Brasserie Joël

We came here for Christmas dinner, because it was the only place we could get a reservation. It was very busy, granted it was on Christmas Day. The wait staff was slammed, so it was hard for them to give us excellent service. They were very polite and very nice. The food was good despite the lack of service. For appetizer I had the parsnip soup & my husband had smoked salmon. My husband had the pumpkin risotto & I had the fish for the entrée. Dessert was a bit disappointing for me, I had the Christmas pudding & my husband had the salted caramel ice cream, which was good. I understand that dinner on Christmas is going to be hectic so I’m not upset over it taking a long time. I am a bit disappointed in the food considering this was probably the most expensive meal we have eaten ever. Save your money and go somewhere else that is half the price.

We went for an office get together, and were pleasantly surprised with how good the food was and so reasonably priced, but just one caveat you have to order the menu and before 7 pm. Also for some strange reason they only offer it to small groups. The only thing which spoilt the evening for use is the argument we had to have to let us order from the menu, since we got a bit delayed. Otherwise everything was perfect. I had a starter of terrine, followed by a juicy steak and dessert. With the wine it came to about 37 per head, which for the food quality is totally worth it. The 3 course menu is a steal at 20 quid.

We got breakfast buffet with our room.
The breakfast buffet was frequently out of various food items.
The coffee was cold.
I asked the server for cream twice and she never brought it.

Brasserie Joël is located across the way from Big Ben and a short walk from Waterloo station inside the Park Plaza Hotel. The hotel has modern décor and both the hotel and restaurant staff were very friendly and helpful.
Prices are very reasonable and they offer discounted 2 – 3 course menus until 7pm. We appreciated the efficiency and attentiveness of the staff which is shown by the food coming out piping hot. There is nothing worse than cold or lukewarm food!
The cauliflower velouté was rich and creamy. I just loved the roast sesame oil accent! The beef and fish were equally delicious!
CAULIFLOWER VELOUTÉ (V)
Roast sesame oil, croutons, chives
NIÇOISE SALAD
Red pepper, cooked egg, anchovies, tagliasca olives (gf)
BEEF ONGLET STEAK
Chives mash potato, shallot and red wine sauce
GILT HEAD BREAM FILLET
Girolles mushrooms, celeriac purée, coffee sauce

Brasserie Joel is a high end Brasserie close to waterloo station within the Park Plaza Hotel. Alongside many other high end dining experiences Brasserie Joel is a nicely relaxed and informal place with plenty of high end attributes that is welcoming to all, whether you’re a business person of just wanting to eat with some friends. Note: Most people are the former :)
Something quite cool the company does is release 50 bookings at 50% off to those that respond to their tweet on the 1^st of each month. Extremely nice of them, particularly to those that might not necessarily be able to afford the experience at full price (\o). So an extremely good reason to follow them! Do it now!
The interior is beautifully elegant and classy without being stuff. The tables are spaciously laid out, and the lighting perfectly cool without being harsh. Excellent for those of you that like taking pictures of your food. On arriving you get bread that is frequently topped up. And the bread of many varieties is constantly topped up at your request. The lemon bread was just WOW. Served with butter and Olive Oil, it’s very very easy to stuff yourself on this before even ordering! Something to note if a member of your party is 45 mins late!
The duck terrine starter I loved. It was beautiful. the tiny gherkins and super sweet tiny cherry tomatoes complimented it well. It comes with country bread, which added to the not unsubstantial amount of bread already on our table. The roast lamb main course I ordered was absolutely divine. I’d ordered lamb a fortnight prior and thought that was good. This was BETTER. Never have I tried tastier lamb. It was the best cut of lamb, the tenderloin too. Medium rare. mmmmmm. Will need to go back for that. The other starters, roast cod, courgette and tomato risotto and pork belly were not on the same level, but perfectly decent. Note the mains are quite pricey, but this is what things cost at the high end. Luckily they’re tempered through the starters and desserts, but again go 50% off if you can.
The desserts were good, particularly as they’re fixed at £5.50 a dessert. We found a small fly in the strawberry tart dessert, and the manager graciously asked what we would like to do. We asked to replace it like for like and this was done with little fuss.
In all, we were there for about 3.5 hours (incl. the wait for the third person in our party) and not once did we feel rushed or pressured to hurry up. The staff waited on our table with such efficiency they never had to ask if we were finished but seemed to know perfectly when we had finished each course.
I’ve read on their site that they do a special lunch menu with 3 courses for around £13. I would definitely go back to try that. Also the menu changes regularly depending on the season, which is nice. So this place is thoughly recommended and I’ll be watching their twitter feed intently: D

We recently stayed at the Park Plaza and after a long day we decided to try and have dinner in the hotel one evening. We were told there would be a 20 minute wait and that we needed to come back to her in 20 minutes because she could not keep track. So in 20 minutes we returned and we were seated and warned that service would be slow. We got to our table and I almost sat in a big splotch of food on one of the chairs. The hostess looked at it and shrugged. We figured she would send someone to clean it up… No luck. So our waiter arrived. A pissy little frenchman called Etienne. Snotty as all heck and almost completely absent throughout our dinner. We pointed out the gross splotch on the chair and he shrugged. So he took our order and we asked him for water as well as our drinks. The food took a while and it arrived and the food was alright but the water never arrived. The water arrived as we finished dinner. This is the kicker. The customary tip of 12% was on the bill. When my husband settled he left it at 12% and signed. The little snot Etienne had the audacity to ask my husband if he was sure that he wanted to leave the tip at 12%. Etienne you suck as a waiter and you are lucky we did not take it down. I was not impressed with this place at all.

