Balham Kitchen and Bar

Sadly, Balham Kitchen and Bar closes it's doors this Sunday 22nd July. We would like to thank all of our customers for their fantastic support over the years.
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The team at Balham Kitchen and Bar.
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, July 20, 2007

We use Balham Kitchen and Bar a lot. It has made living in the Balham area more fun. Great mix of people of different ages, also some families. Atmosphere busy and buzzy. Food: fairly wide menu, with some good staples currently like smoked haddock, egg and asparagus with hollandais sauce. The sandwiches and burgers are good, too, but you can just have snacks if you want, e.g. humous with pitta bread, sausage. Food overall is good, but not great. in There are sometimes problems with consistency in produce, e.g. v small mussels in the moule dish. Breakfast pastries should be better. However, the full English breakfast is very good, both in produce, reparation and value. By London standards, the menu is fairly priced and the helpings are more than adequate. (You will now pay similar prices for inferior food outside central London.) The service is usually efficient, and the place seems to be well-run. On two occasions, the service has been slow or they have forgotten orders. In both cases, they offered not to charge and the apology was meant. Overall, a great place for drinks and light-ish meals, especially weekends during the day. Highly recommend it.
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Mark Lewis
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Saturday, June 16, 2007

Seriously, i live in Balham and eat out regularly (both in Eurpoe and USA). BKB is fun freindly and a nice place to eat and drink, they wont make you feel especially popular, but if thats what your looking for, go and visit your grandmother or favourite aunt. The staff work hard and make themselves as available as possible. STOP being so stuck up and just enjoy the night. The steaks are particularly good, by the way, as is the haddock. I give it 7 / 10 for food and 7 / 10 for service and 8 / 10 for comfort.
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NR
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Friday, June 15, 2007

Thumbs up from me - funky vibe and friendly, professional staff. Nice touch that the manager (Paul?) was going to each table personally after their meal.
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james
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, May 22, 2007

I am really surprised at the reviews on here, I go here for breakfast on a Saturday at least twice a month. The Eggs Benedict is always lovely, the service some times is a little cold but the surroundings are perfect for a long lazy breakfast to catch up with my girlfriends and kick start the weekend. Tends to be busier when there are sporting events on as everyone gets a big breakfast early.

My main complaint is the number of kids on a weekend. Why is it that all the local parents congregate here on a Saturday? It's like the local crèche.
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Stacey Springall
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, May 01, 2007

It is amazing to me that this place is still busy – the only explanation I can come up with is that Balham is seriously lacking in decent restaurants otherwise why would people come back? The service is so appalling that I have no hesitation in saying that I think Balham Bar and Kitchen has worst service staff in London. They are rude and obnoxious and with no manners whatsoever. I have been here twice and only after much convincing did I dine here a second time. On my recent visit, we were ignored for a good 10 minutes before a snooty waiter came up and growled at us: "Have you booked?!" We had, much to his disppointment, and we were then seated near the open kitchen where the service bell went off repeatedly and billowing smoke from the kitchen hovered above us and clung to our clothes. We had about 4 different waiters over the course of the evening and while the food wasn't awful (well, you can't really go wrong with a burger and chips), it wasn't anything to write home about. My main objection to this place is the rude, rude, rude staff. How do they become so sneeringly awful. Like pretty much all of the reviewers here I will never ever go back.
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LD
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Saturday, April 21, 2007

Suprised at the bad reviews, have been for brunch twice, drinks twice and dinner once in the last 2 months and enjoyed every occaision.

The Chateau Briand was excellent, the drinks are good and the brunch was twice as big as I expected.

Prices are a little on the high side, but this place is a good choice - especially when it's sunny and you get a table near the floor-ceiling doors which are opened up.
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James Woody
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Was there on Sunday. The decor and atmosphere are good but the food was terrible and much of the menu was out of stock. Kitchen staff permanently argue and the waiters look lost. Was an embarrasment to have chosen the location to be honest.
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Philip
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, April 03, 2007

New to the area, my husband and I went for our regular weekend brunch and were thoroughly disappointed. While the decor & atmosphere were great, the food & service were terrible. We waited 45 minutes for our food, not what you expect for breakfast. When it arrived, my eggs royale were a major letdown. Muffin was barely warm, let alone cooked, and eggs were stone cold. My husband's meal was similarly chilly. I couldn't be bothered sending it back after waiting so long - I was starving. The prices were outrageous for such bad food, and the service wasn't great.

I had thought about trying it again for dinner, but after reading the reviews below, I won't bother. There are plenty of nicer places to eat in Balham. For breakfast I would recommend the Nightingale or Blue Pumpkin.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 1
Friday, March 09, 2007

I don’t mind paying a premium price for a premium product, however this definitely was not one of these experiences. I had arranged to bring a group of 18 of us for a late brunch this past Saturday morning. To make sure we could all catch up I Booked a table in the snug area. However when we arrived the most unhelpful manager in the world said they had tried to call on several occasions to confirm with us and had not managed to do so. One this was untrue and second my wife had spoken to someone from the restaurant to confirm two days previously.

Falling just short of calling me a lair the Manager said that it was my fault and that he could not seat us together. It was then left to me to try and sort out a solution and not as you expect the other way round.

Without even a hint of an apology we were left waiting as the manager took about 10 minutes to come up with a plan. In the end we were split up into 3 separate tables, which was far from ideal as the whole point of the brunch was to catch up with all the group and not just those on your table.

And to top it off the breakfast deal that was on their website was no longer available, and according to staff should have been taken off ‘several months ago’

So if you like a place that makes you feel like you are putting them out and have to ask three times for a pot of tea (which never arrived), then feel free to spend your hard earned cash here. If not there are many better options availed in Balham.
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Kris Meadows
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, March 06, 2007