Three Eight Four — Restaurant in London

EDIT : Slight edit after discussion with the owner. He seemed genuinely concerned and offered a refund which I declined.

Have heard so much about 384 and was so disappointed.

Popped in for a cocktail early evening on a Saturday.

Was impressed by the menu, had some great classics on there including a 50/50 Sazerac which you hardly ever see!

Ordered that and an aviation (waitress didn't know what that was thought we wanted a neat gin) , and after a gentle suggestion by our waitress and a quick look at the small plates menu ordered some skin on fries (£3) and added the cheese and hot sauce (£2).

The waitress did pop to check that I wanted the Sazerac 50/50 which I did, but it didn't really matter. All I could taste was the absinthe. Fair enough I thought, probably not ordered that often.

The aviation was just as bad, both tasted like they had been thrown together from a list of ingredients rather than crafted with any care.

And then the chips arrived. For £5 I was expecting either a big plate or some damn fine chips. I got neither.

I got a cup full of limp fries, with a pinch of grated cheese and some Frank's thrown over it.

I feel like three eight four was probably once really good but I felt like I was served without much care.

Maybe it was just...

One of my biggest pet peeves is when a venue clearly has plenty of tables available and yet decides to turn customers away. I’ve visited three eight four plenty of times since it first opened, and have regularly visited it ever since. I’ve always had great service, delicious drinks and staff that was always helpful and accommodating. Unfortunately today my experience was very different, I only had a brief interaction with the host but it was enough to leave me with very little desire to return. I came in with my partner hoping to have a quick drink before meeting friends and even thought it was only 6pm and there were at least 4 tables empty I was immediately told that there were no more walk ins for the night. This seemed particularly strange considering the time we walked in, but I was especially surprised to not be offered a seat at the bar. We weren’t asked how long we would be staying or offered any alternative, just turned away. As a local and regular this is extremely disappointing. As someone who’s previously worked in the service industry this is just not acceptable behaviour. Treat your customers kindly and they’ll...

Have had 3 really terrible visits to 384 now, which is a shame as it used to be a decent bar. The service is the worst part - not rude, but very disinterested, and ridiculously slow. The last 2 times I've visited we've waited over 25 mins for drinks, and both times the order was incomplete and has required us to repeatedly ask for, and eventually go to the bar to get, the rest of the drinks. I've seen a few similar reviews on here and the excuse seems to be it's v busy, but the staff were standing around chatting to each other when we went, and it wasn't close to full. On top of this, the cocktails are now just v sweet and watered down, when they used to be good. And served in "quirky" terracotta vessels for literally no reason. We did voice these issues but the manager didn't really seem to care. When there are so many good bars in Brixton with great staff, 384 really isn't worth your...