Buster Mantis in Lewisham

It’s ok but suffering from an identity crisis- if it’s a restaurant then it’s too dark, loud and too cold, if it’s a bar then the food is overpriced for essentially gastro pub fare. Is it small plates to taste, then too expensive at the mid range, is it a hearty dinner? Then too small and leaves you wanting. Is it Caribbean cuisine cleverly reimagined? Then what was this fries and coleslaw straight out Morleys doing on a £14 burger plate? Is it two courses or small plates? - so decide if they are coming out all at once or one after the other. It’s like it started out strong and this is the going slack phase. Plus a Sticky table, a butter knife for the duck and I had to chase the wine to go with food. The staff were perfectly nice I wanted to know. Now I do.

I had the veggie Sunday roast (with the Yorkshire pudding brought out separately as the only non-vegan bit) and my husband had the roast lamb and a side a mac'n'cheese. I loved every mouthful, it was fabulous. We enjoyed the rum punch (or 2) alongside it. I've already declared it to be the best veggie roast I've ever had and am really looking forward to returning. Oh yes, the service was really good too.

The setting under two railway arches was cleverly decorated to enhance its position. There were several tables and seats outside. The staff were very friendly and more than happy to explain the food and cocktails. We were a group of nine, so ordered several dishes tapas style to share at the table. Each person had a small plate and cutlery and as the dishes came out they were placed in the middle of the table, and the empty ones removed. The food was a modern version of traditional favourites, well cooked, tasty and well presented. Several people tried and enjoyed the jackfruit burger, which was spicy and delicious. The menu very much suits sharing dishes. That way you get to sample a wider variety. We went on a Wednesday night, and the restaurant was quiet. I was told Sundays are busy. This restaurant, by the quality of the food, and care taken with the preparation and presentation, the friendly but not OTT service, deserves more customers. I will be returning and have already recommended it to friends

Food was good, staff were great but I was charged a £20 cancellation fee even though I attended my booking. I called & was told to send an email. I sent an email about this which didn’t get responded to until October & I still have not received a refund or any more correspondence from them.

Amazing family day out. Great service. Very jolly and warm hearted staff. We traveled miles just for this Sunday lunch and they didn’t disappoint. Will defo come here again and recommend to anyone who enjoys a Sunday roast!!!. Well done to the staff at Buster Mantis. Keep up the good work.

I visited Buster Mantis on a Sunday September with my brother for a Sunday Roast and catch-up. It’s a cute restaurant in the heart of Deptford and the ambiance was nice. Our drinks were fresh and we ordered the oxtail croquettes for starters. We found this wasn’t seasoned as well as it could have been and wasn’t as tasty as it looked. I had the roast chicken roast and my brother had the lamb roast. Both were tasty but we did find that the gravy was a bit too much and meant you didn’t really enjoy the rice and peas as much. Would be great if it was served on the side, so you could control how much you got. All in all it was a nice Sunday lunch and great for catching up with friends and family.

Good selection of Caribbean inspired small plates including oxtail croquettes, beef onglet and octopus. The dessert of chocolate and hazelnut ganache was a highlight and left me a nice level of full as savoury dishes were a little on the small side. With a couple of cocktails, the hill came to just under £90

If you want authentic Carribbean food I would stay away. The food really lacked seasoning and so was underwhelming. The cocktails are all very very sweet. We went on the £5 Thursdays as they advertise it as everything is a fiver. That's not the case. The plates are half the size and the £5 cocktails are also Half the size. So I don't think it's any cheaper or better value than coming on a normal day. Overall if you want an authentic food experience don't go, the food was very underwhelming and just needed more flavour and spice

The food was pretty underwhelming, and not very authentic, although I enjoyed the pork belly. Agree with some other reviews about lack of seasoning! The house rum punch is tasty and good value. Hopefully things pick up for this restaurant as we continue into the new normal, but not one I’ll be returning to.

