To be fair, if one of the comfort food classics from the Bloomsbury Park Hotel's restaurant arrived as room service, you might be relatively satisfied with your lot. But as it is, served at your dining table, it leaves a lot to be desired.

The Venue
You can easily take your pick from the plush hotels that populate Holborn's Southampton Row, but Bloomsbury Park is one of the smaller ones, located close to Russell Square and Bloomsbury Square. Being a part of the Thistle hotel family helps stamp out any individuality from this renovated Edwardian establishment. You can enter from the street, where you're met with a formulaic hotel bar and restaurant. The narrow room is wood-floored, with whitewashed walls and gold, crushed velvet armchair seating. The bar is garishly coloured with back-lit neon, and paintings on the wall are modern but fairly generic golden hue splashes. Meanwhile a flat screen television is tuned to Sky News.

The Atmosphere
From the moment you step foot into Bloomsbury Kitchen you're wanting for more; more colour, more people and more of a vibe. Staff desperately try to compensate for a stagnant ambience with boisterous banter and ill-at-ease jokes, but it makes the place seem all the more awkward. Unfortunately, this could just be any other hotel bar and restaurant. And although it would be a perfectly acceptable venue for guests who lack the energy to explore London's foodie scene, there's nothing here that makes the venue worth going out of your way for.

The Food
The menu is where Bloomsbury Kitchen shows its true colours. The unfortunate hotel restaurant trend is to charge premium rate for merely okay food, but Bloomsbury Kitchen's menu is at least one of the more affordable ones. As a consequence, though, the food is below par, even for its genre, and still completely overpriced for what's dished up. The menu is, for all intents and purposes, a pub grub one. The Thistle group has partnered with a whole host of food suppliers and brands and the menu is adorned by their logos and badges - an off-putting sight for the appetite. Bloomsbury Kitchen is also hit by supply issues, with a lot of unavailable menu items throwing into doubt the freshness of what's being served.

Starters consist of soups and small plates that are classic comfort foods, ideal for hotel guests who are looking for an easy dinner. The sharing platter (£6.50) of rustic bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, marinated olives and stuffed peppers is really enjoyable, especially the spicy jalapenos filled with soft cheese. The smoked haddock and salmon fish cake (£7.95) is tasty, full of succulence and smokiness, but the dish is poorly presented, surrounded by ribbons of creamy, herb sauce that don't portray much elegance. Breaded goat's cheese (£7.25) is a very odd dish, and rather than tasting like a gooey, deep-fried guilty pleasure, the cheese tastes slightly sour and is only just warmed through.

Dishes on the main course menu are again pub classics and comfort foods, but with a few curveballs thrown in, such as the 'signature dish' nasi goreng (£15.50) and chick pea, sweet potato and spinach curry (£15.50). Strangely, Chicago Town pizzas make a menu appearance, again begging the question about just how fresh the produce is. Another oddity that is recommended by front of house staff is the grilled salmon fillet with crab and broccoli risotto and rich lobster sauce (£17.95). The salmon is sadly dry and overcooked and the risotto is quite claggy in consistency, and notably missing much evidence of crab meet. The lobster sauce is overpoweringly salty and doesn't deliver on the sweetness you'd expect. The sirloin steak and chips (£24.95) is another overcooked classic, with medium-rare steak coming out well past well-done. The dish is redeemed by a cute fry tray of chips, crispy onion rings, button mushrooms and a gravy-like peppercorn sauce.

Ben & Jerry's ice cream is the guest on the dessert menu, and is probably a welcome installment for some hotel diners. An appropriately seasonal offering on the menu is apple and rhubarb crumble, (£5.95) with a vanilla custard so sweet that it takes you back to childhood. Unfortunately, the white chocolate cheesecake (£6.50) doesn't hold quite the same childish charm, and instead tastes bland and disappointingly soft in texture, made even more of a let down by raspberries that are still frozen in the middle.

The Drink
The drinks menu differs greatly from the traditional hotel options, with poorer quality grapes and lower tier options. Booze is still overpriced, but a little more affordable than at other hotel drinking spots. Wine comes from the likes of Hardys and D'Vine. The D'vine house white (£16.95) from Sicily is fruity and fresh, but nothing particularly special. Bloomsbury Kitchen bubbly is in the form of Mumm Cordon Rouge Brut (£45) as well as a cheaper bottle of prosecco for £26. Beers on draught are limited to just Becks (£4.50) and Stella (£4.65), which is another disappointment since the same lagers are served by the bottle, with the only other addition being London Pride (£4.25). Usual soft drink options are available for £3.25 a glass, and teas and coffees start from around the £3 mark.

The Last Word
Meeting the demands of 24 hour room service as well as a restaurant of paying guests means that the freezer food is understandable, but not necessarily forgiveable at London hotel prices. Unless you're staying at the Bloomsbury Park and unsure of your surroundings, you'd be better off steering clear of Bloomsbury Kitchen.

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