Barbecoa

Great service awful food

We'd been so looking forwards to visiting Barbecoa but were bitterly disappointed with the food. The chicken wing starter was very undercooked, and was returned to the kitchen and replaced by an enormous portion of ribs, some of which had a very dry texture. For mains we had the pulled pork which tasted exactly the same as the ribs. The twice fried duck fat chips were not fried and resembled oven chips in texture with no real flavour, and the grilled field mushrooms were stone cold. So overall hugely disappointing. The only upside was the beef carpaccio starter which was delicious, the wine was good and the service very attentive and helpful. The manager was very apologetic and managed the situation impeccably – the food was knocked off the bill and my dining partner had a very tasty pecan pie desert. We suspect they had a kitchen equipment problem as the pork scratchings, deep fried calamari were off the menu, could also explain why the chips were dry. Would we go back? Maybe …

Had me at the promise of pulled pork and then lost me at the pulled pork

I grew up in the U.S. and have spent some time in the South. I haven't had Southern-style food in about 8 years (having moved to the UK in 2000) and had been really looking forward to dining at Barbecoa. I immediately focused on the pulled pork. The bbq sauce completely overpowered the pork, which wasn't nearly as tender as it should have been. Too sweet. Too salty. Though there was a nice smokiness to it. Southern food is about flavour, but that means that you can taste the main ingredient — in this case, the pork. The coleslaw was tasteless. The eggs and steak were cold. To be fair, it turned out this is a new dish, but who serves cold eggs? The wait staff was very friendly and generally efficient. Although, we did have to ask a second time for another bottle of water and we waited so long for the dessert menu that we just abandoned the idea and asked for the bill. We had our two boys with us, so it speaks volumes that we gave up on dessert!

On the plus-side were the view, the light, the decor, and the drinks list.

Awesome...

As usual – Jamie Oliver gets it right. Really really great service – topped up by absolutely lovely food – accompanied by gorgeous wine. On top of the that – the views pretty great too. Really well done – loved it.

Surely micro salad is at odds with the whole modern barbie concept?

I found that very garnish nestling on my plate of brined chicken at Barbecoa. Though blackened and charred in all the right places, the chicken was plated with grace, vibrant colour and refinement; uncooked red onion was tempered with a sousing of lime in the guacemole, and crisp strips of tortilla added satisfying texture and crunch in place of fries. Despite this, and the chicken’s moist white meat and appetisingly gnarled skin, it was just a bit dull. A side of chips cooked in duck fat were alleged to have a dash of fancy vinegar, but I certainly couldn’t pick it up.

In contrast, my man ordered the suitably macho Pit Beef: two plump portions of fork-tender meat atop a dark and brooding mound of smoky baked beans. It looked a little rough around the edges, but had the depth of flavour you’re after when you set out to have a meat feast of ungodly proportions.

I wonder if this is why Jamie Oliver’s stab at ‘fire and food’ hits bum notes. The food’s not bad but a, he’s got serious kahunas to charge such princely sums and b, I’d rather go to Brew and Que for a stonking rib of beef and a hoot (or Bar Boulud for a seriously upmarket burger). 2012 was the year of the gastro grill, and plenty of places are nailing this concept with greater flair and authenticity. It seems like a slightly mixed-up venture to me.

I wouldn’t want to pooh-pooh it entirely though. There’s a zippy stock management system in place, whereby your order is madly tapped into a device at the table that beeps approval (or pips an alert if ingredients are unavailable, so you're not too disappointed). Service has moments of supreme efficiency and charisma, although it did take some time for drinks to wander over during our sleepy Saturday lunch.

Speaking of which, I couldn’t detect the rhubarb bitters that attracted me to the Barby 75; a gin and prosecco concoction marred by eye-wateringly sherbety lemon. But the house take on a Bloody Mary – complete with a rasher of bacon as stirrer – was ace, albeit an acquired taste. It was seriously savoury and not unlike necking a hickory-spiced gravy; a hideous thought that was really quite pleasant and pokey in reality (plus I'd bet it’s a solid hangover cure). Wine and beer cost a packet, so beware.

In keeping with the rest of One New Change, the restaurant remains slick and shiny amid the seething, suited mass of city types engulfing it midweek. When the weekend exodus takes place, Barbecoa takes on a slightly ethereal ambience and you can fully appreciate the view of St Pauls. (That is, so long as your seat doesn’t face away from the panoramic windows, as many seem to; a bit of a boob given the premium customers are paying? Worth a mention when booking in order to nab a decent table and avoid a crick in your neck, I reckon).

Will I be going back? I don’t think so. Despite the plum location and snappy décor, I wasn’t sufficiently wowed by any mystic cheffery to pay a small fortune for mains, a side and a cocktail each.

Very disappointing. My clients steak was not cooked to order, if you're pitching yourself against Gaucho/Goodmans/Hawksmoor then you need to get the basics right.

Overpriced – £6 for a bottle of Brooklyn Lager – why not just say “expense account only” when taking bookings!

Would not recommend to anyone.

Disappointing and overpriced. Don't waste your money here!

