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KOL London Reviews
Avoid like the plague
The Food and Wine here is outrageously expensive and frankly rather poor. The meal was over £800 for two and despite being a fan of taster menus this one and the accompanying wine flight was hugely disappointing. Some of the courses tasted rather nasty and the wines weren’t much better. Avoid
Wow
Best food experience I had in London in a while. Superb. Definitely coming back. The plating was exquisite but the taste was mind blowing, so simple yet layered, complicated tastes.
Top food and service as always
This is the best resturant I have been in, food، and staff are excellent as always. We have been coming here weekly for 2 years almost
Pleasant but quite a bit short of outstanding
We visited on a Saturday lunchtime. Our first impression was of an attractive restaurant and warm, welcoming staff (though the waiting was a bit fumbled from time to time). We took the tasting menu with drinks pairings. By and large this was creative and interesting, and I enjoyed the chef’s emphasis on using unusual ingredients, yet ones sourced here in the UK. Our overall feeling was that none of the dishes had real ‘wow factor’ in spite of their curiousness and pretty presentation. It was telling that, when staff asked which was my favourite item from the menu, I struggled to identify one, and not for having been spoiled for choice. We felt that many of the dishes required a little more seasoning. The wine pairings, meanwhile, were pleasant though I struggled to get my head around the connection between German and Austrian viniculture and the KOL’s Mexican ethos. Overall we enjoyed our visit but wouldn’t rush back, not least as the bill came to some £700 for lunch for 2. The nouvelle nature of the dishes also meant we did not leave feeling particularly full.
Avoid!
Very nice staff who worked hard but the food and atmosphere were massively underwhelming. No idea how this restaurant got so over hyped. No dish truly impressed over our very slow 3 1/2 hours spent in the restaurant. And all this came with a very large bill.
Great Mexican experience
A very good original Mexican cuisine. The menu is very special in it’s tastes but a bit heavy too. Dishes are served in a fast tempo. The service is good and friendly. Don’t forget that a service tax is added to the bill.
Incredible!
Truly amazing spot in London! The staff were extremely friendly, knowledgeable and on top of service. The dishes were excellent! Delicious, balanced and creative use of local products to show case Mexican flavors. Highly recommend!
Different and flavourful
Really good food. Tastes and presentation different from what you usually get. Super friendly service and nice atmosphere
Not worth a Michelin Star
In my opinion KOL should have the Michelin star taken away, I actually don’t understand how they got it, in the first place. I’ve been planning to visit the restaurant for over a year, finally I made the trip to London to try it and it was a total disappointment. Here the highlights of the night: Chef: First huge disappointment, Santiago didn’t even care to stop by the table, despite me traveling a long way from Mexico to meet him, he spent his time chatting with a group of three men dressed in black and covered in tattoos, using a terrible language and all of them coursing in Spanish, very inappropriate for the occasion. Rey Lopez definitely a polite chef, he was very nice and welcoming when we first walked into the restaurant. Menu: After visiting places like Le Maurice in Paris, Louis XV-Allain Ducasse in Monaco, Akira Black and other Michelin star awarded restaurants, I can’t understand how KOL managed to obtain the award, only 2 dishes of their entire menu were good, the quality of the ingredients was not exceptional, good quality but definitely not high-quality, there were flaws in the operation, we were asked to leave our table at 8:45 pm because they had a booking at 9 pm, and there were moments when we had to wait about 15 to 20 minutes for each course to arrive. Dear KOL, you are setting the peace, you can’t expect your clients to speed up eating and then kick them out, that is an operations mistake, paying £449 for this menu and service was definitely not worth. As mentioned before some plates didn’t arrive on time, one broth dish came cold to the table for example. Unforgivable mistake for a Michelin inspector. Perhaps because they got it, they think it is fine not to pay attention anymore to the details. Presentation: The curtains were messy, and unevenly opened and people from the street would stare at you. Staff: The outdoor kitchen looked very packed and chaotic. Pablo, was our main waiter, very kind and amazing person that helped the experience be better, he showed knowledge about the dishes and the history of the restaurant, but in the end broke our hearts following instructions by asking the table back at 8:45 pm, when the kitchen was slow delivering the food. Anyways… For people who really appreciate haut-cuisine and good restaurants, trust me, do not loose your time on this one, you don’t get much value for your money. London has better options, or visit Mexico. On the other hand, if you have minimum £449 that you are happy to let go, I recommend to visit the restrooms, the decoration is thoughtful, boho style, small trip to Tulum, a town in Mexico without exiting the UK. Hopefully they’ll get their operation together and improve if they want to keep their Michelin Star.
