Cafe Apogee

Nice restaurant, good food (OK not as good as the french one !), and pleasant staff : special thanks to the waitress that served the guy from Paris on Saturday, 11th !!
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Anthony C.
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, August 14, 2006

As a local business resident, I have been eating here since it opened 10+ years ago. I completely agree with the owner, getting rid of the nice but inexperienced manager and installing the old policies of separating dining areas from the drinking. For a long time, I could not find a table to enjoy my meal because I was surrounded by groups of chain smoking youths splitting one pot of tea and sitting for hours and when the staff would mention that they had customers waiting for a table these customers would bully them into leaving them sit and chain smoke until closing. Really how can a business survive with customers sitting at a table all evening spending only £5 a head if that? Overall the place has improved dramatically and is a much more civilized place for one to enjoy some exceptionally good food (the grilled saffron lamb is amazing) and the Mojitos are brilliant. The Apogee lives up to its name when the owners lovely wife is working (when she has some time away from organizing the Academics Dept of a University) The only complaint I can give is the staff should be given more training when they are newly hired.
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S Smith
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, June 28, 2006

I used to go to this place frequently with my girlfriend (she had been a customer for over 8 years) when we started to go out. I say "used to" because just on 5th June, we experienced some of the worst customer service from what used to be a nice little hangout. Since the manager arrived and decided to patrol the floor, some unwelcome changes had occurred. The wonderful floor manager and his staff were ousted, and customers were left with a staff who lacked common courtesy, and appeared to believe that they were superior to us. My girlfriend and I were sitting in the "dining area" (no sign made it clear by the way), made an order to eat, and were suddenly asked to move...for no reason. My girlfriend responded with an emphatic NO, and the member of staff asked us if we knew the boss, as if to say, "if you know my boss, you can stay here"...did I mention that people in the same area were only drinking, and we were on one of the smaller tables? (there was a couple drinking on a table for 4!!!). The night continued with two staff members giving us stares (obviously talking about us) making the rest of the night very uncomfortable.

...If only that manager hadn't turned up...
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Jase
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Truly appalling service
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p.Jones
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Food is dreadful, drinks overpriced, above all, the service is INCREDIBLY bad. I have been a regular since my teens and over the year spent considerable amount of money - mainly due to the convenience of the venue - but recently the owner changed "policies" and my friends and I hardly ever get seated without having to eat their tasteless "dinner" and are forced to sit at the bar near the entrance. Interestingly, only orientals seem to be allocated there. I went there today, after hearing that it's improved from a friend, and was left upset to find out that nothing has changed, if anything it had got worse. At the entrance, we were asked if we were having dinner, to that I replied 'yes, we might be having a bite to eat'. They showed us to one of the decent tables, but after placing the order, a very arrogant and rude young waitress asked us if we'd like to move to "Table Three" (I mean, we don't work there so I'm puzzled why she thought where that was). When I rejected the offer she asked "Do you know my boss?" I, admittedly defensively asked what has got anything to do with my knowing the boss. Her reply was that if I did, then it's ok and that he'd probably let us stay where we were.

Since that conversation, the waitress and her colleague blatantly were talking about us, looking and smirking at us constantly. And we even saw two of them rushing to speak to the ''boss" as he came on the floor.

The restaurant was half empty, there were two couples who were seated on 4-seater-tables without any food There was nobody waiting to be seated, and we did eat - not dinner but desserts.

Would have placed a complaint if I thought it was worse a while, but decided the best thing to do was never to go back again.
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Y
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, June 06, 2006

I visited Apogee with a some friends a few months ago, but all of us were disappointed with what I can only describe very poor quality food. The service was not too bad and they did not mind us having just drinks for quite some time before all of us arrived. I am happy to go there just for drinks, but NEVER for food!!
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Monday, April 10, 2006

The food was dreadful, even simple things like salad.
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Monday, April 10, 2006

atrocious service. Restaurant manager & staff extremely rude & clear discrimination agst Asians. We were told that tables are for guests who are having dinner, not for those who are there for drinks only, but i clearly overhead another group of guests (all local) who were given a table even when they said they were there for drinks only. We were also forced to leave after an hour cos we are only spending GBP5 average per person for drinks. If this is the restaurant policy, should state clearly to let guests know that there is a minimum spending to have table for more than an hour. Will nvr go back again, & my friends will be warned.
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JM Lee
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, April 08, 2006

Superb variety on menu, high quality food and a pleasant rate of service make this a real find on busy and tourist-trap infested Leicester Square. The cuisine is Persian with English favourites thrown in and some Italian pasta dishes. Definitely worth visiting, if only for the peaceful atmosphere (ornate carpets cover the walls and a littel fountain trickles away under a stairwell). Did I mention the delicious range of freshly-baked cakes on display?
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Achilleas Mavrellis
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, January 09, 2006

I went here recently and I have to agree with some others that the sevice is pretty slow - "relaxed" would be a polite way of describing it! However, that has the advantage of meaning that they don't hurry you at all. We were a big group of some people eating, some people only drinking and they had no problem with that at all. The food is delicious and the cocktails are great, but IT IS NOT JAPANESE!
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Friday, November 25, 2005