Balans No.34 Soho

Fantastic quick brunch here. Sat outside it was lovely weather and it’s on such a picturesque street with lots of people milling about. Good location. Great food. The pancakes were no joke swimming in syrup and I implore you to try them. I’m not a pancake person but these were delectable. The salmon, eggs and avocado were also great, super fresh and good portion sizes. Really couldn’t fault it. Nice staff too. Will definitely be back when I’m next in London!

It was my first time having brunch at Balans. I was quite excited as I'd heard a lot of positive comments about the chain but unfortunately I had a sour first experience. The service was atrocious, I spent around 5 minutes waving my hand (quite literally) to get anyone's attention to place an order. Prior to this, I had waited patiently and tried to make eye contact with any of the workers but no one made an attempt to look our way. A simple acknowledgement would've sufficed. Props to the kitchen staff however as there was a quick turn around on the order. The food itself wasn't problematic, I can highly recommend the chicken pancakes! We ordered the cheese quesadillas, steak and eggs, and chicken pancakes. The eggs were poached medium and were perfect texture, the potatoes along with the steak were delicious with the chimichuri sauce but the steak was very tough and chewy. The cheese quesadillas were close to hitting the mark but lacked any real flavour other than the cheese which was disappointing, and the sauce accompanying it was flavourless too. We were contemplating dessert as the overall meal wasn't bad but again struggled to get anyone's attention. Again, I started to wave at the staff to gain anyone's attention - no one to be seen. What was most infuriating was the staff seen hugging each other and bantering around while a paying customer received zero attention. Not once were we asked how our food was or checked up on. After getting the bill, a third round of waves ensued to ask for the card machine. This was the first time I had ever asked for a service charge to be removed...the atmosphere and service for me make up a large portion of the experience and I felt as if there was zero attempt at any atmosphere or service.

Always my first stop in London. Can never go wrong! Great service and great smiles from the early morning!