Reviews of The Last Talisman

Had dinner with a friend on Saturday night and Village East was the only option to get a table without a booking. Service was just OK but pretty bad compared to the other places on Bermondsey Street where you can place your monies.
The food, as usual, was pretty bad and places like Hassam Brothers or Jad's Grill would have been the better option. The burger was awful und tasted of unseasoned sawdust where the vegi option was not so bad of the tase but it came cold,soggy and pretty sure it was waiting the 15 minutes on the heater when they had to search for the burger which got lost.
As every 6 month we saying lesson learned and we don't go anymore... Let's wait 6-9 moth and see if they ever make any improvement.

My wife, me and my daughter went today for brunch. Food was very good and so was the service. Tables a little close to each other but other than that very good. Will go again.

The decor might have changed a bit but the food and service is still as terrible as ever - some things never change at Village East !

Main courses sent back as they were cold, and a total of 6 different staff serving us.....oh my goodness, this place really is the worst in SE1

Used glasses sat on the bar for 30+ minutes while the staff stood around chatting....and £9.20 for a Gin & Tonic is just outrageous !

In 3 words: DO NOT GO.....it will be closed down again soon anyway, judging by their current performance !

We have moved to the area some time ago and Village East became our favourite place since then.
Last time we came on a Sunday was by far a terrible experience. We were late and decided not to have any food as our friends had finished their meal by the time we arrived. We still joined them at the restaurant for a drink. We tried to order our drinks from a grumpy looking waitress three times but she could not be bothered. Took us 20 minutes to get our first drinks. When we asked for a bill, we were charged the wrong price for our mojitos. Both the waitress and the restaurant manager argued with me and informed me that they do NOT know the exact price of the above cocktail (why would they, I mean, it's not their job to provide me with the info I need or provide me with high quality customer services). After almost 5 minutes of full on argument (apparently they do not print the prices of their classic cocktails on the drink lists, which is not quite true) the barman did confirm that the price was wrong so the manager took a drink off. It would not have happened if he listened to the regular customers from the beginning.
This put us off the otherwise lovely place. No doubt we will return.

We wanted to go to have last drinks before going home last night. Even we turned up at around midnight and the place is open till 1.30h we were turned down by the bouncer at the door. No one in our group of ten was drunk or badly dressed, but apparently the management did not want that he let anyone in anymore. Even asking if we can have a word with the manager he did not make an effort at all. Is this the way how someone behave toward lokal people who usualy come back if a place is nice?
After having had dinner once there and the food was just ok, but not excellent and with this incident of yesterday, we will not going back anymore.

Went for a post dinner drink last night. Place was packed with an interesting mix of people. Couldn't fault the bar staff - very slick service, very polished. Maybe I don't get out much, but £11.50 for a G&T and a JD & Coke....? Wouldn't have minded this but then my wife then went to the toilet and told me the floor was swimming with water and there was no loo roll. It's details that make a good esetablishment great - she was not ammused. It is a nice bar though, we're just being picky.

We thought we would try Village East for Brunch last Sunday - despite the place being half empty, the staff on the desk struggled to find us a table, and then promptly said that they would need to the table back in 60 mins

It is exactly this type of attitude that will hopeful close this restaurant/bar down - just exactly who do they think they are ?

We walked 2 mins further down the road and had a lovely meal at Bermondsey Kitchen instead

We recently tried eating here, having often enjoyed a decent cocktail.
We ate on the Taste London offer (half price food) and it was so so. Frankly being half price made it ok, but I would have been annoyed to pay full whack!

Had dinner at Village East last night and overall I was impressed. The place was full, probably due to it being a runner up in the Observer Food Monthly 'best restuarant' awards last week. The restaurant atmosphere was great, really vibrant. Service was polite but not stuffy or pushy. Food was delivered quickly and the quality was excellent. For 3 courses each, nice bottle of Burgundy, tap water (it's OK to ask now) and one Port, it came to £100, which included 12% service. I thought that was worth it.

After feeling that we were running out of options of where to eat in the Bermondsey st area (we eat out alot) we decided to give VE another go.
The best thing I can say is that our waiter was very professional and friendly and the interior was pleasant as was the wine. The food was aspirational and didn't deliver on it's promises, in that alot of significant ingredients were substituted or left out without us being told.

We were very regular patrons at VE, slowly watching it getting busier and it's standards slipping. As seems the way of many local establishemnts which first cater to the locals, who recommend it on and so it becomes popular. It was brilliant when it opened and now it's just not worth the visit. Food was average and expensive and the service was truely lacking, in fact I would say rude and attitudinal. Walk up those few extra minutes to The Hide, which is getting very busy these days, but still friendly with great cocktails.

Lunch in Village East seems good value compared to the pricey evening menu: £12 for 2 courses.
We arrived at 13.00 and the girl at the door asked us to wait 10 minutes because the restaurant was very busy. We waited in the bar of the otherwise surprsingly empty restauarant. It was unclear why they asked us to wait, but we were told in a somewhat snappy way that the kitchen was busy.

Once at the table one of us wanted water, the other did not. We were nevertheless obliged to buy a big bottle of water as they don't mineral water by the glass.

Food was remarkably good: a lovely creamy lentil soup, excellent navarin of lamb and a state of the art macaroni with mushrooms.

Service was aloof, indifferent and once again we had to use sign language in order to make ourselves understood with bad english speaking staff: a London phenomenon. The girl at the door was particularly unwelcoming, which, I believe, is not exactly the purpose of this role.

Good food, good value, nice venue, bad service.