Brasserie St Jacques

I have had the considerable pleasure of dining at this restaurant on a number of occasions under its new owner, Richard Weiss, and have been consistently impressed by the exceptionally high standard of the cuisine at an entirely affordable price in one of central London's most delightful locations. The service is also exceptional and friendly. There are few restaurants I know that have me returning again and again as this one does.

Do not enter Brasserie St Jacques unless you welcome being deafened, yes pulverised, by live opera. For the first half hour, before social ice has even been broken, you will be stranded at your table without water, without wine, without your order having been taken, with only dry butterless bread for consolation. You will be reminded of the neighbour from hell. This is the neighbour who, on a hot summer's evening, will throw open his windows and inflict on you – whether you protest or not – his own favourite music at deafening decibel levels equivalent to the loudest West End disco. Except you are within the confined space of a restaurant. Conversation is impossible.

All of this is unannounced, unadvertised, unexpected. Deafening orchestral backings are played at badly recorded (ie, wrong) tempi, and are accompanied by a piercingly live soprano and a tenor who loom over your table dramatising the murders and intrigues of the Italian repertoire IN YER FACE. The food is OK to indifferent and not cheap. Drinks appear only after many, many repeated requests through the frankly victorious general noise. A second half-hour audio assault is guaranteed to ruin your main course. If you're on hot date, better go for some pub grub in a quiet corner at the nearby Captain's Cabin.

This was my first visit after the relaunch. The decor changes are very welcome, much less formality, somehow lighter. We arrived quite late, after a night at the theatre, so the evening was winding down, but, despite the hour, the chef still produced an excellent ‘pintade’ (guinea fowl) with accompanying veg & and the head sommelier recommended an excellent Domaine la Rouviole (Minervois, Languedoc) to go with it. Pud was very tasty too and a well made espresso capped the evening nicely. Restaurant consultant Richard Weiss, who holds the Guinness World Record for ‘Sabrage’ (chopping most corks off champagne bottles in a minute) was also present. After some prompting, he duly demonstrated the skill before pouring us one for the road. A very enjoyable evening in an excellent addition to St James's.

This has always been an awkward room for a restaurant – Petrus only just got away with it. Brasserie St Jacques has ripped out the formal features and fittings and replaced them with a rather artifical Parisian brasserie interior – you get the feel that the designer has read the books but never been to Paris. The orange 'effect' makes for a rather sterile atmosphere.

The menu has all the old favourites that you would expect from a brasserie menu (steak chips, Dover sole, steak tartare, creme brulee etc ) and to a large extent delivers OK on quality when the food arrives. But prices reflect the location rather than the quality – it's a posh cafe rouge in a posh part of town. Doesn't have the buzz of Galvin Bistrot de Luxe which, to me, is a great top end brasserie where you want to have a long winter business lunch finishing at about tea time when it has got dark already.