Overhyped Disappointment
Securing a reservation at this establishment felt akin to hitting the jackpot – after months of persistent attempts, driven by an enticing trailer that hinted at an unforgettable culinary adventure. Upon arrival, the restaurant's aesthetic matched the allure of the promotional material – chic and thoughtfully designed. Service also met expectations. However, when it came to the food, disappointment ensued. Despite the appetizers menu boasting 8 or 9 items, the portions were so minuscule that they wouldn't even fill a single plate collectively. While the modern Mexican concept intrigued, it failed to deliver on flavor, relying too heavily on presentation alone. The initial excitement was overshadowed by hunger and a sense of letdown. No amount of flashy marketing or trendy ambiance can compensate for a lackluster dining experience. Ultimately, the promise fell short of reality.
Creative, exciting, unusual
Creative, unusual, delicious small plates of food with exciting taste and texture profiles. Great sommelier. Came away wanting more. Casual ambiance. Expensive. Chef was in the kitchen.....
Average at best
The food looked pretty but that’s about it. The taste was average at best. The pairing (mezcales) with the food was bizarre as it was more of a mezcales introduction class and did nothing to complement the dish.
Great service and atmosphere some amazing food but a few misses
Great experience at kol with very attentive and informative service, a good wine list with some interesting choices that you don’t often see and a strong menu. The food was very different and some courses were an absolute hit whereas others were a miss. Over the 8 or 9 courses we had I would say 2 or 3 were exceptional 2 were a miss and the rest were good. As a different concept it is worth a try but it is not Cheap Overall I’d go back for the atmosphere and service but there are other places to try for the food
Good food, but not good value.
The ambience, service and food is good however in my view it falls short. More than anything it comes down to value and expectations. A meal for two, with only two drinks each came to just under £500. For that I expect something really special/memorable. An 8 course tasting menu sounds a lot but it was more like 7 canapes and a main. I found the narrative a bit much, with the waiter taking longer to describe the dish than it took to eat it. As a result the meal took three hours. When I told them I wasn't close to being full, they did provide two rounds of the main which was appreciated - good customer service. In summary, nice but poor value. If you are price insensitive, go.
Out of this World
Dinner was truly unique & far beyond my expectations, particularly liked the cerviche, halibut tacos & chilli gelato dessert, Do go earlier to sip some unique cocktails at the bar too, enjoy
Some good, some bad, mostly average!
Visited Kol in mid December and it was very hit and miss. Similar to other reviews we thought the food overall was very bland. There were a couple of very good dishes such as the langoustine tacos. Other than that most were average, in particular the main which was short rib tacos which to be honest I'd be slightly disappointed if I had served this at home. All in all for £520.00 it was just too expensive for what it was and a particular annoyance of mine is restaurants having supplements, in this case an extra course for wagyu and truffle at £90.00 per person (£30.00 for wagyu and £60.00 for truffle) pp. I think for a £160 tasting menu you either put it on the menu or you don't.
