Waltham Forest
The Bookstore Cafe

The Bookstore Cafe

The Old Library Erith Library Museum Walnut Tree Road, Waltham Forest, United Kingdom, DA8 1RS

Cafe • Cafés • Fusion • Seafood


"My sister has visited here a number of times in the last year and so it was the perfect place to go for her birthday brunch especially when we were catering for different tastes and preferences in the food. Firstly it's a great venue, spacious, light and airy. The tables are a great size and although communal the seats aren't crammed together so there's space to eat. The staff are lovely. The brunch menu was varied and had plenty of veggie options. The food was cooked really well and plated up beautifully with a nice salad dressing. Between us, we had scrambled eggs on toast with smoked salmon, smashed avocado on toast with feta cheese, sausage and cheese toasted sandwich with onion marmalade and ham and cheese toasted sandwich with piccalilli. The ham was thick-cut ham off the bone not thin and plastic with little flavour. The bread used was toasted sourdough and some of the best I've ever tasted. We all said that we could our meals over again... or as one of my sisters said... it was so tasty you didn't want the meal to end. They are also licenced and so you can get a glass of something to go with your food. If you live near Erith this is well worth a visit, they also do food in the evening cakes etc. And afterwards why not go for a walk on Erith Pier? I thoroughly recommend The Bookstore in Erith and I'd love one of their sandwiches now... At £6 it was a really well priced brunch and some of the dishes were cheaper."

Basement Galley

Basement Galley

Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum 10 South Access Road, Waltham Forest, United Kingdom

Fish • Meat • Coffee • Seafood


"Hopefully, this review will be balanced and fair.....I was so excited about this evening, a meal on a tube for an underground enthusiast on her birthday. I think you need a mix of great food, service, ambiance and value..... I know my daughter had emailed...ahead and asked for specific seats... when we arrived, we were not even on tube seats, but rickety, incredibly uncomfortable wooden chairs and a table at such an angle, we kept having to rescue the food. We asked (we were pretty much the first people on), if we could sit on a table that was actually a tube seat and the woman was really rude to us. The service was mediocre... the food was slow (i do understand this isn't a commercial kitchen), and the only warm course was cold. We were not asked throughout the meal how it was (I suspect due to our initial request to change seats). The guy in charge was friendly though The food did taste good, but I would expect that for the price. The menu was interesting and we cleared our plates each course A lot of the time, the serving staff looked bored and redundant when they could have been more proactive...(they never once tried to offer additional drinks which would be a lucrative opportunity) When we were offered bread to start, she barked just take one' which was quite amusing.... We had too leave as soon as the food had finished as the chairs were so uncomfortable our backs were hurting and legs gone numb (first world problems i know). The music was so loud too. They did make an effort at the end with a candle which was a nice touch I think this is a sound concept, and. with some finesse of the timings, service and comfort, could score a 5...... I wouldn't go back, The thing that makes me sad is that my 19 year old daughter had spent the £100 on this meal for us and was gutted as she felt she had let me down... which wasn't the case at all"

Cyprus Meze Bar Restaurant

Cyprus Meze Bar Restaurant

524 Lea Bridge Road, Waltham Forest, United Kingdom

Turkish • European • Fast Food • Vegetarian


"I went to this restaurant for a christening party and thanks to the festive mood and the friends i got the occasion to spend some time with, i was able to get passed the horrible restaurant service and the awful food. In the beginning they got all sorts of starters on small plates but so many in the same time they had to build them up on top of each other transforming all in a disgusting display of food. Then they served some sort of aperitif once small piece at a time and basically it took a half an hour to get the complete aperitif on everyone 's plate complete aperitif is a very generous way to call it). The main course was the icing on the cake when they brought three bbq chicken wings and three pieces of bbq chicken breast feeling disoriented in the extremely large plate but with views to the completely tasteless flat boiled rice shack from the other side of the plate Turkish restaurants mix the rice with pastina or couscous and some spices for a great taste). The whole ensemble had ABSOLUTELY NO TASTE. The service was a shame. Another thing was the lack of respect towards the other non-cypriots customers in the restaurant by tormenting us with extremely loud turkish-cyprus music for almost 5 hours without thinking of alternating music stiles to please everyone. The funny part is how i stupidly keep trying to find a decent greek/cyprus restaurant in London after having experienced already 6 different such restaurants in this city and every time was worse than the previous time. Bottom line, i can not recommend this restaurant or any greek/cyprus restaurant in London to anyone just keep looking for an italian, chinese, romanian or indian restaurant."

Petch Sayam

Petch Sayam

682 High Road. Leytonstone, Waltham Forest, United Kingdom

Thai • Seafood • European • Vegetarian


"We booked a table here for a Friday night. When we arrived, there were already 4 tables occupied, and the waitress simply said 'sit where you want '. The lighting was quite bright, and highlighted the tired decor. It was cold outside, and sleeting, so we were looking forward to a warm restaurant, but it was apparent after removing our coats, that it was almost as cold inside as out!. There were a couple of fan heaters on the floor that didn 't seem to make any difference, and no background music to soften the atmosphere. The waitress took our order, but couldn 't guarantee any of the wines on their list (which was difficult to read as something had previously been spilled on the laminated menu, blurring the text). Needless to say the bottle we ordered was not available. As we waited for our starters, the place began to fill and the tension inside began to rise, as there was only one waitress. Although she handled the situation as best as she could, with a smile on her face, it became increasingly uncomfortable, as it was evident that she was unable to manage a full restaurant on her own. Our starter arrived, and was surprisingly good. However, the main course took another good half hour to arrive and came minus the rice. Which took another ten minutes. We both had the same main course (Thai Red chicken curry) and were both equally disappointed. It lacked heat, and flavor, and was more soup than curry. By this point we decided to cut our losses and make a swift exit, as had a couple of others already realizing that they were in for a long night. The bill was £50, which is a lot of money for a particularly unpleasant experience. This place needs, more staff, some ambient lighting, some heating in the winter, some music to lighten the canteen effect, and some care and attention."