Livebait (Waterloo)

I am really really surprised at the comments of the chef below and the people complaining about Live Bait. This is not the restaurant I know. I work in very close proximity to the Waterloo branch and have eaten there regularly for many years. Food is beautifully cooked. The breads and dips at the beginning are delightful and the ambiance of the place while not being over formal is friendly, helpful and attentive without being intrusive. Tomorrow Wed 1 Feb I am taking someone special to Live Bait as a birthday treat and unless something has happened since the last time I visited, (November), I will do nothing but recommend this restaurant.
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Mairs
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Dear Livebait,

Here's a few reasons I won't be back.

1) - the bread and fish paste amuse bouche was disgusting. The bread wasn't fully baked, and the paste stuff tasted of nothing but salt.

2) - the whitebait was overcooked. If I wanted to pierce my lip, I'd go to the tattoos and piercing place around the corner.

3) - the cod and the salmon were both overcooked, and dry as a bone.

4) - the veg were a soggy mess.

5) - the chips? See 2)

6) - a bottle of wine was put on the bill, when we only had one glass of a wine and a glass of tap water.

7) - when we asked to see the manager, the bill was presented. Maybe the manager's name was Bill, and the waiter got confused.
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A Trained Chef Who Knows About Such Things
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, December 22, 2011

Two words: gritty and overcooked!

STARTERS: Wife had the scallops to start, I had the smoked salmon. Scallops were like eating a mouthful of sand. Every bite was very crunchy, so clearly not properly washed. Could have also had better caramelisation. I had the salmon. It was good quality, but lacked flavour. The skin and brown meat were also left on, and although this isn't really the end of the world, it does look unappetising and who wants flabby old salmon skin. Had to ask for lemons to add kick to the salmon as well as the bland side salad, which was just dressed with oil and not seasoned.

MAIN: Wife had sole dressed with cockles. Guess what, cockles were full of grit, just like the scallops. Crunch crunch! Sole was reasonably cooked, but lacked seasoning and flavour. The lemons I ordered earlier came in handy! I had salt baked sea bass. It certainly wasn't baked as it had grill lines all over it, and was severely overcooked. Dry and tough. Wasn't prepared nicely either, side fins were still attached. A little more care in the prep would go a long way.

Unfortunately they don't do themselves any favours in the seafood department, despite being a specialist fish restaurant, but I'm glad to advise that the chips and buttered mash were very tasty, but only once I'd seasoned them myself!

VERDICT: Over promised and under delivered. Luckily I was using a voucher otherwise I would have felt extremely cheated if I had have paid the full price!
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Christian
4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear.

I really wish I'd been to this website before going to Livebait last night; I use it quite often, but a colleague said it was pretty good when he was last there.

They managed to get pretty much everything wrong, from the underbaked bread with the inedibly salty fish spread stuff, through the awfully overcooked salmon with the chips that felt like they'd been sitting in the kitchen for hours, to the two bottles of corked wine. Not to mention the indiffferent service from a waitress who treated us like she was doing us a massive favour by serving us this rubbish. When she asked how our food was, we told her, and she said she'd tell the manager. She walked off, and came back with th bill! We asked to see the manager, she said he had had to go over to their other branch. So I paid only for my girlfiend's mains, which was OK, and the wine we eventually got, in cash, and left her with a name and address, if they want to contest that. I think they know how bad they are, so I'm not expecting to hear from them any time soon.
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tony de lagua - View all reviews by this user
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, November 18, 2011

Visited on the spur of the moment after theatre. It seemed pricey but hoped that the meal would justify it. We both chose the fish pie and waited in anticipation of enjoying what ought to be a standard dish for an upmarket fish restaurant. We waited and waited.....

The waitress obviously conscious of the long delay volunteered that we should have been told the dish took 20 minutes to prepare. Despite being told that it would be ready in 2 more minutes we waited much longer than that. This in itself was curious as the restaurant was less than 1/4 full on a Saturday night.

The food eventually arrived. Our first mouthful proved to be our last. The food was luke warm at best, instead of piping hot. Following a long drawn out discussion with the waitress, who was clearly reluctant to have the dishes re-heated, we walked out - and will never return to Livebait!
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Jonathan and Barbara - View all reviews by this user
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, October 16, 2011

Really really ordinary.

Thought I would make this review as dull and boring as the menu and food,

Don't bother. Really.

