Megan's Battersea Power Station — Restaurant in London

We were four people dining at Megan’s Battersea yesterday, and although the food was good, the overall experience was disappointing and unnecessarily complicated.

After being seated for about 15 minutes, we asked to move to another table — the one we had was right in the middle of the restaurant, very close to the bar and in a busy area where staff and customers were constantly passing by. It was also a bit chilly every time the door opened. The restaurant was only about half full at 4:30 pm, so we didn’t think it would be an issue to move to one of the empty tables with sofas further inside.

The waiter went to ask the manager and came back saying it wasn’t possible because the restaurant was “fully booked.” That clearly wasn’t true at that time of day. After insisting again, the manager eventually offered to move us to a table by the window instead of the one with sofas, adding that the table we were sitting at was “everyone’s favourite” — which we found rather odd! He said he’d prepare the new table, but after waiting another 10 minutes, nothing happened. I finally went to the front desk, where another staff member said it was absolutely fine to move and that the restaurant was not fully booked— and we did.

Then came the bill: £200 for four people — during happy hour! We had two starters, four mains, and eight Aperol Spritz. We were charged £59 for the drinks, even though the menu said £6 each, which should have been £48. On top of that, we were served sweet potato fries we never ordered, which we assumed were included as a side, but they weren’t.

We asked twice for clarification, but still didn’t understand how the total reached £200 for what was essentially chicken and chips — hardly luxury ingredients. The happy hour pricing is very misleading, and the whole experience left us feeling confused and overcharged. £50 per person for chicken and fries…honestly…£22.24 for service charge!

The food was tasty, but service and transparency really let the experience down. I have been a very happy and fan costumer for years of this chain (Dulwich and Battersea mainly) but the last two experiences I’ve had have...

Saturday evening at 7pm we walk up to the busy restaurant and ask if there's a table for 4. We get told 30 minute wait, which is fine so we was told to wait in their outdoor seating (it's 4°c outside, but it's only a 30 min wait so we're more than happy to wait).

30 minutes go by and we're hoping to be let in, but no dice. We then have the same waitress come out and apologise for the wait, but they now offer us drinks! Result!! This must mean we're getting our seats soon right?

Drinks come and go, and we're outside for 50 minutes at this point in the cold. It's too late for us to leave because we'll have to wait to get in somewhere else, but it's also 50 minutes and we're hungry and freezing.

An hour and 10 minutes go past, so I go in and ask to speak to a very nice but (understandably very stressed) manager. I told them we was told 30 minutes, and she didn't look too happy that we was told that. She assured us she'll get us a table in the next five minutes, which we actually did (big up the blonde manager woman, you was keeping that sinking ship afloat)

8:45pm is when we placed our food order. Completely unacceptable. If you do not have a table, DO NOT SAY 30 MINUTES WAIT!! it ruined our evening plans with friends we hardly see. If it's an hour wait just say so, so we can move on and find a less busy place!!!!

Soosan was our waitress for the evening and she was absolutely fantastic. A credit to you all. Very attentive and just all round lovely. Service would be a 5 if we just had Soosan for the evening. Food came out very quickly, and it was nice! I'd return for the food for sure, but the wait and miscommunication absolutely ruined the experience. More than happy to give it another go, and we will be booking in advance!!!!

(on another note, there was a lot of angry people in the restaurant. Notably a large table of 12 who was making a very loud fuss about the bad service/food taking long to come out. The vibes were not great...

very disappointed in Megans. On Saturday we were waiting for a table outside, the hostess came to us and explained that they were just cleaning a table for us and we'd be seated shortly. We were excited to be eating there.

fast forward 5 minutes, the second the table was cleared - other guests that already had a table in the outside area decided to move to our table. Which was annoying, but i shrugged it off. The hostess came back out from the restaurant confused as she hadn't sat them or agreed to move them. We said it's fine, we'll just take their table. As she went to welcome us, the manager came rushing out and said he is making the decision to not serve food to any more outside tables.

I explained to him we've been waiting almost 10 minutes now and how our table was stolen by guests he already had on another table. He did not care about this and kept telling me he has to make an executive decision to protect his staff, because tables outside are already waiting an hour for food. he did offer to sit us inside, but it was a nice day and there was more of a vibe outside.

This was frustrating, considering we'd been waiting and he made the decision after we technically got a table.

One thing i couldn't quite understand is what difference it would of made if we sat inside or outside in terms of getting served food. Either way the food comes from the same kitchen and the same chef. So us sitting outside would not of made any difference and we would of been fine waiting.

We did get into a bit of a heated argument, and i decided to call it a day and find somewhere else to eat.

The situation should have been rectified by allowing us to still sit outside and making his executive decision to stop serving tables after ours, considering we were the only ones waiting.

the staff member wasn't rude and did explain, and i don't believe this is his fault, but i do think Megans needs to re-evaluate this scenario and come up with a...