The Oyster Shed

I regularly go to The Oyster Shed for lunch as it is very close to my office. The food is always good as is the service. There is a nice small outside area but it is first come first serve. When booking ask for a table by the window. It is a good place for lunch but also good for drinks in the evenings.

The food was really good and the service was very quick, waiters very friendly.

Stumbled upon this gem a few weeks ago when i was out running. I spoke to a few of my mates and decided to give it a go. The Oyster Shed is right on the River Thames with spectacular views of The Shard, HMS Belfast and Tower Bridge. The floor to ceiling windows gives you a panoramic view. The inside has 2 levels with a more formal dining area in the Mezzanine level. The food offer was great with daily specials and a wide range of options all reasonably priced. I opted for the Chicken Kiev which was succulent and juicy followed by the chocolate pot. They have a huge wine list covering all regions and all price options. The staff all seem to have fun and very efficient and their services standards are fab. Went back the following week on a Friday night and it was buzzing. Didn't take long to get served and found a table to soak in the atmosphere. I can jus imagine this place in Summer. I definitely will be going back.

Embarrassingly bad. The nervous waiter explained to us that the guinnes (sic) and oyster pie listed on the menu was in fact the beef, guinness and oyster pie. We asked for gin and tonics and were told they only had slimline tonic. We ordered Albarino and received the worst bottle of Albarino we have drunk in London. We now realised why the waiter was nervous. We ordered the lamb burger with chilli jam and mums chips special. Despite only three tables out of eight or so being occupied, the lamb burgers turned up without chilli jam or mums chips as they had run out. We decided not to order pudding. The restaurant sits on a mezzanine level above a bar full of shouting city types. If you also shout at the top of your lungs, communication is easy. Nothing like the peaceful picture in the advertising. Basically, one to avoid.

We just visited the Oyster Shed for lunch. It really is a lovely venue right on the river's edge and done out with a nautical theme with more seating outside. There were 8 of us and we sat in one of the areas at the window with lots of cushions. So far so good, BUT the service was awful. We had to wait ages for someone to come and take an order for drinks and then had to wait a very long time for those drinks to come. Then as I was quite hungry I had almost finished my drink before someone came to take our order. Then we had to wait about 40 minutes for our food order to arrive. One of the burgers was almost pink inside and then we noticed two people on a nearby table who had ordered the beer battered fish which were really large portions although the person in our party who ordered exactly the same dish got a piece of fish less than half the size. The food was generally good despite what I've said above (the burger was taken and replaced with a properly cooked one). They seem to have a thing about not giving out any ketchup – they gave us a tiny little jar containing about three teaspoons of ketchup and that was to share between us (which is laughable as five of us had chosen dishes with chips). Nobody once came to our table to check all was ok. In fact they generally don't seem to have enough staff even though the place was only half full. To be fair when we complained about the fish incident they said they would not charge us for that item. It's such a shame because it really is a fab place and could be really popular – the service is generally always a bit slow but today it was awful.