Maxwells

Really quite disappointed– everything tastes a little synthetic and quality compared to places like bodeans in terms of both taste and portion size was pretty grim.
Went specifically to check out the «freakshakes» which were about 40% spray can cream. Aesthetically pleasing but disturbingly bland.
Service was prompt– but we turned up early were told we might not be able to have a table until the time we booked (30 mins wait) but could get some drinks at the bar, as soon as we said we’d rather have a walk about and come back we were taken straight downstairs to a restaurant at less than 50% capacity– shady.
Over all– not a fan.

Delicious food, amazing atmosphere and lovely staff! I don’t know how similar it is to real american food, but it’s a staple favourite for my partner and I. We would go more often if it was less expensive, but that’s not to say it’s overpriced for the quality you get!

This was our pre-​game meal before shopping and sightseeing around Covent Garden. This had been on my list as one of the places I really wanted to go and check out during this trip. I wanted to keep things light, so I ordered tomato basil soup and a caesar side salad. They both tasted fine. Unfortunately, I was so sick after that I had to wrap up our shopping excursion to get back to the hotel for some quality time in the bathroom. Horrible. Really terrible. I can’t say for sure that this place made me sick or if I just got a bug, but it was within about an hour and a half of eating here that had me feeling ill. My friend, who ordered a burger and a shake was absolutely fine, so there is that… maybe why I’m not willing to rate this place with only one star. I liked the ambiance as well.

An upgrade on bodens!
So if you haven’t been Bodens then you won’t be able to compare the two but as I have done both, I can tell you I prefer Maxwells!
It covers the American style foods burgers, ribs and spit roast chicken.
The only difference is between the two is the service, the attention to food and spacious seating area.

Londoners, I’m sorry but this is not how American food tastes. Sorta close but no banana. Took advantage of their Sunday Meal deal and ordered the nachos appetizer with the rib & chicken combo. Nachos were way off. It looked like nachos and had all the stuff that usually goes in nachos but nuh uh. Not so much. Meat concoction was super sweet and odd tasting with the cheese? Same with the ribs and chicken. Toooooooo much BBQ sauce. Omg. Out of the meal I think I made myself like the ribs and were impressed they weren’t fatty like American ribs usually are. I did feel a bit queasy after the meal though. My husband ordered the calamari appetizer (decent) and pulled pork sandwich (he got a bit nauseous all day afterwards). The Mac and cheese our friends ordered was reddish orange. How is that possible? Kraft Mac & Cheese has nothing on this crazy orange cheese color.

The service, food, atmosphere and value for money is great. I’ve been here only twice but look forward to going again.
Friendly staff, short waiting times for food and interior décor make for an enjoyable experience in Covent Garden.

I’ve never had dinner here, just drinks, and I must say that if you take the Monday offer, cocktails are good enough.

I would not go here again.
That’s not to say my experience here was awful or that the food was bad, it’s because Maxwells is tediously average restaurant. And what’s the point in going to a tediously
average restaurant when you’re in London?
In one of the greatest cities in the wold Maxwells has no place. Sure it boasts history and great burgers, but the reality is — move over there are plenty of bigger boys out there now to rival.
For some reason this is where my friend decided to have her 25^th Birthday meal with a group of around 8.
Cocktails are half price most days till 8pm. They were watered down, bland and just not right. All came in tall glasses and were rubbish versions of their famous originals. The Pina Colada was just cream in a glass and others sicky sweet.
I ate the tequila infused veg fajitas (at £14.95 a little pricey) and the Mrs Prawn fajitas, (at £16.95 very pricey for a non-​mexican restaurant). Safe to say I couldn’t tell if anything was infused. The sour cream and salsa came out in those horrible paper ramekins that get soggy quickly.
It took a while for the food to come out (even with a group of 8 taking their time umming and ahhhing).
I just can’t think of anything positive about the resturant itself. Too Loud, too dark, too garish.
The only reason I’ve given this 3 stars and not the 1 or 2 it deserves is Reese. Reese was our waiter who was stuck at work because we turned up. He served with amazing enthusiasm, cheeky sense of humor and efficiency and patience. That boy deserves a bonus because he is just what good service is all about!

Staff really friendly but the food wasn’t that great and left a lot to be desired.
The ketchup is in a Heinz Bottle but isn’t actually heinz which I thought was really cheeky.
Toilets were flooded.

