Browns

My first Browns experience and I was quite impressed! The location was awesome, central enough to see the sights but the location itself was quiet and relaxed. We were not rushed at all.
I went for fish and chips, chocolate tart and my friend had steak and chips, vanilla ice cream. Neither of us could say a bad word about the food! All were very good value for money.
Will be returning to Browns for sure!

Stopped by for a quick munch in the AM, as well as for shelter as it was chucking down rain. Although it was fairly empty at the time, the service was still excellent, and I’m so appreciative that they let me charge my phone as it was dead and I needed it to navigate my way back home.
Food: the eggs benedict was a-​mazing. My favorite meal of the day is always brunch, and eggs benedict is my go-​to dish, always. So naturally, quality is most important to me, as is a well-​cooked eggs Benedict. The yolk oozed just right, and the potatoes were seasoned to perfection. The mimosa on the side was the cherry on top to a perfect brunch.

No complaints with the service or the food. Standard menu with nothing out of the ordinary! We ordered the Browns burger and fish and chips. both tasty! If anything, comfortable setting to enjoy a glass of wine on a sunny day in London. Plus great views of the city and Thames.
Will come back for the afternoon tea — £12/​person, minimum of 2 people required.

Browns is at the perfect location, right on the water, and has lots of space. They also have a ramp for pram or wheelchair access. I’ve only ever been there for afternoon tea, never had a proper meal there. The snack selection is decent. For today’s tea, we got a pot of tea, 2 mini scones with cream and jam, 4 finger sandwiches (cucumber, egg, prawn, and… can’t remember), mini red velvet cake, mini lemon tart, a profiterole, and a slightly strange mini panacotta. It was all okie dokes.
Will probably end up going there again because it’s a great space for when you’re out with a baby and because the staff were wonderful about us occupying an entire corner of the restaurant with our prams and floor mats and toys and what not. They weren’t grudging about it at all. Very, very sweet. Hence the 4 stars, despite the meh food.

I don’t why others rated this low. Our dinner was excellent and the service was wonderful!

In a word, diabolical.
We arrived to an empty dining room on Sunday evening. After we put in drink and food orders, the server came back on 3 separate occasions to tell us that the kitchen had ran out of something. Despite there being plenty of room on the dining room floor, a large French group was seated right next to us. Uncomfortable. This group ordered after us and received and finished eating their food before ours even arrived. After 3 rounds of drinks and an absolutely pathetic starter of stale bread with oil, we finally asked after the food. Three dishes arrived, obviously after having sat under a heat lamp for at least an hour. The top of the portion of mushy peas was actually blackened and the rocket on my own plate was completely wilted and pathetic from the lamp. Everything else was cold. Except for the plates, which were scorching hot and handed to us directly instead of being placed in front of us. The fourth dish arrived five minutes later, missing its main component — the meat.
We refused to pay for anything and just flat out left at 10:45pm. It was that bad.
I went home and ate instant ramen.

This branch of Browns seems to get some bad reviews but I had a very nice meal their mid-​week and no real issues with service. Apart from a bit of a wait for the bill I was happy with my meal there. The food was delicious and great value when you use the Friends of Browns offer. My friend and I shared a starter and pudding and there was no quibbling about the terms of the offer which was good.
This Browns is in a great location near the Design Museum and overlooking the Thames and Tower Bridge, but beware, outside tables disappear fast so get there early or book ahead if you want to admire the view.

Not a big fan of chain bars but this Browns is located along Butlers Wharf with a great view of the Thames. Great outdoor seating great both in the summer and in the winter (with the heaters on!) Usually come here for after work drinks. Food isn’t too bad either.

