Victoria House Coffee & Food — Restaurant in London

Let's start by saying that there are two different approaches a restaurant strives to serve its customers. One way is to be super flexible with customers' demand at the occasional cost of other customers. Another is to be strict with house rules so everyone get what they expected. No surprises up or down.

This restaurant, from my experience is firmly on the flexible end of the spectrum. While the food is good enough to match its reputation, we had to wait for 25 mins past our booking time. I don't mind the wait if it's communicated clearly from the beginning. But since we arrived 15 mins early, we were told our table will be ready at our booked time, then it past by 5 mins, we were told the table is paying and another 2-3 mins we can be in. Then another 10 mins goes by, still customers at the table. Upon asking a waitor told us they can't chase customers to leave.

Well if you can't manage a booking system to have the table available 5-10 mins before a booked time slot, what's the point of advanced booking? There is a queue outside the restaurant, first come first serve is okay, as long as you make it clear so people know what to expect. We were late for our next booked event as a result of a failed booking system and terrible communication on the spot during the 40 mins of our waiting.

After we sat down, the restaurant did try to speed up our kitchen order to amend the situation. As I say from the beginning they do try to serve their customers well. And I'm sure the precious customers from our table are very happy to get whatever time they wanted. However in this instance it was done at the cost of our time.

Would I try their food again when it's emptier? Sure. Would I book this restaurant for a special event or time sensitive meeting?...

While I can most definitely see why this spot is popular, from a food taste standpoint I didn't think it was spectacular. In terms of service and atmosphere, both I will endorse as excellent. It's like a small coffee shop vibe with servers who are attentive to customer needs. I am giving this place a 4 primarily because of the food.

Some highlights of the food include: The presentation is very well done! Whether the eggs were fried or poached, there was some type of red vegetables placed on top of the eggs that made it look pretty, along with pomegranate seeds on top of the smashed avocado, and so on. The toast was tasty, along with the sausages, bacon, hashbrown, and tomatoes. The waffle in general was tasty, albeit not a difficult dish to make since it's vanilla yogurt and honey.

In terms of where improvement can be used, the eggs, whether poached or fried, were overcooked and didn't really have runny yolk, which could be a one off this time, but the yolk color was darker than usual, which might suggest some level of overcooking as well. The mushroom had a weird taste that I couldn't comprehend. And finally, the added smoked salmon pieces felt like they could belong to the original dishes in the first place. They tasted good, but I have definitely purchased straight up smoked salmon pieces from Costco and they tasted just like the one served on my plate. Paying £4 more, I would expect something more than what I have described above.

With all that said, would I recommend this spot? That is still a definite yes. The food was still great! Just didn't live up to the amount of hype I have heard about. It is close to the British Museum as well, so one can easily visit the museum...

Where to start… We came to this establishment with an open mind and empty stomachs. As we arrived, we saw a large queue which peaked our interest. At first, we were unsure if it was the worth the wait. After around an hour of queuing we were eager to see what the fuss was all about. We were finally sat down and we were very quickly seen to by a welcoming waitress. Our orders were two traditional breakfasts, one dirty chai latte, orange juice and tap water (I had to ask for this again as we didn’t get it the first time). My partner received their Latte and was quite impressed, the orange juice wasn’t so bad either! After a short 10 minute wait our food arrived. At first glance it seemed appealing and just what we were waiting for (a little small, but who’s complaining). Now, for the food. The bacon - awful, I’m genuinely shocked as to how one (especially a chef) can make bacon taste that bad. Over cooked and no flavour. Beans - didn’t take like beans - had tomatoes added in and tasted like an artificial sweetener. Sausage - very nice, actually (only good part). Hash browns - disappointing, absolutely no flavour. The eggs - bland and watery. The whole meal was severely under seasoned, could’ve made a better full english at home. The food was such a disappointment that we felt gutted we had to pay for it - especially after the wait. There’s no better way to describe this place than TOURIST TRAP. Do not waste your time or money. Victoria House Coffee and Food - you’ll never...