Buster Mantis pitch themselves as a West Indian Restaurant/Bar. I saw the photos of the food online and instantly became excited, at the portion sizes and the possibilities of future visits, as my family, friends and I live locally. I went with a party of 9 today for Sunday lunch. To say I am disappointed is an understatement and the owner or manager is deluded, dismissive and rude. I know West Indian food and this is FAR FROM IT!!!! The large Yorkshire pudding is from Iceland (which is nxt door on the High St) and arrived burnt. When I asked for another (Yorkshire's are usually golden) I was met with confusion and advised by the owner/manager that it wasn't burnt. I can assure anyone who reads this that I am not blind and I will upload the evidence. He brought another burnt Yorkshire, now I'm confused. I highlighted it looked the same and he still asked if I wanted it. Erm.. Anyway, the rock hard roast potatoes were also from Iceland (Aunt Bessies or similar), there were three on my plate. I ate one before realising it was a frozen roastie. Next the ball of stuffing the size of a Ferror Roche which was also completely burnt. I had to scoop out the inside of it so I could taste the flavour. The veg consists of cabbage, carrot and green beans which are hidden under your chicken and overcooked. You literally get a spoonful of rice and peas added to your plate, that really shocked me. It was very bland (no seasoning) and no coconut cream????? Thats not West Indian rice and peas! Marco Pierre White springs to mind.. The size of the chicken was good, but it was extremely bland too. I had to ask for salt and pepper, but it didn't help. My granddaughter who is 8 and a good eater, kept complaining about the bland taste and requesting the salt and pepper. The Mac and Cheese, bland and pointless, on the plus side the coleslaw was okay. My daughter had the Escovietch fish and said it was mild...again, I am really shocked.... Where was the scotch bonnet, garlic, salt, pepper, all purpose, pimento...???? I could go on...I am highly offended that the owner claims Buster Mantis is a West Indian establishment and I will be advising anyone who will listen, to not waste their time or money. This place is not for anyone who wants the real FRESH taste of the Caribbean. Go to Yah So in Thorton Heath, the food, menu options and music are so much better. I also noticed that a lot of the 4 and 5 star reviews online are from 2018/19. May be the pandemic has affected this business, however they need to sort the menu out or stop claiming to be a West Indian eatery. Before I forget, the options of soft drinks are Pineapple, Mango and Lychee, Diet Coke and Lemonade. What happened to good old fashioned Orange or Tropical juice? So disappointed.......All you're really getting is a large burnt Yorkshire pudding and chicken.

I had Sunday lunch here with my family, the meal and the service was fantastic, worth every penny. The rum punch went down well, would definitely recommend. Good value for money

We ate and had some drinks at Buster Mantis last Saturday evening. The food was good but the service was very slow and erratic, with starters arriving 20 minutes after the mains and waiting staff not clear about which tables the food they were carrying was for. “Is this ... yours?” said one waitress questioningly as she approached with our belated starters. The next day, we realized we’d been charged twice. We rang to ask them to correct the error, and were told to email details of our statement and they’d ring us back. No call - rang again and were told the manager was out, but would call us back. Rang a third time to be met with a tirade of hostility - someone shouting down the phone about how this was an admin error that couldn’t be fixed at the weekend. (Why? You can charge someone at the weekend, so why not refund them?) Then he hung up on me. Never once did anyone apologize for the inconvenience or explain what they were doing to fix it. Still not sure whether the staff were actually cancelling the second transaction, we rang our bank. The ridiculous thing was, the pending charge ended up vanishing from our account before it even came out. I’m sure they could have reassured us about this without any drama... it’s a shame as we enjoyed our night and were planning to come back for jazz one night but I can honestly say the customer service was so dire start to finish, the worst I’ve ever experienced, that I couldn’t bring myself to go there again or recommend it to anyone.

