Benugo Bar & Kitchen

Wierd. I was in this place on Wednesday with my boyfriend and was fairly impressed - i'd never heard of it before he suggested it and decided to look it up after what was a pretty good meal. We shared a charcuterie plate to start which was excellent and well presented, and i had a decent fishcake for my main, which whilst nothing spectacular was certainly ok. My boyfriend had sausage and mash, and the waiter was keen to tell us about the sausages and who made them - not my cup of tea but my boyfriend seemed to like it. We shared a cheesecake for dessert which was huge and very tasty. Overall i thought it was a fun, easygoing venue and the service was friendly, if a little overworked due to how busy it was. Take this place for what it is and i think you'll enjoy it.
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James Higgle
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Monday, October 27, 2008

We joined 4 of our friends there on Tuesday night to help celebrate one of our birthdays. We're all experienced diners and frequently go out and even back to restaurants dotted around London. This, however, without doubt, is one of the worst, most overpriced places we think we've ever had the misfortune to go. Most people went for a crayfish starter which turned out to be a hugely expensive "prawn cocktail" like thing and the mushrooms on toast that went down the table for one of us looked sodden. 3 of us had the steak with a peppercorn sauce that was like dish water accompanied by "hand made fries" complete with the potato "eyes" still in (yeuch). 2 of us had lamb curry & mixed pepper pie which was pronounced ok but accompanied by overcooked & over buttered veg, 1 had a nothing special roasted cod & crushed potatoes & the final member had a nothing amazing fishcake. The wine list is limited & expensive for what's offered. We didn't even bother with desserts. Give the place the widest possible berth!
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TJ
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Thursday, October 23, 2008

As a regular cinema-goer I have been eating at BFI South Bank's Benugo restaurant regularly since it opened. It is an attractive, light space and a really lovely place to eat a pre-screening meal. However, over the last few months the food has become unspeakably bad.

Last week I ordered a braised lamb dish that was not only badly cooked, but the meanest, smallest, most overpriced main course that I have ever been served in a restaurant - rather like that Woody Allen line in 'Annie Hall': "The food in this place is really terrible. And such small portions." For dessert I ordered the vaguely described 'fruit tart'. This turned out to be tasteless, purple/puce nondescript mush served in a 3rd rate pastry case. My partner had smoked salmon - from the look of it , it was clearly a cheap piece of salmon. The taste was even worse - greasy and excessively salty.

This was my third bad eating experience at this restaurant recently. Combined with the surly, unfriendly waiting staff (this has been a problem since day 1) it will ensure that it was also be my last visit to Benugo.
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rosieh
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 0
Monday, October 13, 2008

This place is totally over rated and over priced given the quality on offer in London. The service is fine. The menu looks fine. But the execution is substandard and I suspect benugo couldnt care a fig. We ordered lite quick cafe menu lunch; tart and cheeseburger- both suggested as MAIN COURSES at £ and £9.50 respectively, soft drinks and fries. We are foodies but time did not permit exploration of the menu much. The tiny tart arrived as did the burger with coleslaw. The tart was limp, and over caramelised. The burger fine. This is a rip off. Never again.
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Noel
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Sunday, August 31, 2008

The new Benugo at the NFT's Southbank Centre looks smart and has a bit of a buzz about it. The wine list is OK and the house white suprisingly nice and well-priced. The menu is standard-issue "modern British", but the cooking itself is substandard. My fishcake could have been made from sawdust, while my partner's salad was a sparse, sad-looking affair. That was bad enough but the service was appallingly bad. There were 3 waitresses and they apparently did not get along. They walked around with downcast faces so that customers could not catch their eye. And they were rude once we did - finally - get one to stop at our table. "Could we have menus?", we asked, after 30 minutes. The response was, "Ask one of the others". Needless to say, it was another 30 minutes before we got one of the other's attention. A service charge is automatically added to the bill, so I guess there is no incentive for them to be prompt or attentive, to smile, to ask about the food.....Either that, or they are very poorly trained. At prices of £30 per head, this is not acceptable.
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Harry
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, July 30, 2008