Disappointed…
I went in here for my birthday dinner with five mates. It wasn’t planned as all good nights tend to not be!
We all had burgers which were good, but the service was poor.
Drinks orders were wrong and didn’t arrive.
So many different staff on hand but no one really looking after you. It was very busy and our server was cool but clearly had too my going on.
It was ok and wouldn’t stop me coming back but I think it wouldn’t be top of my list.

Me and a few friends went to Maxwells two weeks ago as a friend of ours and her boyfriend were visiting from Brussels. There was seven of us on a Friday night. Where to go for dinner? We were lucky to be able to get into Maxwells with just a little wait. About 15 minutes and we were seated and got menus. Since we had already gotten drinks from the bar while waiting the waiter did not have to get us any. He seemed a little disappointed when we ordered only food.
The food was good, some had Mexican food while a friend of mine and me had a tranditional burger. At GBP 10.95 for a burger I was hoping for a good one. Luckily, it was and it certainly was enough to deal with my appetite.
We had a few more drinks and when paying, we added a little tip (to cover the service charge — I think service charge is inappropriate for a small group but hey, instead of a tip …).
All in all, good food, not too long wait even on a Friday …

This is the place we used to go with colleagues every first Wednesday of a month just for a couple of pints and a nice chat. It was a tradition. The place is cool. It is very authentic and classy.
We moved our meetings to another place though since the location is more convenient for everyone.

Popped in to Maxwells after a show a couple of nights ago. It was fine — we decided to get a bunch of appetizers since it was late. We got a couple of garlic breads (with cheese, of course), some soup, and the chicken sampler.
The garlic bread rocked my world. Buttery, cheesey, garlicky deliciousness. The chicken sampler — it was a’ight. Nothing spectatcular, but nothing offensive. Didn’t live up to the garlic bread, but not much would.
Our server was fine — no concerns on the time front like others have mentioned, but it was late and the place wasn’t too crowded.
Will I make a point of going back to Maxwells? Probably not. But I wouldn’t avoid it were I in the area either.

Burger, meh!
Steak, meh!
Service so slow that we decided not to order desert, in the fear we might not receive it before Christmas.

Simple lunch with wifee and munsters! Quick service, Moretti beers, burgers. This is clearly a joint for tourists/​visitors. Yes, me. The service is quite fast, the servers are friendly and the menu is simple but appropriate.
Location is outstanding, I was told (secondhand) that you can sit outside on the pedestrianised street for a fee? Confirmation required.
If you’re a visitor on your way to Covent Garden you could do way worse, if you’re local and taking your significant other for fine dining you probably have already found somewhere sexier.
Me, touristing (is that a word?) with wifee & kids? Great.

Walked in because it was the only busy place at 1130pm. Waitresses stared at us and walked past us without even a greeting. We had to ask to be seated!
2 other strikes against them.
1) friend asked for a cabernet sauvignon, but was given a pinot grigio.
2) saw a mouse scurrying out from their storage room and circled my friend’s chair.
Thanks for the old world authenticity, but no thanks. Lost my appetite. Fat ZERO star.

I’ve been to Maxwells twice. The first time everything was excellent, the second time everything was good. What took away from the second time was the seating (they sat us at the bottom of the flight of stairs and my chair was wobbly) and despite me and my mum ordering the same main, her steak was visably bigger than mine… but hey it was her birthday. Still though the food was good and the staff are always excellent here.
The cocktail happy hour is really cool. All cocktails are less than 4 quid and the cocktails are delicious. My mum does not drink, but I think I got her hooked on the baileys banana colada. The cocktail waiters are stylish and you get a good bit of patter with your drinks. Great vibe at the bar.
The atmosphere in general is really buzzing here, I had a lot of fun both times I visited. Food tastes good, theres a great selection and the portions are pretty big. I picked up the tab both visits and you’re looking at about £90 for 2 people (thats starters, mains, desert and a couple of drinks) so not too bad for a classy restaurant like this.

