Le Bouchon Breton

We went on Saturday evening, attracted by a Groupon voucher. 5 minutes to be shown to a table (we had booked), 15 minutes to get a menu (we had to ask) and over 45 minutes before the starter came. The starter (mushrooms in puff pastry) was very nice although over-priced. The seafood Plateau Imperial was OK, although the "whole" crab had somehow lost all the meat from its shell. There was a very good selection of cheeses for afters, although there was a delay whilst they found the waiter who knew what most of them were. The Argentinian wine we had was fine, although the waiters were sharing wine buckets across tables that weren't always adjacent.

You certainly wouldn't want to go here if you paid full price. Even at discounted prices, there is better value and service to be had elsewhere.
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Richard
4 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Sunday, August 14, 2011

Ate here last night with my boyfriend. We had a groupon voucher for the seafood platter which on arrival, looked incredible on the table of fellow diners. We got there quite early so the service was quite quick and our platter arrived within ten minutes. I'm not sure what the kitchen was thinking sending out food like that but every item tasted exactly the same - watery, tasteless and smelt like it had been left out for a day without refrigeration. The lobster which we were looking forward to was a funny green color and we couldnt even end up eating it. The highlight was the oysters, which neither of us like generally but compared to the rest of the meal they were fine. By the time we finished, the restaurant had started to fill up and we were being completely ignored by the waiters. It seemed though that there actually wasn't enough staff on as about 15 tables arrived at the same time. Bad time management. If you are in the spittalfield area, avoid this restaurant at all cost. Has definitely turned us off seafood for the next few months
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2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Thursday, July 14, 2011

Do not go!!! Awful service, tasteless food and cheating. It was my worst experience. Everything went wrong in this restaurant. Firstly, on our arrival the waiter claimed that set menus we saw on their website are only for bigger parties and are not available to order. The website does not say a word about it. I am not sure how it works, but only after my boyfriend asked about 50% discount on starters and mains (he saw that on LastMinute website as their offer for that evening) they said it is correct. The wine was brought after my boyfriend finished eating starter and I was half way with mine. My food was tasteless. Finally, they charged us full price even after they confirmed when we were ordering the food 50% discount. So we had to point it out again and wait for another bill.
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Sunny
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Friday, May 06, 2011

A very poor Sunday lunch experience on the Groupon offer. I had to tell 3 different waiters that we didn't want to order until after our drinks arrived. They finally got the message! With only 3 starters on offer the one my wife wanted was not available - it was only a salad. The beef was OK but not that hot and sliced into rather small pieces. The vegetables reminded me of school. The waitress at the next table was extremely rude and surly. My original bill contained some drinks we had not ordered. None of the staff was interested. I won't be going there again!
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2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Monday, February 28, 2011

This seems a wonderful restaurant and located perfectly in the Spitalfields Market area... but my recent GroupON experience was very disappointing. £7.20 Sunday roast at Le Bouchon Breton (value £18) not worth it at all. Service charge, cover charge in addition left a bitter after taste.
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1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Monday, February 21, 2011

Myself and my partner absolutely loved this place. I hardly ever write reviews but Le Bouchon Breton really deserves it.

The Ribeye steak, french fries and bernaise sauce we had was out of this world. The steak was prefectly cooked and melted in your mouth. Mind you, it took me ages to get to the steak because I couldn't stop eating the french fries that I tried first. They were amazing.

The service was wonderful. Attentive but not in your face. Thw waiting staff served you with a genuine warmth so rare in restuarants these days.

Don't get me started on the desserts. Just awesome.

Five stars!
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Jo
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The WORST dining experience of my life!!!! The Sunday buffet.....baked beans, a unedible (corn beef?) burnt meat dish, rice and peas....cheap tasteless chicken with so many bones difficult to eat....a vat of strawberry YOGURT for dessert!!! We ordered two large glasses of red wine rather than a bottle (this was before we saw the food on offer) as we were told we only had 45 mins to eat. My friend and I were so outraged we made a complaint to the manager (who looked embarrassed but didn't offer solutions) who then hid in the kitchen. After he didn't return she actually went into the kitchen to find him. She saw him and a group of "chefs" desparately trying to russle any sort of food for the growing disgruntled diners - one was chopping up uncooked sausages into peices.

