Tapas Brindisa

Absolutely laughable service. To the point where our party actually thought the server was *JOKING*, he was so rude. Avoid at all costs; Brindisa hates their customers.
Comment on this reader review

Chuck Farley
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Saturday night at Brisinda was always going to be busy but after a 30 minute wait and a couple of glasses of wine next door our table was ready at the promised time.

Service was good and very friendly and all dishes ordered came out quickly.

The menu is not the largest so it was disapointing that so many dishes had run out by 8.30pm. No pork belly, No ham croquettes ( my favorite ), no potato omlette etc .

Anyway the food we had was good with special praise for the goats cheese with orange honey.

Overall a pretty good.
Comment on this reader review

Chris - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Monday, April 06, 2009

Brindisa is a great restaurant in a splendid location, but last night tested my so far unrelenting admiration of the place. Now I don't mind the fact that its pricey, or even that you can't book a table and have to get there early (5.30 - 6pm) but staff surliness is another thing all together. From the moment I arrived I had to try and ignore the host's rude eyeball rolling. This was because I wanted to be seated at the time rather than wait at the bar for my date to arrive. I was there that early in order to get a table, not to sit at the bar and watch the restaurant fill up. He cautioned me that he would be taking the table back after two hours so I could do what I liked. I had been there about 15 mins when I very politely asked if I could be moved to a table with two chairs nearby. If you've ever been to Brindisa you'll know how beautiful but uncomfortable the bench seat is at the rear of the restaurant. OMG more eyeball rolling, a big conflab ensued where my waitress had to ask her manager, further peepers to the sky, plus a general discussion and (can you believe) shooting daggers in my direction. I know, can you imagine what a difficult and awful patron I was becoming for them? There were several tables still not filled and that particular one had just been vacated and re-set. This was unnecessary attitude and this has really curtailed my affections. Shame.
Comment on this reader review

Tammy
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, December 02, 2008

went with a couple of friends for dinner on a friday's night.....food was very good a bit overpriced i should say, but the service was so impressive that the rest do not matter. there are two colombian guys whose friendliness and attitude is fantastic, giving me and my friends a night to remember. if u get the oppotunity to be served by them you are in your lucky day. Good looking and willing to help you, what else could you expect?
Comment on this reader review

aubrey and jennifer
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

We arrived at 11.50 and had no problem securing a table, but by 12.30 there was already a queue for tables. Ordered a couple of beers and waited for the bewitching time of being able to order the food.

Lovely tapas menu. I'm a veggie but there was plenty to choose from. We chose about 6 dishes including the delicious gazpacho. Quick friendly service. Food was great.
Comment on this reader review

angie b
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Monday, July 21, 2008

Popped in mid week and had some of the better Spainish food i've had in London. Didn't have a booking so we were told it would be a 30 minute wait, no problem and after a pint in the market came back for our table.

The small space was packed by this time and although it was loud you could stil hold a conversation. The menu was short but sweet with enough choices for everyone, garlic prawns, chirizo & ham croquettes were all great.

Service was quick & friendly. 9 tapas & 3 glasses of wine for £75 seemed a little high but for good food in London it was okay.
Comment on this reader review

Chris - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Saturday, July 12, 2008

We went to Tapas Brindisa with a couple of friends and we will certainly be back. When we arrived we were told that the wait would be about 1.5 hours (this was a Saturday night) which ticked off my partner but we sat ourselves down at the bar, had a drink and 30 mins later we were sat down at a table. Staff are very friendly and service is quick eventhough the restaurant was heaving.

The food was great. No complaints at all. Ok, you can't put them 100% in the same league as tapas you get sometimes in Spain but they are defintely the best I've had so far in London. No, it doesn't come cheap but what does in this totally overpriced city?

We had a great night here and will be back very soon.
Comment on this reader review

Sofie
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, June 30, 2008

I liked this place. Buzzing, friendly staff. Visited Saturday 31st May - quite busy, but they squeezed us in after a short wait at the bar.

Wine: we had the house red "N.Aire" probably the cheapest red under the gluggable section. I thought it was good - we had a few glasses more of it. Wine served in tumblers reminded me of being in San Sebastian doing tapas bar crawls. Gordal olives huge and succulent. Padron peppers good though slightly too salty. Fish selection interesting but very modest portion. Regional charcuterie selection great (much more substantial serving!). Asparagus with ham was a real highlight - asparagus with a duck egg, and some kind of nutty garlicky stuff - excellent. Bread nice but when we ordered more bread it appeared as toast with burnt edges. Hildon fizzy water OK. Turron mousse dessert didn't seem to me to have much taste. Custard (creme brulee by some other name) well done. Overall thoroughly enjoyable. £83.25 including 12.5 per cent service charge added automatically. Quite expensive for tapas, but I thought it was reasonable value for what we had considering the location and what they are offering is quite unique in my experience of London tapas (mostly bland and samey). Would definitely go back. Good atmosphere, great location.
Comment on this reader review

richard harrison
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Sunday, June 01, 2008

I've been many times to Brindisa, you could call me a "regular". I really love the food there and would recommend the Monte Enebro cheese or prawns to whoever should go there. If you consider that in Borough market you cannot get a mediocre sandwich for less than four pounds, I do think that 2,65 for "pan amb tomaquet" is not so outrageous. I suspect that those who pay 100 pounds for dinner for 2 must have indulged themselves with a fair amount of good wine. No fault in that, but surely alcohol is expensive all over London, and few places offer such a good atmosphere to drink it in. Oh, and the waiting?... well, nothing worth having in life comes easy, right? My point is: this is a fabulous place, with great food, great wine and great atmosphere. I find the hosts very friendly, and I love seeing all the action in the kitchen from the bar! Last time I went here my waitress was adorable, the cutest accent, she was neither Spanish nor English. I love the variety of people who work there. It's all these small details that make me addicted to this little tapas bar on the street-corner.
Comment on this reader review

clara
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Friday, May 16, 2008

1) Worst host ever - I'm Spanish so is he, nevertheless he kept speaking to me in English?? We got the impression that he didn't want 'Spanish' people there (we know probably too much : you should NEVER EVER be charged £2.60 for bread and tomatoes (Catalonian 'pa amb tomaquet'), amongst other things.

2) Slow, unprofessional service

3) Poor quality - our tortilla was dry and none of our 'pimientos del padron' was actually hot .

4) Hosts' attitude -sorry, again- you shouldn't work as a host. It's your face customers are looking at when things go wrong (or well!)

I'm very sorry to write a review like this since I'm Spanish. But unfortunately that kind of service/attitude is very common in my country. I just hope that we could learn from your manners, which I find very polite so far.
View/Add comments (1)

petra - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Thursday, May 15, 2008