Grinders of London in Southwark

From the outside Grinders looks like a nice family owned cafe where you'd expect personal service and nice home cooked food. This is a facade. No one even acknowledged me when I came in making me think they were actually closed. I was eventually told to sit down. I asked what came in the meal deal and was treated like an idiot for not knowing - when my burrito came it was predictable awful and the nachos side was just some doritoes and some microwaved plasticy cheese in a pot. I then asked for a drink (which came with the meal deal) and they gave me a warm can of tango. I was actually laughing to myself at how bad it all was, as the staff were just lounging around and chatting with each other, barely acknowledging the customers. It almost felt like a front for something else!

At first glance this place looked plausible for a coffee and a nibble... but no. An order of chips meant waiting 23 mins for supermarket chips very poorly done, almost as though it was the first time they'd done them. Absolutely vile. Pancakes with maple syrup and cinnamon?... same deal. Dry AF off the supermarket shelf with maple favoured syrup and some random splots of cinnamon, which probably was actual cinnamon to be fair. Honestly, if I'd wanted supermarket food I'd have gone to Asda. The coffee was relatively good. Whilst waiting for meal the owner was speaking loudly on phone with a business acquaitance about his plans to rescue the enterprise. It's so tragic because it's a great location and would take very little to lift the atmosphere and give it some semblance of a philosophy. It's the culinary ethic which exposes this place - I wasn't expecting much, but there isn't one. Also, it's cash only, so unless you're eagle-eyed enough to see the sign, you'll be schlepping up and down the high road looking for a cash point at around about the time you just want to get out and forget you'd ever seen the place. All-in-all, my mistake probably, but one I won't be repeating.

We arrived and the place was empty, but we still decided to give the menu a try as we had not eaten yet and they had “all day breakfast”. We sat down and chose a full breakfast, when going to the till the man said he could not make it, that breakfast was finished. He tried to offer ya cakes to buy but we declined and proceeded to leave, when the manager came out, she asked what the problem was and I told her you’re not serving all day breakfast? The guy then said “well we could..” but no one made the effort to serve us as paying customers. It seemed as the the guy working could not be bothered and offered cakes because it was the easier option, well we left hungry and would never visit again. My advice - change the menu and hire those who can be bothered to do what’s required of them.

Bad waiting staff. Food was cold, tasteless probably it was even pre cooked... it is an order by the till place and when we arrived we were waitin 10 minutes until somebody came to us and have been told we have to order by the till.. we ordered turkish breakfast as was it written on the menu but they served medditerrian breakfast as it was written on the menu and when i told its not what i ordered they told me i ordered the medditerrian... they doesnt even now what is on their menu properly... worst restaurant experience of my, life never visit again...

My boyfriend and I came here to having lunch. I ordered bonoffe pancakes and my boyfriend ordered mediteranea’s breakfast. Mine was big and full of banana and toffee, absolutely tasty and not to sweet. You can share it. My boyfriend was satisfied about what he choose! Lovely place, friendly stuff, good atmosphere! Definitely we will come back.

Came for lunch with a friend today, despite being full the waitress quickly found us a table for the two of us. This place was wonderful for a bit of lunch or for any time of the day, such good variety on the menu for amazing prices. As well as the menu, they also has some lovely warming specials of the day including chilli con carne and lasagne. We both ordered breakfast which were perfect portions of food for such an amazing price. The service was wonderful and working in customer service as well I could definitely tell the staff took good care of the customers. Thanks so much will be coming again on my lunch breaks!!

I visited Grinders on a Saturday evening with my family and had one of there amazing sandwiches the staff were very friendly and the coffee was amazing.

Where to start... 1 Star cause zero star isn’t an option! We arrived for brunch on a Sunday around Midday and they were out of pancakes, and out of lemonade... Never mind, we chose an English breakfast and a breakfast sandwich along with a couple of coffees. Breakfast arrived horribly cold and we had to ask for it to be reheated... Ciabatta was toasted but only slightly so cheese did not get time to melt or tomatoes were still cold... Waitress managed to spill the coffee when it got to the table and on top of this they had gotten the bill wrong and we were charged an extra coffee... Seems like it could be a really nice place but needs better management so the staff is trained properly... And please ignore the spelling mistakes on the menu... Unless you want « freash » lemonade!

Great food! Amazing home made cakes . Friendly staff and generally nice atmosphere. Would highly reccomend

Absolutely loved grinders of london its authentic cosy atmosphere was a delight and the food was fresh and delicious i highly recommend it going to become a regular family dining and the staff arw absolutely amazing.

Breakfast took forever to be served. Ordered an English breakfast but everything was cold. Won't come back.

quite possibly the worst breakfast ever: scrambled eggs made from egg-powder, served as bone dry crumbles with tasteless beans and budget ketchup. The ordered bacon was completely forgotten. Probably for the best.

Ambling up the road, looking for somewhere to sit and eat rather than take away, we stumbled upon Grinders. One look at the menu, and the friendliness of the staff told us we had chosen well. As vegetarians we were pleased to see many options on the menu and chose Falafel and Haloumi wraps. I like the way the food is made in full view of customers, as you can be confident it has been handled correctly. The wraps were huge, stuffed full of falafel, haloumi and salad, and were absolutely delicious. We had hoped to make a return visit but ended up to far afield to do so, but if we're down that way again we'll definitely go back. We had two wraps and a bottle of fresh orange juice and the total was a few pennies over £11.00, which we reckon was very reasonable

As a Swarf London lad - I am delighted that we are getting a wider choice of places to enjoy food in the Camberwell Area. I was really excited to see the option for Hot Salt Beef at Grinders and couldn't wait to bring a friend to sample the delights. Unfortunately we were greeted by staff who treated questions with such a condescention that we turned and walked out... the. questions were to try to understand the menu offers and how to order sides.... Perhaps the answers were simple to the member of staff - but offering a speciality sometimes requires explanation.... I am really sorry we could not try the products.... but thankfully we had a lot of choice elsewhere.