LEON Horseferry — Restaurant in London

POOR HYGIENE AND BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE. See below a short video of flies crawling in and out of their food item, this particular item is their “Better Brownie”.

This restaurant chains food hygiene, and management is terrible. Flies sitting on cakes that are displayed out in the open, and when asked if I can have a brownie from a sealed packet, where it hasn’t been exposed to insects, I was refused on the basis of wastage. They expect you to purchase and eat food that has had flies crawling on it. I offered to buy two of the brownies, as they come in packs of two, and they still refused, saying: they have to sell the ones that are out in the open first. The food and menu quality of this restaurant chain has been gradually declining. The restaurant chains management don’t seem to care about customer satisfaction, just sales. Most of their staff are international student on visa’s, so the management get away with improper and unethical treatment. Without proper management, any business will start to decline.

Update: 23/07/2025:

I’ve been a customer of this restaurant chain since the business began. However, despite raising reasonable and valid concerns with their management, the quality of their food and menu has steadily declined over the past few years. The prices are extortionate, and the service is often dismal. The management, particularly Lee and his colleagues, are responsible for this downward trend, with their lack of customer care.

The Horseferry Road restaurant had a fly infestation. After several informal complaints, management took action by covering exposed food items like cakes and cookies. However, they stopped covering the dessert items after a while. When I raised this issue with management, they didn’t care. I reported them to the relevant authority, and they instructed their staff to stop serving me, without a valid reason, except that I raised concerns about food hygiene. I even emailed management several times, Lee and his colleagues for an explanation, but they provided no response. The staff at the restaurant just say that they’ve been instructed by management not to serve me. This is not the way to...

Leon and a breakfast in St John’s Gardens.

On the move and want a quick vegan breakfast with a nice view - grab something from Leon on Horseferry and within 2 mins you’re in the tranquil St John’s Gardens.

Leon don’t have a huge choice for vegans (much more for veggies) but there is porridge, a few other sweet options and vegan sausage sourdough muffin.

Ordering is really quick on the touchscreens, as with every conceivable option available and it will email you the receipt too.

I ordered the vegan sausage sourdough muffin, hash browns with a vegan garlic alioli, oat milk latte and vegan pecan and maple oat cookie. It took 4 mins to arrive and with 5 mins of ordering I was sat in the gardens in peace.

Muffin was tasty with spinach and a tangy sauce so not dry at all. 4 moon shaped hash browns were not greasy and delish in the garlic alioli. The cookie and coffee rounded it off nice and I’m ready for my day - calm and full.

(If it’s raining or cold...

They have put in new automated screens. Today when I went in, I was told to order there, not asked but TOLD. A person behind me was also TOLD the same way. When he said he had difficulty with it, the girl at the counter did not say you can order with her but went to him and put his order in on the self serve. I could clearly see also the screens are not wiped down between each customer, this objects others use is a big cause of cross infection. I stood at the counter side where the seating is normally staff will then ask are you sitting in and place it there or often bring to the table but instead of placing it there, the girl placed it at the far end. I have been to Leon a few times and the service has always been polite, and I have never seen this person, but she was not polite and it seemed like the customers were just an inconvenience. I gave 2 stars for the awful customer service. It has put me off going there, I hope the regular...