Lusitania — Restaurant in London

I visited Lusitania today with few friends to celebrate my b-day that I couldn't celebrate before, due to the ongoing pandemic.

We arrived at the restaurant at 8 pm and the staff was very accommodating to find us a table, considering we didn't make a reservation on a Saturday evening.

Marcio was our server at the beginning. He shows to be super polite and professional, unfortunately, the first impression was completely wrong.

We did order drinks and food all at the same time after almost 30 mins that we have been allocated to our table; placing the order was a challenge: nobody was coming to us even though my friends were waiving and calling the waiters for a very long time. You may say that it was Saturday night and the restaurant may have been super busy... well no! There were only a few tables inside and 3 waiters plus a bar lady, definitely not understaffed.

20 mins after having placed our orders we still have not received drinks and starters, therefore we asked and, apparently, nobody was aware of our orders; a nice lady I reckon her name was Rita, finally came to our table to sort out all this mess asking again what did we order and finally after few minutes we had received our drinks. To pour one pint and two glasses of wine with 1/3 of the restaurant and outdoor area empty cannot take 25 mins.

Our food finally arrived and guess what??? it was wrong and what was "correct" from the menu wasn't reflecting at all the description. We did pay £32.00 for an average Seafood risotto advertised as Lobster rice: there were only 2 small pieces of lobster and lots of shells, definitely not worth the price. We have also ordered a mixed platter of grilled meat that was meant to be medium rare and it came completely dry and overcooked, the small piece of sirloin was inedible, the chicken super dry and even the small piece of sausage was overcooked. My friend ordered grilled pork belly and he did receive a completely wrong dish, something with meat, clams and fries, all together. Marcio has blamed the kitchen saying that they made a mistake but once he dropped the bill we did realize he processed the wrong order. He has no apologies for the mess and the terrible service provided.

I do manage several places in the same industry and I do help new and existing businesses to grow, but in regards to Lusitania, the only thing I can say is that they really need to start again from scratch.

I don't really like leaving bad reviews but the owner and the management should really do something.

The location is amazing but the food, the terrible service and the poor management will drag...

Booked a table for a friend and I for 8pm, 22/05/21. We arrived on the dot but there was no table available for us so we were asked to wait on the side. 20 minutes later they brought a wet table from outside which wasn't properly wiped down or covered as it had been raining that evening. I am disabled and use a wheelchair to mobilise. I was very cold because I was placed at the very back by the door leading to the outside eating area. It is now 20:50 and no one has come to us regarding food or drinks, so my friend once again went to see the manager for a third time regarding the poor service. A very resilient and arrogant manager told him someone would come to serve us soon. Eventually a waiter got our order at 20:55. Then the manager came to complain to us that the reason they didn't have a table ready was because we didn't reserve one, but I did reserve it 6 days earlier on QUANDOO website for witch I showed him on my mobile phone. At 21:45 the starters finally arrived and did not look appetising at all so we decided to wait for the main course witch arrived at 22:05 and again did not look appetising so we called the manager over to our table and told him we were leaving as we no longer had confidence in the service or food. I told him that I was very disappointed with the service and would be making a complaint to the owner which also owns a wholesale company called (Atlantico), and that I knew the owner. At this point the manager became sarcastic and arrogant towards myself and my friend that happens to be a Lambeth councillor and my neighbour for over 16 years. I invited my friend to this restaurant because I was a regular here. Last time I was at this restaurant was back in 2019 with a party of 17 and was very pleased with the service and food back then. Hadn't been here since due to the pandemic and my health issues. Now it is awful to say the least. I WILL NOT BE BACK UNDER THIS MANAGEMENT and DO NOT RECOMMEND this place to anyone. Please take your...

I went on a Friday night for a friend's special bday! She told me there is live music and dancing so I was quite excited. Now I should say that maybe the Saturday is better/different with the atmosphere as frankly there were zero vibes here except for what we were creating at our table. The staff are absolutely lovely though, so friendly and the food was pretty good/tasty. I had rump steak with the black beans... dessert was coconut cake - delish! So that's why it was a shame that there was no personality to the place, and the singer came on at 11pmish but he was barely audible, we didn't know he was singing until I went to the toilet and saw him with my own eyes! Singer lacked personality, or even a sense of emotion whilst singing songs like Mas Que Nada. Actually a bit of trivia here, I once interviewed the late great Sergio Mendes in Rio, and this guy was so full of energy and party vibes even at over 70 years old! Anyway, my point is Portuguese people have such warmth and a zest for life (in my experience), this singer just looked bored. Was he having a bad day? Guess will never know.

Perhaps it's worth checking out this place on a Saturday night instead? It might have a better atmosphere and music to enjoy - one of the friends mentioned she once went to Lusitania on a Saturday night and the music was good. The choice is yours. The restaurant is easy to get to whether by tube Nine Elms is closest or bus 196 from Vauxhall stn bus stop G and bus 196, stop M Landsdowne it's about 3 or 4 stops from Vauxhall and less than 5 mins walk to...