Bluebird Cafe

I am not surprised to see the posts below about the abysmal service.

I ordered a bottle of wine and two glasses on a not very busy day. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity I went and enquired about our order, telling the waiter that we had been waiting at least ten minutes. His response was that, in his opinion, it was 'more like five minutes actually' .

I don't think I need add much more only that another five minutes later the wine was plonked in front of us without an apology, and we had to pour it ourselves. In their defence they had bothered to unscrew the cap.
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Luca
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Monday, January 16, 2012

Having been to restaurant previously I was keen to take my partner to the cafe, however I wish I hadn't of bothered.

We had to ask twice for our wine order (after 20 minutes of sitting there watching later seated guests receive their orders), an did not receive our food order at all so decided to speak to the manager and ask for our bill. He did not apologise, just went inside and sent our bill via a "waitress".

We were thinking of holding a big family event there in the summer. Not any more.

We also saw several people arrive an then leave due to staff not taking their order. The staff on the whole were off-hand and not very welcoming.
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Victoria G
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Saturday, April 30, 2011

I have been to the Bluebird Cafe now a couple of times. Normally I never write reviews but after going there today for breakfast and having had AGAIN bad experiences I thought I will write a review.

Supposely a cool place...but the service is AWFUL! I have worked as a waitress myself when I was younger and I am shocked:

Today, - I had to ask 3 times for the baby high chair - at the end I got it myself.

- I odered a weak cafe latte and I got a double shot latte.

- My friend ordered scrambeld eggs - the toast didnt arrive together with the scrambled eggs. After asking 2 times for the toast, I went to the counter ordering it again together with butter. When the toast arrived (how long does it take to toast a piece of bread??), my friend had finished her scrambeld eggs. Surprise: the toast came without the butter. So I went to the counter again asking for the butter. Butter arrived around 5 mins later...when toast was cold.

- My other friend ordered grilled tomatoes together with 2 boiled eggs. Tomatoes came but no eggs! I went up again to the counter and asked for the boiled eggs. Eggs arrived when my friend finished her tomatoes (she wanted to eat everything at the same time).

- we ordered two glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice. The staff came back and told us they only had "one glass left"???!!!! How can that happen?? do they squeeze only per glasses and let them rest in the fridge?? So, we were served the alleged freshly squeezed o-juice but it was clearly not made only by real oranges - thinned with water and some artifical o-juice or powder! Unbelievable considering the prices!! Do they think their customers are stupid???

The last time I went with my husband, it was kind of the same experience. The brought eggs without the toasts and we had to ask them 4 times (!!!) to bring us the toast - arrived when egg was cold! Great!!!

Also the manager of the cafe shop is really rude and not really child-friendly. My guests today wanted to leave because he has been so rude to them...

As the service hasnt been good at any given time I went, I will not go there again! Waste of time and money!
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3 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Monday, April 04, 2011

I went to this cafe last week whilst looking for a cheap and cheerful place to eat. Everywhere I used to know was full so we thought we would try the Bluebird Restaurant but then noticed the cafe below. Brilliant. The menu was better than it said on the tin. Much better than a cafe but cafe prices. We were lucky enough to have the Evening Standard menu which then made it even cheaper. when one of our orders was wrong they took all of the food away so we didn't have to stare at food going cold - great service. The wine is also a good price. 2 people, 2 courses each, 2 G&Ts and a bottle of wine and still water - £40. VFM!!

Lovely waitress, friendly, welcoming and relaxed. Will definitely return.

Also close enough to the Big Easy so when I am in the area I never have to return to the so called 'Crab Shack'
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JC - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Sunday, January 16, 2011

Having been here in the summer for a spot of lunch on a quiet Saturday afternoon and having had a lovely,relaxed time with courteous and attentive staff, lovely food and wine, we re booked last night as we had some points to redeem via toptable.

Well ... it was very buzzy so the atmosphere was good, lively, just the right amount of people .. TONS of staff members all fussing around the place. Unfortunately, noone seemed that interested in us, it took ages to get a drink, 40 mins for the mains to arrive , but the time passed quite quickly as our table gave us a bulls eye view of the pass and we watched plate after plate of food sit for up to 10 mins at a time before it was dispatched to the waiting tables. Our chicken pie top was cold (apparently it should be like this but I like my pastry hot on a hot dish, is that so strange?), as was my husband's mash potato and the green beans. We made our disatissfaction known to the waitress, once we could catch her eye, who took it on board and offered to get another dish, but with the babysitter's hours clocking up we decided to eat what was on the plate (minus the cold food of course). The chicken pie was ok, not a patch on our previous experience ...actually very bland and..well, bland.

They have changed the puddings so the sumptuous chocolate mousse wasn't there and nothing else seemed appealing. We were offered a complimentary coffee for our troubles but as we had been there for 2 hours , having ordered only a 2 course meal, I couldn't hang about any longer .. unbelievably they are also not in a hurry to take your money ... what are all the staff there for I wonder ?? they certainly look good ..maybe they are art installations :) We won't hurry back there again, which is a shame given it's location .. it takes too long and is not worth the effort ... fun watching the cold food go out though !
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Streatham Nickie
4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Friday, November 27, 2009

On writing this review I have been asked in cases of severe dissatisfaction to consider first approaching the restaurant directly so that they may have an opportunity to put things right. However, I was so completely disgusted by my experience there that I would rather have no further contact with the place. Possibly the rudest and most argumentative staff (and management!!!) I have ever met. The food took 40mins and was wrong. Two other tables next to mine also complained of similar problems. I would urge people to avoid it like the plague.
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2 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, April 21, 2009