Bumbles

was absolutely heaving at 7pm on saturday evening. Was led to a downstairs area where there was a lounge to relax and have a pre dinner drink. The wait was not long and we were notified on a regular basis of the waiting time(our own fault for not reserving a table)

starters were really interesting, i had a smoked egg with a mushroom pasta, very very good indeed. But the highlights were def the mains and the desserts, for the mains we had a whole chicken between two of us, served in an inflated balloon filled with what i was told was brandy, wines and lots of chicken flavour. the dish was served up in two parts, first the legs were diced and served in a lettuce and then the rest of the chicken came! wow it was some serious stuff!

desserts again were fantastic. This is def a restaurant which holds many surprises for the diner, you would never expect it if you were just walking by!!!
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, May 16, 2011

This is NOT a good restaurant. The £10 menu seems to run out very early in the night, and the service, in particular, is very bad.

I have been moved to join this reveiw site after our bad experience there, because I found some of the other reviews so misleading, and indeed they lead to our visiting this restaurant. Certainly not the 'michelin-starred presentation' of other reviews. Far from it, in fact.

We were treated rudely even though half of our party ordered from the very pricey a-la-carte menu, and half ordered from the highly limited £10 menu, which I did not feel was good value as there was virtually no choice due to many options running out.

The atmosphere is very, very average, and I was very disappointed with the experience overall. There are many, far better restaurants in London, (most in fact) and my advice would be strongly against giving Bumbles a try.
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Ruth - View all reviews by this user
2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Thursday, April 14, 2011

A group of us went to Bumbles a few days ago and as always we came out with a smile on our face. Bumbles always is a wonderful place to eat out......if you're looking for excellent food and service(first class!!!!) . Order the pineapple surprise, the best dessert ever!!! The presentation of the food is of Michelin star standards. All of my friends enjoyed their meal thoroughly and kept on raving about it when we left. The service is of a high standard, wonderful and friendly in every way!!! We are looking forward to our next visit!!!
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- View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Do NOT go to this place. 6 of us went there on a Friday night having heard the £10 menu was excellent. It was a disaster.

25 minutes after they had taken our order, the waiter came back and told us none of us could have the starters we had ordered because they only had potato soup left. We were also told we had to change some of our mains. We asked if it was possible to substitute something from the a la carte menu because none of us fancied the soup, but we were told no. We asked politey to speak to the manager - big mistake. When she eventually came over she was very rude to the point of being aggressive. Her behaviour was so bad some of our party actually wanted to leave.

When the food eventually came it was fairly poor and the portions were tiny. Safe to say we will never be going to this place again!!
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Richard
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Monday, March 28, 2011

Went to Bumbles for the first time last night and was very impressed. The food is excellent and the service attentive. We went for the a la carte option and despite ordering some of the options which had surcharges, a side dish, bottle of white wine, two glasses of port, a whisky and the cheese board it still only came to £40 a head!!

The only down side was the toilet facilities - a bit of money could be spent on these to bring them up to standard but other than that a perfect evening. I am now recommending it to all my friends.
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ceza - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, February 16, 2011

This place is excellent. Medium to high end food & service (read amuse bouche & sommelier) for low end prices (35 quid including wine). Restaurant is really really cosy and the staff are extremely professional.
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Dan
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Went to Bumbles last night for the first time - what a great find! Came upon it after checking here, as I was going to have dinner with a friend who lives outside London and travels into Victoria station. Must say, the positive reviews are all true - this is a great place.

The restaurant is best described as 'cosy'. I had made a booking via the London Eating book-a-table function. Arrived on time and immediately had our first pleasant surprise - instead of the table for two near the door, where most other London restaurants would have placed us (it was the only 2-seater available), we were ushered into a quiet alcove in the back and had a table for four to ourselves. Great start!

Service was very friendly and attentive, brought bread and butter immediately while we pored over the menus and the wine list.

The menu has an 8-course 'gastro' menu for 38 quid, but neither of us being hungry enough, we plumped for the two-course menu for 19 pounds a head (there is no a la carte option).

The choices on the menu are interesting and I had a delicious omlette Gordon Bennett as a started followed by rabbit 'head-to-tail', various pieces of rabbit cooked in different ways. Cooked to perfection and tasty. Great stuff. My friend had a soup followed by a veal burger which was again cooked to perfection (i.e. pink).

We washed down the food with a nice bottle of Californian Chardonnay. The wine list is interesting and reasonably priced, many options under 20 pounds.

Throughout the evening service was impeccable, friendly and relaxed. Could this really be a London restaurant? At times it felt as if we were in a different city altogether!

While I rarely get to the area around Victoria, I definitely know where I'll be back for dinner - Bumbles!
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Chris
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, October 01, 2010

I love this restaurant and come back regularly here - the food is imaginative, decent portions and good value. The atmosphere is laidback and the service is brisk and friendly. Highlights for me are the Oxfordshire rare beef starter, the steak and the souffle dessert. Probably the one thing I'm not a fan of is the bread, which is quite tough and not that tasty -- but this is a tiny thing and overall I really recommend this!
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GYC - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Monday, August 16, 2010

Bumbles is a delightful little restaurant based in Victoria, easy to find as a 3 minute walk from Victoria station.

We reserved a table for two the night before and when we arrived they had our table ready straight away.

We booked a fixed price 3 course meal for £10 each and suprisingly it was cooked to perfection and absolutely delicious.

Small little touches to the table and the mood lighting/candles made all the differance.

We had a bottle of red wine with our meal and the glass of water on our table was topped up regularly which was nice.

The whole meal cost me £43 and because we were entirely satisfied i left a £7 tip-i was glad to give.

In my opinion 10/10 place to dine. Thank you Bumbles
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Nick McCartney
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, August 15, 2010

We went to Bumbles for the first time last year before attending the 'Wicked' musical nearby. It was one of the best lamb we had for a long time.

So my partner and I decided to try their taster menu over lunchtime yesterday. We arrived 5 minutes prior opening time at 12pm and the waitress politely sent us out again in the cold... wasn't a good start for my girlfriend who was freezing. But they made up for it once we were seated.

Very good service and lovely waitresses. All 7 courses of the taster menu was delicious. seasoning was just right. My girlfriend cleared all dishes other than a small amount of the rabbit cuz she was full. That was very impressive for her to have done that. The passion fruit souffle was perfectly done and light.

The chef came out for a chat as i commented to the waitress how lovely the meal was. We told them we came all the way from bournemouth for a visit and it's one of our favourite restaurants. He was very pleasant and well done in making every dish so special. The restaurant was full during a monday lunch time.
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Eunice
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, February 02, 2010