Armadillo

Ive been here soooo many times!
I also always sit at the same table. I dont know why Im telling you this.
Anyway, Armadillo is my usual post-​cinema haunt, mainly because
a) it is opposite the cinema
b) the burgers are awesome
c) you get a 20% discount with your cinema ticket
Large burgers, nice beer, good service, convenient, inexpensive, need I go on?!
I can recommend the Lazyboy burger and Mrs K recommends the veggie platter (see below). Alas, I’m a if-​it-​aint-​broke kinda guy so I cant say Ive tried anything else :-$ (what happens if i try something new I and I dont like it!).
FINE! I’ll have something else next time I go.

Armadillo is a decent enough American themed restaurant that has the atmosphere of an airport diner, which I guess is basically what it is. Considering that it’s in the O2 it was surprising to see the staff struggle with the volume of people — queue management was good, with someone bringing out menus for us to look at while waiting and a very efficient host who at several points throughout the meal actually had to take orders from us as he appeared to be the only person around. Time saved looking at the menu in the queue was lost after we were abandoned for about 20 minutes at out table. Basically, they need more staff, I don’t think it was that the people there were necessarily doing a bad job. Having said that, they had also run out of chips, so maybe they are just not coping with pre-​concert flow.
It’s fairly expensive for what it is. I wasn’t that hungry so I got a couple of appetizers — ended up as £10 for some stuffed jalapeño peppers and corn on the cob, neither of which were particularly good. It’s a shame because Armadillo has a pretty good menu and with a bit more effort could be a decent place to eat.

I recently came here with a group of friends after eating and before a concert because we fancied some drinks.
Unfortunately the bar area is in extremely close proximity to the tables where people are eating, as they’ve obviously tried to cram in as many seats as possible, and often the wait staff squeezed past us or asked us to move.
Fortunately though we made it, just in time, to at least get one round of Happy Hour drinks. Always a good thing.
The cocktails were okay but many traditional /​classic cocktails were not on the list and we were welcomed with a confused look when we, and others after us, requested well known cocktails. When we ordered other rounds of drinks (including a delicious Chilean Merlot I must add), we were given incorrect drinks but because of how this was dealt with by the bar man — politely and giving us a free drink — this was good customer service and much appreciated. As we were there for a while and very friendly, we had a laugh with the bar staff who when we first arrived, we’d thought were a tad aloof and offhand.
Was pleasantly surprised and would probably return.

I came here twice in one day (!)
The first time, I had a lovely bruschetta and a serious side of rice and beans for lunch. The bruschetta originally came without the avocado (which I was particularly after, so I enquired and was apologised to by a very nice manager who went next door to Zizzi and procured me some — as they’d run out). The dressing on the bruschetta was lovely and it tasted über-​fresh.
I then watched 2 movies and came back with friends to take advantage of the 25% cineworld discount again! We had the veggie sharing platter (larger than expected :) and then various burgers/​wraps/​fritattas.
Overall the food is about 4* but the service was 5* which is always a lovely surprise. Mistakes happen (we’re all human) but it’s how the staff deal with them that matters :)

This restaurant is hidden behind these big fat balls in the o2 and so it can easily get forgotten. However, I like this restaurant and often think it goes underrated. I don’t often go for American food I because I find it quite boring. However, I do really like this restaurant, especially their milkshakes that come in massive milk bottles and their delicious buttermilk pancakes. *drool*
Just be sure to come here with an empty stomach!