Mare Street Market Hackney — Restaurant in London

DO NOT BOOK YOUR IMPORTANT EVENINGS THERE

I booked a table for 15 people on my 30th birthday there and they completely ruined it… For the first time I decided to book a table somewhere and celebrate my birthday with a group of friends, I thought it would be a perfect spot looking at the pictures and the overall vibe of Mare Street Market. My reservation slot was from 21-23, I was waiting for my guests who were outside, there was a massive queue as they closed the back entrance and the waitress came out with me to bring them in… To my surprise the bouncer (with honestly god complex, extremely rude attitude) said he won’t let them in regardless the reservation as they’re in full capacity and that everyone in the +/- 100 people queue will only get in one by one if someone will be leaving the venue. I asked to speak with the manager (blonde long hair guy) the bouncer told me he wants to speak to him first on the side which I refused, the manager would also turn out to be extremely unhelpful and just simply showing rude anti attitude saying stuff like “your guests should’ve come on time”, LIKE… WHAT?? They were on TIME, they’ve been waiting outside!! By the time they would let all my guests in it would’ve been way past my reservation slot. What’s the point of taking bookings for a specific amount of people? What’s the point of taking bookings at all?? It’s logical to assume that these people would be in there within the time slot if the booking wasn’t cancelled! Or at least inform about it so your clients don’t have to face such situations! Poor organisation and rude approach to the client - in the end of the day I’ve made an effort to call, email and book the table, I want to spend money at your venue and you come with absolute dogshi** approach. Even the waitress apologized and said it’s embarrassing, the other staff member said they could’ve done something if they were informed a bit earlier (still more helpful and polite than the rude manager I spoke to). They’ve “kindly” let me get back in to take my stuff, I even showed the manager guy my big 15 people empty table in the outside area but nothing. Honestly this place is a mess, ruined my birthday… I’m not familiar with east London like that, was left outside with a group of 14 people. Luckily my friend spotted the Martello Hall on the other side of the street which manager was way more helpful and managed to organize us some tables and it saved my evening otherwise I wouldn’t really know...

This was an overwhelmingly awful experience from start to finish.

As a big fan of the OG site in London Fields, I was excited to visit the new store and see how it compared.

I visited with 5 friends for drinks and dinner. Immediately, it was very unclear whether they had table service or we were to order at the bar. There were a few waiters bumbling around but after 20 minutes or so of waiting, we decided to order at the bar.

We ordered 6 main meals with the staff at the bar and then returned to our seats. After around 50 minutes, our food arrived. I am gluten free and vegetarian and ordered the red onion and mushroom pizza on a gluten free base. I must say - it was one of the worst pizzas I have had. Firstly, I did not realise the cheese was vegan (usually this comes as substitute rather than standard), it was so wet that I couldn’t even hold the slice, and the red onion was so overpowering. I sent it back and requested for a gluten free Margherita as the one they sent was inedible. At this point, my friend had also not received her pizza so we flagged it to a member of staff and they told her it was on its way.

20 minutes later, we are told that my friend’s pizza had not even been ordered! Quite laughable as we actually had to order twice with the guy at the bar as his till broke! The wait continues. Another 25 minutes later, our pizzas arrived. My friend’s was as she ordered but I am sent a regular (non gluten free) version of the pizza I complained about! The waiter then came out to ask us what the issue was and claimed that I did not order a gluten free Margherita! He also asked why they would send a gluten free pizza when my original pizza was not gluten free! Not only was this incorrect, but it was completely rude and confrontational. In the end, after 2 hours and 20 minutes, I received the gluten free margherita that I asked for.

An awful lot of work needs to be done here to bring it up to scratch. A real shame to see an East London institution stoop...

I was treated appallingly here by some of the staff, they were HORRIBLE to me. I was completely sober and there to see some friends and have soft drinks as usual, this was on Thurs 7th August: . Before I could get some water which I had asked for as well as a soft drink, I fainted at the bar and fell to the floor: My friends put me in recovery position. I was out for about a minute and finally came round and felt confused and scared, it was a real shock and has never happened to me before. It was a very hot day and I was quite dehydrated but still it was a very extreme thing to happen. My friends had got me some tap water and sat me at the table next to the bar to figure out if I was ok and to give me some water. Two members of staff came over straight away and instead of asking if I was ok asked me to ‘leave immediately for health and safety reasons’. The way they rushed me out was absolutely horrendous. I had only just come round, I didn’t understand what had happened, I was desperate to drink some water and the staff were asking me to get out straight away.!I was a sober customer not causing any trouble but was clearly not ok and I needed to drink water and sit for a moment. I don’t know if these people assumed I was or something which was absolutely not the case, but they were horrible to me. It was 10.30pm and they were rushing a girl who was very ill out onto the street with no water having fainted and clearly very unwell and made me feel like I had done something wrong. These members of staff that night were horrendous and very cruel to me when I was vulnerable and not ok and I will...