Borshtch 'n' Tears

The only Russian restaurant in London you can trust for proper Russian food and good atmosphere. Have been to all of them, have been dissapointed many times, always enjoy my evenings here.

I just love this restaurant. It has great food, outstanding music and an atmosphere that is second to none. The service to me has always been very good, attentive and smiley.

The food is traditional and modern russian with good presentation. All the dishes i have ever tried have been to a high standard, much higher than restaurants costing twice as much.

When the restaurant is quiet, it is ultra romantic.

When its busy, it's ultra mad. People dance around, sing, generally have fun. Service can sometimes be slow, when its busy, but it is never unfriendly & always honest. But its not a corp - rot place, so this can be understandable. This place is not for people who have illusions of grandeur and want 'bling - bling'.

The prices are also very reasonable for this part of town.

Overall, recommended to all people who are looking for something informal, relaxed, friendly and homely.

Have always had a great time at this establishment. Been treated with great service, great food, great music. In fact too much great.

Sometimes when it gets busy, it can get a bit hectic, as the restaurant is really small, but if you go with the flow, u still leave with a great vibe.

We went to this restaurant for the Saturday night musicians, who are outstanding and almost made it worth putting up with the horrible service.

First, we waited 5 minutes to be seated (after arriving at a practically empty restaurant, having reserved a table beforehand). For some reason, the only table available was the one right next to the musicians (as it turned out, this wouldn't be such a bad thing). Then, after the waiter seated us, we waited another 25 minutes to see him again and place our order. But that was all minor, as it turned out.

Later in the evening, a guy who had been working as a waiter (and at various times both forgot our order and was unaware that the kitchen was out of a staple side dish) came by our table and demanded that we move so that he could seat more people at the table next to us. He announced that he was the owner and got into a shouting match with us, during which he tried to put one of us down based on national origin. The best part was that this guy - a non-Russian with heavily accented Russian - tried to then tell us that we (Russian-speakers) didn't "fit" in his restaurant.

I found the whole scene almost comical and suggested to him that perhaps he was trying to make us feel "at home" - with the horrible customer service one might have expected in Soviet and Russian restaurants in decades past. Unfortunately his poor comprehension of Russian made it hard for him to understand the joke and he became even more angry. To be honest, I have worked as a waiter and also frequented many restaurants, and I have never seen such shocking rudeness by a restaurant (much less the owner!) to paying customers - and we did pay, resisting a strong urge to walk out on the tab. Normally that's not something that would even cross my mind, but such was the level of insult and anguish we incurred from the owner.

So if you must go to this place, go on Saturday night for the music and tip the musicians, but don't spend too much