The Alchemist Bevis Marks — Restaurant in London

Tonight was our last night in London which was ruined by a horrible, rude waitress. We had come here for a birthday celebration and never expected to be treated so badly. From the start our waitress was not very friendly and was very cold like she did not want to be there. Unfortunately, this continued throughout the night. Food was decent! We all ordered great dishes and drinks and all were good but this experience with the waitress ruined our night. As we were about to pay, the waitress gave us our receipt and came immediately to collect payment. This booking was automatically done as a birthday booking and we had a free dish which I’m assuming she purposely did not remove, and when we told her about it she rolled her eyes to us in front of all of us and was very rude about it. We asked her why she was being rude and she said it was our fault for not saying when we clearly had it on the system, instead of apologising and making amends, she started rudely smirking in all of our faces and charged us full amount for everything from the mistaken bill. We ask for the manager and instead of the manager coming quickly, she then goes to tell all her colleagues in the restaurant what had happened (presumably in her favour) and each time she passed by us would continue to smirk. This behaviour was not any different to us, as we saw her being bland to another couple she was taking payment to with a face of someone that did not want to be there as we experienced the whole period of dining. I don’t know if she was just having a bad day, but there should be no room for this disgusting behaviour in such a place. We waited 20 minutes for a ‘manager’ to sort our bill out after she had taken payment to only be told to call the next day, completely...

The worst service I’ve experienced in London. From the moment we walked in, no one came over to seat us. We noticed a waiter chatting at the bar, clearly uninterested. When he eventually approached, he mumbled something about choosing between the bar or food area — we had to ask him twice because he was so unclear. We chose the bar area and ordered two drinks (Lightbulb and Cherry Bomb).

The drinks were not served at our table — I had to collect them myself from the bar. The signature effects (soap bubble + dry ice) disappeared almost immediately, so we politely asked for thrm to be redone as we wanted to take photos. The same waiter looked dismissive, ignored us, and carried on chatting with colleagues. 10 min passed with no action. When I asked him again, he mumbled dismissively, and when I requested to see the manager, his response was “what for?”.

Eventually, after some back-and-forth, the manager came over. To be fair, the manager was polite, apologetic, and helped recreate the drink effects. However, the damage was already done.

For context: I’ve visited several Alchemist branches and always enjoyed the experience. This was my first time at this location, celebrating my partner’s birthday — and it was deeply disappointing. Instead of the unique, memorable cocktails we expected, we were left frustrated and unsatisfied.

I understand staff can be tired, but dismissive and careless service is unacceptable at a venue positioning itself as a premium bar. No effort was made to compensate us for the poor experience, and sadly, I won’t be returning to this branch unless staff are properly trained in customer service.

Visited at 10pm on 16/09. (The waiter was white, with long hair and tattoos on his arms,...

In over 9 years of scouting London, I received the absolute most impeccable, elegant service I encountered anywhere around the city (pub or restaurant).

It's the only pub/restaurant I frequently visit.

The staff (waiters, managers, hosts) were always incredibly hospitable, kind, welcoming and attentive.

With my utmost pleasure I'd like to send a big shoutout to Mr. Seb, part of Alchemist Team, an absolute gentleman, with a talented eye for customer's tastes, needs and character - even when they don't know what they want, he knows! Always with a real smile on his face and a warm energy. Magic, he is.

Regarding how I'm feeling in the place - treated like a King. Didn't matter if I wore a shirt or my "Possessed" jumper, felt no judgement, service was the same.

Their Menu - I lack imagination and vocabulary to properly describe how much I enjoy the drinks (I only have virgin/alcohol free) and their foods. Absolutely everything screams quality, refinement, class, elegance, fun, creativeness. Everything you eat and drink is an experience, a joy.

The place itself is a piece of art, the music, the artwork on walls, the crowd.

Today I had a starter with pulled beef which blew my mind on how tasty it was and how much beef it had!

Furthermore, I found a card on a table saying they donate £1 for charity from each bill (for a limited time, different charity every year) and also stating that they'll remove it if any customer wishes so. Absolutely heart warming gesture of kindness.

They do have a couple of venues in London. This one has a special place in my heart.

I wish they had an "Alchemist Gym" too but, I guess that's for someone else to get done :).

With gratitude and...