Le Bouchon Breton

This was not only my first visit to Le Bouchon Breton, Spitalfields - it was also the worst dining experience I've ever had.

We were faced with one disappointment after another and the whole evening was ridiculous.

Firstly, we had to ask three times before we were served water, eventually receiving it about 40 minutes after we'd sat down. Our wine finally arrived 45 minutes after we had ordered it. The main meal was also late coming, and before our starter too. The meal went back to kitchen and then 10 minutes later we were told our starter still hadn't been cooked so it was best we just ate our main. The staff did apologise at this point and offer us some complimentary wine... which we never saw. Some time later, our steak came back to the table but it was completely cold. Something we begrudgingly put up with because we were now very hungry and fed up, and also because it seemed far too difficult to get the attention of their neglectful staff. Feels good to pay a lot of money for cold meat and chips.

The final insult was being compensated by one free dessert. Six pounds profiteroles hardly sweetened the whole absurd experience of Le Bouchon Breton.

It was a shame this happened, this was a special treat for my friend and I, and we had been looking forward to the evening. What else is a shame is that we were initially excited by the restaurant and its menu - I remember thinking I would definitely come back, but that is now unlikely.

We were made to feel invisible, and even my later attempts to express my disappointment to this restaurant have been completely ignored.
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Charlotte
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Sunday, October 23, 2011

Believe all the bad reviews of this place - it really is terrible.

Waiting and waiting for everything - to have our order taken, to receive our drinks, to receive our food (2 x liver and bacon, 1 x ribeye steak and some sides of mixed veg), waiting to receive the rocquefort sauce to go with the steak. Having to chase up the waiters to bring our drinks and food (there were only 3 of us and it really wasn't that busy).

Food was lukewarm, the rocquefort sauce was disgusting - watery and tasteless (the waitress had previously said 'good choice' when I had decided that was the sauce I wanted with my steak). We didn't want to send our food back as we would have had to wait far too long again to get it back so we did eat it. OK it was edible, but we were pretty hungry by this point.

When they took out plates away we told them the food was lukewarm, the service had been terrible and the rocquefort sauce was terrible.

Nowhere along the line were any of the waiters remotely apologetic about the lack of service.

When the bill came they had added on 2 portions of bread and butter which we had not ordered, they had failed to apply the 50% TopTable discount which we had mentioned to the staff when we had arrived, and they hadn't taken off the rocquefort sauce. They halfheartedly offered us some complementary aperitifs but by this point we didn't want to have anything else. We told them to recalculate the bill to also exclude the service charge but beyond that they did not offer us any other discount as a good will gesture/apology.

We paid them exactly what it was worth. Read into that what you will...

Considering that it is not that cheap, they really need to up their game.

Will not be going back.
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0 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, October 22, 2011

Judging from the huge disparity in critical opinions here, eating at Le Bouchon Breton is a little like playing Russian Roulette. Bad luck for me, we lost. To summarise: despite five people arriving promptly for a lunch reservation on Sunday at 1.15 we did not receive ANY food until 3.00. At which point my 80 year old father in law was served the chicken breast from the children's menu. The waiter vehemently insisted what was on the table was the correct dish until another waitress, having spotted what was going on came over to whisk it away to another table (where sat one hungry child) with apologies. About ten minutes later we were served our food - a whole two hours after we had arrived. Frankly, even had the place been busy, that kind of waiting time for what ended up being mediocre food is really unacceptable. It's worth noting that:

a) It was not busy. The terrace was reasonably full but inside there were only a half dozen tables in a huge, icily air-conditionned room, over the 3 hour period we were in situ - we had a lot of time and leisure to take note of this;

b) We ordered a seafood platter, two charcuterie plates and one order of (adult-sized) chicken - only the latter of which should have required any significant last minute kitchen prep time - the three other dishes being primarily a case of assembly of prepared ingredients;

c) Most disappointing of all, during the time we waited, at no point did any of the staff come over voluntarily to explain there was a delay, to express any regret, to take further drink orders, or anything really. It was like we were invisible. We did get up to track down a waiter on our own on several occasions. And we did eventually speak to a manager. He did listen politely to our queries about our food and our expressions of disappointment, but, with the exception of a quivering jaw muscle as he ground his teeth (really), he didn't really have anything to say to us. He did offer to take a further drinks order, though.

Over the years I've worked in many, many restaurants - both front of house and in the kitchen - but I've never come across so chaotic, disorganised and shambolic a service as the one we received at Le Bouchon Breton. We are locals and were very much predisposed to having a good time and honestly, it wouldn't have taken much to please us but... well, that's what you get when you play Russian Roulette I suppose.
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Anna
0 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, September 19, 2011

Well, seen the other reviews, don't feel there is much point adding anything. Briefly, ordered two starters (escargot and foie gras) which were ok. Then two steaks, which were huge but severely undercooked. My medium rare fillet was rather thick and so virtually blue all over - save the tail and top end which were actually rare (while I hate my meat overcooked, a 3-inch thick slab of raw steak is not exactly appetising) my wife's mediuim rump steak was rare...

Add to that slow service, including a a £45 bottle of wine which only arrived halfway through our starters, if it wasn't that we were dining on a Groupon voucher, I would have demanded to have half of the price taken off our bill.

Much better places around.
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Enrico
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Thursday, September 08, 2011

This was one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had. I feel ripped off.

We arrived at 7:30pm on a Tuesday. Place was half full. We had the groupon offer for the Chateaubriand steak.

The waiter came to take our food order without even having taken our drink order. It took 20 minutes for the drinks to arrive. We ordered starters and the steak. The starters arrived 90 minutes later!!! I had the onion soup and it was ok, nothing special about it. The steak only arrived 9pm! And guess what? It was COLD, OVERCOOKED and TASTELESS. We sent it back. Manager came, apologized and brought a new one in less than 5 min. Now the steak was too rare and still tasteless, we didn't even bother at that point and we weren't hungry anymore.

We then ordered dessert, the tarte tatin, it was also just ok. Bill took over 20 min to come, restaurant was almost empty at that point. Our waiter said he could remove the service charge from the bill and said that nothing of it was passed to the waiters, it was all to the restaurant. We decided to remove it and gave him cash as he was the only one who was trying to make us feel better about the whole dinner fiasco. All other waiters just didn't care, the worst service in a restaurant, the worst meat I've ever tasted and so overpriced. I would never come back (not even with a 80% discount from groupon) so not worth it. Do not go.
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Olivia
2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, August 24, 2011

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

we want more... absolute gem of frenchness please open one in Birmingham
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Francis - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, May 27, 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