The food was good, not great...but we finished our plates ;-) The service by our main waiter was good, but was overwhelmed by training a new assistant/ busboy...who was in waaaay over his head. That made the wait for our dishes to be cleared as long it takes to walk Covent Garden and back... we feel sorry for anyone's first day on the job, but between hearing the manager berate the waiter, the waiter berate the busboy, and the busboy sinking hopelessly, we were all to exhausted to enjoy the meal. To bad, different circumstances, I'm sure it would've been much better for this quaint and well appointed French restaurant. Only a 1 Star minus. Give it a try! read more

I had the fortunate experience to enjoy this spot with cousins friends and sisters. Two separate reservations but the kind hostess was able to put us side by side to accommodate the group of 8. For starters we ordered Burrata (fresh and amazing) Beetroot Apple and goat curd salad, not a fan of goat cheese (Fiona and Deb loved ) Pumpkin Agnolotti and scallops were devoured by the second hungry table.... MARY DALE MAUD AND Christine AKA CHISSY ..Our waiter Steve was so kind professional and very accommodating ! We had the pleasure of meeting the manager, Dominik Powroznik, a gracious host!! read more

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This is my current favorite place for afternoon tea in London. Just don't plan to eat dinner on the same day. Our tea service included 10 tea sandwiches, 4 gorgeous and huge scones with Devonshire cream (of course) and some of the loveliest jam ever, and 5 beautifully crafted and extremely tasty pastries. Oh, there was tea, too. If you're anywhere near Covent Garden, don't miss it. read more

Yum! Had read negative professional reviews in the papers and was hesitant to try it, but so glad I took the plunge. Pros: Lovely ambiance (similar to Delaunay), excellent front of house staff, excellent waitstaff. Asked to have table changed during a busy lunch hour as wanted more privacy for a lunch meeting and was accommodated immediately and gracefully. Plats du jour are an excellent deal. Food is consistent, menu is varied, pricing very reasonable for quality of food. Balthazar house salad had just the perfect touch of truffle oil and seasonal ingredients. Mains are superb. Even the bread basket offers a step up from the standard dry baguette that one finds elsewhere. And the takeaway bakery next door is charming. Cons: Forced to come up with something, simply that there can be a bit of wait it seems others have discovered this gem as well! read more

Setting: This restaurant is big and airy and it really feels like you could be in a mid-20th century French brasserie. The atmosphere is very relaxed and is great for brunch. Even the bathrooms are big and bright. Being in Covent Gardens this is a great location to meet someone from the other side of the city for brunch. Service: The service was excellent. The staff were attentive, friendly and helpful without ever being overbearing. I really enjoyed this aspect of the experience. Food: I had my first ever Escargot here and despite my hesitancy over eating snails they were delicious. As brunch goes I wold recommend the Moules Frites. The mussel portions are very generous (I was full before I got to the fries). However the fries are more crunch than substance and a thicker cut (if going off the french fry vibe a little) would make them even better. I definitely want to try the rest of the menu and would come back. read more

Balthazar is a french brasserie set in the heart of Covent Garden. Lovely atmosphere and decor - great to take a date or your visiting guests from abroad. The food is of a high standard - the duck confit was as good as we have sampled in France. The afternoon tea was good value at £25 compared to the high end hotels such as the Ritz or Claridges; scones were delightful and the patisseries beautifully presented. The sandwiches were rather average and dry though. During the day, the venue is casual enough for children however the acoustics of the room means it gets very noisy. There were large groups of ladies-who-lunch, sipping their tea and we felt slightly out of place in the grand settings. Highchairs available, tables a little tightly packed to house buggies. Staff were extremely helpful and friendly - top marks there. https://londonfoodiemama.wordpress.com/ read more

Love the vibes of this spot right off of Covent Garden! It's a must hit while in London. They have a yummy breakfast selection and great coffee. Both the English Breakfast and Eggs Royal are delicious. Don't forget to try a pastry! read more

Pretty Disappointed with this place. The service was decent and the staff was nice so I have no complaints there. The steak tartare was pretty good. Sad to say it was all downhill from there... I had the baked cod and my girlfriend had the lobster spaghetti. While the pasta was properly cooked the seafood in both entrees was brutally overcooked.... Not just a little over done, I mean absolutely terrible. At over 80 pounds for a lunch I would expect much better. read more

Sadly this was a let down and isn't a patch on the NYC one. I suspect the location in London is one of the issues as it ends up being full of tourists and almost feels like an Angus Steak House! Our waiter knew diddly about the menu and when i asked for a standard drink - fresh lime and soda, he got a proper sweat on and then told me they didn't stock that cocktail?! The actual brunch was so so but nothing special. read more

