To 'bee or not to 'bee?
When we first heard there was a Filipino chicken and spaghetti fast-food restaurant opening in the UK we knew we had to try it as it sounded, well, quite bizarre. So when we ventured down to London and genuinely made this our first stop. It's a 2-minute walk from Earl's Court on the District line.
Home of the "famous chickenjoy"
The menu is small, so you'd think they would be able to get the stuff out quickly but fast food this is not. After ordering we waited a full 25 mins, alongside lots of other bored and hungry customers, before being called to the Claim area.
Everyone is thinking the same thing, "where is my chickenjoy?!".
But 'Chickenjoy' is not what we, or anyone else were feeling. Seemingly, the opening of Jollibee was a much-awaited affair with queues out the door. And yes, we saw a queue of disgruntled customers waiting desperately for food...
Menu
Food
We watched the staff doing odd jobs whilst the orders piled up filling the order notification screen, while the food waiting to be placed into bags and onto trays also piled up on the racks behind. Eventually, our number flashed up on the screen and we returned to our table with this...
Clockwise from top left we have...' chicken joy' with a tub of gravy, one burger steak with rice, fries and jolli spaghetti.
Here's a different view in case it looks more appealing....er, nope.
Joy was sadly lacking, it was like a bland KFC, but the chicken was at least the highlight of a poor meal, even though the coating lacked flavour. The gravy tasted of a salty chicken broth, which made for a reasonably tasty chicken dip. The chicken was also the only thing in the order that was hot, everything else was tepid at best.
The spaghetti was like kids' meal tinned spaghetti, big sugary pasta swimming in tomato sauce with little bits of minced meat and sliced frankfurter. The fries were cold and limp. The burger...imagine two tepid McDonalds burgers in tepid gravy with mushrooms...and we asked for orange juice, they took our order and then told us they had none. Gah!
Verdict
I think we can safely say we won't be rushing back. Awful. Long long wait, tepid food with a bland taste. Just go to KFC and serve it alongside a can of Heinz spaghetti! At least the staff were polite and friendly, and the toilets in clean, working order.
The map on the wall showing the locations of other Jolibee restaurants also has a twisted geography (sadly we didn't get a clear shot of it).
TL;DR+ it's easy to get to
+ Clean toilets
+ Staff friendly
- Long wait
- Weird food combos
- Cold mediocre food
- No OJ
Where
Jollibee
180-182 Earls Court Road,
London
SW5 9QG
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