Gin Mare
Casa Brindisa

Casa Brindisa

7 - 9 Exhibition Road London, SW7 2HE, United Kingdom

Beer • Wine • Tapas • Casual


"As a Spaniard myself, I wanted to take my friend to a Spanish restaurant, so after a visit to the V&A museum, we went to this place. We didn’t have a reservation, however we were quickly placed on a table inside. The service was fast, we were attended by 4 different members of the staff during our meal, but all of them were nice. We ordered some dishes to share, since I wanted her to try different things. Be aware that the portions are tiny. We literally got 3 croquetas, 4 prawns in garlic sauce, 2 small eggs with a bit of pisto, and some mussels. Except for the mussels, everything was delicious. The mussels on the other hand, were bland, just boiled, the sauce was tasteless and we didn’t like it. We got 4 small pieces of bread in total, priced at £4, so it was £1 per slice. As a dessert, we had some orange and chocolate cake, which was more like a tart. Apart from the orange on top, it didn’t taste like orange at all, which I didn’t mind, overall it was very nicely prepared. We also had a couple of pacharán. The bill came up to nearly £100, which we thought it was a lot for the amount of food we got. I understand this is London and the restaurant is in one of the poshest areas, but still…Be also aware that VAT is calculated later in the bill, and also service is included, which I’m not a fan of. I have also worked as a waitress when I was younger, so I appreciate the hard work, especially in a busy place like this, but I prefer to decide how much I tip I would like to leave, depending of how good or bad the service is. We both thought, as an experience, it was ok, but we wouldn’t be returning any time soon."

Hawthorns

Hawthorns

Crowne Plaza Newcastle Stephenson Quarter, Forth Street Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear NE1 3SA, NE99 1SB, United Kingdom

Meat • Coffee • British • Italian


"I have just returned from having afternoon tea, and was really looking forward to it. Sadly it was extremely disappointing. arrived at the restaurant, the staff were at the rear of the restaurant, and clearly saw us, but chose to ignore us, leaving us...standing for minutes, a simple recognition and I’ll be with you in a moment is just basic customer service. It all went downhill from there! We were early and asked to be seated, they couldn’t accommodate us in the restaurant, but could in the bar area, this wasn’t an issue, or so we thought! It then took a further minutes for anyone to give us a menu. We asked for tea, after minutes the tea arrived, we poured it and the milk was off, told the waitress, who said she would sort it out, instead of removing the cups and milk left it on the table.After another minutes, we had to put the tea and milk on the bar and ask the bar staff to replace the tea. Again after a wait it arrived. At this point we had been in the hotel for minutes. The food then arrived, finger sandwiches with extremely odd fillings. What should have been salmon, tasted like Shiphams paste. One with red onions and something that I couldn’t distinguish, the last was ham that was so thin and sparse you couldn’t taste it. We had a savoury scone and a fruit scone, no butter!!!! Asked the staff member at the bar, who said she would get some from the restaurant. She then continued to serve, clean and fold napkins for minutes. She then asked another passing staff member to get some butter. Yet another minutes wait. The sweet treats- pre made, hard pastry cases filled with a cream flavoured with mint and a “wild” strawberry a giant hard tasteless strawberry) a lemon meringue with basil flavour( not a snif or basil), a hard stale chocolate brownie, and a rhubarb trifle, this was a over sweet rhubarb, covered in tasteless custard and a crumble top??? Just all odd and nasty! Clearly no pastry chef in this hotel. I have to say I was expecting more from this afternoon tea, I have been to many in the local area and far flung! This one was one of the worst. The quality of the food was very poor and the customer service was appalling( some re-training on The basics, and the presence of a manger may be required)."