Maxwell's Covent Garden

Went to Maxwell' on a Sunday night with 3 friends as It was 'happy our all day' and we had a voucher for 2 courses @ £12.95. We we shown to our seats and then waited 45mins before our drinks order was taken! We then waited a further 30mins for the food to arrive. We ordered from a very limited menu and when the food arrived it was extremely disappointing. All dishes were poorly presented, overcooked and greasy. There was no garnish served with the either course and vegetables have to ordered seperately - we were told this once our food had arrived. I complained to the manager, who admitted that she saw us waiting for our food and didn't do anything about it. She apologised for the poor service and offered us a complimentary drink - which we had to wait 15 minutes for! In conclusion - only go to Maxwell's if you had the time and the money to waste.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Monday, July 30, 2007

Went with my partner on a weekend away in London a few months ago. Service was terrible, impossible to attract the waitress' attention. We were left alone for an hour with no drinks, no steak knives etc. Food was edible, but nothing more. Only saw anyone for the bill, which we paid, informed the waitress how disappointed with the service we were. We were offered free desserts but we'd had enough by then and left sharpish! One to avoid.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, June 12, 2007

I had lunch at Maxwells yesterday and have to say it was a big disappointment. The previous night I checked their website which advertised a lunchtime special - two courses for £9.95 which seemed quite reasonable so we decided to give it ago. However when we arrived the next day and asked for the lunch menu we were told that it was not available and that their website was probably out of date!!

We decided to eat there anyway as the children were really hungry. I was not impressed at all. The childrens menu was very unimaginative, smaller portions of the adult menu would be preferable. My daughter had fish fingers with chips and baked beans. The beans came in a white plastic pot and were lukewarm. My partner had lamb chops which were overcooked and dry and the potatoes that came with it were greasy. There were no vegetables with the dish, you have to order those seperately which I found surprising considering the cost of the meal itself. Our waitress was quite pleasant however and quite attentive. In spite of this I will not be eating at Maxwells again. Very disappointing.
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A Jewers
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Friday, June 01, 2007

I had lunch at Maxwells yesterday and have to say it was a big disappointment. The previous night I checked their website which advertised a lunchtime special - two courses for £9.95 which seemed quite reasonable so we decided to give it ago. However when we arrived the next day and asked for the lunch menu we were told that it was not available and that their website was probably out of date!!

We decided to eat there anyway as the children were really hungry. I was not impressed at all. The childrens menu was very unimaginative, smaller portions of the adult menu would be preferable. My daughter had fish fingers with chips and baked beans. The beans came in a white plastic pot and were lukewarm. My partner had lamb chops which were overcooked and dry and the potatoes that came with it were greasy. There were no vegetables with the dish, you have to order those seperately which I found surprising considering the cost of the meal itself. Our waitress was quite pleasant however and quite attentive. In spite of this I will not be eating at Maxwells again. Very disappointing.
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A Jewers
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Friday, June 01, 2007

Went on Saturday 28 April, in a group of 12 people ages 5-70. Firstly it was really way too loud, not loud because of a buzy atmosphere it was loud because the "background music" was cranked up to high. This meant it was very difficult to talk. The elderly people in the group switched off their hearing aids, so they were reduced to nodding and smiling!

The service was lousy with staff completely disorganised. The food wasn't anything to rave about, mainly huge portions of greasy meat with any vegetables costing extra. Part of the group had starters, but they didn't all arrive together, there was a delay of about 20 mins between the first starter and the other starters. I never imagined I would have to wait 2 hour for my main course.

I had a goats cheese salad, where a huge lump of goats cheese and the bread it was sitting on hadn't been toasted properly. My salad was covered in a pretty dreadful dressing, which was a big disappointment after waiting so long to get it. I think it takes a real knack to mess up a salad, and boy did they mess it up.

There are so many better places to eat in the Covent Garden area, don't bother with this third rate rubbish. Try Christophers if you want American food. Or for a reasonable priced steak and chips you can't go wrong with Cafe Rouge! I will not go to Maxwells again!
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Fifi - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, May 01, 2007

I went to Maxwells with my 2 best friends as part of a theatre and dinner deal for one of their birthdays.

In summary, it was terrible! It runied what should have been a great night.

We were promptly shown to a table by a polite enough waitness.

It took a while to get someone to take our order.

After about 45 minutes we got our starter (which was potato skills with cheese and bacon - it wasn't particularly nice - basic bog standard greasey stuff!)

We still hadn't had our main course after 80 minutes and had to leave or we would have missed the start of our show.

We had asked the waiter on numerous occasions where our food was and were told 'it's coming', 'we're really busy' and 'don't worry, the people over there haven't got theirs yet either'. No sorry was mentioned - just a bunch of excuses that got little sympathy from us.

When we left, we asked to speak to the manager and were told by her 'sorry but it was really busy tonight'.

This was unacceptable as they knew how many dinner and show diners they would have in (as it is all pre-booked) and they knew the time frame they had to get us in, fed and out by.

They gave us our drinks free as an appology (not much of a sorry considdering we'd had 2 diet cokes and a water!) and I was told to contact the company that we had purchased the tickets from.

Just as we left, our food came to our table - after 90 minutes of waiting. typical!!

So in review terms, the service was lousy and the food (the little we got of it) wasn't anything to rave about. I'd avoid it!
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Monday, April 16, 2007

I have only ever eaten here once but do come here regularly for drinks, particularly during happy hour (16:30-19:30) where the cocktails are loovly and cheap. The food was OK, and was exactly what i expected from an American style restaurant. When i come for drinks I always find the waiters/waitresses friendly and fast, and the dimmed lights and background music give the place the kind of atmosphere i like. One negative comment I could make is that the staff greeting at the door could look less miserable!
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zuzino - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Monday, April 09, 2007

My friend and I came up to Londin for the weekend to catch a show and I pre-booked Maxwells in advance because I knew it was very popular - especially on a weekend.

We were greeted and shown to our table straight away - a waiter was with us within 2 mins! All staff very helpful, food brill, cocktails yummy!

On a cautionary note - a nice young gentleman tried to snatch a purse out of a girls handbag whilst it was on her lap. They were on the table right next to us - and did cause a bit of commotion but it was sorted and luckily he didn't get what he was looking for.

Ladies - travel light - if you have got pockets - put your money in them don't advertise yourself as a tourist!
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Heather
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, April 03, 2007

We came here as a party of 10, and to be fair the waitress did make an effort. However, the service was scatty and drinks took forever. A few of us had the steak and when a waitress brought them over, I said mine was the rare one. "We cook them all at medium" said she, and plonked it down rather abruptly. Well then why did they ask how I wanted it done? The steak was of a poor quality, the chips were greasy and somewhat cold, the "steak sauce" was some non-descript brown liquid served in a small paper cup.

There is also a strange mural on the wall in the downstairs seating area.

Avoid.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Thursday, January 04, 2007

Went here for a work do recently. It's right outside Covent Garden station so I was expecting it to be pretty touristy. And it was. But just because it's aimed principally at tourists shouldn't allow them to serve food of this standard. A starter of nachos looked and tasted horrible and the burgers were absolutely appalling. The meet was of a poor quality, the bread was state and the whole thing was a real effort to eat. How hard is it to get these right? Especially as the burgers and steaks are the reason people come to somewhere like this. Cocktails were average, service wasn't too bad. Far too expensive. Keep well away.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Monday, November 20, 2006