This is one to avoid! At first glance it looks as if it will be great, another version of "All Bar One" and so it should, it is a venue to die for in terms of ready made nostalgia a 1910 Fire Station. My experience was that I was ignored at the bar for nearly 15 minutes while two of the bar staff talked and talked to a waitress until I was eventually served with an excessively expensive pint of beer even at London standards. The service in the restaurant was no better and a unannounced substitution made to an item in terms of Broccoli instead of Savoy Cabbage. My meal of rabbit was tough and tasteless preceded by the most uninspired Caesar salad I have ever had. All in all an incredibly disappointing meal in an otherwise very potentially atmospheric setting.

The worst meal I've ever had.

Ordered a medium rib eye steak for £16 and received a raw steak, 4 chunky chips accompanied by a couple of leaves which was quite frankly a pathetic excuse for a salad.

Having sent the steak back it returned in a more cremated state than my dead grandmother. On being handed the bill for over £55 for two meals I requested a conversation with the manager who might as well have told me he didn't care, pay up and get lost. After saying I would be writing a review and to the owners of the restaurant he said, "you can write what you want because it won't effect our business." His only line of defence was that he'd not had a complaint before and this meant I must be telling lies.

I really really hope this will deter anyone from going to such a dreadful place. Nobody reading this should go to the firestation by waterloo train station until significant changes in the kitchen and management team have been made. If you do you could be over charged for terrible food and then receive terrible customer service.

For the record this is the first review I've ever written and hopefully the last.

Firstly there was a problem with the online reservation system but I persevered and got through to make a telephone booking instead. The restaurant is not as busy as the bar which is quite nice. We found the staff attentive at first but the service deteriorated throughout the evening even though the restaurant was less than 1/3 occupied on a Friday night.

The decor is quite nice and food itself is quite good - has a good range which isn't too overpriced. I can recommend the calves liver with mash but the rhubarb crumble was disappointing.

Lastly paid the bill but again that took a while to arrive and once we paid and returned home I realised that they had overcharged us for a bottle of white wine which we didn't have! I rang the next day to speak to the manager but no-one answered the phone; I searched their website for an email address but had to use the 'contact us' section of their website - no doubt this isn't working because I've still received no reply.

All in all - The Fire Station doesn't score very highly for me. Although the food isn't bad, the customer service really lets it down. Honestly? I wouldn't recommend it and won't return. Next time will go to one of the place on The Cut instead!

I had heard good things about this bar, but had never got around to visiting. I knew I would be in the area to visit the Old Vic, so decided to pay them a visit. After reading reviews on here I was somewhat dubious as to the quality of the venue. However I was pleasantly surprised. I was welcomed into the bar area by an friendly waitress who gave me the choice of dining in the busy bar area or the more intimate restaurant. we opted for a quick bite to eat in the bar. The atmosphere was lively at the time (around 6pm) but still retained a cosy feel. the waitress who served us was very attentive and welcoming despite the number of customers and she recommended an excellent yet reasonably priced bottle of Shiraz for us. The food did take a while to come out but it was understandable due to the busy night. It was also of pretty good quality for the price, considering the location of the bar, we were expecting central London prices. certainly cheaper than the anchor and hope around the corner! next time we will definitely book for the pre theatre offer in the restaurant. In summary, good atmosphere, decent value and lovely service. Get over how busy it it might be and its well worth a visit.

Had a pre theatre meal at The Fire Station and was very disappointed. The waitress told us the wrong information about the 'tart of the day' and when it arrived it was something different to what she had described and not very pleasant. The two courses were very average and certainly not of 'gastropub' standard which I think the pub claims to be. Will not be going back and would definitely not recommend it.

I like this place. The staff are generally attentive, the atmosphere is lively and the foods pretty good.

I've met a mate her several times for dinner in the past year or so and only once have I found the meal to be dissappointing. We usually meet during the wee at about 6.30pm. The bar is quite full by this time but the restaurant doesn't fill up for about another hour or so so we always get our choice of table. There's usually a couple of waitresses on and you never wait long to be served or for the food to come out.

