Joe's Brasserie

This place is the perfect example of an otherwise successful restaurant chain coming unstuck. John Brinkley's ever growing empire has my full praise, but Joe's Brasserie doesn't even compare to his flagship venue in Hollywood Road-In fact it was much better in it's old guise. For a start, the food is dreadful, albeit the menu making some appeal at first glance. The theme at Brinkley's is decent wine at affordable prices and the kind of English food that us Londoners actually love. The problem lies however simply in the shoddy, lazy, cooking. Scrambled eggs and Smoked Salmon,even I could make more attractive-the scrambled eggs were lumpy, overcooked and cold and the burger in blue cheese sauce was ruined by the overbearing and stodgy cheese sauce that was so plentiful that it took away the otherwise good taste of the burger. My wife had the Mezze which was "bland and uninteresting". Furthermore, as others have commented already, the service was utterly non descript-even a little surly. Three times I had to get up from our outside place and go to the bar to request some service, including getting the bill-and they were practically empty.

Brinkleys and it's other restaurants are generally a breath of fresh air and I feel they deserve to be successful, but I deliver a word of warning to John and his management. Even at Hollywood Road there were problems when we visited last weekend-I politely asked if I could have smoked salmon instead of Gravadlax even though it wasn't on the menu. When Gravadlax arrived, and I complained, I was rudely told by a waitress that couldn't speak English properly, that it was Smoked Salmon and "I don't understand the problem". The size of the portions have decreased substantialy in the last few years too. I hope , and I mean this, that these are not signs of a downturn in these restaurants which I have enjoyed for over 20 years. The wines remain great value.
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James
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Saturday, August 11, 2007

The most decent place to eat around Parson's Green area without trekking to King's Road etc. Friendly staff, tasty food, nice wine menu and great atmosphere
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Jamie Burnett
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Friday, June 08, 2007

this is one of my favourite restaurants by far-brilliant service, brilliant atmosphere, brilliant food-purely brilliant!
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, November 15, 2006

I love this place: straight across the road, it's the perfect place to meet with friends and relax over a few drinks and a great meal. The food is superb and the admittedly slow service is in keeping with the relaxed atmosphere. I don't know what I'd do if it wasn't there!
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Rachel
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

I live a stone's throw from Joe's and thank my lucky stars when it's 4pm on a Sunday and I have two satsumas and stale bread in my fridge. With their relaxed hours, comfort-food menu (think crispy salads, cumberland sausage and mash or thai green curry), Joe's is a great place to unwind with friends over a bottle of Pinot Grigio (or three). Try the lamb burger if you're really hungry. Beware: the service, mostly comprised of pretty Eastern European girls, is definitely not fast. The bar's a good spot for picking up Hooray Henry types who live in the area, if that's your bag.
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CCFL04 - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Friday, January 06, 2006

Went there last night for the first time, having passed it many a time and thought how nice and buzzy it looks. But apart from the cheap wine, there was little to recommend it. It's so noisy you can barely hear the person next to you, and the food is no better than pub fare, just more expensive. I'm sure it's fine if you treat it like more of a bar than a restaurant.
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Wednesday, October 12, 2005