Wood Oven BBQ — Restaurant in London

Shambolic, rude and unprofessional. A second branch has recently opened, opposite the older restaurant and it is appalling. Be very careful and clear about which one they seat you in. I called the older one (the number given on Google, next to the image of the older shop), made a booking for 15 and confirmed it was BoB. When my party arrived at the older restaurant, we were told we had been moved to the newer one (where Burger King used to be) as it was used for larger bookings. We walked over and were greeted by a middle-aged man, who I assume was the manager as he seemed to be in charge. He told us we could not come in with the £40 worth of wine we had just purchased as the newer branch now had a license. I explained that I was told it was BoB when I booked but he became aggressive and was very patronising. Eventually, we agreed to pay £3 corkage pp and were shown to our table. We then had to request menus and drinks for the teetotallers as no one, apart from a very nice waitress who was run off her feet, seemed to want to serve us - the man was too busy running between branches with his booking diary and admonishing me for the confusion! In the end, I told the waitress (who was the only professional person in the place) that I no longer wanted the man to come near our table as he was behaving in an extremely unprofessional manner and was distressing me and my group. At that point, he came back and abruptly told us that he needed our table for a group of 30 people he had booked to arrive in 10 minutes time and that we had to move! I kid you not, my party (many of whom still did not have drinks) had to put together our own table, at the front of the restaurant, whilst he and his male colleagues looked on. We had to literally push tables together, apologise to other customers, carry our own drinks, etc., this was all as our starters (which were pitifully small for a group of our size to share) were being served to our former table. It was an absolute farce. Had we not had to accommodate a large group with many different dietary requirements, including Halal, we would have walked straight out there and then.

Finally, we sat down at our new table, waited another 20 minutes to be given menus and to place our orders for mains and tried to enjoy our evening, despite the horrible atmosphere. The food was good- I will say that for the place, but I would never go there again and would advise you to avoid it like the plague.

At the end of the meal, the man came over and offered a pathetic apology, patronising me, constantly calling me "darling", making excuses, blaming the other branch, etc. No money was deducted from the bill (which came to £300 - no small sum for them to take on a Thursday evening!), we were still made to pay the corkage and nothing was offered 'on the house' by way of an apology. This place is a joke and this was reflected by the fact that many of the other customers around us were also...

Extremely rude and unhelpful staff Service 1* Food 2* (vegetarian)

Haven't had this poor service from any restaurant in a very very long time. Rushed to order, waiter constantly hovering over us asking us to order Ordered starters first and was pushed into ordering mains at same time when we didn't know what we wanted.

Ordered a pizza from the menu and removed 2 toppings. Immediately told I cannot swap toppings only remove. How can you not add toppings on a pizza??? It's the most basic food to make. I then had to convince the waiter to add on artichoke but he said not it's special and expensive... Then why have it as an optional topping??! Unbelievable. The food then came was they got the order wrong.. But not on the extra topping - they replaced one of the original toppings (zucchini) with another (aubergine). I then informed the waiter who said I was lying and I had to ask him to check the menu in front of me. This was actually embarrassing. It got worse.. He refused to take it back!!! Instead offering me a plate of hummus or a small salad. I ask for both and then he back tracked and said only one. His reason for not taking the food back was 'the manager is around'. Surely the manager should know about such issues in the restaurant?!

The extra plate of hummus was served (5cm dish and was probably the most bland hummus I've ever had, not to be rude but it's true). I then didn't finish my pizza and asked for takeaway and the waiter came and said 'you didn't even finish the food' to which I replied, 'yes because I don't like aubergine'.

I honestly can't believe how rude the staff were. On top of that, my pizza was full of excess cheese and was salty.

Finally when we got the bill we were told cash payment only (no specified reason) and was told to get cash from a cash machine across the road in 3 degrees cold. This information could have been told over the phone at booking or when we entered. I wonder why it is cash payment too.. Mmm...

Avoid this...

Terrible experience!!!!!!! Bunch of tax dodgers!!! Today it was a rainy day and I and my Hubby had gone for a late morning appointment at the hospital. The appointment required that I fast before the appointment. When that was done we had gone out for brunch. Hubby loved woodoven bbq South Woodford. He said I don’t mind going home and ordering something else but because I knew he loved the way they cut their meat and the taste I insisted he orders from them. Order placed, we had to wait under the rain (20 minutes) for the order to be ready. When it was time he went and was told “no we take cash only”. This was surprising to my Husband because for the past six years we have been in the area and patronised their business we had never paid cash, it was all card. This meant that my Husband should go out in the rain again, find a cash machine and come back to make payment if not go down to the other branch down the road and place a new order. All for what?????? Some pice of meat?! That service was totally bad. Anyways, luckily I had some cash on me so I gave my hubby though he had told me what the situation was and had lost interest but I insisted he picks it up. This is how they loose customers. People should treat others how they want to be treated. Trust me, we got home and I placed a phone call to them and gave them a piece of my mind. The manger, a whole manager (such arrogant human) showed no sign to calm the customer down. Anyway I have made my way to here to lay my complaint. Please ask to be sure what mode of payment these fraudsters wood oven bbq South Woodford want before placing an order. Because it’s clear they are trying to dodge the tax man,...