Stopped here for a late lunch having booked. Lucky to have a table outside in shade. Enjoyed a Sunday roast with rice and beans, as well as roasties and Yorkshire pud. Small menu, limited range of cocktails but a nice surprise when we hadn’t expected a roast dinner. Loved the Caribbean take on a roast. Enjoyed the music but not the cars that pass down that lane.

Limited cocktail menu and not very strong at that but they do taste nice! I got the peach and ginger (I think?) sour and my husband the rum punch. The former tasted somewhat like tequila although it’s gin-based and the latter is quite sweet. He ordered the jerk chicken burger and found it OK. But the chips were great!! The courteous staff were all wearing masks correctly which was great, and the tables spread out but the amount of people seated, with no open windows or air circulation, made us uncomfortable. The ginger cake we got for takeaway though was DELICIOUS and super gooey.

Had been told this place was really cool and food was great. Maybe things were different pre COVID? Maybe....I reserved a table, I presumed this meant there would be food to eat and that it may look something like the website. There were a total of about 3 things that took up 3 lines on the top of a very well thumbed menu clipboard, and none of them were the “but we’ll always have curry”. We left. Our exit went unnoticed by the can’t be arsed team member who’d seated us. He was way too busy smoking outside with his mates....

A must go-to on a night out in Deptford. Good tunes and dance on a Saturday night. Friendly staff. It's always been a good night of boogying and boozing at our BM

Absolutely abysmal experience. We booked the place for our department's Xmas party, a nice group of meek computer scientists. They told us we'll have a DJ, dinner buffet and a great atmosphere. We hired the venue, opened a big tab paid 600 for the food....

Found this place by chance, staff really friendly and welcoming, cocktails really nice and a inviting atmosphere,will definitely come back again

This is a bit of a strange restaurant. It feels like it doesn't know quite what it wants to be. Some aspects feel like a restaurant, others like a bar. It's laid out like a restaurant, but nobody comes to take your order - apparently...

Watered down over priced cocktails. Jerk chicken burger £12.50 with coleslaw and chips. Where is the coleslaw? Told it was in the burger(picture below) Can you see it? Neither can i. Finished my burger still waiting for my Mac and cheese. Sold out of most...

Really enjoyed this place when I visited last month. Amazing and unique selection of cocktails that live up to expectations. Also had a nice laidback vibe which really works. Will be checking out their other creation; Bar Stockton

I was here with a group of friends for pre-dinner drinks. Amazing selection of cocktails which did not disappoint. Love the atmosphere here and staffs were helpful. Looking forward to return for the food selection and beer soon.

Wrote a poor review a month ago and manager contacted our party and invited us back to put right the experience we had......glad we accepted as service and food was great, salt fish fritters were good and we had curried goat rice and peas, fabulous,...

Went here with family and loved the food. The jerk jackfruit was incredible. I loved the atmosphere.....true Caribbean London Amazing food

I had the jerk chicken and spicy rice and plantain the spicey rice was fragrant and carefully seasoned and jerk chicken was succulent and cooked well. Also had the rum punch which was great. The jackfruit wrap was what my friend had and chips and...

Went in for sunday lunch....no jerk pulled pork, no jerk chicken wings, curried goat no longer on the menu....restaurant very quiet but we waiting ages for our food over an hour for our main course. Ordered fish fritters as a starter but these came after...

Came with a group of 8 friends. Didn't plan to come here but wanted music and cocktails. Door staff really friendly. Really interested cocktails at great prices (£6/£7)... there was even a supermalt cocktail! Music was good. Good vibe. Busy dance floor area. Place got...

This is a friendly place where the food is good quality and really tasty. The rum punch was excellent, there's a good selection of beers and wines, and the Jamaican style cooking is tasty and well presented. The staff were welcoming and helpful and the...

I was looking for a place serving Jamaican cuisine as there are none in Hungary. Buster Mantis might seem a bit out of town but it's only a DLR stop away from Greenwich, in an interesting neighbourhood. Even in the 5 minutes walking from the...

