We were leaving the Bloomsbury area of London, about to get an Uber to dinner when we stumbled upon this great little spot. It was my Husband's birthday and we wanted something cute, as far as appearances go, this was that. Or so we thought. Upon entering the staff was welcoming and the restaurant was nice and warm, since it was cold out. We were seated immediately since the restaurant was relatively empty. So I was surprised when our server asked if we had reservations?.. No, of course we did not. Our Server was bubbly, outgoing and very nice but not very good. She forgot the utensils, and our drink order but there was a second server that was on top of what she didn't do or bring and he told her what we wanted to drink. Before we ordered our meals, I explained to our server it was my Husband's bday so they could prepare something for dessert for him. We ordered a Guinness and a coke zero - served in the tiny bottle with no cup for ice. I did request a glass with ice and one with 2 ice cubes was brought out to me. We started our meal with a dozen oysters that were brought out to our table so quickly, we didn't have a chance to photograph them - they were delicous. I initially ordered the Ribeye but was told it wasn't available, so I ordered the chargrilled sirloin steak. The steak comes served with fries, salad & peppercorn sauce. I truly wish the restaurant would've had the Ribeye because the sirloin steak I ordered cooked medium, came out well done, full of fat and extremely chewy. I'm not really one to send food back, so I let them know but ate it anyway. We also ordered the Chargrilled ribeye Lobster - which is a Ribeye & half Lobster served on hot stone served with salad. The steak here was also replaced by a thin sirloin steak. When it came time for dessert, they brought out the crème brûlée we chose from the menu and we were pretty surprised how terrible that small desert was. It was sweet and had the consistency of a flan, not a crème brûlée. There was no layer of caramelized sugar on the crème brûlée and it just tasted completely wrong. Ultimately, The Shell is a seafood restaurant not a seafood and steak restaurant. They have no clue how to slice or cook steak. The place is cute and the servers are doing their best but the restaurant leaves much to be desired. read more