Sarto Lounge — Restaurant in London

I have been to other Lounge branches but I was highly disappointed and will not be returning to the Sidcup branch.

During the Easter break there was a notice saying there was free buffet breakfast for kids between 9-11am. I decided to take my son on the Friday at 9 so he could have a hot meal before a 2hr test, he was doing at 9.30am in Sidcup.

We arrived a little early so waited for opening which was the beginning of our poor experience.

The staff member twisted the lock but walked away and continued a job behind the till, which made it still looked closed. He did not open the door, or welcome us in to let us know they were now open. Once inside I asked about the breakfast as it was now 9.05am and nothing was set or laid out for breakfast. He said we are doing pancakes only with fruit today no hot breakfast.

When I mentioned what the sign had said he told me "you don't get free food anywhere else, and this is what the chef has said he's doing. We can't waste food doing a breakfast everyday!" I found this response rather rude.

I asked for a manager and he was apparently in charge. I told him about my son (9) and specifically bringing him for breakfast as a treat before his test, so the staff member reluctantly offered a choice of the menu.

We chose the kids lounge breakfast but wish we had left. The food came out after 20mins, and the bacon was rock solid and the beans stone cold. My son was late for his test and was given substandard food.

I am really upset with this interaction and in our time there, no pancakes were served to other guests that had arrived, and a pot of strawberries was cut up and left on the side.

Really poor first experience at this branch and will most likely...

We visited here for lunch, have been to the one in Orpington many times and love it there so was excited to try out this new place in Sidcup. Sadly it was a disappointing visit, this was due to our food. We ordered two lounge burgers and one vegan burger, when the food came we were told they weren’t sure which was the vegan one so they went to check with the chef. They said the one with cheese on it was the vegan one, but all three burgers had cheese on it so this wasn’t helped. Our waitress then took the burgers back to the chef for him to double check which one was vegan. They brought the burgers back and said we think it’s this one that’s vegan. At that point we didn’t trust that the burger was vegan or not, our waitress Rebecca kindly offered to have a fresh burger made and would refund us for the burger and our drinks for the inconvenience of the service.

This sadly ruined our experience, have never had this issue at other lounges as they have ‘vegan’ flags in the food, so it was made to feel like it wasn’t taken seriously and it was our problem because of ordering a vegan item rather than meat. Especially as they specifically have a vegan menu to order from so why offer this if it can’t be confirmed that it’s vegan.

I know it hasn’t been open for long so hopefully this will be something that can be rectified, but there are other issues as they don’t seem to have enough staff. You have people waiting to be seated at the ‘wait here’ sign and then leaving as no one has come to seat them. I think I’ll be delaying another visit here while it’s...

Food: All I had was a chicken salad, but it was highly enjoyable. No complaints!

Atmosphere: The decor is lovely, and in general it's a nice feel for a lunch or coffee with friends, but I wouldn't take a date here for the next reason.

Service: Upon arrival all guests are told that there's no table service, that you can either order at the bar or via QR code at your table. The waiter who served me was nice enough, but who I assume was the manager was somewhat condescending and the whole time did nothing but stand around on his phone. When I went up to ask for water he just pointed to it - it was by the entrance, which naturally I overlooked. Personally, I don't like this new age do-it-yourself attitude to hospitality, and the only thing that made up for it was the young waiter's friendly attitude.

A nice place with great potential, but I have a suspicion Sarto won't be...