He didn't seem to want to discuss the complaints - and said we could not have a refund. We informed him we would NOT be paying the drinks and would be leaving immediately. As we left other customers were disputing their bills - one man having ordered 7 cocktails at £7 each - but then food was inedible - he too refusing to pay!

It seems they get away with it by taking advantage of the British relunctance to complain....totally unacceptable and should be shut down!
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, February 13, 2011

We went to Le Bouchon Breton for Sunday brunch. It was very disappointing. I appreciated it was going to be buffet so didn't have high expectations but this place was just dreadful. I don't really regard baked beans as 'French' just like last time I checked white boiled rice and dry tomato pasta wasn't 'French' either. To be fair the staff were trying their best but for Sunday brunch I would avoid this place.
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kiwiscanfly
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Sunday, February 06, 2011

Just dont do it !

What an awful experience. the only french food was the baguette, the butter which is pretty poor for a french buffet brunch you can eat. I went for brunch today. They were allowing 45 minutes dining as they were busier than expected,

in a french restaurant can this be true? you bet.

Dessert was mixed berry yoghurt.

It was an dreadful experience and on principle I would never eat there again even if they offered it for free.

I had to pay a cover and service charge, ( it was a self serve buffet) they should have paid me.
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Dee Nurse
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Sunday, January 23, 2011

I just got back from Le Bouchon Breton. I would have to say the best way to describe my experience is that it has made me VERY angry. I have seen, not on this site, but elsewhere some pretty good reviews. This has caused me confusion. I can only surmise that they are operating a two tier system one for the normal customer and one for the poor people (like me and others on this page) who have foolishly opted for the ‘Sunday Buffet’.

I got a voucher from Groupon as I thought it would be a good way to try the food. They offer an ‘all you can eat’ Sunday buffet which they say is usually £12 (if I had paid this, I would have been VERY angry – well, I would have refused to pay it!) but you get it for the bargain price of around £4 –( well it isn’t really, I will explain later) I think (which is way too much anyway). This does seem very cheap, but for those who don’t know groupon, these deals are normally quite good. I have visited many restaurants using these vouchers and had a great experience, for example at fakhreldine and Albannach which were both wonderful. This however was not.

Basically what happens at the ‘Sunday Buffet’ is that you join a large queue of other poor unsuspecting people who have gone there in good faith. You sit down and nobody comes to ask you if you want drinks. Eventually you go and get the food from the buffet and decide to try again later. I cannot emphasise enough how utterly cheap and DISGUSTING the food is. There was some bland couscous some coleslaw beetroot, cubes and cheap looking ham (I don’t know what that tasted like as I didn’t venture to try it)...oh also some watery vegetable soup. Following this there was some very cheap, cold and basically inedible meat dishes. Some pasta with barely any sauce, some lumpy rice and peas, very oily potatoes and baked beans...yes BAKED BEANS! For dessert a bowl of strawberry yogurt with a ladle in it to dollop onto a plate. I tried it out of morbid fascination and it tasted like a poor imitation of Muller Light. It was so very awful I felt really embarrassed to have taken my husband and my sister there.

This is the best bit. Once you have decided you have had ‘all you can eat’ which happens pretty quickly, you ask for the bill, which doesn’t arrive (as with the drinks) so you go up and pay. You are then charged for service (I was laughing by this point) and a £1 cover charge per person. A cover charge?? WHY?? – I basically said I want the service taken off as we did not have any and no I am not paying a cover charge. Then I was told it was compulsory. I said, OK then but no I’m not paying it. Eventually as there was still a queue of people who were next to me at this point, and who the restaurant very much wanted to remain uninformed about the truly terrible experience and general theft they were about to experience, they decided to accept the fact I was not going to pay these changes. They were wise, I was about to have, in my opinion, a justified and fairly epic tantrum. They are literally banking on people being too embarrassed to challenge them.

As I said previously, I have seen some good reviews and thought - What the HELL are they playing at???! Basically they are using their reasonable reputation and Groupon’s service to con people. I really hope this does their reputation irreparable damage as it rightly should. I am utterly disgusted by this place and so should Groupon be as they are making a fool of them and their customers. I am generally a fairly generous reviewer, but I really cannot find anything good to say about this place. It really feels like they are laughing at their customers and I have very little respect for that. No, I will not be back and I strongly advise you to steer well clear as there are some lovely restaurants around that area.
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Mandi
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Sunday, January 23, 2011