Vicinity — Restaurant in London

From the moment we arrived, the experience was frustrating. It took 25 minutes before anyone took our order, and another 5 minutes to receive our pre-ordered drinks—30 minutes in just to get something to drink.

Starters arrived 45 minutes after arrival, mains took 1 hour and 20 minutes, and dessert was brought 10 minutes after we finished our mains—but only after we specifically requested it. When dessert arrived, it was brought out with takeaway containers, leaving us to box it up ourselves. When we asked for a bag to carry it in, we were dismissively told, “We don’t have bags.”

Staff were cold and disengaged throughout, with waiters standing around instead of actually helping, despite the restaurant not being particularly busy. When I raised concerns with the manager about the delays, he just responded, “One hour?”—then walked away and avoided our table for the rest of the meal. He sent a staff member to deliver updates like “the food will be a few minutes.” It all felt careless and unprofessional.

The food was a mixed experience. The chicken tenders were hot, fresh, and genuinely tasty. Chips and fries were also served hot. However, the steak was cold from the moment it arrived and undercooked (rare instead of medium). The kale was cold and extremely tough. The red cabbage slaw had a strange, fermented, alcohol-like taste—definitely not fresh. The chicken burger lacked flavour entirely, with only a subtle burnt aftertaste.

No one asked if we wanted sauces until a staff member overheard me complaining about it at the table.

A few decent elements couldn’t make up for the lack of service, poor attitude, and inconsistent food quality. I won’t be returning, and I wouldn’t...

Disappointing Birthday Experience – Overpriced and Underwhelming

I was genuinely excited about this restaurant – it’s advertised as having a beautiful view of the River Thames and Tower Bridge, and my husband booked it as a special treat for my birthday. We decided to skip afternoon tea and go for a full meal: a few starters, mains, and three desserts.

Sadly, the experience just didn’t live up to the expectations. First, the view we were looking forward to (and that they showcase on Instagram) is only available if you book for afternoon tea — something they don’t clearly mention. We were seated by a window, but the view was blocked by a building, so there went the “wow” factor.

The food was average at best, definitely overpriced for what it was. The arancini starter was good, but the fish and chips were bland (the fish had no seasoning), and the steak pie wasn’t great either. For the price and the location, we expected better.

Service was extremely slow — we waited up to 30 minutes between courses, no one checked in on us, and the basics like water, salt, pepper, or napkins had to be requested (and sometimes never arrived).

What really left a sour taste was the fact that we noted in the reservation that it was my birthday, and there was no gesture at all. I understand it’s not a requirement, but even a simple “Happy Birthday” would’ve been appreciated.

Unless you’re a tourist hoping for a quick bite near Tower Bridge (and even then, it’s a stretch), I wouldn’t recommend this place. Not the spot for a celebration, and definitely not...

Good location, especially if you’re a tourist in London. Ok food. Horrendous service. Rude. Clumsy. Little to no customer service.

I arrived before my friend who’d booked a table in advance. I was waiting to be seated while 3 members of staff stood a few feet away from me, looking in my direction while chatting and messing about.

A staff member eventually came over and asked if he could help me. I advised of the booking and after a considerable amount of time trying to find the booking, he said I couldn’t be seated without my friend. I asked if I could get a drink. I was eventually seated by someone else.

My drink took about 20minutes to arrive even though I was seated by the outside bar.

Was given food that wasn’t mine and the waiter argued with me that it was mine. At this point I hadn’t ordered, hadn’t been given a menu and my friend hadn’t arrived!

The food was unceremoniously dumped on the table and the waiter walked away. We had to call him back and ask for cutlery. Then had to ask for condiments twice.

Ordering a coffee after the meal was an ordeal. Had to ask for the dessert menu, which was hard going as all the wait staff seemingly tried their best to ignore us. Coffee, we asked if they did a skinny flat white, he didn’t know if they had skinny milk. Asked if they did a milk alternative, he didn’t know. We asked if he could find out. 15minutes ticked by….

Unless you have ages and are not bothered by slow, rude, bad service, I wouldn’t recommend this place. There are so many better places to eat with good...