Mildred's

This restaurant is great if you're clear what you're going for. Maybe this is why it garners quite a few negative reviews.

Plus points:
- Nice food, not breathtaking, but nice.
- Friendly staff who do well, given how busy it is.

Negative points:
- Can't book.
- Waiting area is the corridor or bar, both places you're in the way.

Points of note:
- This place gets busy. Really busy. Don't go here if you're not up for a bit of mucking around waiting for a table, nor if you expect to have your a*** kissed whilst you're waiting.
- However, once you get your table it's worth it. And it's priced very reasonably too.

Mildred's is really busy, even mid-week, and the wait at the bar is a bit uncomfortable. I felt for the people eating at tables next to the waiting area/bar, as they were surrounded! However, a bottle of wine later we were seated and were served quickly and efficiently by a friendly waiter. Not a particularly intimate environment but the food was good, especially the tomato, spinach and hallumi starter and the beetroot salad starter. Had two bottles of the Sauvignon blanc (approx £16) and really enjoyed them. Two starters, two mains, dessert for one and two bottles of wine all came to just under £75 - not bad for the West End... and always nice to see some imaginative veggie food being cooked.

My food was cold but not half as cold as the service.

I went to Mildred's last Saturday night, seduced by its association with healthy eating. We waited 40 mins for our table, but that is to be expected in central London on a Saturday night. What is not the norm is the uncomfortable waiting experience - no seats, and if you go away and come back they take you off the waiting list, so you are forced to stay there and you feel very much in the way.

When shown to our table, the seats were uncomfortable and the table tiny - very like eating in a cheap diner or something. Unfortunately this is not reflected in the prices!
The service was poor - we had to always signal for the waiter/waitress, they didn't come to check on us, we had to remind them about our drinks, in order to get our plates cleared we had to put them on a neighbouring (empty) table...

When the starters were brought the waitress picked a random ingredient to identify them with; when we showed some confusion she charged off with them without waiting for any questions or clarification. When we finally managed to catch her when she came to serve a table next to us, it turned out they were our starters - so she went to get them from where they had been put in the kitchen to be chucked out!

I was also very disappointed in my main course, the butterbean, sweet potato and pepper cinnamon-spiced stew served with cornbread. It sounded delicious but was predominantly tomato, with one or two pieces of the other ingredients in it. If it had been described as mainly tomato I would not have ordered it, being unable to eat too much tomato!

We were also lucky enough to witness the labelling of the gentleman in front of us in the queue as 'dickhead'. This was written on all of his order forms. I am intrigued as to what he could have done to warrant this, without us noticing (given we were standing just behind him). We were also seated next to him and he didn't seem to do anything unreasonable. Always nice to know that the staff are poking fun at the customers.

I support Mildred's ethics, with their environmental and organic approach. However, I would never eat here again or recommend it to anyone, as I think the food is overpriced for what it is, the service is comprehensively appalling and any atmosphere completely lacking.

Unbelievably rude waiter who lies and pretends to be a manager (couldn't possibly be). Food was not good either. I saw diners both to the left and right of me hardly touching their lentil salads.

Unfortunately, I picked this restaurant out of all London has to offer when I came down for the weekend, as I thought the food must be good based on the reviews.

My friends and I had walked quite a distance to get there. We were told there'd be 30 minutes wait, which we were expecting as it was a Friday night. There are no seats for people waiting at the bar. We thought the chairs by the window were for that purpose and sat down, only to be told they were also for diners. We had been waiting half an hour when the waiter, without even a glance around the room, gave a free table to people that had been waiting 10 minutes. We should have left there and then. The waiter was very rude to us and said he thought we'd 'bu**ered off' (yes, he actually said this to us!). I got the impression he didn't like 2 of us sitting by the window, as he said it wasn't normally allowed. Nice.

We were not pleased with him, and said so. I don't know what possessed us to carry on waiting for a table... perhaps we were determined this extremely rude individual would not stop us trying this food that was supposed to be good. However, when we finally got as far as the food, my starter soup came with very stale bread and the vegetables in my curry had not been properly chopped or cooked (red pepper was raw and green beans not cooked and not trimmed, straggly ends intact). Couldnt even eat it. I was very disappointed and wondered whether it could have been deliberate, it was so bad. Staff were not surprised when we gave it back uneaten. My friends' meals were at least edible, but that's about it. Quite poor indeed.

Truth needed to be told. I'm afraid the whole story would take too long to tell, but the waiter spoke to us very rudely on a number of occasions, trying to get us to leave. We said we wouldn't pay for my meal, they said we didn't have to pay for any of it. Doesn't take long to figure out why.

Have been to Mildred's many times after disovering their gem of a menu. I have been a vegetarian from an early age and was getting fed up with the severe lack of choice in restaurants. However, after discovering this hidden secret my faith in good veggie food was rekindled! Not only is it great for veggies but I often take my non-veggie friends and family there and they've all loved the food. Highly recommend for anyone!

Veggie heaven! I've never had so much to choose from. The service is friendly and the location great for a few drinks after.

Food was good but they need to get some soap into the dispensers in the loos, as they might go down with a public health problem! I mean, what do the cooks wash their hands with once they've been to the loo?!

I'm fast going off Mildred's. While the portions are getting smaller, the staff are getting more surly and unhelpful. Last time I visited, a caterpillar crawled out of my friend's salad, which made us both feel ill. We tried for ages to get the waitresses' attention and in the end my friend had to go up to the bar to find someone. Annoyingly, the waitress still added 12.5% service to the bill.

HIGHLY recommended! I will definitely be going back. Bring on the veggies...

Being a chef myself, I thought the food was fantastic. Well done guys. This place should be recommended for anyone, even meat eaters.

We always have a great time at Mildred's. The food is fantastic and the waiters cute and fun.

I had to wait for a table because Mildred's is so popular, but once my mushroom pie with peas and chips arrived I realised why!

Simply a great restaurant. No real alternative at this price. Sure, the staff sometimes get rushed, but it's one of my favourites in Soho. The quinoa salad was amazing, as was the couscous. Ignore the grumblies who expect posh restaurant service - it's a vegetarian cafe for goodness sakes!

Good, simple vegetarian food. The staff is very friendly. The atmosphere is very lively, it can get rather busy.

The menu, wine list and price are excellent. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the waiting staff who was unfriendly, unhelpful and obviously felt that customers are a nuisance!

I love the fact that it's not all mung beans and whole grain nonsense. Great if you are a veggie or vegan that wants tasty food and aren't obsessed about your weight. Desserts are marvellous. Makes a change not to be given small portions on the assumption that veggies are all on diets, like most places seem to do. I love Mildred's.

A friend took me here one lunchtime, nice food but portions too large. I couldn't finish my main course!

Great to have a load of veggie choices that are not all raw brown rice and water soup. Good pies and deserts and wholesome food. Service maybe wasn't all that.

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