Burger and Lobster

Extremely unprofessional and rude staff member on the door, who turned out to be the General Manager. Really let the side down as to what could've been a really nice night out. We perservered and waited patiently for a table for 2 hours and the food was great. We really enjoyed our meal.

Just a shame about the attitude on the door. Truly awful. Don't expect a welcoming smile.

No point rating a place if they make it impossible for you to sit down to try their food.

Emailed these guys 2 weeks before I planned to visit as a celebration dinner with friends from out of town. Was told to arrive between 1730 and 1800 to secure a table for for 4 before the rush which I did but was sadly told to leave and expect a 2-3 hour wait. No phone call after 3 and 1/2 hours and a return visit to the restaurant established we were being asked to queue for another hour. A real shame as members of our party had to leave London. This seems a successful format but if you want honesty and integrity rather than naked arrogance from the door staff after making as much effort as possible to ensure a smooth visit then I suggest you head to the Big Easy in Chelsea or similar

We got there at one minute past 12 on a Friday lunch time and only just managed to get the last table in the restaurant. It is hugely popular, which makes for a very buzzy vibe, but does mean that the wait times are horrendous (2.5hrs when I have tried to go before). The lobster was fantastic – beautifully cooked and very big. Chips were delicious. My companions had the burger, but admitted to ‘food envy’ for my lobster. Staff were charming, but were run off their feet, and it was quite hard to get their attention. Is a really fun place, but I would recommend the lobster over the burger.

I went to B&L with a work contact who had already been on numerous occasions. As they have a no reservations policy we turned up at 12.10 and there were plenty of tables available. The crowd is a mix of work people and shoppers and there was a good buzz. The food and decor is very American.

B&L is suitable for a relaxed work lunch with a contact you know well or for dining with friends or a date with someone you know well, but not for a formal lunch or with someone you don't have an existing relationship with – cracking the claws and sucking out the meat while wearing a plastic bib is not the best look if trying to cement a new relationship!

I had the lobster and my companion had the lobster roll, which looked much easier to eat and is perhaps a better choice for dates / work lunches. Both arrived on a metal tray, mine with a reasonable portion of chips and a smallish side salad. I had my lobster steamed and it was nicely cooked – not overdone. I usually prepare my own lobsters from scratch and have a real thing about over-cooked or dried out crustaceans. The tables are very close together and the tin tray was difficult to eat from, my food kept sliding around. This isn't a big issue, just a minor frustration.

I was horrified however to hear that the lobsters are from Nova Scotia. The waitress went on to say “that's seasonal, now we're coming into Spring we'll be buying them from…” Here I waited to hear “Scotland, Ireland, Norway”. But no. Maine, New England. It is TOTALLY unnecessary to fly our tasty friends across the Atlantic and I was unimpressed. It does genuinely make me think about whether I will go back or not, which is annoying as everything else would encourage a return visit.

Burger and Lobster. Too good to be queue?

Billed as having a ‘no reservation’ policy, we were surprised to find the centrally located Burger and Lobster absent of a queue at 7.30pm on a Saturday night.

The taste buds were watering at this stroke of luck, especially as we had been in the area since 4pm sampling the delights of Shepherd Market.

The previous week, Randall and Aubin, Brewer Street, had softened our hour-long wait with a glass of champagne and plenty of French hospitalité. (As you would expect from a restaurant with a no reservation policy).

Upon entering Burger and Lobster, the taste buds started to whither with the news that there was a three-hour wait. Yes, 180 minutes. How so with no reservations and no queue?

And therein lies the problem.

Front of house, we were advised that we could leave our mobile telephone number and be called when a table was free. Hmm. Isn’t that what we call a reservation!? As the waiting list was longer than the trip to Canada where the lobsters are sourced, we decided to try another route. The bar.

The bar area ‘which doesn’t have a wait ‘ and serves food from the quirky menu was pretty busy as you’d expect.

Having waited 40 minutes with a nicely made cocktail, we found ourselves craning over fellow diners to see if they had finished slurping on their lobster claws and were ready to vacate. No such luck as a rather zealous American couple that had been ‘waiting way longer that us’ ousted us.

