Barbecoa

Pros:
Great views.
Cons:
Long wait between courses
Food okay but no WOW factor.
Staff okay but they couldn't see the problem when we complained about the 1hr wait between courses!

If this was a simply a bar it would be great! Fantastic views, nice ambience. However it is not. The food is actually extremely mediocre bodering on awful. The prices are just over the top, £35 for a steak is ridiculous. I had a disgusting pig cheek starter at £9 followed by a £16 burnt chicken, all potatoes, chips, vegetables etc are extra. Our food bill for 5 came to £222 without booze! Jamie Oliver claims so much and this restaurant fails on so many levels, just lucky it is in a good location!

We ate at Barbecoa last night to celebrate two birthdays. Our party of 11 people arrive for the later sitting to be informed that our table was not ready and we were asked to sit in the overflow bar, the entrance. Eventually we were asked if we would like a pre dinner drink but this arrived after we were eventually seated.
On arrival in the restaurant room the staff seemed surprised to see us, obviously no communication between reception and restaurant.
The views of St Paul's from the table were amazing and the best feature of the restaurant. The quality of the food was ok, not what you would expect from a restaurant run by a celebrity chef. The front of house staff friendly but the service poor. we had to wait 90 mins between our starter and main course. Waiters did know who had ordered which dish and called the dishes names, very canteen style.
We had a good time but not because of the restaurant. Over priced, average menu. Poor service. Would not recommend to dine, worth going for the view of St Paul's but you can have the same view from the shop across the way.

My wife and I visited Barbecoa this Tuesday evening to celebrate our wedding anniversary and were left feeling rather confused and empty following our two hour sitting. We arrived on time and were taken upstairs into a large L-Shaped dining room which looks like you have just walked into a mock South American Grill constructed within the confines of a brand new shopping centre. Decor is more on a par with a Nando's chain rather than a top-end city establishment.

Service was equally dismaying in this overly packed restaurant full of your typical city professionals. We were left waiting for a drink for at least 10 minutes which is disappointing in a restaurant of this price and hype.

On a culinary level the quality of the food is tasty but still not quite as good as one would hope. Our starters of calamari and smoked baby ribs had great flavour and certainly picked our spirits up however this part of the meal was again let down by the service because the Goddess Olives we ordered pre - starter didn’t turn up until after we had finished our first course. There was no apology nor realisation that this is simply unacceptable so we found ourselves eating a £4 bowl of olives 'after' our starters and across our dirty plates which sat uncollected for another 12 minutes (yes i was counting by this point as it was really going downhill).

On to the mains we ordered the Fillet Steak which was slightly overdone and the Short Rib was advertised by our waiter as bursting with flavour due to the 8-hours slow cooking technique of the chef. The Rib, served with a buttery mash potato, was initially a delight but quickly became dry and tough as one ate through it. It lacked a sauce or gravy to really bring the texture our and the sides we ordered of Beans, Creamed Spinach and 'cold chips' did little to appease us. Still thirsty because our bottle of Sancerre was placed in an ice bucket 5 metres away from the table we decided to skip desserts and exit the building.

The bill of £180 took over 10 minutes to arrive and then my wifes jacket was misplaced for another 5 minutes. In conclusion a disappointing and rather expensive meal in soulless surroundings with below par service. A shame as it was supposed to be a special evening.

As a long-time fan of Jamie Oliver I was really looking forward to finally sampling some of his food. I find myself in agreement with many of the criticisms I've read, the food is over-priced for the portion sizes and one of our party of four had to send her steak back because having asked for medium/rare it come to the table well done. I chose venison as a treat and found it very salty. There's seasoning and there's "did the lid come off the container?" I was also very disappointed with the chips which were reminiscent of a fast food chain and not the proper chunky chips you'd expect from an Essex boy. Just call them fries and be done with it, don't raise false hope with the word "chips" on the menu. However the staff went some way to improve things, they were all friendly, helpful and well-informed, but I don't think any of us will be going back any time soon.

We had dinner for 6 people (not a lot of people for a restaurant of this size). Food is very average and overpriced for what it is. The service is the biggest let down. We had starters, mains and dessert. None of the courses were served to everyone at the same time. Shockingly, for the mains, there was a 15-minute wait until everyone had their food. This does not make for happy eating. The views of St Paul's are amazing, but don't expect amazing food and definitely don't expect amazing service.

Friends and I meet at Barbecoa on Tues evening. Two out of three of us were pregnant so conscious about our ordering. We chose the hot smoked salmon for entree (delicious), and a steak to share for main. Unfortunately, despite telling the waiter we were pregnant and needed it well done, it came out dripping with blood. We raised this and again the steak was put back on the grill. Meanwhile, our third friend's main had come, gone cold, and she sat there picking at her food. The steak came back, and yet again, after cutting it through the centre, it was still medium at best. Again, we raised this with the waiter, this time annoyed at time spent waiting and reiterating that we were pregnant and needed our steak cooked through. The waitress seemed uninterested in our pleas. After refusing a third go on the grill, the head maitre-de came over, apologies and offered us complimentary mains (chicken, shredded pork, both delicious). Although the apology was accepted, I would expect better service from a Jamie Oliver restaurant.

Ok, the place is busy, but for good reason, it is amazing. I have been twice in the past three weeks and it is my new favourite place in London. The steak is amazing and the seafood platter was awesome, on a previous trip we had the lamb and fillet, it was top draw. The staff are excellent and they make some very good cocktails. I can't wait to go back to Barbecoa.