Reviews of Joe's Kitchen

Just had a wonderful, leisurely brunch with 6 family members at Joe's Kitchen in Borough, SE1. Service extremely friendly and speedy, but never felt being rushed. Attentive staff, lovely warm (or as the Dutch say:[b]gezellige) atmosphere, great choice of tasty food/drink. Gold stars all round. Highly recommended!
Rosie van Beusekom and Family. SE1

We tried Joe's Kitchen again yesterday, after not going there for a fair while

Whilst the food was enjoyable, the staff are STILL the rudest in the area. Customer service is clearly NOT something they know anything about. A glass of water was asked for which never arrived, to which we were told "but my colleague was on the phone!"

On paying the bill of £14, our change from the £20 note we gave in was never returned and so had to be asked for. This was slammed down on the table !

We were made to feel as if we were interrupting them by being customers.

The attitude of one female member of staff in particular was appalling - everything was just too much trouble for her.

Unless they can manage to change the attitude of their staff, DON'T GO !!!

Nice food, shame about their crappy opening hours and rude staff! Though the menu is very appealing the food doesn't live up to the prices and though I have been a few times to give them a chance I'm afraid they have never delivered a satisfactory experience.

I have recently at gatwick and there was one there too, is this some sort of chain?? shop local!

Had a Sunday breakfast here today - the food is consistently good, but my goodness, the miserable attitude of our waitress was a big let down. And then when I declined to add to a gratuity to the bill, she didn't even speak to us! An attitude like hers lets down what is otherwise a good local restaurant

Had breakfast here recently. It was fine, waitress was friendly and service good. I had pancakes with fresh fruit, (not like what you get in the USA! I had a few bits of banana and strawberry with maple flavoured syrup, not the real thing...still nice enough pancakes.

Having posted a less than good review of Joe's Kitchen a while back it is good to be able to report a some much needed improvements on a recent visit for brunch. The classic breakfast was everything it should be. tasty sausages, 2 eggs whatever style, good flavoursome bacon, generously proportioned mushrooms and (unlike last time) properly grilled tomatoes that didnt taste as is they had been cooked from frozen. Coffee came (as requested) less than scalding. The service was prompt and friendly. Customers at a neighbouring table were getting stuck into some seriously tempting pancakes with bacon. thats mine next time! Much improved.

Have tried to give this place the benefit of the doubt (3 times now) I finally feel I have to write something about this place - terrible! There is no-one in charge of the place, the service is appaling, tables are left dirty next to you, the chefs scream from the hatch, and the food is pretty dismal - all in all I wouldn't recommend anyone pays good money to this place!

The manager at this place is like some sort of character out of the Simpsons "Manager of a kid-friendly diner who hates kids and is about to burst a blood vessel with stress".

It's worth going in just to watch him loose it, with constant huffs, puff and shruggs of the shoulder.

I really want to take him to one side and suggest he thinks about a different career!

Poor guy, he looks really ill with stress.

I concur with previous reviews regarding the manager, a nervous grumpy person with no time or manners for customers.

Some of the staff are excellent, or at least friendly and trying which is rare to see in London.

The food can be good, though the prices are a bit steep for average diners.

Takeaway food is the let-down and the reason I'll never go back. Slow, expensive and very poor quality.

A £8 Caesar salad eating in is dear, but a good size and a satisfying meal. For takeaway it's the same price for something a quarter the size!

When I complained and pointed out the rotten greens and lack of Bacon (having paid the extra) I was asked 'what do you want us to do about it?'

If they think it's acceptable to present that to a customer for £8, they've already lost me I'm afraid. I wont be going back.

As far as coffee, it's terrible. Make the journey to Monmouth in the Borough market where they use trained baristas.

Over the last 8 months I've been to Joes kitchen the same number of times. I don't know why I keep going back as it's progressively got worse when I'm hoping it will get better. What started out as a promising child-friendly restaurant isn't so. The manager there is totally unfriendly and can hardly contain his disdain everytime I or friends with children (yes we've discussed it) walk in with our small children. The disabled lift isn't working most of the time and you are left standing at the bottom of the stairs with your buggy and toddler while he looks straight on pretending you aren't there. The food is very average and the children's options come with chips or beans..still no peas (even frozen will do) on the menu even though we've asked many times. How expensive can it be? and you aren't telling me the fishfingers are fresh!!!
There are a couple of good waiter/resses which make up for the moody demeaner of the manager but really..if you don't want children take out the toys, books and highchairs. We've generally got the message that you don't want us there anyway!

the food is average to so-so. breakfast served up cold tomatoes and not very nice bacon. the coffee was too hot and the milkshakes were made with ice!!!!!!!! watery and tasteless yuk!!

I was reading some of the discussion pages re: Joe's Kitchen on this site and they made me giggle - I didn't realise that I shared my neighbourhood with quite so many pretentious people! God forbid anyone should enjoy a "chain restaurant"! With Joe's, what you see is what you get. Service is efficient and relatively friendly (depends a lot on your waiter). The food is not going to win any Michelin stars, but it's nice for the price. I can only comment on breakfast / brunch, but the club sandwich is fantastic and the eggs are always done very well. A couple of my friends are die-hard fans of the burgers, but I have to say I prefer the nearby Roebuck burgers myself. Joe's does a good milkshake and proper freshly-squeezed OJ (not of the carton variety). The atmosphere is also great - it's something akin to sitting in your own kitchen, papers to hand, warm and relaxed. Best bit is not having to do any dishes once you've finished up though. Give it a try - the cynics among you may be pleasantly surprised!