Canteen (Spitalfields)

overpriced. long serving times. Breakfast sizes far from generous - will leave you feeling hungry. A jug of water with your pot of tea would be good, instead of having your pot of tea to be replenished behind the counter, and weaker than you would ever wish.
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2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Monday, March 18, 2013

I went along with a group of friends on a sunday (so no special offer menu).

The company was fab but the food wasnt great. Overpriced and not tasty enough to make up for the tiny portions. 'roast chicken and chips' was a small thigh piece of chicken with a cup of chips and 'on toast' means on one small slice of toast. A portion of mushrooms turned out to be one medium mushroom, for which they charged me a pound! Eggs were overcooked... And to top it off the toilet was strewn with paper, dirty and had a broken hand dryer. Would i go back? No.
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Maite
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Monday, January 14, 2013

I visited this branch last Saturday with a couple of friends. It was around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, so it wasn't very busy. We all had the 2 course £10 special menu and the food was very good except for the cabbage which is a bit tough and stringy like they only had the very outside leaves. The Beef and stout pie was good, the beef was extremely tender and it was well seasoned.

We did have to wait a very long time for our desserts and had to beckon the waiter over eventually to ask him for them. In all fairness we were the only ones sitting outside, but that's no excuse for him to forget about us as it wasn't busy. Apart from that the service was OK.

We had a little problem with the bill, in that the waiter didn't come back with our change! But we sorted that out after a bit messing about. Still not good enough, but we were in a good mood and didn't want to argue too much!
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Sandie
6 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 6
Thursday, April 26, 2012

Having read some adverse reviews we were apprehensive before having lunch at Canteen today. We were immediately shown to a table and within a short time our orders were taken. We did not have to wait too long for our meals to appear either. My ribeye steak was just as I like it (medium rare) and the butternut squash and fennel was enjoyed by both the ladies. The puddings (carrot cake, trifle and brownie and ice dream) were much enjoyed, and he service was excellent throughout.
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Michael Harold
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Friday, February 03, 2012

Overpriced, underfed, bad service.

£10 for a pile of lettuce, three bits of artichoke, 5 beans and 2 bits of anchovy coupled with 1.5 hours service for one course at lunchtime.
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1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Saturday, September 24, 2011

Service still poor!!! Shame as the food was nice. One exceptionally rude waiter!!
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Helen Hawthorn
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Sunday, November 07, 2010

This is a dreadful restaurant. The staff are are very poorly trained and the food is terrible. It took 3 hours for my party of 6 people to get through our 1 course meal. We were sitting right next to the bar and it took 30mins for our drinks to arrive at the table each time we ordered them. The kitchen ‘lost’ our food check and the waiter on relaying the news said that it was his second day and really he didn’t ‘give a f*!$’. My only advice to you is to never ever visit this restaurant.
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Balham Local - View all reviews by this user
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, November 01, 2010

Ridiculous meal! It's the only way I can describe it...came here a few weeks ago (early July) and ordered the special of the whole grilled bream. the fish came out and looked lovely, a nice large fish for the price - unfortunately, it hadn't been scaled correctly.

When I waved down the waiter to complain he explained that as it was a whole fish, it came with the bones - I tried re-explaining that it wasn't the bones that I was objecting to and I was very familiar with whole fish and order it a lot. The manager came over and I explained to her that the skin on the fish wasn't scaled correctly. She apologised very prettily and then took it away and got a replacement. I was warned that it would take another 20 minutes which I was fine with, however it took at least 45 and then the exact same problem with scales all over the fish. I complained to the manager again and she said that she was sorry, that was how the fish was prepared and she didn't know if it was correct or not! I told her it wasn't and she offered to have the skin removed but I said that I would do it myself. The fish at least was taken off the bill.

The fish was cooked perfectly ,but even after skinning the fish myself I ended up with scales in my mouth every few bites!

We decided that we had really been there long enough so we asked for the bill. We paid in cash and then when the change came back my husband noticed we were short-changed. We complained to a waiter who said that no the change was correct - it went through three different waiters until the manager came over again and showed as the bill (a different bill to the one that had been given to us) which showed us ordering two coffees. We didn't. Eventually we got out of there with our correct change but not after at least 15 minutes had elapsed.

It was such a comedy of errors that all we could do was laugh!

Decent tasting food, but terrible preparation and spotty service!!
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Jo
3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, July 21, 2010

We went to the Royal Festival Hall branch at about 8 on a Friday evening. Even though more than half the tables/benches were empty we were told to wait at the bar for 10 min, where all bar tenders were doing drinks for tables and took more than 10 min to order a drink. We were offered a shared and a tiny bench first before eventually being given a proper table to sit at. We noticed that anyone who turned up was made to wait at the bar before being given a table even though tables were free. Starter was nice but mean in size and sad in presentation. Request for a spare plate was ignored. Main course was non-descript and too salty. Side order of salad leaves consisted of lettuce leaves only. Altogether this was an unpleasant experience and regretted it and decided never to go there again.
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2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Sunday, June 06, 2010