Beach Blanket Babylon (Notting Hill)

We went as a party of ten last weekend and were extremely disappointed with the experience. It is hugely expensive for what they serve, for instance house wine, of poor quality, is £21 a bottle, inexcusably high. The best part is the decor, which is almost Gaudi like in appearance, however, maybe they should stick to being a bar rather than trying to serve inadequate food.

My pasta with prawns and squid had a thin bland tomato sauce with it, far removed from the delicious sounding description, and again it was £21, far too much for what it was. Finally they add a cover charge of £1.50 and then a service charge on top of 12.5%, however, when the credit card machine is brought out you are invited to add a further tip. I removed that and complained to the waitress who said that it is because the staff do not get any of the service charge, an absolute disgrace. I checked with another staff member, who confirmed that and added that we should have crossed out the service charge and left a cash tip.

It is disappointing to see that this sort of exploitation of waiting staff still exists in London, they should be ashamed of themselves. I left my card for the manager and asked him to call me about it, but naturally I never heard from him.
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Gastronome - View all reviews by this user
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Thursday, December 08, 2011

Awful, poncey, up itself, Euro-trash and berk filled dump. Don't go!

I had a very similar experience to the reviewer below (Oscar De Freitas) recently. Staff so keen on themselves they are too cool to serve the customers. The food is worse than you'd get in somewhere half the price. The room isn't so great. And the wine list is a muppet's guide to over-spending on mediocrity: a thin list of rubbish examples of obvious wine, at exorbitant prices.

This place is a throwback to the mid-2000's when people had so much cash they were willing to throw it around on rubbish. Times have changed.

Having seen the comments the manager has made to another paying customer I will be positively encouraging my friends in west London to boycott this twits palace.

Perhaps looking for a new job will teach the manager some customer service skills and humility?
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Kwev Pagne
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Thursday, December 01, 2011

Ate there last night - absolutely shocking service!

Where to start? Welcome was unenthusiastic and didn't take our coats so we ended up carrying them round to the bar and then to the table.

Waited ages for a drink, had to carry our own drinks (and coats) to our table. Mains didn't come with the sides we ordered.. waited another 10 minutes for sides whilst mains went cold.

Food was very ordinary and wine list limited and expensive.

Stared at our dirty plates for ages before we were finally asked about dessert.. menu's not taken away so the upshot was, 10 minutes later the waiter came back and asked if we wanted dessert..again..

Upon arriving home, I emailed my dissatistaction to the restaurant and received the following from the OWNER:

"You Sir have a ridiculous name. I care not for your comments because you clearly a have brain problem. If we didn’t didn’t take your coat its clearly because it was so rancid we didn’t want to cross contaminate it will those of our other patrons who we value very highly. I’m saddened to hear that the wine selection didn’t match your budget. Notting hill is rich with budget restaurants so perhaps you found yourself out of your depth. You refer to economic times. Yes, they are very tough which is why we pride yourself on excluding exactly the brain problems you have so that you don’t come again. So don’t."

Incredible in this day and age to find such an attitude.

Clearly they simply don't care - AVOID THIS PLACE AT ALL COSTS.
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Oscar DeFreitas
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Thursday, December 01, 2011

As we entered the restaurant, we were welcomed by a waitress in a bra and fishnet tights in the spirit of the place. We then ordered a bottle of rose priced £21. My surprise was that it was the same bottle I buy at the corner shop for £9. When you pay that price you dont expect a bottle of gallo!!! Changing the wine also appeared to be such a big deal that it took longer to arrive than our starters. I wondered as well why the ladies behind us were having white wine in red wine glasses whilst we had to drink our red wine from white wine glasses. The waitresses didn't attempt to check back on our food during the 1 1/2 hour that we were eating it, only asking if we were ok during the awkward intervals where we had nothing on the table. At the end of the meal, noticing that I hadn't eaten anything, the waitress asked me how the meal was. I replied that it wasnt to my taste and no apology was offered as they obviously didn't care whether I enjoyed my experience with them or not. No alternative to the out of stock frites with the moules frites other than salad. Total of the bill £103 incl serv charge.
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2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Monday, July 11, 2011