Although the food is terrific and delicious, the service is spectacular. Waiters and bus boys are Superb. It is a treat to meet delightful people from a variety of countries. All were fluent in English but we enjoy using our limited language Skills in French and Spanish. Tonight will be our third meal this week! My wife Caro' will return next week for an encore! read more

As good as the ones in NYC. Great environment, yummy dishes and good service. What else can you expect from a restaurant? A strong recommend to whoever is looking for a good combo of everything. read more

found some plastic in my food and my appetizer came out with everyone else's food and meal came after they were finished. needless to say service wasn't great, but food was okay! read more

Still good after a few years, but maybe showing its age a bit. We managed to walk in without a reservation, at around 8 pm on a Monday. We've eaten here before, as well as dining at the original NYC location, and have always had a nice time and decent food. The scallops were a fine starter, and the onion soup was classic. Both Lamb and steak frites were tasty if perhaps unmemorable. Service is fine but can get a bit thin if the place fills up. We prefer to sit at the banquette tables overlooking all the action ( there wasn't much this visit ), though the padded seat is getting a bit lumpy. Many diners prefer the closer together tables in the middle of the classic bistro space. We have spotted the occasional celebrity here but most diners are having pre and post theatre dinners. Great Covent Garden location. read more

Great breakfast. Loved the omelette and my friends loved everything else on the menu. Great Food and service. Definitely reccomend.

Really really friendly staff! Had a burger which was delicious the bun was fantastic probably as they have a bakery as well and the chips with it skinny and perfectly fried without oil or smell taste, the draft beer choice is limited but there are some bottles as well , the dessert choice is pretty good , the one I got was nothing to write home about but not bad. read more

I joined Yelp merely to register my huge disappointment at Balthazar. It's the first time i've had a meal in London and felt so miffed afterwards that i wanted to do something about it - and for the record i eat out a lot and i'm in my 30s, so have eaten at a whole range of establishments. I'll start with the food, which was very poor. The starters were average, and although the dressed crab was decent, at £15 it represented poor value, while the garlic prawns were like rubber and over seasoned. The main courses with red meat were all cooked to within an inch of their life (one steak and two racks of lamb) and were all almost completely stone cold when they arrived. My mother sent her main course back, which is the first time i've ever seen her do that - it was inedible. My steak came with the wrong sauce on it and was stone cold. Not one of us finished our meal. When you ally this to the fact we were made to wait 20 minutes for our table (which we had reserved weeks in advance) and then had a wonky table they repeatedly had to fix, it all added up to a pretty dreadful experience. And if you add on that the fact of how expensive this place is, then you have a tourist trap with a famous name people would be well served to avoid. Credit where it is due, the staff were very apologetic and were attentive and the space is beautiful and in keeping with its much slicker NYC partner. This is Cafe Rouge with knobs on and you pay for the privilege. Given its location, you're so much better off going to one of the many other steak houses nearby. If you must go here, have a drink at the bar and enjoy the superiority of knowing you're not missing a single thing... Tom read more

After searching for a place to have brunch in both Angel and Convent Garden with no luck whatsoever, my friends and I decided to try balthazar as it was 1:20pm and hungry. Although we waited for 15 mins (to be fair we were told it would be a 20 mins wait) we got seated and ordered. I opted for the eggs royale but was told by the chef via a waiter that it contained alcohol which i'm allergic to. I was told the chef would try to create a sauce but it didn't go well - again, i was told. I honestly tried the dish and it tasted dry as it needed hollandaise sauce to give it that special oomph. My friends could see my distress and garnered the attention of a staff and I was given the menu to make a whole new order. I opted for the "avocado and eggs" dish as recommended by the chef. The tomato salsa was to die for and hopefully I'll get to recreate the dish as everything worked undeniably well. PS: To the staff at balthazar, sorry if I came off rude but I was extremely famished. read more

We were very excited to try this restaurant, it looked beautiful inside and it was very close to our hotel in the theatre district. It was busy night so we opted to sit at the bar rather than wait. The staff was super accommodating, polite and good at anticipating our needs. The food, however, was pretty lame and boring. We tried the garlic prawns because so many recommended them in reviews--they were small and rubbery with too much garlic. The sauce was watery and definitely needed something. I ordered filet of salmon which tasted fishy and bland on top of mushy bland veggies. The fish was in desperate need of seasoning. My hubby was happy with his veal--the breading, sauce and egg on top definitely saved that dish. I won't be back--too expensive with poor food quality. read more

