The Providores

Had a lovely, relaxed business lunch here. Tapas (especially the squid and the ham hock) was excellent.

I thought it was all going to go horribly wrong when I walked in. We battled through the crowds in the downstairs troughing zone, upstairs to our table booked in a somewhat clinical dining room. The waitress looked slightly askance at us when asked if there was anything other than a brunch menu (no, apparently) and seemed slightly miffed at having to give us time to actually choose the food. The brunch menu seemed to contain a lot of unfamiliar and unappetising plates with seemingly random groups of ingredients. A long table hosted the one thing worse than a rowdy office party: a muted office party.

Luckily, it all went uphill from there. The service warmed up and actually was fine (although they did forget to bring the orange juice now I think about it); if you're a bloke, they are very pretty so that might take off any edges! Most importantly the food was delicious. I had some french bread stuffed with banana and nuts and generously heaped heaped with bacon and drizzled with some deliciously sweet syrupy sauce; sounds standard but my description doesn't do the innovative combo justice. One friend had a tortilla made with an unusual panoply of ingredients, whilst the other ordered a very normal scrambled eggs on toast. We finished with what was a reasonably sized cheese plate between the 3 of us. At £40 a head it wasn't the cheapest, but that did include a few glasses of fizz and the food was worth it.

Don't think I'll be rushing back but I might run the gauntlet of downstairs if I happened to be in the area.

The first thing you notice is the extremely loud music – it's like going to eat at a disco.
You end up shouting at your friends across the table – or shouting your order at the waiting staff – despite asking for the music volume to be reduced several times this never happened despite multiple assurances.

The food was good, although a bit greasy and there is an annoying money grabbing aspect where you have to pay for things like eggs on toast and separately, charging for eggs and charging again for toast – very bizarre.

The selection of teas is quite good although you get half a pot full of boiling water – again, you have to ask for the pot to be filled completely. Nice decor but sloppy service, and they add the service charge in too!

My friend and I felt sick after eating an expensive meal at this place. Management was very defensive when I raised the issue. Won't come back.

Providores used to be among my favourite breakfast haunts, but have to say in the last couple of months it has really disappointed. A particular favourite, creamed wild mushrooms and pancetta served on sourdough toast just got stingier and stingier (in quantity AND quality of the mushrooms) until the game was hardly worth the candle. The last time I was there, i ordered a totally a la carte breakfast to have everything served in separate dishes and not particularly warm, either. Plus parts of our group of three's orders were forgotten. The staff are really nice and try to be helpful but appear overwhelmed at breakfast time.

When I was talking about it with a New Zealand colleague, he seconded my own experience and recommended a new place nearby. More worrying, having recommended the upstairs restaurant to some visitors and longer term residents a while back, one of my colleagues based in the area commented as well on their strong disappointment with the standard of cooking recently, which is a real shame. The NZ colleague said the chef who had inspired the food is not on the scene as much, and that might explain the fall-off in standards.

As someone who has eaten there pretty regularly for the past 2-3 years, I hate the thought that my favourite breakfast spot is no longer the place it was. No doubt it will continue to attract people for its name, but fear it may lose regulars if it doesn't up its act.

Providores is one of the most inventive restaurants in London. I guarantee that you will never see another menu which covers such a variety of ingredients and combinations. Influences are New Zealand, Asian and European.
I’ve never had a bad meal there and they always deliver. Upstairs is great for business lunches and dinners, but probably a bit pricey for its positioning. Downstairs is more tapas style and great to drop by unannounced, but can be rammed with people at peak times.