Meh
We were looking forward to eating at KOL during our visit to London, but were disappointed. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t very good. I saw previous reviewers’ comments about the food being bland and I disregarded them because it can be hard to please everyone. I have to say I agree with them though. Most dishes on the tasting menu lacked significant seasoning or flavor other than chilies and/or chili oil. That’s not to say the food was too hot, just not much flavor beyond chili. For the hype and the expense, not worth it. Expected MUCH better from a Michelin starred restaurant. On a positive note, however, the staff and decor were very deserving.
Worth the wait
It took a while to get this reservation, but it was worth the wait. Outstanding food and service. Very nice atmosphere. Our party of 3 had a great time. Maybe the best meal we've had in London this year.
Fantastic
Cool room. Big table with plenty of space. Welcoming friendly staff. Food was fantastic. One of the best meals I’ve had in a long time. Interesting, varied, delicious. Couldn’t be more different from a stuffy French dining experience in a good way. Loved it.
Excellent Mexican food and margaritas
Went to Kol last night for a friend’s birthday. The tasting menu was fantastic, with the highlights being langoustine tacos and asada (wagyu tacos). Excellent margaritas which somehow didn’t get me drunk, even after four. Great, friendly service also. Highly recommend.
KOL review
After ages finally got a reservation and visited the anticipated KOL. The food was great until the dessert appeared to our dismay and utter disbelief there was a large piece of plastic found baked into the flan which we could not see and ended up eating. This really ruined the entire experience as the plastic was in the mouth and felt extremely sick and ended vomiting at the place . Not what you expect at a Michelin starred place.
Don’t believe the hype
I visited KOL with six friends, after reading numerous positive reviews about it being the only Mexican restaurant in London with a Michelin star. Prior to to us arriving, one of the guests was ill so I notified the restaurant that we would be five. They told me that due to their booking policy, I would still be required to pay £135 - not a great first experience! On the night we opted for the tasting menu, plus an additional course and wine pairing, total price without tip was £285. My expectation was food bursting with flavour and depth, I’m afraid the reality was very average, bland food, that’s nothing to write home about. It seems that in their attempts to chase after a Michelin star, they have tried to refine what you would expect from Mexican food.
Life-changing Mexican dining!
Incredible. Thought we knew Mexican food til we came here! Each dish had so many new ingredients we’d never had before and could’ve easily had a hundred more of the freshly made corn tortillas. Life-changing. Staff were so attentive and made this birthday experience wonderful. We’ll be back!
Worst Food Experience in many years: to be avoided
We had been looking forward to this restaurant also because we love Mexican food but this has nothing to do with it and the flavours that come from these recipes are mostly terrible, in my view. We had the tasting menu and only a couple of dishes (out of 10) were ok; even the tacos are terrible, the octopus is a 4/10 max. I cannot believe this is a highly rated restaurant. Perhaps the season is terrible for the British produce? Well source elsewhere. And this is 150pounds per head plus drinks restaurant! We travel a lot and always look for the best restaurants everywhere, this was the worst experience that I can remember. I did not find easy to write a very bad review of a michelin starred restaurant but I can see there are quite a few very bad reviews, I am happy to see that there are quite a few people thinking with their own head.
My best bite of 2022
The langoustine taco at KOL was my favorite bite of food for the year! We really enjoyed the entire meal, service was friendly, the wine pairing was interesting and the atmosphere was pleasant. We never missed lime or avocado and thought the use of British ingredients was masterfully handled. The only disappointment was the optional wagyu beef, it was tender and juicy but completely tasteless, it felt like the chef had forgotten to salt the steak. All in all a lovely evening, we would return. Highly recommended.
so-so
The cooking is very bland - it is a bad sign that the server encouraged us to season the slow cooked beef ourselves (shouldn't the chef have done that?) For a restaurant of this calibre, it is disappointing that the entire meal is accompanied by tortillas. Maybe there can be more variety if the restaurant uses rice or bread for some of the courses? Service is rather unskilful. It is understandable a small restaurant would like to do 2 seatings but staff should make more of an effort not to put time pressure on guests. Cocktails are good but a very disappointing experience on the whole.
