Black & Blue Rochester Walk

The venue and setting is excellent, staff were to be complimented on good service. What a shame it was so badly let down by the food.
My starter (grilled king prawns with a garlic butter) was fine, but for a restaurant where steak is supposedly the star of the show this was shockingly poor. I think if I'd have been blind tasting I'd have said “Aberdeen Steak House” on a bad night eating an animal that had clearly had a hard life.
The fillet was stringy, flavourless and rather sorry looking. The peppercorn sauce was truly inedible – it seemed to be a cross between toilet cleaner and white spirit. The chips were a strange Chernobyl like yellow which was somewhat offputting. Wine was decent (and took away the taste of the first mouth of peppercorn sauce.)
I am somewhat baffled as to how a restaurant specialising in steak can have taken it's eye off the boil so badly.
Would heartily NOT recommend going here.

I went with my husband to the bustling Borough Market last saturday, we stopped and had a late lunch at Black and Blue, it was busy as usual, with charactors from all walks of life.

We shared the Cote de Boeuf which was mouth watering delicious, which is great value for 2, and a lovely bottle of red!

A really great way to spend a relaxing afternoon, to catch up, I would reccommend it to all my friends… You should try it, you wont be disapointed!!!

Friday night, friends night out.

Not a good experience overall unfortunately. This steakhouse asks to be judged on its meaty main courses. Had the steaks been priced at half what they actually charge I might have left happy, but at more that £20 per steak (£26 for the T Bone) I was expecting exceptional quality cuts and service. Black and Blue failed on both counts last night.

First the good points:

• most of the steaks were not bad, the ribeyes especially looked good, but nothing more than I would expect in a gastropub.
• the non-steak main ordered (a warm chicken salad) was tasty and, by contrast, reasonably priced. – the atmosphere and design of the restaurant was cool.
  

Now the not so good:

• The steaks were nothing special, and for £25 they needed to be.
• The T Bone was especially disappointing, really thin. The meat was tasty, but the cut was poor. When you are up against places like The Big Easy, Santa Maria del Sur and the Gauchos, to justify a top bracket price tag, you need a thick, juicy mouthwatering steak. Not special enough for the price I'm afraid.
• I had to send mine back – medium rare arrived well done. No excuse in a steak house, but I'm always surprised how often it still happens. Same sauce was put on the new attempt, which meant that was cold.
• No potato alternative to chips and only two sides (spinach and mushrooms). Smacks of a production line style kitchen.
• Service. Can make all the difference to a dining experience. At Black and Blue the waitresses appear to fall into two categories: ones that smile but can't understand English and ones that can understand English but can't smile…
  

In conclusion unless this restaurant either drops its prices or raises its game, there are too many places that offer far more for far less for us to return. If you are after a great piece of meat, for this price, the Gauchos are far superior, further west the other two alternatives noted above are preferable (although I am not sure if Santa Maria on Queenstown Road has raised its prices since its televisual success with Gordon on the F Word.

The worst steak and service I've had the misfortune to have in London. A 45 minute wait for a table was OK given that it was a really busy Friday but after the service was exceptionally poor. As for the £24 rib eye that was asked for as medium, it would have done a great job replacing the sole of someone's shoe. Over done, terrible and expensive. The waiter could not have cared less once informed of said shoe leather / steak impersonator. I cannot recommend Black and Blue in any way, shape or form.

Great bar and restaurant, very friendly staff and extensive menu. Great that all food served is free range. A great spot for smokers also to enjoy food and drinks al fresco

I went to Black & Blue Borough Market with a group of friends at the weekend and had a great time. I am not sure what problems previously people experienced, but we found the service very friendly. I guess I don't want to sound too much like I'm doing a pr job, but we really enjoyed our meal, the restaurant was really buzzing and we would definitely go back.

I have eaten here a few times in the past and while it is not in the same league as Smiths of Smithfield, it was an acceptable steak joint! I was told (rather rudely) today that they no longer take any bookings for parties less than 4 (and that this policy will continue after the christmas break)…so a lunch for two is no longer possible here! This seems an unusual stance in this climate but clearly they have no interest in anything other than large parties.

The only thing worse than the unsmiling service was the food poisoning that their food caused me and a friend who had the same meal. Their head office didn't seem very interested when I called them. They said they would call me back. They didn't.

I whole-heartedly agree, this place is a rip-off joint. The steak & chips I had looked like cheap pub grub, and tasted even worse. Bad quality frozen chips, and a tasteless, stingy piece of unappealling steak, was presented very unattractively. The female staff members are rude and unhelpful. The fact that this place has a bar upstairs that you can only sit in if you buy Champagne says it all really…they are trying to woo the City boys who love their steaks, with little regard for quality. They should take a leaf out of Gaucho's book – the steaks, imaginative sides & charming service knock Black & Blue off the scale. This is probably the worst place to eat around Borough Market – luckily there are plenty of other great places to chosse from such as Brindisa, Feng Sushi, or Wright Bros Oyster Bar.

I found Black and Blue fair to middling and wildly over-priced for a burger, a bit of cheese, a few chips and a gerkin. Taking into account I used to live next door to this place and have eaten there a lot, I was shocked when I went back and the food had gone downhill but the prices had rocketed. Not only that but the service (which used to be rather good) has now taken an interesting turn. All waitresses seemed to be lurking round city boys in suits – which whilst funny for say 5 minutes, left me thirsty, narked, and then wanting to walk out after about 15 minutes. In short – pricy for mince, a bun and shabby service.

I have never had a more awful experience, I would rather go to a kebab shop and sit outside in a puddle then ever go back. There was a FLY in the prawn cocktail… The service was appalling, when we complained about the fly we were told by the extremely rude manager with a huge attitude problem "well it's not fine dining"- I think it can be safely guaranteed that this is the only thing we agreed with!!! The food was distictly below average and totally overpriced. I could have got a better steak at my local pub for a fraction of the price. Take my advice stay as far away as possible!

While some may turn away from chain restaurants, this outpost of Black & Blue is certainly well worth a visit..

It is the perfect place for a recharge after a heavy Friday night out, and nothing beats sitting on the outside terrace, enjoying a bit of sunshine and people watching, with a corona.

Their steaks and burgers are the perfect hangover cure, before hitting the market for some delectable treats.