The Breakfast Club Oxford — Restaurant in Oxford

This place is just getting worse! A couple of years ago it was our go-to and the visits just get more painful each time, they’re very few and far these days.

We were seated by the host, he asked if we’d been there before etc and was about to walk away, to which I asked if there was anything they weren’t able to make from the menu today (as there always is), and he said maybe waffles (as always), but he believes they’re back on, he’ll go and check. Anyway, after multiple times seeing him walk past and multiple eye contacts etc, he never came back to let us know they weren’t available, so naturally we presumed they were.

Oddly, the menu in the restaurant is the exact same, but more overpriced than the one online. For example the burger we ordered was £9.95 on the menu and for some reason £12.95 on our bill.

After sitting at our table for quite some time looking around hopelessly, wondering if we were going to get served- we finally had our order taken by Shirif. I asked for the waffles, he replied that they didn’t have them and I mentioned (annoyed) that I’d asked someone else this and no one ever got back to me, to which he simply giggled.

Anyway he took our order, we waited a while for our drinks (although the tap water which was ordered never came), and then food followed a while after. In this time we were just watching certain members of staff (particularly Shirif), just walking around aimlessly. We’d watch him go from one computer to the other, just tapping buttons trying to look like he was busy- which was quite amusing because it was obvious, and we had full view of the screen which he would tap a button, press back, tap another button and so on for about 5 minutes, every 5 minutes (& no he wasn’t entering orders, for he was hardly serving tables and wasn’t looking against a paper pad etc)… it was obvious.

The food came, after the chefs rang the bell about 5/6 times for someone to get it from the pass, while the waiters walked around aimlessly ignoring the chefs calls. The food was not as nice as before, so the thing that had kept us coming here once every few months, didn’t even do the trick. The new menu is a massive downgrade however I know this branch don’t speak for menu changes that come from the top.

We ate our food and just sat amongst the many other dirty tables for quite some time, which by the way, the wait time at this restaurant isn’t because of lack of tables, it’s because they let half of them sit dirty for 10’s & 10’s of minutes. Three tables around us were sat dirty throughout us being seated and by the time we left (glasses, plates etc). We finally reached out and asked Shirif for our bill because no one was coming over. He went to the station nearest to us, and again stood there tapping buttons, going back, tapping on more buttons for at least 3 minutes (like I said, we had a clear view of the screen), before another member of staff came over and asked if we needed anything, and I explained that he is supposed to be getting the bill- to which the member of staff let him know, and he brought it. The bill was over £40 for one meal each and one juice, this place is not cheap, despite the cheap in nature service.

Goes without saying, we took the service charge off. We’re both ex-waiters, we hate doing this, but the service here is actually horrific. The chefs are what are keeping this place afloat, and the staff and service are what keep it distasteful. There are multiple reviews on here stating that the staff are inattentive, which is to say the least, and the restaurant clearly haven’t...

SECOND UPDATE LET'S SEE IF THIS ONE GETS A REPLY!!!

IT HAS BEEN SOME WEEKS NOW SINCE I TRIED TO CONTACT THE BREAKFAST CLUB TO TAKE THEM UP ON THEIR OFFER OF A FREE MEAL TO SEE IF THEY COULD CONVINCE ME THAT THEIR SERVICE WAS ANY GOOD. HAVE I HAD A FURTHER REPLY??? NO. CLEARLY THE ORIGINAL RESPONSE WAS SIMPLY TO 'APPEAR' TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT THE POOR EXPERIENCE WE HAD. IF THIS RESTAURANT REALLY WANTED TO TRY TO WIN US BACK THEY WOULD HAVE RESPONDED TO THE FACT THAT THE CONTACT DETAILS THEY PROVIDE HERE AND ON THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE DON'T WORK!!!!!!!!! I HAVE REDUCED MY REVIEW TO JUST 1 STAR TO TAKE THIS TOTAL LACK OF CONCERN INTO ACCOUNT.

My husband and I had been looking forward to trying The Breakfast Club for some time. We went on a Friday morning at about 9.30, having not booked. We joined a short queue, but we're soon seated. The queue was getting longer as we waited. We had a short wait for our orders to be taken, and from then on, it went down hill. The waiting staff were pretty good at taking orders, but they all ignored the kitchen bell, which alerted the waiting staff that an order was ready to go out. I spotted our order waiting to be brought to us and saw the waiting staff walk past it at least 5 times. I eventually called over one of the waitresses and said that our order had been waiting to be brought to us. She went to collect the dishes and then came over, without the plates, to let us know that the kitchen were re:plating my pancakes because the cream had melted during the wait. When the food arrived it was adequate, but nothing more. The only plus was that my husband got his Full English half price because he is over 65. Really not a good experience.

UPDATE - I have seen the reply from The Breakfast Club, however I am not able to take up the offer of a complimentary meal because the email address provided simply returns an error message. I have tried twice and received an error message twice. The poor service...

For context, I'm 40-years-old and I visited with my, our 11-month-old, and some friends. This, I feel, is important information.

The food could be considered very good indeed were it not for the extortionate prices (£16 for an over-toasted tortilla wrap and what was laughably called a chicken breast although, judging by the size, it was only the nipple).

It took forever for the food to arrive so, in the meantime, I took my child to use the baby changing facilities. These were literally hanging off of the wall and just plain dangerous. I had to prop the table up with my let to stop the boy falling off. Now, to be fair to them, it is possible they didn't know. They certainly seemed surprised to hear about it when I told them.

Back to the food. Meh. It's nothing special. It's not bad but neither is it particularly good. It's pancakes, waffles and teeny tiny chicken bits. Difficult to mess up.

The staff are friendly and the atmosphere is fun... But it was far too noisy for us to enjoy ourselves; however, there were folk in there somewhat younger than we who seemed to be having a right old time, so perhaps that's just me.

The price was way too high for what you get and the obligatory 12.5% gratuity is a lot for the service you actually receive. Yes, you can request that this is taken off but I appreciate they need their tips... I feel like they could make more of an effort to earn it though.

Five of us came to over £100, which sounds fair - £20 each. But I left feeling a little bit fleeced.

Would I go back? No. Do I recommend that you try it out? If you're under 30 with money to burn,...