Mildred's

I cannot agree more with the last posting and only hope that someone from management reads this. I don't understand why the staff are ALWAYS so unfriendly. No matter which waiter you get they always make you feel as though you're a huge inconvenience not a paying customer. Is it part of the staff training?! I really love the food there but am exasperated by the rudeness. We took a friend there for dinner on Friday night and they were so off hand with him throwing our food down on the table and rolling their eyes if we asked for anything that it made me really regret our choice of restaurant. I had been raving about the food and thought it would be a good place to go as he’s a vegetarian but the service really marred our experience. They then had the cheek to add service to our bill at the end – what service?! If you can put up with the staff then the food is lovely but don’t go there looking for smiles!
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 5
Monday, April 28, 2008

I agree with most of the posts on here and have to say the previous poster was extremely lucky to experience good service at Mildreds. Every time I've been recently the service has been at best diffident and at worst outright rude. My friends report the same. I can understand why they don't take bookings as its always so busy anyway but is there any need to make people who are waiting for a table feel so unwelcome and in the way?! Not taking bookings would make sense if a) you could turn up and put your name down and leave to come back at allotted time, or b) get a table even if your whole party isn't there. But as it is you have to get there and wait in that narrow excuse for a bar until your whole party arrives, cluttering up what they like to remind you is also part of the restaurant. The most annoying thing that happened to me was that whilst waiting for the third member of our party to arrive, a friend and i asked to sit in two empty chairs at a table where two ladies were eating in the bar area. They were fine with it so we sat down, until a waitress very rudely told us to move as the tables were reserved for people eating. So we had to stand whilst two chairs were empty, and the same waitress then proceeded to harass us for being in her way when she tried to get to the bar. Its such a shame as the service completely lets down what could be a little gem of a restaurant, serving delicious cheap healthy veggie food. The owners need to rethink their customer service and train/recruit their staff more carefully! Charging for the current standard of service is a cheek.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 8
Monday, April 28, 2008

Went to Mildred's for the first time last night, and was impressed. Despite turning up at a busy time (9 pm on a Friday night), did not have to wait for a table for two (although people waiting for a table for three or four people were being told they would have to wait up to half an hour). Service was attentive and cheerful (despite what is said in the other reviews below) and food was delicious. Starters of chargrilled artichoke with lemon aioli and dumplings both extremely flavoursome and mains of burrito and mushroom pie were very satisfying and tasty. Bill came to £47 for two (including glass of wine, bottle of beer, pudding and hot chocolate, and service charge). Only negative comment was that the people at the table next to us were loud pleased-with-themselves media types, and given that the table was very close to us, I was pleased when they left. Other than that, a wholly positive experience and will definitely be back.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Saturday, April 26, 2008

Couldn't agree more with some of the reviews here about the staff, thought it might just have been me that had a bad experience! It's a shame the staff are so inattentive and stuck up because the food and surroundings are very nice. Almost laughed out loud when I saw the service charge they had added to my £10 bill!
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Friday, April 04, 2008

Maybe I made a poor choice. But a dried up, non-descript veggie burger in a stale bun with greasy sweet potato fries were testament to the deep fat fryer’s ability to extract any discernable flavour from what ever you drop into it.

Ok apple crumble but cold custard.

Expensive. And yes, the staff were rude too.

I may have had worse meals in vegetarian restaurants, but right now I can’t remember any.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Monday, March 31, 2008

Food was alright but the staff should learn how to smile... or at least hide their boredom.
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Fabien
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Sunday, March 23, 2008

This restaurant is great if you're clear what you're going for. Maybe this is why it garners quite a few negative reviews.

Plus points:

- Nice food, not breathtaking, but nice.

- Friendly staff who do well given how busy it is

Negative points:

- Can't book, waiting area is the corridor or bar, both places you're in the way

Points of note:

- This place gets busy. Really busy. Don't go here if you're not up for a bit of mucking around waiting for a table, nor if you expect to have your a** kissed whilst you're waiting. However, once you get your table it's worth it. And it's priced very reasonably too.
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RNM
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Sunday, March 16, 2008

I find it really annoying that Mildred's doesn't take bookings (why don't they?). I work in theatre and don't have forty five minutes to wait for a table to be free when I'm in between shows. It doesn't leave me with much choice being a vegetarian to go anywhere else in soho. I don't understand how they can think as they don't take bookings that forty five minutes isn't an unreasonable amount of time to have to wait for a table! Sometimes if you're lucky you get ushered to one of the four tables in the entrance area which are really uncomfortable to sit at and crammed with people around them having a drink waiting for their table. Two of the tables face out onto the street and make you feel that you're some kind of animal in the zoo. People tend to walk by looking in at you eating! This can be so off putting.

The food is excellent but I feel for what it really is, it's actually quite pricey, the starters could be a pound or two less as could the main courses be too. The staff aren't rude but they are pretty crap at serving you and there is one or two that are pretty arrogant and one or two who are so disinterested in what they do.

There need to be more vegetarian restaurants in the west end to stop Mildred's from becoming as complacent as it has become.
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Hector John Ktorides
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Sunday, March 16, 2008

I do hope someone in charge of customer service at Mildred’s is reading these reviews. It is such a shame for a restaurant that serves such tasty, hearty food and that has such a lively atmosphere with loads of potential is so ruined by the staff. They seemed to me to be miserable, smugly ungracious and bordering on rude (if you can get their attention in the first place). I felt as if I’d gone in wearing a t-shirt that said “vegetarian food sucks” and wearing a chicken carcass on my head. It’s actually worth going to Mildred’s purely to cheak the behaviour of the staff out! I began to think that perhaps it was an in-joke and that they were competing with each other to be the most un-smiley and uncommunicative. The icing on the nut roast is that they had the cheek to include a 12.5% service charge on the final bill. Unbelievable. There is no way they deserve a tip with service like that. But like a lamb I paid it, fearing a look from one of the staff if I challenged it really would kill.
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Cerian
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, February 05, 2008

My recent experience at Mildred's (25/01/08) is In line with the other reviews. The food is great, the menu imaginative, but the staff really are very sullen. They aren't outright rude, but they only just manage to be civil. Not a single smile from the two female staff for any of the customers there during our hour long visit. It's such a shame that a great restaurant is downgraded into an OK one just by the snippy staff.
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CG
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Monday, February 04, 2008