WOW!!

Buddha bar is just magic,

Door staff are professional and welcoming,
Bar stuff are prompt and provide great service.


Had a lovely night!

My apologies the review below should have had 1 star not 3!!!

My friend and I visited Buddha Bar Restaurant last night however the evening was a disaster from start to finish! On arrival we were told our table was not ready so, we were shown to the bar area where we were told it would be a few minutes. We were left standing in the bar area for 10 minutes until we had a bar table to order drinks. We were left for 15 minutes until a waitress came to take our drinks order. There was no apology for keeping us waiting.

Finally after a 30 minute wait we were shown to our table. The food was ok nothing special and over priced for what it was. The food took a long time and the cocktails were disgraceful! After all that we were looking forward to dessert and surprise, surprise again disappointing.

At the end of the evening the bill came and we asked the waitress to split £120.38. Both cards were charged with £60.20! I know it was only 2p however, it was a matter of principle as Buddha Bar Restaurant added a service charge which they did not even deserve. The staff were not professional at all and seem to need lessons in customer service. The only thing good about the evening was the magnificent statue of the Buddha… I would advise going to the bar I guess but definitely skip dinner.

I recently visited the Buddha Bar and was quite excited at the prospect as it had been given such a tremendous build up by my companions, who had also visited the Buddha Bar in Dubai. Unfortunately, following the euphoria of entering the magnificent dining room and being somewhat overwhelmed by the Buddha, it all went rapidly down hill. To begin with, whilst the lighting maybe considered mood enhancing, it was almost impossible to read the menu and perhaps should have been printed in braille. Our party of three each ordered cocktails to start - mine being a Mai Tai, a fairly run of the mill cocktail for any barman worth his salt. I have no idea what I was served, but it certainly wasn't a Mai Tai. I asked the waiter to take it back and get me the Mai Tai that I had ordered - at almost £10 a drink, I thought I was well within my rights. Initially, the waiter tried to convince me that it was a Mai Tai and was reluctant to take it back. However, I held my ground and he eventually capitulated and took it back, only to return with profound apologies for their obvious mistake. Sadly, I wasn't able to enjoy my cocktail before dinner as our "starters" arrived within a minute of this, and as I prefer to drink wine with my meal rather than a Mai Tai it had to be put on one side until after dinner. The policy of serving food as and when it is ready and in no particular order seriously needs to be looked at if this establishment does not want to upset every diner that enters. My main course was served, but sadly not the accompanying fried rice until fifteen minutes later, by which time it was cold. Another of my party did not receive his curry box until twenty minutes after the starter. This resulted in everyone eating out of sync, which somewhat spoils the whole dining experience. Having said that, the food was extremely tasteful and well presented, as it should have been for the price! A very disappointing experience and one which I do not want to repeat.

I visited the venue earlier this week and whilst the decor is indeed delightful and oppulent the over tanned door host is quite possible one of the most rude, smug and condescending individuals I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. My friends and I are 30-ish happy smiley, sane and solvent London proffessionals. Whilst I don't proclaim to be an oil painting, we're all relatively easy on the eye and dress well. However, said door host looked me up and down at least 3 times, whilst sighing, before decreeing me worth of entering (can I also point out this was at 6.30pm on a weekday evening when the bar area was quiet with the exception of a few Suited types). you'll know when you meet him - he has the appearance of a tangerine dipped Craig Revel Horwood chewing a wasp (apoloiges Craig).

I shan't be returning at any time soon, pity as once inside the other staff were charming and the venue itself reather beautiful.

An expensive Pan-Asian evening at Fawlty Towers..er sorry, the Buddha bar.

The deco is magnificent I must say and the food is delicious and refined, although somewhat expensive especially if you have travelled to the areas represented by its cuisine. The wine though is good value for money and if you avoid the fine wines, you can have your meal accompanied by a very nice bottle of Chablis for a mere £38. However, and that's where it gets complicated, the service is in my view somewhat amusing. Me and my friend were finishing our meals and had just finished our bottle of Chablis when a waitress came over to our table and picked up a bottle sitting in a corner and was about to serve us the wine when I realised it wasn't ours....obviously as I was pretty sure we'd finished the wine I'd ordered. I told her about it but nobody seemed concerned about this rather unorthodox mistake, good thing for my neighbours I wasn't that drunk.

