Evening Standard
Christy Spring could not shake the sense that she was on the set of a television show at this “not particularly convincing” American interpretation of a French all-day café in Covent Garden – “the exposed brick reads Friends coffee shop Central Perk”.
Some of the food was excellent, including the “tender and succulent” rotisserie chicken and brilliant chips; some was merely so-so and some terrible. “Did the croque roque my world? Unfortunately not. I’ve had something similar in Costa. Seemingly assembled ahead of time and reheated.”
The venue “occupies an uncertain middle ground — too considered to be truly casual but too casual to be memorable”. Perhaps it works best as a “pit stop” – a place to grab “a glass of wine and a chicken salad, eaten alone, in an hour”.
Christy Spring - 2026-06-21The Sunday Times
Giles Coren was frankly insulted by a so-called ‘gastrotheque’ promising ‘unfussy French dishes’ in a “lovely, nooky corner sport Neal’s Yard”, from New York celeb chef Jody Williams, whose “lazy grift might have worked in 1989” but in 2026 represents “a big Yankee fart in London’s face”.
The main problem, Giles fumed, was that there wasn’t any proper, adult food for lunch. “The menu consisted almost exclusively of grated carrot, beetroots, three types of croque monsieur, two types of waffle and steamed organic eggs” (whatever they were).
He clung to the hope that the chef’s special might be a real dish – poulet aux morilles in vin jaune or lapin a la moutarde. But no, “The plat du chef (£15) really was just a bowl of dressed salad vegetables. The chicken salad (£17) was the same vegetables with some chicken on top. Neither was filthy, or really worth bothering to eat.”
Giles Coren - 2026-07-19The Guardian
Grace Dent found nice things to say about a New York import that has been lambasted by her fellow critics for the second time in a month, this time making what she admitted was a “plaintive case” for a cult NYC ‘gastrotheque’ that has failed once before in London (Notting Hill, 2020-24) and which was empty when she visited for lunch.
“It’s actually rather lovely,” Grace insisted: a “cute red frontage gives way to something heartstoppingly pretty inside: marble-topped tables, bentwood chairs, a zinc bar, good-looking, chipper staff.” The set lunch is “ridiculous value” at £23 for classic French food that “won’t scare the horses” (croissants, crocques monsieurs, grilled salmon with beetroot salad, mousse au chocolat).
“And maybe that’s Buvette’s problem. It’s so coy and cool that it scares away the normals, but it’s not cool enough to ensnare foodies who’d rather be chucking money at Fergus Henderson’s wine bar just across the way.” Perhaps, Grace suggested, it should reposition itself as a handy pit stop – much like Café Rouge, which traded successfully for years – rather than a backdrop for Instagram.
Grace Dent - 2026-10-18
