The Modern Pantry

Hugely ambitious dishes, beautifully presented and very interesting and different. Service mainly pretty good and cosy ambience to the upper floor, more buzzy downstairs. Imaginative offerings of suggested wines by the glass for particular dishes a good (though not cheap) option. Good value champagne as aperitif.

Some dishes were not as hot as they could have been and wine was slow to appear with the matching dishes. Would go again happily though, and thinking of it as a venue for our office Christmas lunch this year.

Went to The Modern Pantry for dinner on Saturday night. Very poor showing.

Waited 25 mins for someone to take a drink order. Four of us sat down for dinner, but only two ordered starters: quail eggs and oysters. Eggs were OK (though nowhere near good enough for what is supposed to be their signature dish) but the oysters were awful. Served with unidentifiable green paste and luke warm, the overwhelming taste was that of salt.

Our mains took 1 hour 10 mins to arrive. During this time, no one poured the water or wine nor offered any explanation. The mains were below OK. My salmon had a thick, soggy skin, the veg were cold.

We decided against desert, given that the mains took so long. Finished with a filter coffee; the highlight of the meal. Bill was £230 for four, for four main courses and two starters, an average bottle of wine and 2 coffees. I was sick all through the night. Of course I can't prove it was the warm oysters – it could have been the cheese sandwich I ate for lunch!

Extraordinary. For full max West End top prices we were seated beside the door. The rapidly vanishing menu was partly / gradually announced by the terribly amused waiters. The pitch they gave us was that “at least it means you get fresh ingredients”. Well maybe but for these prices you would certainly not expect something out of a tin. It wasn't simply that certain dishes were off (fair enough) but they were obviously making it up as they went along – eg with a huge raft of the printed menu gone (when three of the waiters colluded to work it out) then ‘bits’ went missing from oursubsequent menu choices (this was a Friday night), eg the duck leg confit Asian curry (without any curry) suddenly found its bok choi accompaniment replaced by broccolli. OK maybe, just, but there should have be a bit more acknowledgement of the cock up. Then suddenly the rice ran out – rice! OK so what were we offered instead – mash! English plain mash with Thai curry – for £17! Eventually a chef apologised for this but no adjustments were made to our £120 bill for two. Definitely one to avoid. And they all seemed uncomprehending of any issues… enough said.

My boyfriend took me to this restaurant as a Valentines Day surprise, and it sure was…for all the wrong reasons. I had read so many great reviews of this restaurant my expectations were pretty high.

Firstly I’d like to say that the staff are very friendly and the space looks elegant without being intimidating. But as soon as I put food in my mouth I was mortified. I have written this, my first review ever, as a reaction to the starter. I ordered their tuna ceviche. This dish is disgusting! Seriously, they should take it off their menu entirely, never mind the cheek of charging money for the misery of eating it. Each revolting mouthful was forced down with the added pain of pretending it was edible so as not to offend my boyfriend. It was pure torture.

The tuna was warm and mushy like it had been sitting on the dash of a car parked in the sun. This really is not a pleasant thought to enter my head whilst consuming raw fish. But it wasn’t merely the freshness of the fish that worried me, the flavour of it was just all wrong. What a mess. It was drowned in an overwhelming amount of sweet lime, topped with a wasabi tobiko which made me think of a fishmongers boot.

Horrible.

If it hadn’t been a special occasion I would have sent it back. I’m hoping someone from the restaurant will read this review and please take that dish off the menu. Ok, I might have just been unlucky enough to have ordered the wrong dish on the one day the fish delivery didn’t turn up and the fridge thermostat packed it in, or maybe it’s just too sophisticated and interesting for my humble palate. I am just an unknown reviewer after all. But I seriously hope they do some sort of quality assurance audit of that dish, because I’m so unhappy about it I’m still stressed enough to complain about it weeks later.

To be honest I can't remember what the main was like, as I was so cross about the starter.

Incidentally, I took my boyfriend out to the Gaucho restaurant down the road by Smithfields market and had a mixed ceviche starter platter which was really like 3 nuances of food heaven.

I have been once a week since it has opened pretty much, and I love the food.

I am always willing to allow a period of grace for the service while things kick in, I am sure that things will settle down at the Modern Pantry. Don't misuderstand me, the service is good, but with everything else that it has going for it – GREAT should be the word on my lips.

Firstly I mirror the previous reveiw about the onglet – the last time i was there the table next to me were having a pretty similar conversation about the onglet. Now, if the CHEF recommends the onglet medium, then it is the servers job NOT TO ASK THE DINER HOW THEY WANT THE CUT COOKED – it is the job of the server to say ‘the chef recommends the onglet medium, as it brings the best out of the cut, i hope that will be all right for you’ – it is a simple thing.

Secondly, the job of the maitre d' to welcome, charm, and manage – not only the the restaurant but also the customers expectations. I have visited a few restaurants during my spell on this planet and I am a happy regular customer at all the ones that are worth visiting…mainly due to the maitre d'. Now please don't take this the wrong way, I used to be a maitre d', I know how it works. I don't expect special atention, I don't expect freebies or better tables, all I want is welcoming service and a lack of attitude. If I had only visited the restaurant once the answer would be a simple one – someone was having a bad day, however i have been a few times more and either someone is really unlucky and having more than a bad day or ‘houston we have a problem’

This is no way intended as a dig, just a little wake up call, which for a new restaurant shuld not be happening so soon.

I will still continue to go and eat the great food, what I can't work out is how long it will take for me to be welcome and happy.

The Modern Pantry sits quietly in a lovely little square in EC1, hidden amongst Clerkenwell's bars and restaurants. The white decor is clean and fresh but the lighting is a little too bright for my liking. We were fortunate to have been placed at our own 4 seat table, rather than the communal table that stretched through the restaurant.

We were all thoroughly impressed with everything that we ordered – the starter of grilled aubergine had a delightfully light soy glaze and the miso marinated stake was tender and succulent.

Service was generally quite pleasant and efficient. I did, however, have a little issue with the waitress asking me how I wanted my steak cooked only to tell me that I couldn't have it cooked that way as the chef had his / her own view. Don't ask me for my preference if I can't have it!

We ate in the downstairs 'cafe' as the main restaurant had not yet opened. I would suggest investing in better sound insulation as it was very loud when at full capacity.

In short, a lovely little place for a post work dinner with friends. Good food and very reasonably priced.

Date: Friday 12 September 2008