Nice cafe, nice surroundings and nice music.

However, a warning to cinema goers. If you want to eat before the film, be aware that service is PAINFULLY slow. Twice, I have ordered a crepe at least an hour before the film. First time, they were just on a go-slow and after 45 minutes I had to to the counter where staff said, "oh, your order is next".

Second time, they put my order on the 'done' pile, so they must have served mine to someone else. I only found out after a 50 minute wait when going to counter.
On both occasions, I had to gobble a hastily prepared crepe in 5 minutes before the film started.

This is one of the nicer places in Brixton to hang out. It is such a shame that it is acquiring a name for slow service ( a lot of my friends have said the same thing). I hope they will get their act together again. In the meantime, my advice is to go to Fujiyama around the corner.

Something bad has happened to the Ritzy......

I have lived in Brixton for the last two years, and always had the Ritzy cafe up my sleeve to take friends to to prove that Brixton had some classy venues.

I loved the set up of the cafe in the cinema, the views, and the chilled relaxed atmosphere. The film-based pizza menu was also a fun touch, and they did lovely desserts (banoffe pie etc.)

I was therefore very sad to when I went there on a date (my choice of venue!) a couple of weeks ago (9th Nov) to find that the menu had been drastically scaled down to a few bland pizzas, bog-standard sandwiches and the rather odd concept of the "kiddie lunch". And not a bit of whipped cream in sight.

Sadly, things only got worse. We waited over half an hour for our two pizzas, only to discover on asking at the kitchen, that they had been served to (and eaten by!!) the wrong table. The waitress apologised and assured us that our pizzas would be there in 5 minutes. One did arrive soon after, but the other didn't. After asking the waitress again, the second pizza finally arrived after another 20 minutes (by which time the first was cold). Having paid upfront at the time of ordering, we asked for a beer on the house to compensate for the mistake.However, we were told by the waitress that she wasn't allowed to do this, and that all we could do was to ask for a full refund at the bar.

What a shame! is all I can say. Perhaps there has been a change in management or in kitchen staff, but this has really let the Ritzy down and it will be a while before I go there again.