Great vibes at Buster Mantis! Always welcoming, great music and cocktails. The caribbean food is authentic which is so refreshing! Would definitely recommend.

Came to Buster Mantis on a whim while out with a group of friends. We had no booking but managed to squeeze on the end of a table, staff were great at accommodating. Food was bloody delicious and the atmosphere was warm and comfortable. Definitely...

Effortless, real and a delight. Trip advisor wants me to say more, so very quickly. Good atmosphere, great cocktails, Jamaican eats in deptford.

It’s very rare to find an eatery with inexpensive fabulous food, service I’d be pleased to get in a Michelin four star restaurant with a lovely vibe thrown in My friend took me to BM’s last night and I can’t wait to go back I’m...

This was my first time eating out in the depths of Deptford and what a pleasure it was! The setting is cool, the staff and cool and friendly. It's super casual, I mean I asked the waitor about seating and he said "sit where is...

This was the second stop of three on our mini pub crawl around Deptford station. The bar is located across the road from Deptford Station in some converted railway arches. I believe, the bar has two of these arches, with one being a bar and...

Have been a few times usually with work friends as it's the perfect place for after work drinks and food! We love the cocktails and the food is always great! Both meat and veggie options are lovely. Staff very friendly. will be returning again and...

The food was very nice and although the kitchen is small, food was bought out efficiently. The atmosphere was great and the staff went above and beyond to provide an enjoyable environment.

First time been here, and I will definitely go back! Beautiful food and Amazing service by the manager was on Saturday night and he's team! And not to forget the bouncers very polite, Keep up the good work!! X

The food was amazing - we shared a jerk jackfruit wrap with chips (gooooooood chips!), rice and beans and a sweet potato curry. All so delicious. Customer service was brilliant too. Def worth a trip to deptford

I'm one of those people who gets bored of having the same food over and over again, so when we found out about Buster Mantis we were SO happy! We had never tried Jamaican inspired cuisine before and had so many questions about different ingredients...

Great atmosphere with friendly, attentive staff and the music and food being spot on. Another great drinking spot in Deptford.

The food here is incredible - my partner and I have been here four times now and there's never been a bad dish, or even an average one. It's decently priced considering the quality, and the service is friendly (if occasionally a little slow -...

Stopped by on a rainy Thursday evening and was lucky enough to land at the bar just a few minutes before the end of happy hour. I'd strongly recommend their supermalt cocktail which was just perfect. During the course of the night I also sampled...

Paid a visit to Buster Mantis with my family! What a diverse place! The food is AMAZING.. I could have licked the plate! Cocktails were lovely (very generous) Music & ambience were lovely. Gordon & Emily were so amazing! The service was fantastic. A lovely...

Date night at Buster Mantis was a pleasure, we visited over the Christmas holidays because another caribbean eatery was fully booked, but I am so glad to had found this place, the food was yummy please try their Ackee n Salt fish! The owner kindly...

Missed out on food here by a few minutes but a really good bar, nice atmosphere, good cocktails and a decent selection of beer (including local breweries).

Popped in here after work for a cocktail and was very impressed with the place. Nice fit out of railway arch, a decent amount of seats inside and out, and a lovely selection of drinks and cocktails. Good quality and price. Didn't eat here but...

Went here with four of my friends on a Friday night. The cocktails were lovely...and I don't even like rum! Can recommend the harmoniser cocktail. All the starters were great too and I went with the jerk chicken burger for main. It was delicious! My...

Don't get me wrong I had a nice burger and a decent pint of local beer and would go back BUT I felt I was a bit in the way as a customer and my group really didn't feel the love. Beers great, decor suitable...

I've been to this lovely bar about 3 times now as it has a wonderful atmosphere and the food and drink is great! They serve a fabulous rum punch which is VERY reasonably priced and their food is tasty and finger licking. I tried the...