Marmelo Kitchen - Waltham Forest

TLDR: Overpriced food (avocado on toast was a single untoasted slice of bread with avocado cream, nothing else on the plate £8.50), of mediocre quality (avocado cream was so salty it was nearly inedible) and unprofessional service (refused to refund or even discount a meal which was returned after a couple of bites because it was too salty to be edible). Long story: Went there for a casual lunch with family, 4 of us. Ordered a variety of food, although we were the only other customers in the place and the only other table had finished eating and thus were not expecting food, our simple order (avocado on toast, eggs on cream, chicken thigh and salad) took over half an hour to be ready. Two of the meals were incredibly overly salty, one of us complained after a couple of bites that their meal was too salty was offered a choice of something else but turned it down as wasn't confident it wouldn't be salty too and didn't want to return a second meal. At the end we were charged for all four meals. Upon questioning that one of them was returned uneaten because it was too salty and inedible, we were told they couldn't refund it because it had been half eaten. A conversation followed, during which the staff were clearly unwilling to give us a discount or refund for the meal, instead insisting we were being unreasonable, and at a point even the chef interjected to say they thought we were wrong to ask for a discount on our inedible meal. I have worked in restaurants and bars for many years, to serve amateurishly salty food, be in the embarrassing position of having a meal returned because it's not edible and not offer a discount or any kind and insist customer pays full price for a meal they didn't (couldn't) eat is very poor, particularly when charging extortionate prices.

Came for breakfast. Live locally, but only second visit. Was barely greeted, despite being first customers of the day. Sausage brioche was fine but over priced. Two mini sausages for £8 Bacon sandwiches were better value as more filling for £7.50 Coffee was very poor quality. Burnt taste and I believe semi skimmed milk for a flat white which is not correct. Four staff but had to ask them to take our order. All in all, overpriced, unfriendly and mediocre food. There are many better options locally.

We were invited here to bring 2 families together the day before the wedding. There were 22 of us in the upstairs private room. Drinks and Canapes were followed by a fantastic and amazing assortment of food. Roasted potatoes with veg, bean casserole, fish, braised lamb shanks to name a few all utterly delicious and served piping hot, huge portions and the drinks flowed

We had a small breakfasts with delicious Tee and Coffee. They have a great salad buffet also for takeaway (in paper boxes)

It is with a heavy heart that I shall not be returning to Marmelo Kitchen. I've had several brilliant brunches and evening meals there, but the place has completely gone downhill. At brunch today my boyfriend ordered the chicken. A very small quarter came out that was hot on the outside and stone cold in the middle. I tried a bit and immediately spat it out on my plate frightened of food poisoning. We told the waiter, and the chicken was taken away, to be replaced. We were amazed when the same bit of chicken minus the piece I had spat out was returned to us a few minutes later (presumably after being put in the microwave). It is incredibly dangerous to reheat chicken unless it has been completely cooled and then reheated and I don't believe there could have been time for the chef to have put it in the microwave, turn it halfway, check the temperature in the middle with a thermometer and return it to our table in the few minutes the incident took. I asked the waiter to take the chicken away again saying we didn't want it. He was very apologetic, asked if we wanted anything else, we said we didn't, we would just share my meal. Then the woman who seemed to be in charge came over and without a hint of an apology said she thought we just wanted the chicken warmed up. I said it should seem obvious we would want a replacement. Unperturbed, she just said no problem (her meaning being as in, no problem we didn't want the reheated food that hadn't been properly cooked in the first place). Also worth noting that the fresh fruit juice is no longer squeezed fresh at the restaurant our orange juice was nothing more than what you get from an upmarket supermarket none of the froth that comes with freshly squeezed juice. The glasses are also very small at £2.50 each, the size has been reduced from what it used to be. Again, the coffees are much smaller but still to die for, I shall miss them very much! My sausage and egg muffin was delicious, no complaints there, I really enjoyed it, and my only complaint was sharing it with my partner so he didn't go hungry. I want to make very clear that the young man who served us apologised several times about the chicken, acted in a most professional manner, and clearly understood why we were perturbed. The woman in charge really needs a refresh or maybe a beginner's training course in customer service. The risk of food poisoning is a very serious one, especially how popular the place is with young families and pregnant women! Marmelo Kitchen is now so popular that it's hard to get a table (good for them, but if you can't cope then reduce the number of tables), they run out of food on the menu within an hour or two of opening, and I feel very .sorry for the staff who are rushed off their feet and seem to be very badly managed. I've recommended this restaurant to dozens of people. I am now rectifying that with this review. There are lots of great places to eat in the area and new ones opening all the time. Try somewhere else which has the business capability to serve all covers with safe food, and has the humanity to apologise when things go wrong. Once again, thank you to the young man who served us who did his best to make it up to us. Hence our still leaving a tip. Needless to say it shall be my last visit to Mamelo Kitchen.