VIVRE — Restaurant in London

Pro’s- We were greeted at the front door by a very welcoming lady that found us a table as we didn’t have a reservation.

Cons- we were seated right at the back of the restaurant where we had to wait 35 minutes just for a waiter to come over. The first thing he said was “are you in a group” what does that even mean? No hello or welcome and could hardly hear him over all the noise in the restaurant. Me and my husband asked to be moved due to how loud it was which they did allow us to but the waiter walked away from us and we had to stand in the middle of the restaurant until the nice lady that first greeted us at the door showed us to another table near the open kitchen. We then had yet another 25 minute wait for a waiter to come over and ask us what we would like to eat yet we haven’t even been asked if we would like a drink. Then we had to listen to the only waiter that was serving food, argue with the kitchen numerous times. There is absolutely no attentiveness to the customer. No smiles whatsoever. The food is practically thrown down on the table with not a moment for you to even ask for a sauce or salt and pepper. I got hit twice by waiters walking past, with not so much as an apology or acknowledgment.

The food was ok, the best part of the experience. Not great, but ok. Ask for the bill, yet another 25 minute wait. The service charge is slapped onto the bill and taken without question. Service I would never pay for.

Really disappointing for Sofitel to accommodate a facility like this. This is more budget-hotel restaurant. The staff need to learn to smile and need training on hospitality. We will not...

We had been in Paris, Somerset, Oxford, and London, in fact we left our London hotel and decided to stay at the airport as we had an 11 o’clock flight, and needed to be at the airport early so we booked this hotel as we had been impressed with Sofitel in the past. We booked at the restaurant and had a very good experience for the first half of our meal. It seemed like once the food had arrived and the waiter asked if we needed anything and if we were happy with the meal, he then completely disappeared. My husband had the pork chops and I had the risotto. Both were good, the issue I have with the restaurant was that we never saw our waiter again. We finished our meal let the plate sit in front of us, no issue we were looking forward to dessert and an after dinner drink, but the waiter never came. My husband thought if we stacked the plates and put them on the end of the table it would be impossible for the waiter not to notice. that did not happen. It was at least 10 minutes before my husband was able to get his attention and he ask if we wanted anything else, by that time he could see we were upset, gave us no apologies. Just acted as though nothing had happened, there was no way we were gonna order a dessert after such bad service. Here is the thing, people who stay at airport hotels are not going out looking for restaurants, Sofitel, you have to up your game. It’s no good having a great hotel with a...

Oh dear - it’s like a Ramsay kitchen nightmare. My condolences if you have no other choice but to eat here like us. Unfortunately the other Belle restaurant was closed - it is much higher rated. On arrival, the front desk warned us the wait would be a while and suggested we eat at the bar instead which didn’t fill us with huge confidence. Water didn’t arrive for almost 20mins so we had to get a bottle ourselves. Drinks came at the end of the meal - one was out of stock and the other was the wrong size. Curry tasted like a microwave meal served alongside long dated packet naan bread. The fish and chips looked anaemic. Kids pizza was a thick naan bread with some cheese and sauce in middle. Of course they got the bill wrong - charging us for the missing drink and for a larger glass of wine when they only gave a small. I felt so ill I was sick when I got back to the hotel room. Sofitel Mgmt - this group are not fit to run a restaurant. The whole service, staff and menu need a total overhaul. What a shame since the hotel itself is nice. I skipped snacks and breakfast at...