Joe Allen — Restaurant in London

I had been following their social media account for some time and thought their food photos looked delicious. Finally convinced a friend visiting the city to go to a late lunch there and after making a reservation, headed straight over.

We ordered from a set menu to get an idea of the quality of food this restaurant offers. Both ordered the exact same plates: Caprese salad with pesto dressing and an entrée of steak frites.

The Caprese salad arrived with completely unequal portions, one with fat mozzarella slices, one with barely any mozzarella. We sort of laughed it off, but I was feeling rather embarrassed already by bringing a friend there. The pesto dressing wasn't bad.

Then came the steak frites. Both of our meat cuts were so poor and full of gristle, that we couldn't take a proper bite out of any of it. I finally opted to not suffer through such rough cuts and send both dishes back to the kitchen. The manager (I'm assuming) came over and apologised for the meat, said the chef was taking it off the menu (I think, anyway, it's an exceptionally noisy restaurant) to investigate the meat further and would we be open to ordering the sirloin instead? Not if we had to pay the (overpriced) sirloin prices, no. So she offered to give sirloin to us at the price of the set menu, which was a fair gesture, giving us hope that our lunch could be salvaged, after all.

Then we sat and waited, and when the plates finally arrived, our meat cuts were, once again, very poor, full of gristle, and we both felt really cheated out of a simple lunch we expected to get at this restaurant. Very frustrating and disappointing. And let's not forget the additional peppercorn sauce (at an additional charge) that was the equivalent of lukewarm brown water. Yuck!

To top it off, when our bill arrived, we were charged almost the same service charge (automatic 12.5% gratuity added to every bill) as the price of one of our meals! At least, once brought to the server and the manager's attention, the manager removed that overcharge. However, the entire experience of this meal from start to finish left both of us disappointed, STILL hungry, and promising to never return. And myself, rather horrified for having insisted a friend join me at this over-hyped restaurant.

2 stars for the manager/staff trying to be helpful. The rest and the most important - the food - was inedible. Definitely do...

This visit to Joel Allen actually left me feeling a bit sad. I’ve been going to this place for decades (both the old and the new), it was somewhere we would go as a family on special occasions. It was always a bit of an event. So I thought it would be fitting to take my kids there for lunch to celebrate my 50th. Sadly, the magic has gone. Almost everything about this experience was sub-par. Weirdly deserted for a Saturday, the atmosphere I remember was non-existent. The staff were bored and inattentive, got the order wrong, failed to bring out certain courses, left the dessert menus on the table only for us to have to call them over to take our order 25 minutes later. There were only two other tables with customers so it’s not like they were busy. They just weren’t on it. Service used to be a big part of this place. It clearly isn’t anymore. The food was average to poor. The ribs were good, but not great. The once-famed burger was incredibly dry, one of the worst in recent memory. London is crawling with burger joints, one on every corner, and the bar is much higher now. JA’s offering simply ain’t good enough. Did it used to be better or has everyone just blown past them? Probably a bit of both. Either way, this is not somewhere you should come if it’s a burger you want. A small thing: why does one crème brûlée arrive in a little saucepan and one in a dish? It doesn’t look quirky, it just contributes to the sloppy and unprofessional vibe. My daughter has a peanut allergy. We mentioned that at the start. However, the staff (who changed midway through the meal) made no mention of which plate was which when the orders arrived. They clearly didn’t know. Again, they just weren’t on it, and didn’t especially care. Everything has its time I guess, and some things are just better left in the past. Joe Allen is definitely one of those things....

Positives first... the staff in the relocated venue for this previous Covent Garden stalwart are much friendlier than I recall from the old Joe Allen, and pretty efficient too - another uplift cos service could certainly be a bit of a lottery in the old model!

The pianist has been retained, and offers a reassuringly nostalgic musical accompaniment to the general restaurant buzz. The menu too is pretty good, consistent with Joe Allen in recent years, but not a patch on the choice and variation available before the takeover. And the wines are pretty well chosen, and decently priced.

And then some discordant notes... the decor has sort of been reproduced to try and re-create the atmosphere of the old site... but the rooms are half the size, and the atmosphere is more oppressive therefore, with the faux-period decor sadly reminiscent of a well-known pub chain, for all the theatrical memorabilia seeks to leave a different impression. They've even managed to dumb down the toilets... the old site was among the first in London to introduce the fabulous Dyson blow dryers... gone, and we're reduced to tawdry - and thin - paper towels. Not fun.

My ribs were overdone and dry-ish and chewy as a result, with a lack of barbecue sauce... not inedible, but not luscious and fantastic either. The slaw was thin and vinegary. Great fries though. My colleague's meal was good and we'll presented. 50%... could do better.

Overall, this new location seems to be trading on a name it didn't earn, and not bringing much that's new to the party. It was busy though, so... others may well disagree. I wouldn't rush back, but I wouldn't...