baked eggs with chorizo, mushrooms, spinach (£9.50)
Lantana Cafe is much loved by the pros and punters alike. I, however, am not a fan.
Two Saturdays ago, wanting a centrally-located brunch-y place to meet a friend, Jon and I showed up at Lantana at around 1:30 pm. The place was packed, which I’d expected, so we patiently queued for about 30 minutes.
Finally inside, the cafe was noisy and bustling, and we sat elbow-to-elbow with neighboring tables, which was convivial (though somewhat awkward for the type of catch-up conversation we wanted to have with our friend).
We placed our orders relatively quickly after sitting down, and then we waited. And waited. For over an hour. In fact, we waited an hour and 15 minutes for the three plates we’d ordered. That was silly. I understand the place is crowded and busy. But there were only three of us. And the menu is limited to egg dishes and sandwiches.
On the plus side, the food – when it finally arrived – was good. My baked eggs were cooked in a smoky, slightly-spicy chipotle-tasting sauce. I miss chipotle. I used to buy those peppers canned and add them to anything I could get my hands on. I’ll have to remember to bring some back with me when I’m in the U.S. for the December holidays.
corn fritters with bacon, avocado and roast tomato salsa (£9)
My friend’s corn fritters with a side of bacon was also tasty, but then again, by the time our food arrived, we were ravenous. So even a cardboard box would have tasted good. The bacon and sausage he ordered, though – well, he had to fight us off for those. I’m sure the meat products at Lantana Cafe would be delicious even if one had arrived with a full stomach.
omelet with ham spinach and cheddar (£8)
And Jon’s ham, spinach and cheddar omelet was a little dry, but I guess that’s why you get a tomato chutney on the side.
Our food hit our table at 3:15. We devoured everything by 3:30 and were out the door by 3:45. With teas and coffees, we paid £14 each.
Service was friendly but completely not helpful with speeding up our order (one server explained that it was my baked egg dish that was taking a long time. Really? An hour and 15 minutes?).
Lantana Cafe could learn a thing or two from any number of unheralded NJ diners – those places know how to push out a hot, delicious brunch. In any event, our meal at LC wasn’t worth the wait.
Lantana Cafe, 13 Charlotte Place, W1T 1SN; 020 7637 3347; closest tube station: Goodge Street.
Yikes! An hour 15 is in no way acceptable for that! I’ve been wanting to try the place but it sounds like it’s too popular for its own good…
I agree – the Cafe does seem unable to keep up with its popularity.
It’s not only Lantana who could learn a thing or two from the Jersey diner guys. If those Greek-American brekkie mavens were running the Royal Mail UK postal delivery would be the envy of the world!
youngandfoodish – An excellent point, though to be fair, up until recently, I have been impressed that first-class domestic post generally gets delivered overnight. Then again, it’s a small country.
No good! What a pity as I agree the food at Lantana is great – 1.5 hours for breakfast is unacceptable – especially for breakfast – I always feel that minutes that you wait for breakfast are like dog years, they should be multiplied because given that you haven’t eaten anything yet yo are usually very concious of them!
“minutes you wait for breakfast are like dog years” – so true. That concept should be enshrined as a new law of physics.
I have always loved Lantana, but since it won the Time Out Award for Best New Cafe a few months ago, I’ve heard so many horror stories about service, long waits, and forgotten coffees (worst crime of all, particularly if you need your morning caffeine to be a civil, functioning member of society) – I’m steering well clear until it sorts itself out. Although for sentimental reasons, I can’t write it off forever – those corn fritters….
I ate there today actually, as it is local to me, and I do crave my ‘Australian cafe brunch’ fixes now and again! Service was a touch slow today, but not too bad. My food was delicious (grilled haloumi tower, with side of bacon), and our coffees came reasonably fast. I was tempted to order the bakes Spanish eggs, but now glad I didn’t!
However, I have been there when the service has been very slow, and the place is definitely too popular for it’s own good (when we left there were 10-15 people lining up). Hopefully they’ll find bigger premises soon with a bigger kitchen, so long as it is still in the same area!
Went there a couple of days ago. We ordered two Flat Whites and it took them 30 minutes to serve us that two cups but it was pretty much empty in the cafe!!!
The food on offer was not appealing at all and we could see fruitflies/flies hopping from item to item – yuck!!!! It was a big dissapointment and as usual, the hype took over.
Greedy Diva – yes, let’s hope the Cafe sorts itself out quickly.
PK – if the place is your local, then hopefully it’s easier to drop by only when it’s emptier. And I didn’t mind (too much) queuing outside to get in, but I *did* mind waiting so long once I sat down and ordered. Presumably, the Cafe should be able to handle the flow of a full room (i.e., it wasn’t as if they were seating more people than could fit in the room).
Tiramisuu – I don’t recall anything unhygienic about the Cafe, but definitely sounds like you had a pretty gross experience there.
I had lunch there a while ago, a quiche and two salads and I left feeling a bit ripped off and pretty underwhelmed. I returned in the summer and sat outside and had their corn firtters and avocado – really delicious but again, pretty pricy. Sounds like it needs to shape up a bit.
Lizzie – did you eat the quiche and two salads on your own? If so, I can see how that was a pricey lunch. : ) In any event, now that the waits have gotten so long (i.e., it sounds like it’s not just me), I’d imagine the cost-benefit analysis tilts even further in the direction of “skip it.”
I have to disagree with you guys – this place can do no wrong in my eyes! I love it. Your wait for breakfast does sound like it was way too long but I truly think it is the exception and not the rule – give them another chance. When I go there for lunch I actually go at 12pm to avoid the crowds.