Belgo Centraal

It's always a wonderful experience to come to this great restaurant, deep down in the depths of the earth, approached by a walkway where you can look down and see the kitchens, red hot with chefs labouring to create such wonderful food. Downstairs (there is an industrial sized lift) you are met with a vast cavernous place with waiters going to and fro dressed in black monks habits. It's a rather noisy place when busy but it just adds to the authentic atmosphere, the staff are helpful, polite and friendly. The food itself was wonderful, my dinner partner had the chicken rotisserie in sweet chilli and ginger, I had a grilled goats cheese starter followed by roast duck breast with a spring onion mash and a plum beer jus, speaking of beer, do NOT forget to try 'a couple' of the wonderful beers that they serve up here, I myself was on the Trappist variety, dark and very strong (my only complaint would be that they serve them up too cold), Rochefort 8 (9%) and Rochefort 10 (11%). It was a very pleasant experience and I will be back.
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Graham Brook
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Friday, September 02, 2011

13 June 2011, my girlfriend and I had dinner at Belgo Centraal, Entering Belgo, there was two receptionist, these two were very well mannered. But we was extremely dissappointed with their service, reason being the waiters service was terrible, they were rude and not very attentive and felt like we was rushed to order our food. Once we got the food, it was tasteless.

The starter which was 'Sautéed squid & chorizo with roquette & baby gem with a tomato & lemon dressing' was very salty, the squid was average and it was very oily.

The main which I had was 'Beef carbonnade – beef braised in sweet Gueuze beer with apples & plums, served with frites' - This was too sweet, the more I ate i realised that it became a little too dry and again tasteless.

My girlfriend had the 'Slow cooked shank of lamb served with roasted winter vegetables, creamed mash and a DeKoninck beer and balsamic jus' -She said it was tender, but no taste within the lamb, so it felt like she was eating nothing, after about 2-3 mouthfuls, she said it was very dry. the vegetables, you could tell they were over cooked because they also tasted burnt with way too much pepper sprinkled on top and the sauce was appalling..

The whole experience for us two in the end was very disappointing and the service and effort which was put within the chefs and the waitors has gone down the ladder compared to the last 2 years. I was hoping to have a delicious tasting meal at Belgo. Unless Belgo starts putting effort within the food and the service, I dont think I would like to go there ever again, nor will I ever recommend people to eat at Belgo.
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Dissappointed Regular Customers
2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The ambience is quite nice although had a misunderstanding that I had a booking for 2 person when I had booked for 3 persons. I had to show the waitress the booking confirmation sms to her. However what greeted me was a chirpy waitress whom I know as Hanna and with her sunshine megawatt smile.. it was a draw and it put us into the right mood for a good time for dinner. The service was good and she always serve with a smile and give us warm kind of feeling...therefore I will like to commend staff Hanna who served us in Belgo centraal from 1820-2030 pm on 12th June.

The food was good, special mention is the red cabbage with raspberry beer, goat cheese, rotisserie with mushroom and cream sauce (for 2 pax at least for Asian size)..

Overall experience is good.. thanks.
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cindy soh
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Sunday, June 12, 2011

amazing, high energy space, makes you happy to be there. two out of three times the food was great

one time the dishes were crazy bad: mussels florentine, was like tasteless. green paste on flavorless mussels with grilled cheese. salmon fishcakes was somewhat tasteless and service this time was overwhelmed and fairly bad, ordered something that never came.

their idea of making up for that was offering a free expresso, it was an expensive dish and pretty bad, they should learn how to take care of their clients if they want to keep their customers
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Mad Duck - View all reviews by this user
5 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 5
Monday, April 18, 2011

I was in London by myself and, given the geometry of the average table, lone diners are always going to be unpopular with restaurauteurs, but Belgo found me space, on a busy Saturday evening, after only a short wait. The dining area isn't going to win many architectural awards, but I should think that it is pretty good at flexibly accommodating all sorts of different sizes of party. I didn't notice any muzak and I didn't miss it. If your neighbours are raucous, you'll certainly be aware of the fact, but that is probably true anywhere, muzak, or no muzak. One can probably eaves-drop on the people at the next table in Belgo, but it's just as easy not to.

