Belgo Centraal

Great restaurant concept for mussel-lovers. The open kitchen you can see from the street-level is very inviting. The staff is unpretentious and friendly, the mussel-pot (1kg) good for a real meal. Beautiful beer selection.

Fairly prices and WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get). The place is just a bit noisy (the batteries of my hearing-aid went down).

Will definitely turn back again
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Peter R. Geiser
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 9
Friday, April 18, 2008

I contacted Belgo Centraal early in the week to make a reservation for 18-20 people for a birthday dinner. I was advised that they could only do a set menu for a large group, but thought this was fair enough.

However, they only advised me the day before that the only booking they had available was 9:30pm, which had not been a problem when I'd initially called. This was a bit late for dinner, especially as we had to meet some friends who were only coming for drinks afterwards.

Luckily I managed to get a table and a reserved area for both dinner and drinks at Tiger Tiger.

I am still keen to get to Belgo for dinner at some stage, but would not recommend planning a special event there.
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Jacinda
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, April 03, 2008

I took my out-of -town work mates to Belgos Centraal last night, none of them had been before and they were all suitably impressed, this was the 5th time I have been because the food is always delicious and I wasn't dissapointed last night, I whole heartedly recommend the thai-green mussels to start and a basket of bread and butter to mob up thai-green soup. 2 of us ordered these but our whole party joined us with the bread to help eat the soup because it was sooo delicious.

Belgo always seems to be fully booked when trying to book a table so book early if you want to be in the main restaurant, failing that I have never been turned away before as they have a whole dining area reserved for walk-ins.

The only 'slight' downside is that unless there is about 8 of you, you will almost definatly be sharing a table with other diners, this is not a problem for me but the couple that were sat at the end of our party of 6 were really not impressed as they made jibes about our conversation and took a complete dislike to one of our friends who was not offensive but is just a loud character (the restaurant was full to briming you had to shout to be heard!) The waiters have always been friendly with a sense of humour and the beers are extensive and delicious.

I whole-heartedly recommend this restaurant, if you like mussels and big flavours you love it, but if mussels aren't you thing there is many other choices from fish to steak to duck all at very reasonable prices.

Bon Appetit x
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Friday, March 21, 2008

Went to the restaurant on a Sunday afternoon. The food is nothing worth writing home about. Since I couldn't find steak tartare on the menu, ordered the croquettes for appetizer which were quite bland and mussels for main course which again were average. In good Belgian restaurants the sauce is typically so good, you could eat is as a soup but at Belgo I wasn't even tempted to do that. The beer selection is very good though.

The service is one of the worst I have experienced in London. You have to get through the girl at the reception and a waiter downstairs (if you happen to find one that is paying attention) to get to your table. You will get a knife and fork with your mussels instead of the typical seafood fork and spoon combo. What are you supposed to do with a knife, stab the waiters? You will have to wait about 45 minutes for your main course to arrive. You will soon find out that most of the waiting staff speak only basic English so they cannot understand what you are ordering nor can they explain why your food is so late. If you want to speak to the manager that will take an additional 30 minutes as attending to customers is not his priority.

The atmosphere is similar to most of the usual artificial feeling tourist traps around Covent Garden. It's not pricey but given the level of service it shouldn't be. Whatever you do don't leave a tip as it may encourage them to reduce service to zero.
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Ivan
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 6
Monday, March 17, 2008

went with a group of friends on Saturday night. Excellent all round, great big portions of very tasty food, fantastic belgian beers, and good value.
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James
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Me and a few friends went to Belgo Centraal this week for the first time. Atmosphere was fantastic, the food was brilliant and it cost us only £75 in total for five people (food+drinks). Very highly recommended.
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James
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, January 31, 2008

Enjoyed my time here. I liked the approach to the table walking past the kitchen and seeing everything happening, and the others in my party couldn't stop talking about the 'toilet fountain'. The service staff dressed up in pseudo-monk costumes added to the ambience.

Food was what I expected, nothing flash, but did the job. The desserts were delicious. I'm a big fan of the belgian beers, but they did seem slightly on the expensive side compared with other places around town.
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Phantomchickenz - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Have been to Belgo several times but doubt i'll be back as the standards are dropping further on each visit. Last night the mussels were served fast, but it was a shame that the cutlery and bread came along much later. The mussels were ok. Wine and beer was good for the price. Table was cleared while one of our party was still eating. It was packed as usual and the atmoshere was good when you are out with mates for a fun evening, but overall the experience was not too good. I suppose as long as the place is packed every night they are happy to coast along at 50% effort.
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Ewan
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Wednesday, January 09, 2008

If you and a group of your friends like chatting and enjoying food at the same time...go for this one. The atmosphere is very hip, the way the place is busy makes it unpretentious and good for keeping a conversation. And the food...it may not have come straight from Belgium but it sure delivers it well.
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jerico - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Saturday, December 29, 2007

i went to this restaurant for the first time for the xmas party with work the next day e were all suffering from severe headache from the noise and unruliness of some of the other diners i know its xmas but our table was unfortunatly next to the office louts who should have gone to the local pub and then had kebabs the food was awfull i only managed to get 1 drink the whole time we were there a few of us had steak that was as tough as boot leather and the restaurant didnt supply steak knives due to the fact they didnt have any

i have dine din many restaurants but this was money wasted there are far better places to eat in convent garden than this one i will never go here again and will discourage anyone i hear of wishing to eat in a belgian restaurant

my advice will be GO TO BELGIUM and eat the real thing
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d isted
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, December 21, 2007