I would recommend the Fish and chips, you don't need a starter with that but I always end up getting one and always end up stuffed. Steer clear of the Steak - from memory it's a sirloin (although I can't be sure) but whatever it is it's overpriced and the kitchen didn't seem to have the skill to get that one right - on the occasion I ordered it at least.

Prices in general are a little on the high side but we always have a good evening there. Probably won't go back for a while as need to explore some other venues but I'm sure we'll find our way back there in the end.

Superb place although the Sun bed facilities aren't up to scratch
Phil Mason

I had been looking forward to finally visiting this pub, as it is something of a landmark and is always spilling over with after-work drinkers.

I was bitterly disappointed. Admittedly I did not visit at peak time and did not sample the alcohol - it was a Saturday morning for a cooked breakfast.

But despite a selective menu, two staff behind the bar and only a handful of other customers, it took them 25 minutes to serve our group, and then much of the food was cold and the rest was only luke-warm.

We asked for some of it to be replaced (hot bacon, a mushroom that didn't resemble a fossil) and it was, but then to add insult to injury, one of the bar staff then came and said that they had served more dishes than they had tickets for.

We had received the right food, and eventually the mistake was identified - they had undercharged one person.

Despite everything (the slow service, poor quality food and the fact that the payment issue was their mistake - we had all paid the amount they had asked us for), they still wanted the extra money.

Didnt like the place at all. Very ugly staff and there was an offputting urine smell coming in close proximity of the kitchen.

Beer was very expensive aswell! £4.50 for a bottle of Peroni is a joke!

The Fire Station is one of my favourite restaurants in London, food is outstanding, especially the duck pancake roll for starter. The restaurant is lively so no chance of a quiet romantic meal, but the atmosphere and friendly staff make this top restaurant well worth a visit.

Came back to have a go on the new autumn menu. It's better than the summer one, generous lamb shank with mashed potato was to die for. The stuffed pumpkin really is a sight to behold too, a show stopper, never thought I'd hear myself say that about a vegetarian dish!!

Well worth a visit this place. Good fresh food, great value for money lunch and pre-theatre menus with a more aspirational and imaginative a la carte menu of British and Mediteranean food available too.

The wine range at The Fire Station is exceptional for such a wonderfully informal venue, there's cask ale and cocktails to boot and its atmosphere is great with a constantly busy bar to weave through on your way to the restaurant.

Great to see The Fire Station getting back to its best. The bar is bustling and vibrant, they've added a range of cocktails since refurbishing six months ago and they've still got tons of great draught beer and guest ales.



I had a really good quality feed too, not overpriced for the area and the fillet of beef was perfectly cooked. Loved the freshly baked bread - proof that they are bringing back some nice touches. Staff were friendly without being overbearing and had a cracking bottle of Merlot to wash it all down with. Well done to the new look Fire Station!

I recently went to the Fire Station with a group of friends to eat in the restaurant for a pre-theatre meal and was pleasantly surprised. The Fire Station restaurant is nicely decorated and welcoming and the staff are friendly. Our group all had the duck spring rolls and beef carpachio to start with, both of which were fresh and nicely presented which was a good start to the meal.


To follow I had the sashimi spiced tuna with oriental noodles. The tuna was perfectly cooked - pink in the middle, succulent and juicy. My friends tried the thyme and lemon stuffed pork belly and the pot roasted lamb and were equally impressed. The deserts were also good. We shared a blueberry cheescake and a lemon tart both of which were a nice end to the meal.

The Fire Station is a truly terrible experience at a ridiculous price for the food and service. The food was insipid and overpriced. Service was useless and unhelpful and the service charge was offensive given the useless service.

The Fire Station stank of cigarettes and stale alcohol. Not to be repeated.

My family and I dined at the Fire Station on Easter Monday and it was, to put it mildly, a truly terrible experience. We should have been warned when a family next to us began shouting at a waitress then walked out, leaving their food barely touched. When our food came, the Mezze had off, bubbling chopped cucumber, a tired old tomato and yellowing feta cheese. My wife's fishcake had the hard core of an onion and a dry lemon as its relish and my son's sausages were both horrible. We thought about being terribly British and not complaining but then, the quite dear prices got to us and so we complained but the waitress just smiled. Never again! I wouldn't try to poison my worst enemy there.