The Long Long Breakfast at Cote Bistro

I had some luck with the Italian restaurant Strada in Covent Garden earlier in the week and had seen this equally inviting restaurant nearby called Cote Bistro. For breakfast on this Saturday morning, I chose to dine there. It was already past 10am and the restaurant waning in customers until lunch.

Despite the lack of customers, this was a slow ordeal. It started promising when they offered me the lunch or breakfast menu and quickly seated me in the pleasantly designed interior. But after ordering a coffee (£1.95), orange juice (£2.25) and eggs florentine (£7.50), things went downhill from there. First of all the eggs were actually good which are really eggs benedict with spinach. Although I could see the wait staff of four speeding here, there and to the downstairs kitchen it was difficult to get their attention to order a second cup of coffee. It was nice they brought a complimentary bottle of water, which comes with the meal, but I was nearly done with my eggs so the point was lost on me.

There was no reason for service this slow since it was the lull between breakfast and lunch. The longest wait was to ask for my bill and pay. Excluding the wait time, I probably could have ordered and eaten within 20 minutes. With the waiting, the meal took 40 minutes until I left. The total with tax and tip (note: service charges are automatically added to bills in most restaurant in London) was an overpriced £15 (US$24).

Evidently this restaurant is one in a chain with locations in England and there appears to be additional locations planned. With so many choices of restaurants in Covent Garden, it's unlikely I'd have reason to re-visit this restaurant when in London again. More info cote-restaurants.co.uk for hours and location.