This rather large and pretty much «only for tourists» restaurants has a lot of stark pluses and minuses. Let me try to list them out.
Plus 1. Awesome happy hour. Lasts all through sunday. You get any cocktail for £3.95 during this period.
Minus 1. The cocktails aren’t that good. My first order was a «long beach iced tea». It was very weak and watery and not at all like what this drink should be. My second, a concoction of lemon and whisky, was more enjoyable though.
Plus 2. There is a decent selection on the menu, with quite a few mexican alternatives for the vegetarians among us. Its a place which won’t shut anybody out for a lack of choice.
Minus 2. The food is grossly overpriced given its quality. Its not that i am averse to paying £14 for a peri-​peri chicken with fries … but this place didn’t deserve it.
Plus 3. We were lucky to get a very understanding waiter. He was patient and understanding even though some people in our group hadn’t arrived even an hour past the reservation time on a busy sunday evening. He also didn’t crib when we handed him 6 cards at the end and asked him to split the bill equally.
Minus 3. A big chunk of the waiting area is in the basement where you don’t get a cell phone signal. Naturally your friends will be an hour late if they can’t reach you. Finding someone in this huge restaurant can be quite difficult.
Plus 4. Maxwells definitely makes the best cheese nachos i have ever had. I am sure that my experience of this dish hasn’t been extensive … but what i had here ranks at the very top, and by quite a margin. The crab cakes were very good too.
Minus 4. But that cannot be said about all the food items. The steak i got was pretty small and the buffalo wings were rather ordinary.
Maxwells is located within 30 metres of the Covent Garden market. This is a place which is perfectly suitable for tourists roaming around covent garden who don’t mind paying £27 per head for pretty average food … they are here to spend money and help our economy anyway :) But if you know the city, there are significantly superior alternatives available within a very short walk.

Hmm, I do believe people are being a tad harsh to Maxwells, but then again, that could be explained by the fact that I only pay half-​price at this establishment, thanks to my TasteLondon card, so my expectations are only halfway theirs.
The place has little character, lots of crowds and decent food. What I found note-​worthy during 1 of my several visits was their commendable service for a particularly crowded place. I had asked for my steak medium and I was nearly through my meal when I noticed a splash of red not quite common for a medium steak. When I brought it to the attention of the staff, the manager came by to offer me a new meal. Considering I was nearly through, I wasn’t very keen so he sent the two of us a very nice cocktail each, which was good enough to be dessert, really.
I see myself going back there on those ‘whatever’ evenings when I just want to get myself a burger or a steak.

Having never even heard of this place, I waltzed in here with a couple of friends so that they could eat prior to hitting a club (wusses! Don’t they know they’re just going to need more alcohol?!), and it did not disappoint.
There were a few groups of people at the door waiting to be seated, on a Thursday night, around 9pm. Arguably quite a good sign!
I can’t comment on the food itself, as I didn’t touch any of it personally, but I heard quite a few appreciative om nom noms from both my friends as they somehow ate portions that looked bigger than they themselves would be, should they curl up in a ball and ‘allow’ me to throw them in the oven.
What I can comment on however, are the drinks. I worked myself through some 4 or so cocktail options, a few of them several times in a row, so I feel like I can make quite a sound judgement here. I loved them all! What helped even more was that our waiter actually *knew* their cocktails (one of the things that truly annoys me is when the server doesn’t actually know anything of their cocktails, making it nigh impossible to pick something to your tastes when they don’t have your usual picks), and was able to place recommendations to me based upon his own tastes and what he felt matched my description of what I wanted.
Speaking of, waiters. Mmmm. It would appear they pick ‘em good here! Or at least, a couple of them. Ladies be warned, or indeed, men be warned not to come here, as every single lady in the place was pretty much just checking out this one waiter here. Even to the extent that I overheard a small argument between a couple on whether she should just break up with her partner to marry said waiter.
Of course, it was our table that made a phone number exchange with him.
Of course.
(I am the ultimate wingman)
(You’d better call her, boyo! WE KNOW WHERE YOU WORK!)
The prices here can add up quite quickly, with dishes hitting up to the £11 mark (didn’t see higher, but as a non eater, didn’t look too hard), and we actually managed to spend £75 pre-​tip, on a meal, two starters and a looooot of drinks. It helps however that between 10 and 11 is cocktail happy hour, whereby they all go from £5.95/£6.95 to £3.95.
If you’re in the area and after a fix, be it food or drinks, I can recommend this place. The atmosphere was pretty laid back and comforting, as previously mentioned.
Enjoy! ;)