Carlos Kitchen

This is a pretty good spot. Nice interior. Had a solid English breakfast. Not super crowded which was nice. The best thing though was the orange juice, which was super delicious and fresh.

Delicious cappuccino, friendly welcome on a rainy London morning. Lovely

Even in London you can find nondescript places to eat, and this is definitely one of them. Funny, there’s a place almost identical to Carlo’s near my home in San Francisco, and that one also attracts local suits and packs of tourists who look like they got lost on their way to the metro station, the Tube or BART, take your pick. Only this time Jamie W. and I were the tourists on our way to the Southwark tube station thinking we should get a bite of breakfast before making our way through town. They have a standard English menu of breakfasts, sandwiches and coffee (photo:
), nothing that would blow your pilot light out, but the prices looked reasonable at least for the plates we saw on the way to our table.
Jamie got all pip-​pip-​Brit on me and ordered one of their «cooked» breakfasts, a £ 7.25 combination of Egg, Bacon, Sausage, Tomatoes, Mushrooms, Black Pudding & Toast. Gee, that’s a mouthful. Couldn’t they just name it Carlo’s Special or something that wouldn’t require a full recital? I suppose he could have said a ‘#3′ — but you know the waitress would then squint her eyes at the menu he was holding and make him repeat the same line-​up. All those items were eventually present and accounted for when the plate arrived, just in a fairly spartan manner (photo:
). The bacon consisted of two thin, greasy slices of Canadian style, the coddled egg looked lonely atop a dry piece of toast, and despite the use of the plural, there was just one grilled plum tomato.
The one misstep was the delayed appearance of the black pudding, which did amount to overkill at that point (photo:
). My choice was the £ 7.75 Mushroom, Spinach & Onion Omelette, a rather paltry affair that was overrun by the pile of very dry fries threatening to overtake it. I splurged and went for a side of the Bacon for £ 1.20 which at least kept the potatoes warm company (photo:
). It was all decent enough but hardly memorable in the landscape of London’s food scene. I think I would have preferred a Hot Salt Beef Beigel from Beigel Bake. In fact, I know I would have preferred a Hot Salt Beef Beigel from Beigel Bake. Regardless, it’s a low-​key place with positive affirmations on the wall (photo:
), and that’s always a nice change from the buzzing city outside.
FOOD — 3 stars… middling breakfast fare as these places go, slipping from my memory as I write this
AMBIANCE — 4 stars… quiet vibe that can be refreshing against the hubbub of city living
SERVICE — 2.5 stars… automatic pilot
TOTAL — 3 stars… good prices, average food… maybe that’s enough in Southwark sometimes?

Service, friendly. Speed of food to your table, a bit relaxed, so don’t be in a hurry.
My bloomer (fried egg on dry white toast) was adequate. Fresh, correctly prepared. Nothing fancy, but it doesn’t pretend to be.
It’s a thrifty, neighborhood grub hub, not a gastronomic land mark. But I left happy.

Went in on Friday morning to treat my hangover to something greasy. Breakfast is only served until 11:00, so we were a bit late and ended up getting steak sandwiches instead.
Pros: £8.50 for a large, good steak sandwich. Lots of options on the menu. Lots of space in the restaurant itself — looks small on the outside, but nice and big inside. Family friendly, too — definitely a good choice if you have kids or want somewhere to meet for a coffee with a friend who does.
Cons — coffee was not great, and service was awful. Our waitress bordered on b*****y, and was really snippy when I asked about the pasta dishes being laid out by the counter (which weren’t in the menu — obviously daily specials). When I then didn’t order one, she took the piss. If I hadn’t been absolutely starving, I would have left. You don’t make fun of your patrons, and you don’t give them a lot of attitude for asking you about the specials — even if they don’t order one. There was nothing joking or light-​hearted about her manner — she was just plain rude.
The food was good. The space was good. I will never go back after how we were treated. There was no provocation. Maybe she was having a bad day, but her crap attitude really ruined the meal.

Every time I visit London I go for breakfast here. A decent meal for good price in a nice interior.