Giraffe (Spinningfields)

I've eaten at Giraffe in London before, but not previously at this branch. I am afraid I could not recommend it.

Having taken our brunch order, the waiting staff disappeared to eat their own breakfast. 45 minutes later, one of our orders was delivered. We waited, and waited, for the others to follow. It took forever to attract a waitresses attention to our table to find out where the rest of the food was. The waitress became very defensive, and simply stated "we always bring the children's food first", which seems to negate the whole purpose of eating out together. We pointed out that we would rather that we ate together as a group, and the waitress just shrugged.

When our food eventually appeared, the reason for the delay was clear. My scrambled eggs must have been cooking for the entire time we were waiting, as they were dry as dust. Giraffe may not be a high-end venue, but I would expect better than this in a greasy spoon, and indeed other branches manage to turn out properly cooked food within a decent time frame.
Comment on this reader review

M T
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Sunday, June 07, 2009

We ate lunch at Giraffe today, after having received a 2-4-1 mains voucher. I reckoned for half price, it was worth a go, even though it was a chain operation.

At 1/2 price it was just about ok, though if I'd paid full whack I'd have been pretty disappointed. I had a Mexican concoction called a Chili Lasagne, which in fact was a (distressingly small) bowl with some mince, tortilla bits, and sour cream. It was bland, and not particularly good. Edible, but that's about all. The regular price was £9, and if I'd paid £9 instead of £4.50 I'd have been well and truly irritated.

The Mrs. Had a "Mexican" burger, which was a piece of fried chicken on a (good) bread roll. Why this is "Mexican" is anyone's guess, but it wasn't bad. But again, even at 1/2 price it was a fiver. If I got dinged for £10 for a burger that is just so-so I'd not be happy. The service was fine, though the food was VERY slow coming out.

Giraffe have what has become the typical "All things to all people" chain formula....they have a Vietnamese dish, a few "Mexican" dishes, a steak or two, a Chinese dish. You can pretty much bet that a restaurant trying to cook 5 different cuisines under one roof isn't going to get ANY of them right. And you'd be correct in this case.

'Bottom line is this: typical chain restaurant fare. I normally boycott chain restaurants as they are the scourge of Britain...spreading mediocrity and insipid food from Brighton to Aberdeen. A FEW of the chains manage to actually put out good food (Pizza Express is pretty good, Zizi can be quite good), but most of them DEFINE the word "sterile". Nothing at Giraffe would bring me back, even at 1/2 price.

if you fancy this type of menu....a bit of this a bit of that, try Dukes 92, which has REALLY good food....and plenty of charm to go with it (something sadly missing from most chain restaurants...including Giraffe).
Comment on this reader review

Adam Roberts
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Sunday, May 03, 2009