Subsequently, a waitress with a stack of metal lobster trays dropped them on my partner’s calf without hesitation and failed to apologise or raise alarm. Nice.

Upon exit, we were placated with a ‘did you not manage to eat’ smirk and continued into the heart of Soho for a proper pop-up experience.

If you like to eat with a hungry audience craning over your shoulders and enjoy an atmosphere lacking charm and hospitality, this could be the place for you.

In summary, we have no reservations in avoiding this establishment.

We were greeted with a friendly “have you been here before?” (much like the Harvester ads used to show: “have you been to a Harvester before?”). Well no, but how hard can it be: this is a restaurant, you serve food and I am guessing something to wash it down with?

Yes, seems to be the answer, but the question is posed as there are only three things on the menu: whole lobster, burger or lobster roll (made from young lobster, or chick, meat). The lobster comes either boiled or grilled and the burger with or without bacon and cheese. And that is about the limit of your choice when it comes to food, as all dishes come with chips and salad. A sort of up market Relais de Venise.

The crowd on a Saturday afternoon was an eclectic bunch, the place packed with families, an Elvis lookalike, some Essex facelifts (complete with scouse brows and sale bags from most of the shops along Bond Street) and a couple of gym bunnies, comparing pec’s. The place doesn’t take reservations (although our terribly nice but ditzy waitress thought that this might be changing, once they got the reservations system working), so you line up and take your chances.

We sat at the bar for a while, cocktail in hand, waiting our turn. And there is no messing around here; not that you are rushed, but once you are out, the table is prepared in seconds, so that the next group can be seated. Rather than eat at the bar, we decided to take a table, and were given a banquette at the back, with a perfect view of the room, not to mention the kitchen door, so that we could see the bucket loads of lobster being transported from the holding tank in the basement to the warm bath that awaits them.

In the interests of completeness, we opted for a lobster and a burger. Both are transported to the table on enormous platters, laden down with the main article, a big bowl of chips and a pretty pointless side salad. The lobster, grilled with lemon and garlic butter, was fantastic: a big, juicy bug, cut in half, the claws cracked open, with that smoky charred taste highlighting the sweet meat. The burger was perfectly ok too; a fine example of the burger-maker’s art, coming with melted cheese and some really good, crispy bacon, as well as some way too sweet dill pickles. But twenty notes for a burger? No, if it were even possible to justify spending that amount on a beef patty and a bun, it would have to be significantly better than this one to consider having the burger over the bug.

There are some annoyances: service is friendly but slow and the tables are close together and just too small for two enormous platters of food, the drinks glasses and the condiments. The worst, however, is the paper that covers the platters; what is the point? If you cut the meat you end up with a cut through the paper and the danger of ingesting paper along with the food. Either do away with the paper entirely or replace the platters with proper plates. These are but niggles, however, for what is likely to become a regular haunt.

You would hardly think that a restaurant serving lobster in the heart of Mayfair could even be in the running for best cheap and cheerful restaurant of the year but, if you shared a lobster between two (and they are easily big enough to do so) then, together with a couple of glasses of wine, you have a wonderful lunch and no more than a score per person (the value for money score above is based solely on the lobster). Having been somewhat let down by Koya, which is touted as the best cheap eats in the centre of town, I would come here for the lobster any day.

What I don’t understand is why they don’t have lobster bisque on the menu: they must get left with a hundred-weight of lobster carcasses every day. What better why to recycle them than to make bisque; surely they can’t ditch them all? I notice that Goodman, which is under the same ownership, does indeed serve lobster bisque: maybe they ship the carcasses out to them instead. I do hope so, although, if not, then I might next time take a doggy bag of exoskeletons home with me.

Burger and Lobster is a fun concept with only three choices: burger, lobster or lobster sandwich (well brioche). On our visit (a group of four + child) we managed to have one of each on our table.

The lobster was well cooked and was fresh. The chips were crisp and crunchy. All approved of their meals, and also enjoyed desert (mouse in a cup).

Bloody Marys were made to taste and a great accompaniment to the meal.

