I have written over 600 reviews on Yelp and I have NEVER given a 1 star review... UNTIL NOW. I came here after seeing so many great reviews on both Google and Yelp, but was beyond disappointed.
Let me take you on this unfortunate journey starting with the food... and I tried a bunch of the items from the set dinner menu (unfortunately)...
Crispy Calamari - This was actually not too bad, as they got some decent crispiness on the outside, although there was not much flavor beyond that and it was still grocery store quality.
Chicken and Sesame Dumplings - This on the other hand was below grocery store quality. I've literally had better frozen dumplings than this. They were just kinda mushy without much quality stuff inside and the sauce on the side was some weird overly sweet BBQ sauce that totally did not pair with the dumplings at all.
Chargrilled Minute Steak - Minute steak? More like half an hour steak considering how tough it was!! Cutting through this thing was an arm workout and attempting to bite through it made my jaw sore. And despite the glob of butter on it, there was zero seasoning or flavor to the steak at all. I feel bad for the poor cow that had to be sacrificed for this!
Fish Goujons and Fries - This half empty plate of 4 smallish pieces of fried fish fell victim to the same issues as the calamari. Flavorless and bland, just like the fries that came with it.
Black Cherry Chocolate Mousse - After enduring the prior dishes, I felt I had to do myself a favor and treat myself to a dessert. Surely, there was no way they could make a chocolate mousse taste bad right?? Wrong!!! They really defied the odds here by somehow making this mousse so bad that I literally could not eat it - and that is coming from a super non-picky eater who is normally a big fan of chocolate mousse. For some strange reason, they thought it would be a good idea to add salt (yes, salt) to the mousse, and not just a pinch... this thing was saltier than a mouthful of ocean water! They really should've put some of that salt on the steak instead... And to make matters even worse (which I didn't think could be possible), the whole bottom half was filled with some gross cherry sauce that tasted so artificial and like it came straight from a cheap store-bought bottle.
We lost 24.50 GBP and 17.50 GBP for these 3-course and 2-course set menus, respectively.
Now on to the service... which was no better than the food...
From the start, we knew it would be rough when we had to ask our waiter multiple times just to bring us some water. All the while, he was just happily chatting with all the tables around us. When it came to bringing the actual dishes, the service speed was also super slow. At one point, he assured us that the next dish was "on the way", but that was clearly an empty promise based on how long we ended up waiting. When bringing the dessert, he just put down two spoons right on the dirty table. And speaking of dirty items, the water glasses looked quite dirty and I almost wanted to rinse them before drinking from them. As a side note, the ketchup that they brought us (which we had to ask for), seemed very old and liquidy... and it exploded on me after just a bit of a shake beforehand.
The interior of the restaurant is the one thing that isn't too bad, as there is actually some decently nice decor and an okay environment. But that does not come close to making up for the rest of the experience...
I am honestly shocked at how bad Bill's was. From subpar service to straight up inedible food, it is definitely a place that you should avoid. Trust me. read more