I ordered squid, moules marinieres and a De Koninck beer. I was a bit surprised when a second beer (not asked for) quickly followed the first and the waitress who delivered it was off in a flash, but I was able to attract the attention of another waitress, who removed it (and I did check: I wasn't charged for it). The squid with chorizo was very pleasant.

The mussels arrived very soon afterwards; as often is the case, I'd have appreciated a slightly longer pause between courses. Some shells were empty, but I think that all the "missing" mussels were in the liquor, which was delicious. The mussels were fairly small, but that may well be down to the time of year (the biology of bivalves isn't exactly my speciality - I just eat them). They were cooked very nicely. They should be, too, as they are the speciality of the house and, if I can cook mussels, anyone can.

Most of the desserts didn't appeal to me, since I don't have a very sweet tooth and I had eaten more than enough, already, but I tried the apple and mango crumble, which is a seasonal option. It was more of a pie than a crumble, so I remain loyal to the British idea of a crumble, but this was a good dessert, with a couple of your five-a-day thrown in.

Apart from the mysterious arrival of the second beer, I have no complaints about the standard of service. i have just started wearing glasses (which I had left at home) and was trying to read a small notice on a wall, which turned out to be of the "elfin safety" variety (rather appropriate for a Belgian-themed establishment, perhaps, except that Belgo encapsulates all of the more attractive things about Belgium, apart from the architecture and the paintings). Within seconds, a senior waiter was asking me if there was anything I required. All the staff I met were prompt and polite.

Scanning the room, I reckoned that I was one of the oldest people present (I'm forty-six); there were several people with at least two decades' head-start on me, who seemed to be enjoying themselves. Belgo attracts youngsters, but the only thing to deter older people is the bench seating. If that's not a problem, it's well worth a try. It's friendly and the food which I had was very good.
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8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Sunday, March 20, 2011

Service: the waiters lacked training in customer service. They infringed Customer Service 101 - icy stare at the customers, passing out cutlery to the customers so that customers can deal with table setting themselves, standing at the top end of the table (when we were seated at the other end) expecting customers to shout out orders to them, forgetting our orders, telling us that they would only hold tables for 15 minutes when the restaurant was less than half full (I now understand why the restaurant was only half full...), chasing us every few minutes - asking when the rest of the table would arrive (again the restaurant was half empty so the reason for so doing escapes me...) and asking whether we were ready to order, giving a table of 5 a small glass of water (no jug of water, although I asked for it). Having the audacity to to include a service charge for this nonsensical service.

Food: half the mussels were empty. Did we complain when that happened? No - because we were intimidated enough that night and just wanted to get out of there. Taste - bland.
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3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Monday, February 28, 2011

'In cases of severe dissatisfaction please contact the restaurant first...so they can put things right.....!" I think not - you need to know what you are going to here.

If you like moules and don't care where you eat them, just want to eat and go, then this is for you. Otherwise, well.....

The foyer is attractive. Then the lady allocating seats comes into view. She barked instructions at us, and shouted even more when we failed to understand what she meant. We felt like convicts being sorted into groups before being taken off to the appropriate block.

We were kept waiting in a service lift above the chip fryers where were sooned bathed in eau de chip fat, before being lowered to what appeared to be an alley where the kitchen dumped rubbish.

As our eyes began to recover from the smoke and get used to the dim lighting it became apparent that we were in a low grade bierkeller. A couple of tables were dragged together and we were perched on wooden benches and assorted chairs (and we had booked).

The stone floors, plastic tables and metal finish mean that 'din' is the closest description I can think of for the sound. Everything clanged about and we gave up trying to talk.

Away from the smoke there was an all pervading sickly smell which for me completely switched off my appetite. Chip fat and kitchens are not really appetising.