A little later, I noticed two girls finishing their coffees a couple of tables away from ours, looking as bored as two teenagers watching a knitting competition, so I asked the waitress to send for 2 glasses of champagne..to my amazement, another waiter came back to my table and served us the glasses, I tried discreetly to send him to the girls' table but he was having none of it, then he went back to the bar area and had an argument with both our dedicated waitress and their manager right in front of the girls...well actually, at their table. I'm sure they appreciated the gesture as they drank the champagne but I don't think they liked the whole fuss of it. No apologies were received from the staff. £300 later (incl. £33 service charge), we went upstairs to the Mezzanine and never in my life have I been treated like this. The bar staff told me 'not to stay at this area of the bar' in such a way I actually sent a complaint to the Buddha bar, twice, a couple of days later. Never ever got a reply.

Must be Parisian savoir-faire!

My boyfriend took me to the Buddha bar last saturday for my birthday. He had booked it a month in advance as he had been to the one in Paris and loved it. The decor and atmosphere is just gorgeous - so impressive as you walk up the steps and then down again into the restaurant.
The hostess was very polite and we were shown to our table.
Our waiter was also very pleasant and informed us straight away that the food will come out in no particulare order, once the dishes are cooked, then they are brought to our table. Which at the time I thought was fine.
We shared the spring rolls to start - okay, nothing special. Tasted quite bland so the sweet and sour sauce was definately needed !
My main dish came out first (wok fried beef with thai basil) and the steamed vegetables. Liked the bamboo basket box that they came in but was really dissapointed to find a few boc choi leaves, a couple of sliced corgeuttes, 2 mushrooms and a few asparagus inside.The beef was perfectly cooked but had a funny anniseed taste to it which I wasnt too keen on(personal taste I think) We both started picking because it was about 7-10 minutes later that the rice came. It was another 10 minutes later when we pratically finished everything on our table that the last dish of spiced chicken came out! Again we were not too impressed with this dish - for the price you pay, you expect something of a high standard and it just wasn't.
I dont think the idea of bringing the food out once it suits the chef is such a good idea. It needs to suit the diner surely?? I like to enjoy the main dish with rice and vegetables rather than eating each dish on its own.

All in all, we were not impressed with the quality of the food. Wine was lovely and felt the house merlot at £5 a glass was very reasonable. Staff very polite and welcoming. Atmosphere- just incredible!
Would I come again? Yes, to the bar but No to the restaurant.

Buddhar bar London is definetely what you would expect but more as soon as you walk up the stairs and get gob-smacked with the huge floor to ceiling buddha at the restaurant level with the bar and resident DJ on the first floor. Great lighting with very nice furniture - not to mention the overall decor.Service was good at the door - chapeau Maurice. All the girls all nicely dressed in the buddha bar black dress area always smiling and always making sure that you are fine and comfortable.Drinks - the barman when asked to improvise was happy to make a "berry cocktail" fruit juice - basically fruit cocktail made out of all the fruit berries. Tasted amazing and only cost 4.95 pds! I was expecting more for a place like this - but was more than happy when the bill came.Music - very good although the Bose speakers were lacking some bass - would be great if they installed a subwoofer setup as well as create some more ambience L/R effect as that is not well perceived when sat down due to the way they are placed on the wall and thus are very directional and don't really create the ambience WELL required for the buddha bar. Having said that - the DJ is very good with excellent music selections - great mixes from dinner all the way to Clubing at around 12am. Buddha bar should really consider making more place to dance infront of the DJ box as alot of people wanted to dance and were all dancing everywhere from where they were sat rather than having everyone together and creating more fun.Having said all of this - for a the first opening night - it was far better than average. Such a shame - we cannot having shisha inside there - as that would be HEAVEN !Well done Buddha bar. This is a very long awaited place to have in London. I really hope this place follows the ambient path and continues to overcome our expectation...maybe live performances of the buddha bar represented artists?We shall see and surely enjoy...Kabir G