The Blues Kitchen Shoreditch — Restaurant in London

Blues Brothers certainly Shakes a Tail Feather !!

I am in my 60s, my partner is very much younger so occasionally we go to loud bars and sometimes out for a relaxing meal somewhere. Last night we booked a 9.15 table for dinner and several drinks... and was delighted to get a table near the bar ... The atmosphere was lively and friendly, customers very well behaved and smart casual.. Staff were very friendly, attentive, efficient and polite... This was likely the busiest time of the night, there was a queue outside (so imperative to book), yet staff were easily on hand and extremely well trained ! Ok, I will show my age here... This was as close to 1990's New York or Chicago as is possible in London. The restaurant is superbly designed and has the MASSIVE advantage of acoustic ceilings throughout so crowd noise isnt oppressive and the music can be heard in detail throughout rather than just the oppressive mononous thumping experienced elsewhere! While we are on about the music, lets go into detail. The playlist was a mix of Blues, Jazz and Funk. Exciting buzz about the place ... Then a live band struck up on the other side of the bar,... I couldnt see much from our seats, but WOW! They were excellent !! The delicious Margueritas were served with an optional ( but vital ) salty rim and really hit the spot.. Lets talk food: Places like this usually concentrate on selling drinks and the food is passable at best ... BLUES KITCHEN BREAKS THE MOLD!! My partner had the TacoBowl salad with avocado and prawns. I had the Pork belly rib.... The salad looked amazing and came with fries... my pork was probably THE BEST PORK I have ever had outside Andalucia !! The softness, flavour, and sticky sauce were exceptional ( not fatty at all !) It came with slaw salad with fries as an extra. Portion sizes were generous and the cost was more than reasonable.. Service was attentive and a couple of times staff checked to see if everything was to our satisfaction...It certainly was !! Because we were a late booking, they didnt rush us away from the table and we were able to eat slowly and enjoy the cocktails, the music and the atmosphere... When staff cleared the table they suggested we slide along to the adjacent table and enjoy our drinks with a better view of the band ! Pricewise: I think the two meals with sides and 4 margueritas came to under £60... We also had marguerita while waiting for the table to be vacated... Around 11.30pm we decided to visit the Tequilla Bar downstairs.... AGAIN ! Amazing design and decor... very friendly bar staff and clientele. Superb !! 2 Shots each of their Cascabel Tequila Blanco and we were back on the street waiting for an Uber home.

This was one of the best nights out in London for a very long time! Full marks to the chefs but the real award goes to the happy smiling and efficient staff, the number of staff and their training ! ... I am sure this will be a regular haunt for us...

My husband loved it as...

Started off really nice, the waitress Isabella was quite sweet to start with. The food was decent, but not large portion’s, however the issue came when the bill was brought to the table.

The lunch menu stated that it was 10£ for any of the lunch sandwiches + a drink, so we went with that option, but didn’t feel like taking a soda.

We ended up getting a bill with 14.5£ and 13.95£ for both of our sandwiches which was surprising and when we asked, she just said “oh, it’s only if you take a drink” I asked how was I supposed to know as there is no other price on the menu and the waitress answered “well next time you know” On top of it at the beginning I misread the menu and was asking her why the main dishes are cheaper than the starters, we legit had like a 10minute conversation and not once did she mention it was not 5.95£ but 15.95£. I even told her I will take a second main if it’s so cheap that’s crazy. And she just watched me order it and said nothing. She had so many chances to just help me out. I can’t even assume it is a language barrier as we are in the UK and English is my first language 😅

We walked up and talked to a group of staff and politely said that it sucks that they didn’t let us know the price…( I’ll take a drink and not drink it if it makes my dish 4.5£ cheaper smh. )

They said that there is no manager in the building to give the code in the machine for a refund. I told them to call them on the phone then. They said oh we cannot give your card details due to GDPR on the phone. I told them you don’t need my card info to issue a refund on the card machine. They went to the back and came back and said they can issue a partial refund.

To my surprise a guy walks in and says he is here for an interview with Jason (might have been a different name) and the dude I was just talking to says, “oh the general manager? Just take a seat he will be with you in a bit”

So you just lied to my face about no manager being in the building? Idk seems sus.

Anyways I told the waitress girl that everything is fine I don’t want her to have a bad day, no bad blood. She just completely ignored me and I assume refused to take responsibility for our interaction and lack of information she provided.

Overall the ending made it a negative experience with how the staff handled the entire situation. Remember this is an establishment and there should be polices of how you handle things.

I added the menu, check it out there is no other pricing for the sandwiches, only 10£ + an upgrade for 2£ which is still cheaper than what they originally asked us to pay…

Please be...

I visited this establishment in November 2024 as part of a medium sized group for a birthday party on a weekday evening.

Live Music While this is a restaurant with a bar, the key attraction is the live blues music. It is worth going just for that even if you do not sit down and eat. My suggestion is that if you do want to enjoy the music, rather than sitting at the diner style restaurant area (situated to the left as you enter), you instead go and sit at the tables view a view to the music stage (situated on the right as you enter). For those of you who have been in New Orleans and the State of Louisiana you will get those southern vibes.

Food The food is adequate and competitively priced for what you get. That said, the key attraction is the music. Vegan and vegetarian options are available and the chef is happy to accommodate removing ingredients from dishes to make them vegan. Also there is a vegan burger option.

Service The service is quite good and above average for post pandemic customer service standards. The waiters are very helpful and get your order and food out quickly. One thing to bear in mind and adjust your expectations is that this is a very popular place with an almost unique music offering in London and as such when you book a table for 2 hours they mean it. If you want a place where you will occupy a seat for hours, you are better off sitting for a drink near the stage. Worth noting is that the stuff are happy to split the bill for you without you having to do the calculations for them which makes thing easy and straightforward. For birthday occasions bear in mind that the chef does not keep cakes overnight at the kitchen, so any birthday cakes have to be brought when you arrive.

Value The prices are competitive and are reasonable enough if you like the music to be good value for money to visit once a month.

Atmosphere As mentioned above if you like blues music this is the place for you. While the restaurant occupies most of the premises, the real value is by the bar and the...