Went for Saturday brunch. Coffee was great, but my meal was blasé. No one else at my table seemed to be all that jazzed about their meals, either. I ordered the New York pancakes and, to be clear, these pancakes are not 'New York' pancakes, nor is there any such thing, for that matter. They are, perhaps, an attempt at American-style pancakes, but that's about it. In any event, this New Yorker who arrived with an appetite for some heavenly pancakes wasn't impressed with the effort. Folks who enjoy more of a Dutch-style pancake (mmmm, lekker!), for example, would also be greatly disappointed in this effort. They just weren't good pancakes in any regard. Fairly decent pancakes are just so easy that to get them all wrong speaks volumes of a restaurant's kitchen. I also ordered a side of scrambled eggs, and the eggs arrived barely above room temperature and, as with the pancakes, were fairly bland and disappointing. Again, eggs are not astrophysics in the world of culinary arts, so c'mon Balthazar. Get it together. As a side note, I'm really tired of these otherwise fabulous U.S. restaurants and businesses (Balthazar, Shake Shack, Whole Foods) opening up spots in London, getting a ton of business from their reputation in the U.S., but then half-@ssing it over here in the UK and getting away with serving sub-par dishes that would make most of the kids back in the States grimace, and certainly the New York crowd. In sum, Balthazar London is just no match for the New York location, and not even close. In fact, I don't think that Balthazar would have ever made a name for itself if the dishes flying out of its New York kitchen were as boring as those at its London location. Such a shame. read more

Had dinner here on our first night in London. We split pate w/crostini and french onion soup to start. Both were delicious! For main courses, we ordered the beef stroganoff (not traditional with noodles, but served with white rice) as well as the gnocchi with artichokes. We also split a bottle of granache wine. Was't crazy about the beef stroganoff but all other dishes and wine were great! Service was also very attentive and friendly. read more

Came here last night. This is a lovely traditional looking French restaurant with American features. I was bewitched by the interior and by the very good service. They put a rush on for us when we let them know we had a show to get to, but it didn't affect the quality. I had the garlic prawns to start with the most delicious olive bread. The sauce was rich with the aroma of prawn and fish; very moreish! I then moved on to the steak frites but I found the sirloin a bit tough. I had someone else's fillet and that was perfectly seasoned and tender. Don't go for the house sparkling white unless you prefer it less brut. The champagne was much better. We also had a Pinot noir which was excellent. I had a brilliant evening in this vibrant and buzzy restaurant. Truly I can't wait to go back! read more

Amazing....Beef stroganoff. It's been a long time since I can remember a meal that got better bite after bite. It was so good I didn't want it to end. The place appears to have a perpetually long wait (unless you have reservations of course) but I got right in by sitting at the bar. Wait staff was incredibly responsive (unlike many English restaurants where you have to flag them down). Very highly recommend. read more

I really liked the atmosphere and interior design in this restaurant. My friends and I went for brunch, so I ordered pancakes and some poached eggs as a side. Both were delicious. The service was good, not great, but we had a nice time regardless. I look forward to returning for lunch or dinner sometime. read more

Good service, nice milieu, and above all great food. I had chicken parfait for starters and ox cheek for main course. Both were nearly perfect. read more

The London balthazar is even better than the new York balthazar!! I had a soup, sandwich and chocolate tart a SD they are delicious! I had a quiche (was not a big fan) and another chocolate rocher and that was awesome! They have mint water which is refreshing! read more

Popped into the small takeaway section next door to the main restaurant, greeted promptly by the very friendly staff, purchased a selection of fresh bread (you can ask for half a loaf if you require) this time I got a spelt, white and an olive ciabatta. The olive ciabatta is one if the tastiest I've ever had, loads of flavour and full of olives! Good selection of fresh sandwiches and small cakes to tempt you. Located very close to the piazza. read more

A Near exact replica of the famous SoHo location in NYC, i have to love this spot as it reminds me of home. With classics like moules frites, steak tar tar, the seafood platter and excellent bloody marys, this is the perfect brunch spot for any event. read more

The bar is very impressive. This is the sort of place the word über was invented for. The wine list is great, the bar menu is great, it isn't cheap and doesn't feel it. I was only here for drinks and snacks. If you're in Covent Garden and haven't decided on where to go this wouldn't be a bad place to start. read more

