Bishopsgate Kitchen Review

Summary: NOT Recommended / Abysmal Service with subpar food.

Bishopsgate Kitchen
230 Bishopsgate
London EC2M 4QH

SHORT VERSION:  I have reviewed DOZENS of restaurants and out of over a hundred reviews, I only have 5 places rated one star. I can only guess the reviewers of this place are either friends of the staff or owner or infrequent diners. Or I was just here on a VERY BAD NIGHT. This place is awful and I would recommend you walk right on by.

Service: 1

The great host that greeted me and took order, a guy that was friendly and fast, seemed to disappear and leave two amateurs on the floor. He left two women who walked around and chatted to the two guys who were hitting on them while ignoring everyone else.
After a half hour of trying to use their butter knife to cut the overlooked steak, one of the servers finally brought me a steak knife.

After ignoring me for the hour I was eating, a different server, the one that was chatting it up with the likely married but ringless diner, came over to ask me if I wanted anything else. Get this: the kitchen was closed by then so if I wanted either of the hot desserts I was plum out of luck. First of all, the fact that the restaurant’s posted closing hour is 10pm and they close the kitchen at exactly 10pm is pretty pathetic. That basically means they should stop accepting patrons at 930 pm latest. Second, if chatty Cathy had actually come over during my meal perhaps she could have gathered my dessert order BEFORE the kitchen closed.

Food: 1

My meal consisted of quite possibly the worst steak I’ve had in a year. I’ve had better steaks at Disney World and strip mall food courts.  Absolutely no flavor and if this is medium, well done must resemble a charcoal briquette. Incredibly bland food. Even the bread was just ok.

Decor: 2

A nice space except whereas I typically enjoy seeing the kitchen, seeing the cook open a container of uncooked food and smell it was less than appealing. One of the cooks approached what looked like a more senior guy and appeared to suspect something was off. The other guy smelled it, looked at it, and smelled again. I was sick wondering if he concluded it was “acceptable”.

Value: 2

Really bad food at moderately expensive prices. Fail.

Overall: 1

I suspect this is the type of place that gets clientele who don’t feel like walking farther than across the street RBS. There are WAY too many restaurants in London to waste time or money on a place like this. In Chicago, this would be one of those places I would predict would be out of business soon. Not sure if here in London a crappy restaurant can survive due simply to convenience of location. Maybe so!

I was looking for my first failure of a restaurant in London and, alas, I’ve found it. Not only do I not recommend this place, I urge you to go out of your way (which really is only about 4 blocks toward Spitalfields) to find a decent meal. Do not go to Bishopsgate Kitchen. It should be closed.

Note: while waiting for my bill, I overheard another guest tell the server he ordered lamb and got tuna. She laughed and he laughed. Interesting. I wouldn’t actually find that funny.

AVOID THIS PLACE.

In relationship with #foodies,

Adam

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