences with us, giving us some colour as to the dishes we are eating, and at the same time, shared that he was a fairly new hire and that he was thoroughly enjoying his time working with Hoppers.

Seeing that the staff are happy working at the restaurant makes us love it even more. Happy staff convey a happy in-store environment, and customers like us can be rest assured knowing that the restaurants and establishments we love are built on a solid, human-centric foundation.

We already love Hoppers more than any other restaurant in London, however, an evening of my wife and I chatting with Valentino has helped that love ascend to new heights. I have tried to find a way to email the Hoppers management and inform them of the amazing experience we have had, but I could not find a way to do so. I can only hope that they are watching these reviews, and can recognise Valentino for the fine work he is putting in to set customers at their ease.

Thank you again for the absolutely amazing times! We are already planning our next visit back! Til then, we'll be cooking the Buriani detailed in the...

We recently dined at Hopper’s Restaurant in Melbourne with high expectations, eager to enjoy a great meal with friends and family. While the food was absolutely amazing and deserves appreciation—kudos to the chef for their incredible talent—the overall experience was ruined by the unprofessional service from the floor staff.

From the moment we arrived, we felt rushed. Despite having a reservation, we were informed that we had only 1 hour and 45 minutes to finish our meal, including ordering time. This put unnecessary pressure on us, making it difficult to decide what to order, and ultimately prevented us from trying more dishes.

They didn’t even give us a minimum of 10 minutes to finish our starters before rushing to bring the main courses. Because of their hurried behavior, we were left with no choice but to take some of our food as takeaway. This was incredibly disappointing and stressful, completely ruining the dining experience.

The service itself was chaotic. Staff hurried us through our meal, to the point where we were confused about which dishes were starters and which were mains. One staff member even began clearing plates before we had finished eating, without asking for permission.

When we politely expressed our concerns to the waitress taking our order, she accused us of being rude. To make matters worse, she allegedly spoke negatively about us to people we know, falsely claiming we lacked restaurant experience and were "showing off." This was deeply insulting us and entirely unprofessional behaviour.

We genuinely hope the restaurant management takes this feedback seriously and invests in proper training for their staff. We visited with the intention of enjoying a wonderful evening, but instead, we left feeling disappointed and disrespected.

Spending £200 felt completely worthless due to the staff's...