The Sail Loft, Greenwich — Restaurant in London

Life as a London Venue finder is certainly busy, but who says work can’t be fun? Mr Flavour and I do love a good research trip and decided to check out some riverside spots. With the chilly winter breeze nipping at our noses, we hopped on a boat to Greenwich for an afternoon of discovery and indulgence.

We picked the right day for a jaunt down the river. The Greenwich Christmas market was in full swing and Mr Flavour proved his Hunter-Gatherer status by grabbing us some warming mulled wine. We strolled along the riverfront to the pleasing tones of the Christmas Choir. Up ahead we spied the Sail Loft. This magnificent venue sits on two floors, with huge glass windows offering splendid views of the City, Canary Wharf, The 02 Arena and the mighty Thames. The interior is fittingly decorated to reflect the Maritime history of the local area. Ship-shape with lacquered woods and rigging rope, this grand and airy space invoked memories of summer holidays by the seaside, even if it was too cold to sit outside. We dropped anchor at the bar, crewed by the cheeriest of bar staff who were more than happy to offer drinks recommendations. Mr Flavour sipped his favourite pint of London Pride, while I sampled the English Garden cocktail. The pretty colours and flavours of Tanqueray No. Ten Gin, cucumber and citrus were almost vivid enough to bring the Summer sun back out. With whetted appetites, we ventured upstairs to the first-floor restaurant and were shown to the table by our delightful Italian waitress.

We were so captivated by the view from our table that we barely noticed the arrival of the menu. Our starters were lovely: Grilled Squid with coconut & cauliflower purée and curry butter spliced sea and spice to create a tasting-first for us. The miso glazed Ox cheek with Jalapeno puree ticked Mr Flavour’s slow cooked and spicy boxes. We were off to a great start!

Moving onto the mains, we chose a seasonally appropriate Gressingham crispy duck leg with potato, gin compressed blackberries and juniper jus. The rich meatiness of the duck paired beautifully with the Rioja Crianza Marques del Atrio wine. The Chalcroft Farm Beef Burger, with pulled brisket, oak smoked cheddar, chipotle ketchup and Russian Sauce belonged at the Captain’s table. Piled high with prime lean beef and juicy spiciness, I had to work fast to get a taste before Mr Flavour condemned it to the watery depths of his Leviathan belly.

Already chock-full with deliciousness, we were going to take a pass on desserts, but the tantalising menu had other ideas. We ordered a white chocolate marquis with cherry compote and the chocolate brownie with salted caramel & vanilla ice cream, dulche de leche and peanut butter crispies. Both dishes were decadently sublime and reassured us we’d be coming back again for future indulgence. Pleasantly full, we resigned ourselves to having a few more drinks as the setting sun cast a soothing orange glow over the Canary Wharf skyline. London sure looks gorgeous when viewed from The Sail Loft.

All in all, this was a successful afternoon of discovery. We’re sure our clients will love The Sail Loft: Prime location, stunning views, tons of space, lovely food and a tasteful Maritime theme. It’s no wonder they’re so popular. With our mission complete, we set sail into the crisp winter darkness, charting a course for the nearest pub....

Louis was one of the worst supervisor to ever work here. Horrendous experience from start to finish. We came in as a group to have a few drinks/food as we thought this place looked good and seemed to have a nice attire to it as it looked amazing on the outside. Once we finally found a table downstairs since upstairs decided to close early for some reason as it has the best views, we somewhat had to deal with an absolutely horrible supervisor named Louis who was absolutely rude and unprofessional. He served half our group with such an bad attitude and demeanour, telling us to wait in place that blocks other people, even when we waited by the tills which I assumed it’s where we would have to wait in order to pay for our food and drinks, he told us not to stand there and then told us to wait somewhere else which is massively inconvenient because we are blocking other people from getting past to go to the toilet or to get through in general.

Some of us we’re still waiting to order and this supervisor was serving other customers before us, in front of us as we were waiting quite awhile and he was just simply ignoring us until he was ready to serve us. When it came to finally ordering with him, he asked us for the table number, however, there was no table number whatsoever so we just directed him as to what table we were on, he was being quite short and sharp as to why we don’t have a table number when there is clearly no table number stated. Even when it came to ordering food, it just felt like a chore and a inconvenience to him. I get it and understands that hospitality within that sector can be quite challenging and busy and sometimes unbearable but there are ways of being able to communicate in a better manner as opposed to the treatment that we received that day, which was highly unacceptable. The atmosphere was very horrible for us as half of our group were very uncomfortable of approaching the bar in fear of having Louie being very unprofessional and rude towards us so we try to order with other people instead and they seem to be much better towards us and completely understanding.

As for the food, the food was very overrated and not good at all. It was very overpriced and the server who delivered the food forgot half of our food and cutlery and it took quite a long time for the food to come through so that also did not help either. It was a not so great experience visiting here and will not be returning any time soon, I highly do not recommend visiting. AVOID at all cost are other places way much better than this place. Unacceptable and will be making...

Louis (the larger, older man with the grey hair) at the bar was rude to each and every member of our party of 10 who were here for a birthday dinner. I was stood in the queue with 3 of them and he made sure to serve one of us, then serve every single other person in the queue, then come back to us last. If someone new came into the line, he would serve them first. A random lady in the queue told him to serve me because she noticed this.  He would walk away half way while ordering to make drinks too. My friend said to him “can I?” And he immediately said “no” and walked away. He came back and said “I know the menu” and other bizarre comments. When I ordered after waiting for 10 minutes at the front of the queue, I said “for starters I will get this” and he immediately put the order through. I said “I’m ordering a main”, and he said “you should have said it at the same time”. If I said it’s a starter, that indicates a main is coming..? He told my other friends (who were also in front of the queue while he went to serve other people) to “not stand in front of the card machine”.

He was rude like this to every single one of us- going from google reviews, it seems like it’s a common pattern of behaviour from him towards ethnic minorities. We didn’t order anything further from him because we didn’t want to interact with somebody so aggressive. We ended up moving to Wetherspoons. We waited until someone else was on the till or just didn’t order.

I noticed that his behaviour was erratic and he seemed possibly intoxicated; I did see him going behind the counter and drinking from the cocktail shakers, so that may explain things. He did seem very overwhelmed- perhaps he is unable to handle his job and he is using unhealthy coping strategies. Nobody took plates away from our table the entire evening, and we had to move them ourselves. The food was ok, but the bean pureé was bland and the entire aubergine dish had an underwhelming flavour profile.

I asked the manager if we can talk to her about his behaviour when she’s free, but she didn’t come back to talk to me about this, and she was very friendly towards him so she is likely aware of his actions but chooses to ignore it. It was by far the poorest service I’ve ever received in the UK. Avoid...