March 2025 by Neelesh Sonawane
In spite of the lovely singer and guitarist, the place lacks soul
March 2025 by kea Löbbert
We were there this morning and had breakfast there. The food was good and the service was very friendly...BUT....!!!! After breakfast we ordered another coffee and before we had finished it, one of the ladies in charge arrived and asked if she should bring the bill. That was so outrageous! We booked a table there for the following day, but then canceled straight away. You pay more than 65 pounds for breakfast and are more or less asked to leave. Never again! The one star is only for the nice service !!!
February 2025 by Harry Crumless
Very slow service by staff that have clearly been given no training. The wrong drinks were delivered and multiple things got forgotten.
When the food actually came it was lukewarm. Desserts were enormous. Lovely toilets so there?s a positive.
January 2025 by Katy
Really don?t rate this place. The vibe is cool but the service is abysmal! Went here for coffee and it took half an hour for our 3 coffees and a lemonade to come. We?d already waited 15 minutes to even be considered customers, this was only after we went to the bar and the manager said someone would be right with us. By the time our coffees did arrive, they were cold and tiny, considering we?d ordered lattes. It wasn?t worth the hassle to send them back or get it remade. We didn?t get a check in to see how we were or if we wanted anything else. Unsurprisingly, it took ages for the bill to come, it wasn?t until we got up to leave and walked over to pay that we could even pay. And the cheeky buggers wanted us to pay the 12.5% ?service charge?! They weren?t even busy, there was more staff standing around than customers eating/drinking.
Needless to say, we won?t be back which is a shame as the vibe was pretty cool. The only benefit was that they did have alternative, dairy free milks.
January 2025 by Joshua S Jones
Basic bistro menu. Pretty uninspiring, prawn cocktail was tasteless miniature shrimp and under seasoned sauce, main of Bavette steak and frites was well cooked but for 18 quid you?d have hoped for slightly fuller plate, and dessert the basque cheesecake was the dryest I?ve had and didn?t bother finishing it. There are better food options in the area for the same money.
January 2025 by Alex Fitzroy
Ten staff running around like monkeys, struggling to handle a half full restaurant. Lots of tables looking around for someone to help them with something.
December 2024 by Alice Gee
Best meal I have had in a hotel.
Nice atmosphere that was luxurious but discrete and minimal. Perfect lighting. No music.
Would recommend ordering bread for mopping up the excellent sauces. Bread and pattiserie are made in house.
I had moules frites which had a creamy sauce spiked with thin slivers of raw onion and great crunchy fries. My companion had monkfish from the grill that he pronounced excellent. Vegetable sides were good and reasonably priced at £5 each. Cooked veggies were served quite firm and crunchy, so you do need to like that texture. We had carrots, haricot verts and endive salad.
Service was excellent and quick. Our waiter was Guiseppe.
I will definitely return. It's an excellent spot for a civilized meal in Shoreditch that is reasonably priced.
**** Seccond Visit ****
I am sorry to say I have to downgrade my review after a second visit. On a Friday night, the restaurant was very crowded and I am afraid they couldn't handle the crush. There was quite a long wait for food. What's worse, a band started playing in the auditorium downstairs and it was very audible in the restaurant.
For starters we ordered French onion soup and beef tartare. Both were overly sweet. The soup was smothered in a very large amount of tasteless cheese. Not sure about the age or quality of gruyere used. Our mains of veal meatballs and bavette steak were good. Steak cooked rare to order, but the accompanying sauce was too sweet. Sides were okay. When my steak arrived I asked for a glass of red house wine and some vinegar for my chips. The vinegar arrived when I had almost finished my steak and chips. I had to ask twice for the wine. When it finally arrived, it was a glass house white. I had finished dinner by the time the red wine arrived.
So after our second visit, my conclusion is that food can be hit or miss. I would also avoid Friday night or any other time the restaurant will be busy and a band might be playing downstairs.
December 2024 by Rob McNally
Popped in for one drink at 6pm while I was waiting for colleagues to get to a restaurant over the road. The staff downstairs advised me to go upstairs where they said they had a nice bar. Went to that bar and asked for a drink. Bar manager said there was an event on. There were no signs to say that, and the staff downstairs clearly didn't know. I asked when the event was on because I would only be fifteen minutes. He said "soon". I said is there any place I can have a drink for fifteen minutes. He reluctantly served me. Worst £8 ever spent (on a 330ml bottle of beer because he had nothing on tap).
September 2024 by Eda DAL
I had to remind main course 4 times and it came almost 40 minutes late. Some waiters are great but some are totally ignorant. Communication problem is so persistent and it is just a luck if you get what you ordered.
August 2024 by Antonio
I visit the bar upstairs for an event and can't express enough my disappointment by the service. What kind of bar do not pour the alcohol in front of the customers? Instead the "expensive tequila" was already prepared in bottom of each glasses! No traces neither of the St Germain detailed on the description of the cocktail.
The overall place really lack of a soul and taste. The cartoons illustration are so tacky and the art'otel is surely the worst building that has been ever been built in East London. This venue has def not its place in East London.
August 2024 by Krystal Phuar
Mediocre food. Wouldn?t recommend anything in particular. Ok if you want to just fill your stomach and not to fussed about food. Check out banksy?s art by the entrance and also other amazing pieces in the hotel itself.
August 2024 by Laurent A.
I had heard good things about the bar at The Brush and their innovative cocktails. I must say I was disappointed by the result. I ordered a Pink (on the picture), which is supposed to contain Olmeca tequila and Saint Germain, the later being one of my favourite.
Unfortunately, the mix they used contained neither of these ingredients and instead used a random tequila and a 0% alcohol edelflower syrup. Also the price indicated was £10, and they charged me £ 22.50 for two.... When I went myself to the bar to order and pickup the drinks... Not sure if a service charge should apply in this case.
I feel this is what they do: selling you beautiful promises on the paper and then do not deliver.
A shame because the place is cute, but I don't think I would go back.
July 2024 by Catering Manager
My experience of the Grand Café was wonderful.
The ambience was great sophisticated yet relaxed. the occasion was my wife's birthday, we had the burrata and beef tar tar & the mushroom flat bread, the dishes were excellent well balanced. Our main course was Seabass and had us falling off our seats with excitement they looked so good.
We got a happy birthday plate, which got me brownie points.
The chef there is truly talented.
The one sour note was we had a waiter that in my opinion wanted a promotion because he wouldn't go away always interrupting conversations to say not much, and generally hovering around our table.
Apart from this a wonderful experience.
July 2024 by Sherie K
I was looking forward to a relaxing afternoon tea with a friend, and we ordered two pots of tea. When we finished, I found something inside the teapot that shouldn?t have been there. It was unpleasant. The bartender kindly offered us a new drink, but we weren?t brave enough to try again. Please ensure thorough cleaning in the future. Thank you.
June 2024 by Christine Kim
We came for dinner during their soft launch opening period and enjoyed the food and service. Between the four of us, we shared the bread, pardon peppers (good), beef tartare (good), gruyère, bacon and caramelised onion flatbread (bit rich for me), aubergine schnitzel (great flavour), charred hispi cabbage (everyone's favourite), rib eye (cooked as requested) and the grilled monkfish chop (fish was cooked well). For dessert, we shared the creme brulee and basque cheesecake (both nice). The service was very attentive and friendly.