The American influx of Central London eateries continues! My mate had to book weeks in advance to scoop a Friday night reservation and the place was buzzing. Uber prime location with cool interior that lets you pretend you're in NYC (or at least that Sex and the City ep it appears in!). Very much a place to see and be seen with a price tag to match; the food is just 'ok'. Service is top notch though and left me with a smile on my face, even after a disappointingly squishy chocolate soufflé. read more

I'm a big fan of Balthazar in New York, so was over to the moon to hear one had opened in Covent Garden. While the look and feel of the restaurant is similar to the original in NYC, it's lacking a little something that I can't quite put my finger on. While the food is nice, it can be a little bland - the burger for example, at £17 you'd hope for something with a little more pizzazz. But it's a cute little stop off if you fancy grabbing a coffee and one of their lovely pastries. You can sit in a little area by the bar, do some people watching, not break the bank. The real winner here is the bread & desserts (not at the same time) - which I know may sound odd, but it's certainly one to try. The Pavlova is lovely. read more

Food mediocre. In our case Wiener Schnitzel just horrible. Wine by the carafe reasonable. Service only OK.

Nice ambiance, great service, but definitely overpriced. Ordered the spaghetti with lobster--expected the meal to be a lot tastier. Overall, a good experience; I'd go back to try something new. read more

A "New York" brunch never quite had the perfect venue in London. There were a number of places that came close: Breakfast Club, Automat, Tom's Kitchen all came close in my books... but none ever truly captured the essence and food (read: pancakes) of those Saturday and Sunday mornings that I used to spend in Manhattan. Balthazar, which looks and feels identical to her sibling across the Atlantic, fits this niche perfectly. The food is well executed (the Huevos Rancheros were delicious during my visit this weekend), the staff attentive, the room well decorated, the sound level loud without being deafening. Balthazar is a place I could see myself returning to for dinner, for a drink... and certainly for another weekend brunch with friends. read more

Impressive dining room, nice for a special treat. I've been for breakfast twice now and had the avocado on toast with poached egg. Lovely. They have a private dining room now for larger groups. read more

Have dined here several times but most recently quite disappointing. Service in London no matter where you go is pretty dreadful as of late. This was no exception. In the past had good table and attentive staff and good food. The last two visits in Nov 16 were awful - bad tables (by bar even though had reservation) and the food was just ghastly. How can you ruin a Salade Niçoise? I think they do a great breakfast and for the price is quite reasonable for London. read more

Ambiance: perfect, busy, cute French bistro restaurant! Service: friendly, helpful, and a little slow. ( which you should expect from the French, they like to take their time) Food: perfect menu. Lobster, cooked perfectly, oysters, nice selection shucked just right, French onion was ok, nothing to ride hoe about. Reason for a 4: Balthazar in NY is better. They have a better selection of seafood. In NY, you can order jumbo prawns that are a true jumbo. Also the baked bread in NY is fresher. I still enjoyed the London restaurant and would highly recommend it. read more

Sat at the bar which I was happy to get as a walk-in on a busy Sunday. But I don't recommend it. The bar is particularly uncomfortable mostly because the counter does not extend out enough to get your knees under it properly. Also no hooks for bags and purses so where are you supposed to put those things? Wayyy down on the floor is where. You will also be jostled by people waiting behind you as you eat. I had the fines herb omelet which was fine and came with a side salad that was unmemorable and an equally unexceptional pain au chocolat. All in all a big "meh." I might return and sit at a table and have something at which excel. Maybe. read more

I had to wait for my friend so I spent about 45 minutes in the bar area. I love the bar! Great selection of wines and friendly bartenders. Food was excellent. I had the beetroot dish for a starter, the salmon with spinach and lentils for my main, and chocolate for dessert. Service was excellent. I actually felt like I was in New York in this restaurant, they've definitely captured the NYC buzz. read more

Well priced for what you get. Superbly cooked sharing steaks and sparkling service from our supremely rude (in a naughty way!) French waiter who's grasp of innuendo was second to none. Desserts were also pretty good and was overjoyed that they resisted the urge to put a f***ing raspberry or dome such in the bottom of their creme brûlée (a pet hate of mine and all too common these days) read more

I come here for brunch at the weekends or for lunch when I'm not feeling well. Sometimes when I dine alone I receive a complementary glass of sparkling wine, which definitely helps me to feel better. The brunch pancakes are superbly well balanced with fruit, syrup, and creme freche. And for lunch my favourite is to have the skate wing, which is cooked just like my Mum used to. Whatever I have I find the flavour combinations to be perfectly balanced. Unfortunately the price is a little higher than I would like so I don't come as often as I want. read more