Better off with fish and chips down the street and you'll save yourself £30 and your evening
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Dean - View all reviews by this user
3 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Saturday, August 20, 2011

Agree with much of what's below. Was there yesterday for what was meant to be a very special treat for some dear friends. I paid, so it was doubly heart-rending to have to suck up 30 quid a head for such top to tail mediocrity.

Headline findings were much the same as everyone else:

1. Bland food.

2. Indifferent service.

3. Restaurant the cold side of nippy.

4. 'Discretionary' 12.5% service charge auto-tacked on your bill. From reading below, I'm guessing this is a new invention.

5. Stale-ish bread served with the fish pate.

17 quid a main, plus 3.50 for veg or sides - only in London would something so brazenly cynical not be run out of business.
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Ian Martin
4 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Saturday, August 20, 2011

Had an unexpected joy to celebrate with my partner, and we were both just up the road, so settled on Livebait on the Cut to have a no-holds-barred dinner.

Overall impression - food mostly OK to good, but hideously overpriced. Oysters and Guinness, can't mess that up; whitebait ditto, but neither were approaching generous. Whitebait in particular should be a big heap of crispy, tiny fish; this was a cup with suspiciously large, slightly soggy, and definitely countable contents.

Mains - me, cod; her, tuna steak - were competent but lacking any sort of flair, which at 17 quid per was not what we wanted - and another fiver for quite uninspiring sides. Pudding and cheese... not quite sure why three big lumps of cheese were served with five small biscuits. It's not as if it's a bank-breaker to have, say, ten small biscuits, which would at least have given us the chance of finishing the cheese. By this stage, I was predicting pointless parsimony, and it's no fun to be right in these circumstances.

And the drinks: she was happy with her champagne cocktails but my Vespa martini was a sad parody of a landmark drink, dilute and tasteless. They'd run out of the Lagavulin 16 yo (how? Centre of bloody London! Go out and buy some!), so I settled on the Laphroaig 10... I nearly sent back the glass as it was damp, but it turns out that was the whisky.

As soneone else said - the cover charge is a joke, given the quality of the ambience (Edwardian Loo, indeed), service (which was patchy, being kind) and value for money of the whole experience. We clocked up well into three digits on something that, frankly, would have been an adequate experience at £35 a head all in.

So: don't do it. I fear it's surviving on being the poshest place on the Cut and thus snaring passing theatre trade, but it doesn't deserve to.
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Rupert Goodwins
4 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Great evening at Livebait (The Cut) on Tuesday 15th march 2011.

A meeting to catch up with old work friends and were heading for an Italian which we found is now closed-so decided to try Livebait, one of our party having eaten at the Aldwych branch. The staff quickly sorted out an extra side table to allow us to sit together easily (5) and the service was friendly but they did not rush us. We had a leisurely 2 and half hours and found that the accoustics were great for being able to chat (we previously went to Ping Pong and couldn't hear a thing)!

We had some sparkling wine and also Rose and tap water plus a couple of starters to share and we all enjoyed our mains-Tuna, Fish and chips, haddock, Livebait famous fish pie and trout plus sides of spinach and mange tout. We had teas afterwards but could not fit in any sweets.

We all agreed it was one of the best nights we have had and will struggle to find such a good place. We meet up a few times a year and try different places.

Compared to what some people have written-it seems like a different place, as we did not encounter any problems the night we went and would recommend it highly.
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The relocation team
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Thursday, March 17, 2011

We were in London for a meeting yesterday and had decided, based on previous very good recommendations from a friend (admittedly several years ago) to eat at Livebait.

We had booked a table last night (10th March 2011), arrived at 8pm - our table wasn't ready and we were shown to the small bar area, This proved to be a very lucky move.

When we walked through the door of the restaurant we were greeted by the most appalling smell. This appeared stronger as we moved to the bar area. There were five people in our party and all five were almost overcome by this stench - I've never smelled anything like it in a restaurant. The quiet discussion between the group as we waited suggested rotting fish? drains? it was utterly foul.

As the waitress had left us to prepare the table, we were able to discuss what we wanted to do. Staying and eating wasn't really an option. We turned round and left without saying anything. So, sorry to the restaurant for that but we really didn't want to make a scene - but we just couldn't stay.

I hadn't checked the reviews before last night - that was probably a mistake. We wont be returning to the restaurant.
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Jules Elias
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, March 12, 2011