The Last Talisman | Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in London

The venue is relatively new which is why I can understand that it may be going through 'growing pains,' however, I was very underwhelmed and severely disappointed while celebrating my birthday at this venue.

As I had a large party (18 individuals), I appreciate that there will be some level of noise and pain whilst ordering / splitting the bill. Therefore, I understood when I was requested to pre-order a week in advance for all members of my party. Each individual clicked a link, typed in their names and ordered for themselves. The final order was then submitted with all of the allocated orders (including notes re. allergies and food intolerances) to the venue.

The night of, orders started to appear at our table and ultimate chaos ensued. The staff had no knowledge of which guest had ordered what food. Given that we were requested to pre-order our food a week in advance, none of the guests could sharply remember exactly what they had ordered. Therefore, I spent my birthday dinner with my phone glued to one hand, reading out the order that arrived to the table, comparing it with my e-mail confirmation of food booking and then passing the dish along to my guest. Instead of being able to actually enjoy my birthday dinner and the company of my guests, I had to allocate the 5-6 dishes which were ordered per each guest (18 in total)! Having had enough, I asked if they had the original order and if the staff were able to give me a break from my shift of waitressing and the staff unhelpfully told me that they simply didn't know how to manage the situation.

What worries me about this situation is that I have two friends at the table who had severe food intolerances. One has coeliacs and the other has a severe nut allergy which was all indicated as part of the pre-order. Judging by the way the venue handled the serving of the food it was clear that they were being inherently negligent and not providing due care to ensure that my friends with severe intolerances were not served the incorrect food.

After raising this again, I was finally able to speak to the manager. I must take pause here and commend the manager for he was very understanding and helpful of the situation. It turns out, there was a list of orders all along and the servers were able to shout out the names of the food orders which helped the rest of the dinner carry-on smoothly. I just wish this had happened before the bulk of the orders had to be served by myself, but better late than never! The manager also kindly provided tequila shots for my party which was a thoughtful gesture, although I would rather happily have preferred a functioning service staff instead. The manager also promised that our final bill would be split and allocated to the individuals who ordered the food.

However, we just received one total bill. On top of that, there were items that we DID NOT ORDER added to the total bill. When I asked the server that I was promised a split out bill, the server was mostly unhelpful and said he could not do so. I had to call the manager again (yay another fun birthday surprise) to escalate. Luckily, my partner stepped in and figured out the correct bill items, but the venue still cheekily felt justified to a 17.5% service charge (jokes).

What was supposed to be a lovely birthday evening with my friends turned into an absolute nightmare. I would not recommend those with large parties to book with this venue. Perhaps, as I mentioned earlier, they are a new venue so they will firm up on being able to deliver basic service in the future, but I will not be recommending this venue to anyone in the interim. What a disappointment, which could have easily been avoided with some common sense and care for the...

My partner and I had high hopes for a magical New Year's Eve celebration at The Last Talisman in London Bridge, having booked the silver package for the occasion. However, our evening was far from the enchanting experience we anticipated; instead, it turned out to be a series of disappointments that ultimately left us regretting our choice.

The first misstep occurred as we were left unattended for a frustrating 15 minutes before receiving any acknowledgment from the staff. After finally requesting a welcome cocktail, the drinks arrived with a taste so repulsive it resembled smoked meat – a sentiment apparently shared by the neighboring tables, as evidenced by their untouched beverages. Though we managed to have it replaced upon request, the initial impression had already set a negative tone for the evening.

The culinary aspect, while decent, was marred by a rushed and poorly coordinated service. The three-course meal was served in quick succession, denying us the opportunity to savour each course and leaving us finished by 9:30 pm, far from the midnight experience we had envisioned. The steak I ordered, served blue without enquiry about my preference, was not only challenging to eat with chopsticks but also disappointingly chewy. It was sent back, resulting in cold side dishes and a disjointed meal with my partner finishing his duck before my corrected steak arrived.

Service continued to disappoint as we had to actively seek out waitstaff to take our drink orders. Our chosen expensive red wine, meant to complement our main courses, was unceremoniously placed on our table with empty glasses, without any customary tasting or proper serving by the staff. This lack of attention to detail diminished the overall dining experience.

The promised "magic show" turned out to be a brief and underwhelming affair, consisting of only three successful tricks (out of a total of four) in a cramped basement room that lasted a mere 15 minutes.

Returning to our tables, we discovered the kitchen lights were turned off, signaling an unexpected end to the evening's ambiance. To our astonishment, at 11 pm, a waitress presented us with the bill, informed us our account was closed, and sked us to finish our night in the overcrowded bar area, despite the package we had booked was scheduled until 2pm.

Adding insult to injury, a discretionary service charge of £10 per head was included in the bill. While the surrounding tables voiced their dissatisfaction, we reluctantly paid – an unfortunate end to an evening that had already fallen short of expectations. The whole experience left us so disgruntled that we headed home before midnight and we never enjoyed the "bubbles for midnight" we were initially promised. Instead we celebrated the twelve strikes of midnight in an empty central line tube carriage.

In conclusion, our experience at The Last Talisman was a costly letdown, with a combination of subpar service, rushed dining, and unmet promises. At a total cost of over £250, we can't help but feel cheated, and I, for one, won't be easily fooled...

This was the worst bar I have ever been to. AVOID! Service is just terrible. I have been in many places with different price ranges and standards in my life but this is definitely THE WORST. After nice dinner we decided to go for cocktails as usual to Bermondsey Street. We decided we will try this bar as have never been before and we are locals. No one came to the table so I went to the bar and ordered 2 drinks from the menu. I said I will wait at my table ( near the bar) but lady said I need to pay and there is self service. And then she started making cocktails…… never saw something like that. Starter throwing lots of mint leaves to my partners cocktail and clearly she had no clue what she is doing. Then she started making my ‘smoky cherry negroni’. She got a ready drink and poor it to lots of ice and started talking with other customer. At the end she poured it to small class and lots of small ice cubes and put straw into that negroni . I asked if they she can make it just normal fresh negroni. She said there is no time for that !!!! ( no customers around ordering, empty bar). Then I asked if I can have it in normal negroni glass. She got upset and throw at me empty class so I can poor it myself…. It was just so terrible behaviour and I have no idea why I just didn’t cancel this order. Had to take ice out with my hands and poor this little ready liquid to other glass. So disrespectful. The actual ready drink was almost nothing and I took drinks to the table. Of course they put service charge ( for me ordering and carrying and pouring my drinks). We tried these ‘ cocktails’ and it was just terrible. I said to my partner I don’t even want to try to finish that and he felt the same , so we left full glasses. Waitress came to me and said ‘thank you you enjoyed your drinks’!! I said can’t you see we didn’t even drink it ? We left . No service , no reaction for bad cocktails. All this pleasure for 26 £ with lowest quality possible. I should just ask for refund. I will warn friends who live locally to avoid this place. Owners and employees should come and visit a bar few metres away to check what bar looks like. Never have been to such unprofessional and...