Really disappointing
I really don’t like to leave a bad review but… This shouldn’t be up there with other 1* Michelin restaurants. The waiting list was very long and restaurant very hyped but the experience was lacklustre for a 6 course tasting menu. The courses had no depth or spark and were samey. The décor and furnishing was really good which instilled some hope on arrival but it didn't follow through. The service was also brash and not in keeping with Michelin or just warm hospitality in general. The dishes came out super quickly resulting in the experience feeling very rushed for what should be an enjoyable "bedding in" tasting menu and the food put out was minimal and no richness. When raising the pace at which the food came out and the miniscule amount of food - the response was that the tasting menu is "designed for people who are pushed for time and and/or not hungry enough for the whole Kol experience". This left me even more disheartened. I would love to hope that there is still an amazing Kol experience there which is available to people and we were just unlucky. What is the "whole Kol experience" referred to as we wanted that and would have paid for that if it was exceptional. So my advice would be when people book, just ask them if they want a mediocre experience or "the whole Kol experience" as we were very much hoping for the latter. After a long winded debate with the restaurant weeks after - they did provide a concession which was appreciated and perhaps I shouldn't leave a review as a result but feel that the public need to see feedback. I want to be positive where I can so it must be said that the cocktails were very good and the decor and furniture was really great! Sorry but we hoped for something special :(
Bland and disappointing
As other reviewers have said, the food here is quite bland. Actually very bland. Actually the blandest Michelin starred food I’ve eaten in London and I’ve eaten at more than 50 of the currently starred restaurants. I felt the need to post this rare review because Kol is super hyped and I was therefore super disappointed. I can see what they are trying to do with the concept, authentic ingredients and flavours and all, but I’d rather go to El Pastor or Breddos any day. Even Wahaca! Le gasp! It was also very expensive!
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Each posting on AppointmentTrader shows you which user submitted it and along with that provides a trackrecord of that user which indicates how much experience
the user has and how many percent of their transactions resulted in them issuing a refund.
If there is no user posting that fits your schedule, you can bid on your preferred time.
Let's say Peter has a great morning and decides to take his three friends to KOL London at 6 PM the same day.
He checks the restaurant's website and sees that no reservations are available. He then looks at the KOL London page on AppointmentTrader, but finds that there are no user postings either.
That's where the community-driven bid process comes in.
Peter can place a bid on AppointmentTrader, which serves as a reward for any community member who chooses to work on securing the reservation. AT then notifies experienced users who may be able to help.
Step-by-Step Process
1.) Setting a Reward (Bid)
* AppointmentTrader uses historical data to recommend a reasonable reward amount for securing a reservation - let's say $100.
* Peter really wants to go, so he increases the bid (or reward) to $200.
* At this stage, the reservation does not exist yet.
2.) A Community User Picks Up the Bid
* FluffyStar64, an experienced AT user, has a strong track record of successfully securing reservations and low refund requests, they receive a notification about Peter's bid.
* FluffyStar64 picks up the bid, meaning they will now work on securing the reservation.
* Peter can now talk to FluffyStar64 for any questions Peter may have as FluffyStar64 user fills the bid.
3.) Finding the Reservation
* FluffyStar64 now uses their connections at KOL London to secure the table.
* If they successfully get the 6 PM table for four, Peter receives a confirmation that the reservation has been secured.
* If FluffyStar64 fails to secure the reservation, the bid is returned to the pool so another user can try.
4.) Payment & Protection
* Once the reservation is secured, FluffyStar64 receives the $200 reward which is credited to FluffyStar64's AT balance, where users manage their own funds and can withdraw via available payout options such as bank transfer, PayPal, or Zelle.
* Peter can now enjoy the dinner with his friends at KOL London!
* As with all transactions on AT, disputes and no-show fees are handled through the platform's community-driven resolution system. Users with a strong track record are incentivized to fulfill bids successfully, and community members can report issues to maintain trust in the marketplace.
