Belgo Centraal

Awful experience. The waitress was incredibly rude and aggressive. The food was average and not worth having someone treat us like we shouldn't even be there. It ruined what should have been a lovely dinner on our last night in a wonderful city.

Tipsily walked into this restaurant after grabbing a few drinks at the nearby pubs. Bigger than it looks from the outside as the top floor leads into the lower floor with much more seating for various groups of people. Saturday late night, not too many people inside, so was able to sit immediately.

To start off, shared the Dirty Fries (£9) - a mound of well crisped fries topped with cheese sauce, tomato sauce, "bacconaise", and pancetta. Not as saucy as the ingredients suggest, yet easy to share and hot off the fryer. For the main course, ordered the Savoury Waffle (£9) - a darkened waffle topped with chilli tomato ragu and a poached egg. Sections off quite nicely and the runny egg is an interesting topping over the dense waffle. Also ordered drinks from the solid list, but can't remember what they were.

Cool spot to chill and relax in booths with a group of people. Food is an excellent indulgence if in the mood.

The drop of the star is because this place is really loud! The restaurant is in the basement with low ceilings and long tables/benches, so if you're not into getting close to your fellow diners, eat elsewhere. That said, there is certainly a great atmosphere and even if conversation is limited (or at full volume) it has a certain je ne sais quoi.

Coming to Belgo and not having mussels would be like coming to London and not riding on a double decker bus! The mussels were some of the best I've ever had! No rubbery or sandy molluscs here!

You arrive excited for some classic Belgian food and then your excitement declines rapidly. First, the wait time to be seated for your reservation was too long (and they were not busy) and then as you walk past the kitchen it smelled moldy. The food was disappointing: the frites are not.. frites, the moules tasted old and flavorless and the broth was bland. They demonstrate little passion and attention to their food in the kitchen.

Positives... the staff are friendly and the waffle desserts are fun.

Neither a good nor terrible experience. Glad I tried their desserts, but I would not return.

We visited Belgo Centraal on a Sunday after we'd been reached out to to come back and try again after a bad experience at another branch late last year. At the door, we were informed there were no mussels left, and if we still wanted to be seated. We didn't mind, and were seated pretty quickly. The restaurants ambience was welcoming and relaxing, and the sheer underground size is also pretty impressive

After we were seated, we decided to ask about mussels anyway - much to our surprise, we'd been fed false information at the door for some reason and we both ordered mussels and fries, along with bread to start and accompany the main

We were impressed with how quickly the mussels came out, and imagine they were pre-prepared and waiting for us. One portion of fries was upgraded to cheesy, which we found to be considerably bigger than the regular portion. This is pretty misleading as the upgrade never mentioned it was also a size upgrade (which it needed due to how small regular actually is)

The Habanero mussels were okay at best, as they were pretty bland and flavourless unfortunately. Throughout the meal, there were no checkbacks or interaction from staff, which meant that we were actually never served the bread we ordered, but they'd still added it to our bill, so we had to get it removed (seemingly to the dismay of our server)

Overall, the food was average on this occasion (which is better than far below average last time) and table service just below that. Being fed false information on dish availability isn't one I've experienced before either, but thanks for having us anyway!

Such a fun place! Walk in and it's dimly lit and has a bar/club type feel. Then they take you downstairs and you're in an underground tavern/open room type seating area with picnic benches etc. It's great.

The food is perfect and cooked in an English demeanor (slightly bland) so be prepared to temper your expectations. Their drink selection is decent to very good and the prices are exceptional. Definitely get a drink even if you're not a drinker.

It's worth the visit at least for a late night bite. Trust me.

Both the food and waitress are the best
Love the moules and mussel popcorn!!
It's the first that I've tried some Belgian food, and hopefully it turned out to be good!

Great food, interior, vibes, and excellent cocktails! A must go restaurant! The pork dish was really good, highly recommend it!

I remember more than a dozen years ago when I came to London for work meetings always looking forward to an evening with dinner and a show. My coworkers, who were far more senior than me let me tagged along and introduced me to Belgo.

I finally came back today for lunch. It's a tiny door to get in, and then you descend into this gigantic basement full of tables, bars, and a massive open kitchen. It's like a warehouse environment with the waitresses dressed in black and waiters dressed like European soccer players. Their specialties are mussels, fries, and Belgium style beer!

I started with a pint of Strawberry Fruli beer - one of my favorites since it's sweet and goes down smoothly. The foam reminded me of cream from Asian bubble teas! I was also surprised to see banana, coconut, cherry, and black currant beers as well!

For lunch I got the 1-kg bucket of mussels, served Traditional style, which is a light garlic white wine broth with parsley, onions and celery. Mussels were fresh and tasty. Despite being smaller than ones I've had in the USA there were so many of them it took a while! They offer bread also if you like to dip the broth. Fries came with the order and were seasoned, and crispy.

This place is probably funner with a group, since you can mix and match from a dozen or so different preparations of mussels from your friends. Plus you might get to try more of their wonderful beers!

Was convinced to return here by a friend. She insisted they had the best lobster ever.

They don't. And I've previously written about the chicken.

Instead you pay £28 for a smaller lobster than you can get at Big Easy for £20.

But wait! They have a special lobster festival menu, where you can order a SMALLER one for £35 that's a whole lobster that somehow has no claws! And is closer to the size of a crawfish.

And when you query it and you have the regular lobster and the special side by side on the same table they will somehow find a way to insist that it is indeed a whole lobster. That's right. This more expensive and smaller lobster with no claws is a whole lobster according to Belgo.

And when they take it away and bring you a regular lobster instead, they don't cook you another one. Instead they grab the first one they see so some other customer is also delayed. And you get a replacement lobster that has weird black stuff in it. Because that other customer had asked specifically for balsamic vinegar to be poured into half the lobster. So it looks like you're about to have that black stuff on the alien planet in Prometheus.

And then you get the bill and it still has the optional service charge automatically added.

So it's gone from 2 stars to 1 star. Sorry Belgo but you suck.

And the moral of the story is stand your ground and don't listen to the girl. Life is too short to queue up for bad food in a hot, stuffy basement on a summer evening. Nothing will convince me to return here.