Le QuecumBar

What a terrific place to while away a pleasant evening with friends..Were not musicians but we know what we like. and very cheap compared to the other bars in battersea.
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bob perkins - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Monday, March 15, 2010

We went to the recent Django Rheinhardt Festival. We left the restaurant fuming in anger at the rip-off we had had the misfortune to experience. The food is abysmal and expensive. How can a chef serve up such garbage with a clear conscience? I had a goat's cheese salad - dull leaves with torn up cheese casually thrown on top - utterly tasteless. Then I have a boar burger - fatty and pink, accompanied by browned, old-fat-tasting chips. Disgusting. And what's more expensive - and the bills were hand-scrawled and illegible . I have never had such a poor restaurant experience.
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James
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Monday, March 15, 2010

As a very enthusiastic listener and player of Gypsy Jazz music very little was required from Le Quecumbar to bring excitement and entertainment to my evening. I took my girlfriend and some friends along to see one of our favourite groups on her Birthday last month. Entry for the performance was £16.50 each. Before arriving we had already decided to have a meal out at a restaurant in central London. After being seated we ordered some bottles of wine but later discovered that we needed to fulfill a minimum spend of £25 per head. As a result our bill came to £133 for 3 bottles of house wine, mineral water (Le Quecumbar refuses to sell tap water), and a bottle of beer. The 15% service charge was included in the bill. When I expressed my displeasure the waitress responded with offensive personal comments. One of the organisers of the events running at Le Quecumbar that evening was required to step in to help resolve the situation - which was not ultimately achieved. Feeling ashamed and embarrassed I paid the bill, resulting in a personal debt.

The following week I rang up to make a complaint. I was told that the £25 per head charge was set up to help cover the running costs of Le Quecumbar. I disputed that I did not know about this minimum spend, however I discovered that it was explained in the small print of the e-ticket. I did not see this information, and certainly did not expect it - as a regular to Le Quecumbar, I had visited on many occasions. Furthermore, the tickets are not printed out for entry to the venue - a surname is all that is required. I would like to suggest that if the Le Quecumbar cannot afford to put on acts from abroad then they should not strip money from their customers with these 'hidden costs', and let other venues take them on instead.

I have nothing to show for the £79 that was taken from me, and to this day I feel robbed and cheated. But most of all, I feel that Gyspy Jazz music in London is being made exclusive by Le Quecumbar, making it appear snobbish, elitist music – which it isn’t.
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Alex Bishop
2 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Monday, February 15, 2010

My husband and I went recently to one night of the Django Rheinhardt Festival.

First of all the actual brasserie was lovely, very authentically French. The staff were efficient and very friendly and the music was absolutely fantastic. However, the food I thought was very poor indeed (maybe it was an off night) it was absolutely packed out. We were with a party of about 7 people and about 4 of us had snails, they were tiny, not gariicky, hardly any sauce and in each case there were 2 or 3 missing out of 6 snail shells. They could have been pushed in too far into the shell,

The main course was absolutely dreadful, we had coq au vin - very hard to mess this up I would say, but it was practically inedible. It was dry and a very tastless sauce. My husband and I are not fussy about food, we like down to earth hearty food. We have been to Paris many times and a brasserie there called Chartiers sells snails and coq au vin for about £10 and it is delicious.

The wine for the quality was very expensive £14 for house wine - probably worth about £9. It cost my husband and £140 (2 bottles of wine) with the £50 we had to pay for the music which I think was outrageous for the quality.

The detail on the programme was very vague about whether the £25 deposit was to be taken off the meal or not - so I was expecting that we would lose £50 off the bill which would still have made it £90 for two of us.

I have been to a very flash restaurant in Belgravia where the food was superb and a marvellous live rythym and blues were playing and it was only slightly more expensive that.

I am wondering whether there was some dreadful mistake on the bill, imagine us trying to work out 7 peoples food and drink when a minicab was waiting?

I would go there again because the ambience and the music was so special and the artistry of the players was second to none, but I would be very careful about what I chose and how many bottles of wine I consumed!
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Frances Thurgood
5 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 1
Thursday, January 28, 2010

in a word.... fantastic. that says it all. and I should know
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cohentheman
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, January 10, 2010

Obviously the person posting a review that complains about the cost of a soft drink at Le Quecumbar cannot afford to be drinking anything, and was only there because he was thirsty. He is also obviously NOT a jazz fan or fan of Frog Legs, or anything else above the level of a soft drink.

Le Quecumbar has GREAT food, GREAT Wines and Beer, AND MOST OF ALL - GREAT JAZZ.

This venue is famous worldwide for it's support of Gypsy Jazz, Django Reinhardt's music, Acoustic Jazz, Jazz Vocalists. It hosts world class talent EVERY WEEK.

Sooooo, if you like an intimate venue with terrific food, and superlative jazz entertainment - DO CHECK THIS PLACE OUT.

I can qualify my statements as I am a world traveler, and guitarist with 48 years of playing/performance experience.
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Bill Fulbright
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, September 16, 2009

I had the misfortune to visit this restaurant recently for a drink at the bar and could not quite believe how much they charged for soft drinks. When I asked them to break down the cost it included a service charge 'because it was a Sunday' - I fail to see how it being a Sunday means that customers incur surcharges for just having a drink!

Also - are restaurants allowed to refuse to serve tap water? You just get the impression that they're trying to squeeze every last sheckle out of you. Daylight robbery.

Apart from that I found it incredibly pretentious and the staff frosty. A shame because it's in a good location and I thought I'd stumbled on a new local favourite, but I wouldn't go back if you paid me.

Scandalous.
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, September 11, 2009

Went here last night with my girlfriend for her birthday - was a wonderful romantic atmosphere, and although I had never been to anything like it before, felt immediately at home. Service was good and attentive, and the food was well priced and good quality. Great music, and I am surprised at the previous comments- the staff were extremely friendly and accomodating. Fantastic!
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Jeff
8 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Fantastic place with good food and band players on stage with lots of music. food cheapish and not bad and place like an old pantomine inside, very clever. no tap water but we didnt care as we were drinking beer. my wife thougt it great and we come again soon.
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Sausage and chips
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, August 31, 2009

Absolutely shocking. My girlfriend and I went here for the first time last Sunday and will never ever go back.

Bottle of beer and tiny glass of WARM, FLAT tonic water? £8. That included 50p service charge because it was a Sunday?!

Pretentious, no atmoshpere and I really wish I had read the reviews on here first and saved myself the time and money. They are simply trying to extract as much cash from people as humanly possible and I really hope they suffer the consequences because we don't need places like this.

DONT GO YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED!!!!
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Richard
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, August 20, 2009