OH no I'm due there for a work lunch in a couple of weeks. Hoping they somehow miraculously up their standards by then because I could do with some tasty baby back ribs!
Beautifully written review...and it sounds truly vile.
Arguably inevitable, but no less sad for it. I had high hopes for Barbecoa: meat on heat. Yes please.
I am really surprised about this and hope the folks will read and improve. Happy to read that front of house were doing a good job. How was the Syrah?
What a shame - I LOVE ribs, used to go to an all you can eat ribs place in Brussels which served them with a bucket for you to throw the bones in - excellent.
Chris, This is a great review. I'm so glad you don't hold back and you're never swayed by niceties. We have to remember that its about the food not about who's name is behind it.
an entertaining post again. I must admit, working about 10 mins walk from ONC, I am pleased they have opened, despite the ugly building ruining the landmark that is St Paul's. We had not much in the way of retail shopping around here!
As for Barbecoa, I will definitely not try it. We did buy some meat from the shop, just to compare to our usual supplier...as mentioned, the meat was quite good (onglet and stewing steak were very tender and good) and the prices on average cheaper that Ginger Pig (by about £1 per kilo); however the breakfast sausages were really bad - no taste whatsoever, chunky, compact meat with no flavour. Not only they are no way comparable to the wonderful Boston sausages (from Borough Market) but they are not even on a par with Taste the Difference sausages!
Oh no! I really wanted people to like it - I do hope they're still sorting things out and they'll improve. I might give them a bit of time to do that before I visit though, as I wouldn't fancy spending £50 on a rubbish meal. Good thing you had the 50% off.
Thanks for the frank and honest review. I am glad we didn't get in for our Christmas meal. We were told they were getting 1,000 phone calls a day and were booked until March.
what a shame, but for these prices you really expect spotless quality. What is Jamie doing you wonder.
What a shame. As you say London / the UK could do with a good BBQ joint.
I think your paragraph about cheap food, marked up for the city crowd seems to capture things well.
One simple thing they could have done in their 2 week soft period would have been to take the cringey descriptions off the menu.
I'm looking forward to seeing whether you get any hysterical comments from that love Anonymous person.
Shame. I was looking forward to a decent bbq joint close to work. Sounds like I am better off sticking to Byron Burgers at ONC. Maybe it needs some more hands on attention from one of the two chefs? It seems odd that they have got it so catastrophically wrong. Here's hoping for a big improvement. I would have expected it to be al least okay in terms of quality of meat.
You are quite right though, at that price, they need to be very good indeed to compete with the likes of Hawksmoor.
Surely the game was up when they offered you 50%.
Let's hope people take note and redirect their spend to venues trading on the quality of their product as opposed to their owners fame.
An accurate appraisal, no doubt. The allusion to 'Saint Jamie' in your opening does, however, imply you set out hoping there'd be holes to pick.
Ahh no I booked this for my birthday with my closest friends! Pople you git, i'm all shook up and dont know what to do - I'll leave it in your capable hands to suggest an alternative.
seriously - I want you to suggest an alternative option.
eatmynels: I know it's a cliché, but if you want this kind of thing, aint nowhere better than Hawksmoor.
Thanks - i'll send you an invoice for the price difference.
Maybe its aimed at the bad food market.
PS *Some* pub steaks are good!
Intriguing. I had the opposite experience - actually rather enjoyable food but hilariously shambolic service. Dishes we hadn't ordered kept appearing, then someone else would appear and remove them, things we ordered didn't show, it took nearly 30 minutes to get a bottle of water, they couldn't answer a couple of basic questions... I guess they are at least consistent in inconsistency?
Hawksmoor would be better, but it sounds like even Bodean's would be an improvement (and about 1/4 the price).
Oh, le sigh. Hopes of a cheaper Hawksmoor alternative have been dashed - though it looks just as expensive.
True, hard to come by decent beef for a good price in London. Have you ever tried the bountiful cow in Holborn? It has the best steaks ever and I think they do ribs. In case you ever go there (or the Seven Stars (sister pub behind the Courts of Justice)) you must try the icecream, best I ever had and I lived in Italy for a while.
At your vicious best dahlink. Well written.
I couldn't agree any less, I went there on Saturday and was massively impressed with the food. There were 8 of us dining and all of us were more than happy with our starters and main courses. I wouldn't deter anyone from going there - I had the San Daniele Prosciutto and the Rump steak and would go back again there just for those. Such a shame you didn't have a good time of it, perhaps the teething problems were just that and now everything is sorted.
I think what you have done brilliantly is outed this establishment.
The meat is on a par with Aberdeen Steak House . The butcher is no better.
Why do they think they can get away with these prices for poorly sourced produce in central London of all places ?