We were leaving the Bloomsbury area of London, about to get an Uber to dinner when we stumbled upon…read morethis great little spot. It was my Husband's birthday and we wanted something cute, as far as appearances go, this was that. Or so we thought. Upon entering the staff was welcoming and the restaurant was nice and warm, since it was cold out. We were seated immediately since the restaurant was relatively empty. So I was surprised when our server asked if we had reservations?.. No, of course we did not. Our Server was bubbly, outgoing and very nice but not very good. She forgot the utensils, and our drink order but there was a second server that was on top of what she didn't do or bring and he told her what we wanted to drink. Before we ordered our meals, I explained to our server it was my Husband's bday so they could prepare something for dessert for him. We ordered a Guinness and a coke zero - served in the tiny bottle with no cup for ice. I did request a glass with ice and one with 2 ice cubes was brought out to me. We started our meal with a dozen oysters that were brought out to our table so quickly, we didn't have a chance to photograph them - they were delicous. I initially ordered the Ribeye but was told it wasn't available, so I ordered the chargrilled sirloin steak. The steak comes served with fries, salad & peppercorn sauce. I truly wish the restaurant would've had the Ribeye because the sirloin steak I ordered cooked medium, came out well done, full of fat and extremely chewy. I'm not really one to send food back, so I let them know but ate it anyway. We also ordered the Chargrilled ribeye Lobster - which is a Ribeye & half Lobster served on hot stone served with salad. The steak here was also replaced by a thin sirloin steak. When it came time for dessert, they brought out the crème brûlée we chose from the menu and we were pretty surprised how terrible that small desert was. It was sweet and had the consistency of a flan, not a crème brûlée. There was no layer of caramelized sugar on the crème brûlée and it just tasted completely wrong. Ultimately, The Shell is a seafood restaurant not a seafood and steak restaurant. They have no clue how to slice or cook steak. The place is cute and the servers are doing their best but the restaurant leaves much to be desired.

It's always useful to know the location of petrol stations in urban locations, especially as so…read moremany seem to be closing down these days. This one is tucked away in the heart of South Kensington, between South Kensington shopping centre and the tube station and the Earl's Court section of Old Brompton Road. You'd never find it unless you knew it was there, as Old Brompton Road is hardly a major thoroughfare. It's not far from the south end of Gloucester Road, which leads directly to the main A4 (Cromwell Road). The site is what you could politely call compact (ie rather small) and if there's a queue it tends to back up onto Old Brompton Road. It has one of the small Shell 'Select' shops, selling a basic range of newspapers, food and drinks as well as motoring supplies.

It's a service station that mirrors service stations throughout the UK, over priced! but those of…read moreus that are unfortunate enough to need a car, then we are at their mercy, the upside is I don't have to go out of my way to fill up and they don't have a Wild Bean Cafe, so theres less of a wait to be served. The staff appear to be automaton and lack the ability to be courteous, you know how some cashiers are, you just get "pump No", "put card in", "enter Pin" "take card out" Err hello what happened to the please and thank you's? even a "have a nice day" might help.

Great pit stop for everything you could possibly need for your journey. You can pick up a fresh cup…read moreof coffee, a hot snack (pies, pastys, sausage rolls) or some sweets. Prices are as you would expect from a service station. There are no restaurants for hot food nearby but it is the last service area before the Dartford Crossing.

Good fuel prices, friendly and they have a manual jet wash/car wash for $3-$5 pounds. Very…read morereasonable.