Oh Browns. I’ve given you four chances now, that’s three chances more than I’d normally give a restaurant. But because I live only a ten minute stroll away, I’ve persisted in letting it try to win me over. Yet I now realise now that Browns never had any interest in winning me over. To quote Gob Bluth in Arrested Development: I’ve made a huge mistake.
The first time we went was for drinks but the barman was so rude to us and another customer, we left. The second time we paid for the pots of «loose large leaf tea» on their menu, but discovered that the teapots contained tea-​bags instead. (Quelle horreur!) And just when we were considering letting that one pass, a mouse ran under our table. You can’t make this stuff up.
The third time we went back was because the manager had offered us a free breakfast after Tea-​and-​Mouse-​gate. It was pleasant enough, really, especially since it was free. Yet it was with this pleasant-​enough experience that we reignited our hope in Browns and were ready for The Fourth Chance.
We’ve been scouting for a new place for that perfect Sunday brunch, where we could read the papers over poached eggs and pots of tea. And Browns had eggs, and tea, and their website actually said, «perfect to relax with the papers». So let’s give Browns another chance, we thought. We turned up, found some cosy couches by the window and settled in, taking in the lovely views and the jazz music playing in the sound system. Hopes were high.
Hopes were dashed.
Again.
The service at Browns is bizarre, like a mysterious operation which one must not be allowed to figure out. Waiters are regularly gathered around their wait-​station discussing table philosophy or the likes, and it took fifteen minutes of sitting and staring hopefully at them before accosting a passing one to get the menu. When I asked if I could order drinks now, the waiter said «Just one moment», and disappeared altogether. The wait staff here are like expressionless auto-​bots, programmed to run to a tightly choreographed system, and any form of ad-​libbing will cause a complete meltdown.
Then, having come specifically for the brunch menu, we were told it finished at midday. We had arrived fifteen minutes too late. I had deliberately checked the brunch menu on the Browns website for a brunch time cut off yet there wasn’t one. That, to me, says all day brunch, but I guess one should never assume. So accepting our fate, we begrudgingly accepted the a la carte menu, which brought the average meal price up from £6.95 to £11.95. This was the point where we should have got up and left.
Having had my heart set on brunch, the only thing I felt like on the a la carte menu was a poached egg salad (£9.95). When our orders were finally taken I was told bluntly by the waitress-​bot, «We don’t have that dish today.» So I went to my happy place, counted to ten, and ordered the Sunday special nut roast, which seemed like the least overpriced thing on the menu, at £8.95.
[Then the piano man arrived. It was just bad luck, really, that we’d sat at the table which backed onto the piano. He was jolly good and it would’ve been fantastic at cocktail hour… But what’s with the live bill on a Sunday lunchtime? What about this «perfect to relax with the papers» malarky?]
Oh, the nut roast. It was lukewarm and so packed with stilton they might as well have called it Stilton loaf with added nuts. It came with a cold Yorkshire pudding and a side of vegetables in cheese sauce which had been sitting under a warmer for so long that the cheese sauce had formed into a solid glue. My fella’s schnitzel was good, but, he admitted later, it wasn’t very special. Frankly, I think a schnitzel, with no sides, on a lunch menu at £11.45 should be at least a little bit special, no?
Perhaps at this point I had given up trying to be forgiving. Can you blame me? I was furious that after four decent chances I was let down yet again, and that they had filled my Sunday with disappointment. Was I angry at Browns, or at myself? I think it was both. In the end I asked the maitre de to remove the nut roast from the bill, which he did, with a hurried and unquestioning manner that screamed, «We’re used to this».
Browns Butlers Wharf need to up their game. They have so much going for them — location, comfy seating, style… but their service and their food are so ridiculously below par — precisely the two things that make or break the customer experience. Despite having an excessively large army of tightly-​run wait staff, it takes forever to get any service (and when referring to «service» at Browns I mean someone delivering a menu, a meal or a bill to your table, before racing off again for another 15 minutes). And above all, the food is disappointing. It’s not horrid, it’s merely an edible letdown. It’s the kind of thing which would be acceptable in a pub, where you pay little and don’t really mind if the vegetables are cold, usually because you’ve had a few pints.

This will be the first time I’ve reviewed two places from the same chain on here. Normally you would think that places in a chain would generally get the same score but this branch of Browns gets one star more than the City one.
We came here on Thursday for our department Christmas lunch. I had to finish something so didn’t get there until after everyone had eaten their main courses. I was in time for dessert, and had poached pear. This was pretty disappointing. Someone on my table had to leave so I got to try his dessert as well, which was chocolate cheesecake. This was pretty average too to be honest.
Then we moved to the bar area for drinks. The Browns in the City felt quite false and very corporate, but for some reason this one felt a bit more genuine and the atmosphere was definitely better (maybe because its Christmas?) — which is quite odd really given that this branch has been built in the most soulless part of London (except possibly for canary wharf). So I hvae awarded four stars even though the food I ate was sub-​standard, because it feels like a nice friendly place.
I’d been here a couple of times before with the Hawk as its right by his flat, and the atmosphere has always been pretty good.

Nice meal. Lovely spot
Recomended

Browns is a very fancy looking place, the place is gleaming from its highly polished bar to the smartly dressed bar staff. It is obvious that the standards are set high. The location is spectacular on the banks of the Thames, with views of tower bridge and out door seating. The customers are a mix of after work drinkers form the city and people meeting up for a night out.
There is a good selection of beers, wine, sprits and cocktails, some of which on special offers. All though I did not eat on my visit we did see the food being brought out past us and It looked and smelled very nice, making me what to come back to try it.

Another chain worthy of respect. Browns is always a good bet for good, well-​prepared food, with a good wine list. Add to that a beautiful view over the river (this restaurant is situated alongside the Thames Path), and you have a great location for any time of the day. Dinner for two with wine is in the £40−50 region, but lunch can be very much cheaper.