Browns Restaurant & Bar Butlers Wharf

I popped in last night and was pleasantly surprised in the improvement in service and food quality since my last visit in may 2007.

I ordered the fish and chips which was delicious, and a tart tartin to finish.

The waitress was lovely and even the manager had time to chat with me(albeit it was very quiet.)

many thanks.

Paul
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Paul Billington
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

I went to this place for birthday drinks last Saturday. We also ordered food. I ordered Fish and Chips thinking that's a safe bet. I took a piece out of the batter and it tasted bad. I told the waiter, he apologised. I wasn't keen on ordering the same dish in case it was from the same batch. I had grilled salmon instead which was fine but swam in an oily vegetables mix, no potatoes or anything came with it for about £ 11.00. They did not offer me a free drink or anything, pretty bad customer service and the food is definitely overpriced for what it is. I would only go for drinks there.
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Sandra
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Monday, January 07, 2008

After looking at Browns website I thought that it is a great restaurants. When I went there everything seemed fine until my "DUCK CONFIT with sweet cherries and crushed new potatoes" arrive. There was no new potato it came with a mush that had large hard pieces, probably because it has been made a long time ago. Duck had bits of hairs on it, and also did not taste fresh.

Staropramen tasted good. If I go there again then only for drinks on their terrace
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 2
Saturday, May 05, 2007

I booked ahead for a group of 6 colleagues, not having been there before. Having walked there along Butlers Wharf, I should never have gone in the restaurant as the warning signs were immediately apparent - it was almost empty at 8.00pm in evening . ALL the other restaurants on Butlers Wharf were very busy. Starters (nothing special) arrived on time, but 20 minutes later the head waiter came to say that they had only one portion of calves liver availabl - two of us had ordered it. When the one liver dish did arrive, it was burnt to a cinder, tough, tasteless - awful. Other diners were very neutral about the meal itself,but agreed that it was poor value for money.

In sum, there are far better places to eat in this area than Browns. Give it a miss and they may get better. Personally I will not go again.
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Alfie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Thursday, March 01, 2007

I'd never been to a Brown's before and had family visiting, so believing them to be a reasonably high-end chain, I booked the great location at Shad Thames for Sunday lunch. I felt we could rely on a good standard - I was very wrong.

Our waiter was very polite but struggled to understand English. The restaurant was packed and the staff were too few. It took an age for our drinks order to be taken followed by another age for the drinks to appear. One drink was forgotten three times, with a formidable wait in between each time of asking. We also had to ask for a pitcher of water several times.

The menu looked quite promising, I ordered fillet of beef with asparagus, mushrooms and french fries. Others ordered the Sunday roast and one of our party the lamb shank. My meal consisted of a disproportionately large pile of shockingly cold, old, chips which tasted like cardboard. Perched atop these was a frazzled, tough amorphous blob of beef - I will eat my hat if it was freshly cooked, indeed, my hat would probably have tasted nicer. I was given one piece of asparagus and two mushrooms. The roasts came with carrots and a yorkshire pud, that was all. The lamb shank was extremely leathery and tasted ancient, my friend had to order a different main course as she found it inedible.

When the bill finally arrived, a bottle of wine that we hadn't ordered had been added (we had all been drinking individual glasses so it should have been difficult to make that mistake). The cost was roughly £30 a head, but I've never experienced such poor value for money, to the point of the quality of the food actually being quite insulting. I can't believe any chef worth their salt would have let that stuff leave the kitchen. I've had better food at motorway service stations !

If nothing else, we left with the knowledge that any laurels Brown's may have acquired in the past, have been well rested upon and withered a long time ago.
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Faye
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Monday, February 19, 2007

I HAVE READ THE OTHER REVIEWS AND I OBVIOUSLY DONT GO OUT MUCH - MY BEST FRIEND WAS CELEBRATING HER 65TH BIRTHDAY ON SATURDAY AND HER DAUGHTER TREATED US TO LUNCH ON SATURDAY BEFORE WE WENT TO THE THEATRE AND IT WAS MARVELOUS, THE ATM0SPHERE WAS AMAZING AND THE WAITRESS WAS EFFICIENT AND FRIENDLY AND EVEN HAD TIME TO SHARE A JOKE WITH US. THE MENU WAS MORE THAN ACCEPTABLE AND GOOD VALUE WE ALSO HAD A COUPLE OF GOOD BOTTLES OF WINE - ALL IN ALL THEY MADE IT A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY LUNCH. THANKYOU
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ELAINE HILLS
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, November 20, 2006

My wife and I chose this restuarant because of its wonderful location, we thought it would make a nice spot for an anniversary meal. We found that the service was unacceptably negilent. We waited for over 30 minutes for a waiter to take our order (drinks and food) and another 20 minutes for the bill. Another table waited even longer for their main meal! This was a midweek evening and the restuarant was not even filled. Unless you enjoy being ignored and wondering if you have gone invisible, then I would not bother with this place. The appalling service overshadows any merits that this restuarant has to offer.
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Ray
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Monday, September 04, 2006

This was the worst meal I've had in London for years and years. It was just dire.

The starter didn't arrive. The waitress apologised but tried to bill us for it anyway.

The chicken with angel hair pasta resembled a dried out brick. My veal escalope was like the leather sole of a shoe, drenched in an overpowering packet gravy.

It's a shame as the riverside setting is great and the branch in Islington is pretty reliable.
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Gemstone
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Having had great meals at other Brown's restaurants, I thought the Shad Thames branch would be a great choice to take two visitors to London.

Unfortunately we either hit on an understaffed night or Friday nights are always a nightmare. Service was friendly yet the staff seemed rushed off their feet and unable to cope with serving the huge restaurant. We waited 20 mins to place an order for drinks, then 30 mins before our drinks arrived. We then moved indoors as it was very windy outside, and staff ensured our order was transferred to the right table. The wait for our starter seemed interminable, and then our main course arrived two hours after placing our orders. The people at surrounding tables seemed to be having similar waits, with many meals being served in stages, so some people were left without food long after others had tucked in. We had a bet on how long it would take to get the bill - and it arrived three minutes after asking... except it was wrong as they had charged us twice for the drinks we had had to re-order after non-delivery. Instead of being a pleasant night out with friends, it was dominated by frustration and increasing hunger and thirst. Wish we'd tried other delightful restaurants next door!

Good menu choice at a decent price, but don't go at a 'busy' time!
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Esther, Battersea
Monday, July 17, 2006

Had a bit of a disastrous evening last night here. Couldn't get a table outside as there were so many people drinking outside, you'd think they would reserve some outside tables for diners only. Anyway went inside where the restaurant was probably about half full. The waitress was completely harassed and took 20 minutes to take our drinks order. We then waited 45 minutes for our drinks and nearly 2 hours for our food, it really was unbelievable! We complained and said we were going to leave and they said they would just waive the bill entirely so we thought fair enough. I think we should have just left then really as we waited another hour for the food. When the food eventually arrived it was very average indeed, I could only eat about a quarter of my burger which had no flavour whatsoever and we'd lost our appetites by 11pm when the food turned up. The staff were very apologetic and nice which is the only good thing you can say about this place. It was so late by the time we finished eating that we had to get a cab home so it's just as well we didn't end up paying for the meal!!
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Kim
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Friday, July 07, 2006