Barbecoa

The restaurant was gorgeous and in the most perfect setting.

Nicely set out menus, with good choices and simple sides to choose.

Prices were very good and the drinks menu was extensive but rather expensive.

The service, although very poilte and professional was rather slow and every time we needed something we had to flag someone down, with some trouble.

Overall a great experience, but the service definitely needs some improvemnet.

I would recommend!
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Kazbo - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Went here as a surprise for my birthday a few weeks ago. Was absolutely wowed by the view of St. Pauls and found the decor and lighting inside very suitable for the late afternoon golden sunset. Have previously been to Fifteen, where the cream soda was delicious, here at Barbecoa it was made "as tribute to Fifteen" but was nothing like it, with far more soda and ice than anything else - quite a push for a high profit margin product. Waitress was annoyingly pushy for us to order, and returned 3 or 4 times while we were still looking through menus. As a foodie, I admit - I do often take a long time deciding, but we arrived at 3pm to a post-lunch rush pre-dinner rush almost empty restaurant, so the slightly impatience towards getting our order in was in my opinion not necessary. Best part of the meal was the bread board, very tasty, with 4 very different breads in taste and texture, and for £4 it was a bargain. I had the days special, a "freshly caught sea bass" (it was a Tuesday so I was in good faith) was tender and flaky, tasted great and was served appropriately plain, calamari ragout was chewy and quite bland. The Boyfriend looooved the bacon burger w. duckfat chips, but to be fair he loves ANYTHING containing bacon. Im not overly convinced Barbecoa is as high end as laid out, but I will definitely go back to do more research, if anything then for the view and the bread.
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Linette Jensen
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Saturday, November 26, 2011

I visited this restaurant with high expectations for great authentic US BBQ, the low and slow kind. A cuisine which is seriously lacking in London. After checking the menu online I realised the restaurant is not strictly a BBQ joint but more a celebration of great meat.

First impressions after walking through the doors was the size of the place. The restaurant is extremely large and the army of staff are buzzing around every where which for me felt a bit hectic for a restaurant of this kind of price tag.

The menu does not offer a wide range of authentic BBQ dishes but it does cover all the main areas as well offering up some amazing starters such as Bloody Mary dressed Oysters, Pork Scratchings & Chicken Livers all of which were great.

My only negative on the starters was that ribs had run out. We were seated at 09:00pm so in their defense they would have served a lot of ribs by then and if you're doing ribs the right way you can't just make more as they take 8 hours to cook . BUT this place is a meat market serving thousands of heads per day with their own butcher! Ribs are a signature dish and I think the lack of them is pretty inexcusable.

The mains were pretty good, I had the BBQ beef brisket which was spot on. The meat was pull apart good and the crust was perfect as well as the beans. A few other friends ate the pulled pork which was pretty terrible. For £16 you'd expect this to be the greatest pulled pork dish on the planet but what you get is a scoop of pulled pork on a waffle with a side of coleslaw. The coleslaw was fresh but sour and uninspired, the pulled pork was dry and came room temp.

I think my largest complaint on the mains is the price. You're paying the kind of money you'd lay down at a michelin star restaurant for BBQ that would just pass in the USA.

The drinks menu is pretty amazing. They offer an enormous variety of US whiskeys which I looked forward during the whole meal, we were sat by an enormous display cabinet of bottles which got me pretty excited. But the waitress knew nothing about the whiskeys, I had to ask three times for the whiskey menu. I saw a whiskey sommelier knocking about but despite our tables obvious interest he never visited us. When it came to dessert we ordered a few whiskeys to try, including a glass of pappy van winkle 15y. The whiskeys took twenty minutes to arrive! I had to watch the clueless waiters fumbling around the enormous cabinet looking for our bottles for twenty minutes. It was painful. After twenty minutes we were told that one of the whiskeys we ordered was out and if we wanted to order an alternative, but dessert had already been eaten and most of the table had lost interest. In short the whiskeys seem to be basically be for show.

In conclusion; great meat, a restaurant which shows real passion for the good stuff and how to cook it but still a bit over priced and too large to offer the kind of service and experience you would expect.
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Max
4 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Sunday, October 23, 2011

Absolutely fabulous place, food was great tasted wonderful, with four of us there choosing 4 different starters and main courses we had opportunity to sample other dishes as well as enjoy our own too. the deco is stunning i especially like the low pink leather booths, plenty of room for 4 people and the view of the St. Pauls cathedral was stunning as well. The staff were brilliant, the service we were given was brilliant, curtious and always happy to see us, everyone of them had a smile for us. the loos were brillian (ladies i know you're wondering).. they were great, fab soap and lotion felt like we were having a mini spa as well as dinner.. reasonably priced, it was a very enjoyable evening, especially since it was for my birthday, so of course i tried the chocolate nemesis.. delicious!!...