The food here is truly dull and tasteless. Don't order the intriguing sounding linguine with chili prawns - it tastes like eating warm dishwater. Everything else was great except the liquidised slightly oily separated custard. The chef should taste his bland airplane flood before its sent out and have the nouse to recognise his signature drivel when it comes back.
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James
5 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Sunday, April 10, 2011

I went to BBB for my B-day dinner. And i was so amazed of ambience there. Everything was perfect. Ofcourse prices are high, food portions small. but it was worth it, because you knew where you are going. Its not some cheap Italian restaurant with same menu everywhere. The staff was very helpful, even too much :) Im not this kind of person who likes a lot attention on your dinner time :) Anyway Im looking forward to come back here as soon as possible.

EXCELLENT!
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Laura
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, March 18, 2011

I went back to BBB on 23 December after a break of about ten years and I was genuinely appalled by what has become of this one time fine restaurant.

What my date and I experienced was, without doubt, the worst meal I have ever had in 30 years of living in London. My starter, the Chestnut Soup, was so solid and heavy in texture that it reminded me of recently laid concrete that was in the process of hardening. It was also steaming hot on the top and cold in the middle - a sure sign that it had been heated up in a microwave. We both had the Turkey Roll With All The Trimmings as a main course. The turkey itself was shaped like a small torpedo, it was encased in a hard skin that was so tough that it was difficult to cut with a knife and it simply tasted revolting. The "trimmings" comprised one sad, stringy carrot and a couple of burnt, cold, tiny, roast potatoes.

The service was bizarre; when we ordered more drinks, the waitress actually brought the bill instead - and this happened twice! In fact, the problem here was that the waitresses neither spoke, nor understood English.

The final horror came with the price of the meal. I've had cheaper meals at 2-Star Michelin restaurants. They are charging Michelin Star prices for food that wouldn't even be served in a motorway service station cafe.

This restaurant is an absolute disgrace - you should avoid at all costs.
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Jon - View all reviews by this user
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Friday, December 24, 2010

I won't bore you all with a word by word account of Beach Blankets reputation other than to say the following: This is my first ever review. I am never the one to complain and am usually quiet about my opinions when it comes to restaurants, hotels etc. Beach Blanket is an horrendously overpriced and badly run establishment offering appalling service and appalling food. On the plus side you are within walking distance of somewhere far nicer. Give it a miss guys.
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, December 11, 2010

I have never felt compelled to leave a poor review of any restaurant until I went to BBB Notting Hill. A group of 15 of us went last night, when we arrived they couldn't find our reservation and left us standing in the entrance for 10 minutes whilst the staff looked down their noses at us and tried to decide what to do. Some of our group had already been shown to the table, one of them came down looking for us and told the staff the name the reservation had been made under (which was what we had given on arrival) and they finally let us in with no apology.

We were shown to a table in upstairs section of this unusual place. If you have any mobility issues this is not the place for you I’m afraid. Last night was a lovely balmy September evening but they had open flame-effect gas fires burning on two floors, it was ridiculously hot! There weren't enough table settings laid out and we had to stand and wait once more - again no apology. Our orders were taken and when our food started to arrive the staff kept giving us all the wrong food. The food was not very hot and the portion sizes are laughable, especially for the prices they are charging. Don't go to this restaurant if you are hungry!

In Summary - an over-priced and pompous let-down. Steer Clear.
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2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Thursday, September 23, 2010

Again, I wish I had read these reviews before we went to BBB (Notting Hill)!

We went for a girls night out of 6 and were treated with disdain as soon as we walked in! Although having booked an area in the bar we were told there wasn't a possibility we could have done that as they dont do it - and even though there were tables free, staff were reluctant to even show us to a table!

After discovering we had to order at the bar - the cocktails were good but didnt manage to get all the ones we ordered! The decor and atmosphere in the bar is beautiful but things were to get worse.

After being told our table was ready we went downstairs only to be ignored by a number of staff, we waited 20 mins without menus, before we asked for them, they didnt have the wine we wanted, we were not informed the bar was closing, asked to speak to the manager who wouldn't come over to our table etc etc....

I have to say that the food was great so the Chefs are doing something right but the service and rudeness of staff just doesnt make it worth going back for...
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3 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, August 24, 2010