The only reason I gave this restaurant two marks is for the location, if the rating were awarded on food alone the rating would have been zero. My wife ordered rare steak and got well done, my friend's wife ordered well done and got bloody. They were different cuts so it wasn't a case of misplaced plates. My steak was average in taste and not served at the correct temperature, the starters were average – rather different from the waiters description; his juicy, fall off the bone ribs turned out to be dry, tough and luke warm, the sides were mediocre and expensive. Unfortunately the ladies were too polite to point anything out until the bill had been paid so there wasn't much point arguing our case at that point.

The reality is you could get better in probably a hundred other restaurants nearby without the hefty price tag. However as with many celebrity chef ‘destination restaurants’ the place was packed with city people presumably on expense accounts.

Perhaps Jamie should spend some time eating in his own restaurants instead of running around in front of TV cameras, or at least send in a mystery diner to quality check what his customers are getting.

When you go out for a steak you expect it to be cooked the way you asked for it. My guest had his well done, I asked for medium rare. I got a semi cold, well done steak. Clearly it had been left sitting around waiting for the well done steak and had quietly continued cooking itself. The duty manager then politely explained to me that because it was aged meat, it will not look rare. in other words, I the customer didnt know what I was talking about. Actually I do, as all the beef I buy is aged for a minimum of 28 days and I also know how to prod the meat to test for elasticity: both proved it was on the well end of medium. Although he disagreed with my conclusion he offer to cook another. As the initial steaks (and that is all we ordered) took 25 minutes to arrive I explained I did not have the time to wait another 25 minutes for it.
My waiter was truly apologetic and did his best to improve the situation, I was even given a free coffee, which I accepted although it is no compensation for a botched job.

Cooking steak well is not easy, cooking steak badly is easy. I would not have served to this to a guest of mine but I was in a position where I could only complain a little. Telling a guest that they are wrong, even if it is done politely is very stupid because it compells the angered customer to write a review!
So please Barbecoa sort it out. Sort out your cooking, sort out who is running the pass, do not cook a well done steak at the same time as a medium rare. Do not serve cold food…unless its supossed to be cold and dont clear the table in a none to subtle way of trying to get rid of us.

I just wish I had followed my instinct, when I saw a bloke doing argentinian rib eye steak sarnies from a stall at the entrance to Barbecoa for a fiver and bought two! It would have saved a lot off money, a lot of heartache and they would not have got this review!!
Nice views though…

Based on previous reviews it is very hard to know what to expect from this restaurant.
We booked a table based on how tasty the menu sounded and assumed that all would be cooked well and the atmosphere would be good.

Luckily we weren't disappointed.
Our table was 9.30pm on a Saturday and the restaurant was buzzing, tables from 2 people to groups of 10 creating a very lively atmosphere.
By chance our table had an excellent view of the cathedral. It was right next to the waiter station, but this wasn't too much of a negative.

The service was very attentive throughout. The waitress told us about the special, offered water, wine, cocktails and answered our questions very confidently. Service came with a smile and we were checked on a couple of times to make sure everything was good.
Considering the restaurant was full our cocktail order arrived very quickly and was the perfect start to the meal.
In a restaurant like this you cannot expect the starters to blow you away, the main course is the star of the show.
This is exactly how it went, I had the crispy pig cheek as a starter. It arrived suspiciously quickly and could tell that most of the components were prepared in advance. It was very tasty and a good start to the meal.
My partner had the crab plate to start, this was excellent and clearly used the freshest crab. We were off to a good start.
We both ordered the fillet steak for main, this comes is £32 and requires chips to be ordered separately. In a gastro pub or a local restaurant this would be £10 too expensive. This is a destination restaurant and we expected this price. In this location you cannot expect chips to be included in the price of the dish (though it would be nice).
My fillet, medium rare, was absolutely spot on and I would rank it alongside Hawksmoor for the overall satisfaction of the dish. The side dishes were perfect, the creamed spinach and the chips added excellent textures and had enough of their own flavour to justify their price. Overall definitely worth the money for the main course and there are cheaper options available.
For dessert I had the chocolate brownie which was fantastic.

I would go back to Barbecoa because the atmosphere is great, the staff all seemed very happy to be there and the food lived up to expectation. The cocktail list is great and they have a very healthy selection of wines to suit all tastes. The price is in line with similar restaurants and you get the feeling that if there is something that is not right with the food then the staff will do all they can to put it right or take it off the bill.

good food; good view of st paul's

A typical Jamie atmosphere as expected. But based on the reviews I read, an unexpectedly great dinner! Just to clarify, yes it is a steak restaurant and yes, they are great at what they are doing. I had a simple fillet and it was one of the best steaks I ever ate. Even more stunning was the creamed spinach I had as a side. My mum had chicken which was quite unfortunately average. We were sitted next to a couple which had a quite unfortunate situation as one of them had to return his steak 3 times… Well what can I say… Their review would be probably very different to mine.
The service was great but perhaps quite slow. Everyone friendly exactly to telhe right extent. Overall, a great dinner and a fun night. I would recommend it to everyone!