I couldn't recomend anything else because it ALL tasted great.. go and have a wonderful evening there its worth it.
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Tacia Memory
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, October 06, 2011

Complete shambles - booked a table for 8.45, arrived a few minutes beforehand and were told to wait in the downstairs seating area as the bar was full. 15 minutes later were offered drinks. 30 minutes later (after asking twice) no sign of our table, no explanation, no offer of starters or more drinks. We complained and said we were leaving at which point they said they would send over the waitress so we could pay for our drinks! No idea whether the food is any good or not as we never got anywhere near dinner. Very disappointing - we ended up in Pizza Express where the service put Barbecoa to shame.
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, October 06, 2011

First time I visited was as a non-payng guest on business and noted then that that the table layout was dreaful. We sat, 7 of us, on one of the U-shaped sofas. The problem with these are that the diner has to hand the waiters the plates or pass the food around,

My second visit just reinforced the stupidity of the table layout. This time was just a friend and myself and we were seated on the small triangular tables which was barely big enough to hold our drinks let alone 2 diners' drinks and food! It just made the whole experience uncomfortable as we were scared of knocking things off the titchy table.

Honestly? Food was OK but for the price, something like Bodeans in Tower Hill does a lot of this food better and cheaper. The pig cheek starter remains exceedingly greasy tasting but the short rib was nice. The dessert menu still sucks, Really poor in fact for choice.

The service was OK. Looked hectic with lots of people standing around looking confused.

Barely above AVERAGE and way below its price peers.

Won't be back unless taken out as client.
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Elliot
5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Saturday, September 17, 2011

Second chance. Last time. First occasion was frustrated by terrible service but the food was good enough to warrant a return. This time (tonight) I arrived with girlfriend early hoping to sit at the bar but was made to sit for over an hour in some comedy ante-room to the main restaurant area which has no bar but had servers who scurried in and out with orders....felt truly tacky and was not a good start to a birthday dinner. Arrived just after 8pm, table for 9pm but was told that we would likely get an early seating if turned up. At 9:10pm'ish I asked about the table and the lady/maitre d was visibly annoyed. A table for 4 who had just sat next to us were already on their way after somebody from the main restaurant area collected them. Instead we were made to wait then told to just head up by the maitre d.

Eventually sat down to dinner but the service was as bad as the ante-room preamble had already established and it was difficult not getting frustrated with the various people who fussed randomly around our table. Champagne glasses were allowed to sit empty on several occasions. Food was reasonable. Icing on the cake (irony intended, read on) was that I was asked if it was a special occasion, which it was as it was my girlfriends birthday and this was supposed to be a nice treat, and they were going to bring out a birthday surprise. Despite being asked about this at the time of booking it meant nothing on the night - no surprises, other than the surprise that there actually was no surprise.

Restaurant overall feels like its trying to be something it just isn't. Every single waiter, tablehand, maitre d, manager type seem completely out of their depth. Classic case of provide an illusion of 5 star to charge 5 star whilst employ cheap foreign & inexperienced staff to maximise margins. Realized ultimately by customers such as I as a very real feeling of having had a mediocre dinner, sub-par service and over-the-odds prices.

Very disappointed, but unredeemable. Will never go back and will not recommend to anyone.
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Adrian Robinson
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Friday, September 02, 2011

My Mom is visiting from South Africa and I thought I would treat her to dinner. Being South African we are spoilt by the quality and size of steaks available to us in SA so it was with an open mind that we visited Barbecoa. We weren't disappointed! The food was excellent! My Mother couldn't fault her fillet and my sirloin was delicious. Portions were more than generous, the service was efficient and friendly and of course there's THAT VIEW. If there is one criticism is that it is not cheap. In saying that meat and in particular steak in London is rarely cheap and in my experience seldom as good as Barbecoa. Will I be back, hell yes!
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YoYo - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Sunday, August 21, 2011

Had business lunch here. Gorgeous view of St. Paul's. Service was quick, staff were efficient and friendly, but not in your face. The wine and food recommendations were excellent. I had the beef tartare and the sirloin - both couldn't be faulted. I will definitely revisit.
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Mike D
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Thursday, August 11, 2011

Having read the reviews we were somewhat skeptical but happy to give this place a shot. Called up to make a reservation but the person who answered the phone was so rude and unaccomodating. I cut short the conversation and informed the member of staff that i would take my hard earned cash elsewhere. With reviews like these and the economic times we face Jamie needs to get in the middle of whats going on here and make some significant changes.
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Foxy - View all reviews by this user
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, August 06, 2011