Had fish n chips the night before, so I was looking for something a little more upscale. Thanks to fellow Unilocalsters, I found this fantastic place. London is not cheap, yet this place offers a full three course meal for 20 pounds. Plus a complementary glass of very good champagne. Service was also super. Chef did a fantastic job!

I had a wonderful meal here last week. I had probably the best french onion soup I have ever had. This was followed with scallops that came with a bit of that fancy black pasta underneath. It also had a little bit of cream sauce. I had to add mashed potatoes to my meal… and they were some of the best I have ever had. The waiter also brought over some type of liquer or drink to end my meal. What a nice touch. He was very new to the restaurant and his service was flawless. What a nice treat!

Scallops, risotto, and the foie gras terrine were outstanding. All 3 made to perfection. This chef nailed it. Well worth tasting if you are in London westminster area. I would rate the food at least 5 stars. As for the service, I would rate a 4 out of 5 stars. Their attentiveness could use more improvement such as receiving the bill in a timely manner after my significant other and I completed our meal. Overall, I would give this restaurant a 4 ½ star rating if I could. Although the restaurant didnt completely blow me away and due to the Unilocal rating restriction of giving whole stars instead of half star ratings, I would ultimately have to give the restaurant a 4 star rating.
By all means, this is definitely a place for fine dining and definitely worth trying.

You can taste the quality of ingredients that the Chef uses! Try the tuna tartare and the lobster risotto!
Delicious food, great service, and the ideal place for a romantic dinner.

Just wanted a light meal since we were tired from the trip over, so we got lazy and decided to just go to the hotel restaurant. We normally don’t expect much, but it was very tasty.
* Tuna and Avacado Tataki
Very fresh, nicely cut, and tasty. The avacado had just the right soft/​hardness.
* Chicken & Duck Salad
Fresh and made to perfection. Both the chicken and the duck were nicely tender, almost juicy. The light amount of dressing did a great job of adding flavour without overpowering anything.
It was nicely quiet though there just weren’t very many people there, and the service, as to be expected, was good.
On a side note: if you stay at the hotel, don’t go here for breakfast. It’s really not very good and not worth the price.

Friendly service, if a little slow, from extremely polite and helpful staff. I thought the food was a bit over-​priced. We’d taken up a special offer based on sipping a champagne apéritif in the atrium opposite a view that didn’t actually exist. Not sure why Brasserie Joel has to claim spectacular views over the London Eye (unfortunately blocked by County Hall) when the Houses of Parliament are there to brag about. Butternut squash soup was excellent and we enjoyed our lemon sole and our salmon with courgettes. Crème brûlée was delicious but took rather a long time to arrive. I’d probably visit again.

excellent atmosphere, at the plark plaza hotel
and excellent food.

First off, I must confess that Brasserie Joel would normally be out of my price range. But I got an amazing deal to get 2 main courses for £1 each, so I leapt at the chance to try it. The food was absolutely fantastic — more on that later — it’s just the venue is so corporate-​hotel like, you do feel like you’re about to go to some kind of paperclips convention or something. Such a shame, as it really doesn’t do justice to the cooking.
To start, there were some complimentary mini tomatoes and toasts with tapenade, which was a nice touch, although I’d just had a root canal filling, so had to leave the toasts to my friend.
With the £1 deal, we had to order off a small section of the menu called Les Coquettes, or one-​pot dishes — and we both chose the cep risotto with pea shoots, along with a side of garlic buttered spinach. I was slightly bemused when the meal arrived in it’s own Le Creuset saucepan, and had to ask the waiter whether I should eat it from the pan or spoon it onto the plate. For those who need to know — you eat it from the pan. It was absolutely delicious (as it should be, for the original £19.50 price tag) — rich, buttery and perfectly cooked with plenty of mushrooms. Not a huge portion, but it did leave me room for dessert, natch.
I could easily have chosen most of the desserts — but spied some women on another table with a gorgeous looking block of some kind of chocolatey thing, which I immediately ordered. It was fabulous — a peanut butter chocolate mousse, with a firm, almost baked cheesecake texture, with a crispy base and a ribbon of caramel sauce along the top. Perfection. The bill, of course, was ridiculously cheap, which it wouldn’t have been if we’d paid the real price — but they have got a January deal — you get a red envelope which you have to open when you arrive, and you can win a number of offers, including 40% off the food or even an overnight stay in the Park Plaza hotel. Bit of a gamble, as you might not win anything!

Die Brasserie Joel ist Teil des Hotels Park Plaza Westminster Bridge und nur zu empfehlen. Es gibt dort französisch angehauchte Küche, die Preise sind allerdings eher im oberen Bereich. Für 2 Personen mit Hauptspeise, Dessert plus Getränke sind wir locker auf 110 Pfund gekommen. Allerdings war das Essen die hohen Preise wirklich wert, ich glaube, ich habe bisher nirgendwo besser gegessen! Jeder Bissen zerging einen förmlich auf der Zunge. Man musste auch nicht lange auf das Essen warten, alles kam ziemlich schnell. Das Personal ist supernett und sehr zuvorkommend. Von der Einrichtung her ist das Restaurant eher dunkel gehalten und wirkt ziemlich stylish. Ich kann einen Besuch nur empfehlen.