The food, when it came was good and deserved far better than the unpleasant surroundings it was served in, The starters were beautifully presented and seemed totally at odds with everything else. Whoever was creating those should take their talents up market.

The moules were enjoyed.

This place was dingey, beyond basic and totally without ambience. Couldn't even be described as atmospheric. It was also packed, mostly with large parties.

I felt that they were saying, "You like mussles, we have great mussels, so if you want them you put up with whatever else we decide to offer you"

We came home, washed everything we were wearing to get rid of the chip fat smell and won't be going back. Have more ambient meals in McDonalds.
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Dragon5
4 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 4
Friday, December 31, 2010

Didn't live up the it's reputation....

I am a big fan of Bodean's - which i believe is part of the Belgos group. It took me ages to persuade my wife to go to Belgo's as she isn't into Moules etc.

As you enter the restaurant you are hit by the density and smell of acrid oil smoke - i presumed from the tonnes of frites being cooked. We were sent downstairs to the restaurant part in what seemed like a service lift - with dirty sticky wire walls. I was wondering if we were in a giant basket being lowered into a deep-fat frier??

We made it downstairs and had to wait to be shown to our table. I had no idea how 'spit and sawdust' or should that be 'spit and metal filings' the restaurant would be. The restaurant was a basement cavern lit with the occasional halogen light, lots of steel and grubby opaque glass separating tables. The chairs were either solid wood benches or varnished wooden chairs. In all the ambience was that of a futuristic but neglected prison.

Food quality was pretty good, but I was expecting proper Belgian frites, not fried frozen chips that i could easily do at home. Beer and wine prices are ok - however a clean glass to drink from seemed to be too much to ask. Service not ideal as we weren't served our food at the same time, service was brusque until i pointed out that my beer had something in it..... the waiter warmed up after that and also gave me a replacement on the house. I had the steak, my father the waterzooi, my mother the moules mariniere and my wife had the rotisserie chicken. All the food was hot, tasty and appeared to be carefully cooked.

We didn't hang around for dessert as we'd all had enough of the grim surroundings by then and had all but forgotten this was supposed to be a Christmas treat and all felt relieved to be out in the cool air and drizzle of Covent Garden.

If I ever find myself going back there I will pack a gas-mask.
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mark
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Thursday, December 30, 2010

It's always a disspiriting feeling when after having eaten at a restaurant you realise that you could have done a better job of cooking the same dishes yourself at a fraction of the price. The staff were clearly well drilled to kick us out of our tables the moment we had finished eating - it was just a shame the same rigour wasn't applied in the kitchen.

First course was a very ordinary terrine, with soggy toast that I was tempted to send it back. Especially disappointing, however, was the signature dish. I was really unimpressed by the moules marinieres - a pale imitation of how they ought to be done and lacking in all the key ingredients; namely parsley, garlic and cream. It's not a hard dish to get right, and for the money I really expected better. I won't bother with Belgo's again.
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6 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, December 14, 2010

been eating at belgos for years. One of my favorite restaurants for good beers good lively atmosphere and nice food. Its never been gourmet food, but its a good lively place for young people to go and has some nice dishes, and awsome beers. Prolly been there about 20 times over the years. However last time I went is the first time I have seen the food standards really drop significantly. Their best dish has alwasy been the thai mussels. This normally is awesome has a real lime zing to it (bit like a green thai curry). this time is was so over salted you couldnt eat it. Also their beef carbonade (a rich stew with braised beef) for the first time ever in year this dish was poor. The beef had not been braised properly and was like a touch dry cube of leather. (been having this dish for years and normally the beef is tender and flakey). I was shocked when I had it this time and I could barely cut through it. they also had changed their menu and added a starter of parma ham and celeric remoluade (image coldslaw) type thing in the middle. The parma ham straight out of a packet and slapped on a plate with this (not freshy made) romalade. Was very lazy. Ultimately belgos can afford to get away with it. Think they will always have a full house as its a cool place to go. Shame though the food really has gone down hill. Ill try it again im sure hopefully it was a one off bad experience.
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rover - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Monday, November 01, 2010