I must also make a special note to say that the staff were great with the hyper two-year old sat with us. They couldn't do enough to keep her happy be it a plastic bib; extra cutlery; and even looking for a missing toy under the table.

A great visit and one to come back to.

I love a place that doesn't have a menu: partly because it says “trust us, we know what we're good at and you won't be disappointed”, mostly because I hate making decisions. Surprisingly Burger & Lobster actually has 3 things on the (notional) menu: burger, lobster and, ta-dah, what is essentially a lobster burger. I wish I had chosen the latter. One of us had the burger (delicious, apparently, but for £20 you would expect so). I had the lobster; also delicious with its garlicky butter sauce but quite frankly those hard little shells crustaceans developed to stop them being eaten in the sea do the same trick even when the creature has been cooked and served up next to an array of special little dissecting forks. It's just a bit hard work and never seems quite worth the effort or the money. If you are going to eat lobster though this is probably the best and cheapest place to do it. I like the Le Relais-style simplicity of all dishes coming with fries and salad. You can't fault the decor: diner-ish banquettes and light wooden wall panels cosy up the exposed steel vents giving the place a casual air. The service was extremely friendly, effusive even, with the only, very minor, drawback being that the maitre d' didn't seem to have a handle on seating (we waited 2 mins rather than the 20 warned!). I don't think I'll be rushing back to this 3-trick pony but if I was in the area I'd happily pop in to try the lobster roll and I hope they continue to attract customers once the initial gimmick-curious glut is over. After all, you've got to love a place in Mayfair which provides you with a plastic bib.

I went to Burger & Lobster last night with my boyfriend. He had been there before with a colleague and was raving about it. I'm happy to say I wasn't dissapointed. Neither one of us were. You can't make reservations so if you go, be prepared to wait. But the very smart thing they do is they take everyones mobile numbers and call you when your tables ready. Our wait was close to 2hrs but there are loads of bars in the area to kill some time. We decided to go for drinks in Shepards Market. The good thing about the no reservations policy is that you don't get families with small kids. It's just a cool crowd that doesn't mind having a few drinks before dinner

The idea is fantastic. Menu is simple, burger, lobster and lobster roll. The lobsters are huge and very meaty. If you want value for money, definitely go for the lobster or lobster roll. My recommendation is to have the lobster grilled as it just tasts fantastic. The lobster roll is amazing. Full of lobster meat. Very generous.

The decor is simple but cool. There is nothing pretentious about the place. Staff is very friendly and atmosphere is very buzzy. It's very busy so once you order your food you need to wait a bit but it is definitely worth it.

Overall a fantastic experience. One of my new favourite restaurants in London.

Went to Burger & Lobster for lunch after xmas but before New Year, always a quiet time to dine out anywhere. We were one of only another couple, which wasnt a problem for us. A we wanted was a quick pit stop meal. Upon first impressions i was a bit dissapointed by the somewhat bland looking interior, though maybe this was just because the restaurant was lacking atmosphere at the time, being near empty. However, they were also experiencing some warping of their floors which actually made it difficult to walk through the restaurant without losing ones footing, despite some coloured tape being in place to mark the warped floor boards.

We initially sat at a corner booth but the table was too wonky and due to metal studs attaching the seating to the floor we could not find a good place to move the table. Eventually giving up we moved to a non corner booth. Better.

I have no complaints about the service, it was perfectly plesent. The food however i was a little dissapointed with. We both opted for the Lobster (a £18-20 burger seems a little steep and we'd only come for the Lobster). The lobster arrives on a platter with fried a small side salad and some melted butter. The Lobster itself is naturally good value with a whole lobster offered for £20 either a choice of having it steamed or grilled. We both opted for grilled. How quaint! I have to say that my lobster was a very watery and i felt this ruined the taste. I also felt the side salad was rather small. I was left still hunger after my meal sadly.

Another point that i have to make is that the platter is served on a metal tray and on this tray is a logo'd paper tyoe thing. Utterly useless. As you cut through the lobster and put ketchup on it for the chips the paper disintergrates so you end up eating some of it. Pointless. A plastic material (like the bibs) would have been batter.

I would go again if i had a lobster craving but i would ask them to cook it longer and get rid of the annoying paper thing!