York & Albany

Flawed

A pity, Mr Ramsay's outpost is in a good location and best thing to say about it is that the atmosphere on the ground floor is quite pleasant. However, it is deeply flawed in other departments, especially in the kitchen department. Also avoid the downstairs, as there is smell of humidity from the old cellar vaults… A strangely flawed restaurant in a place where a good one would make so much sense between Regent's Park and Camden Town.

No matter how good the food, there’s no point to a restaurant that doesn’t turn a profit. So we will tolerate 300% markups on the wine, even though all the waiter does to a bottle of Cab Sauv is unscrew the cap and put out some glasses. We pay £18 for a steak that anyone with a griddle pan could serve themselves for £7. That’s the deal when you eat out. But what is much harder to tolerate – almost as bad as being served up pigswill – is to be treated cynically. Unfortunately that’s the experience at The York & Albany.

Cover charge was £4 between the two of us, for which we received a couple of slices of soggy (defrosted?) loaf. There are just two bottles of white on the list for less than £24, and a small glass will cost you £7.50 or more. A pork chop is £22, my companion got precisely two oxtail ravioli for £12 and a salad of watercress, green bean and endive clocks in at nearly eight quid. Indeed, the menu has been explicitly designed so that you have to order a side dish with your main – all bar one are offered without accompanying vegetables or carbs. Order steak and chips, therefore, and you’ll find yourself paying £30. In fairness, there’s a set menu of £22 for three courses, although curiously not one of those dishes features on the main menu.

Perhaps worst of all was that they had agreed to seat a party of 12 people when we went for lunch. The space isn’t that big, so of course this table dominated the room. And the poor buggers – who may or may not have been regional finalists for Photocopier Salesman Of The Year – were squeezed around five tables for two. They were having a gay old time, swapping jokes and bellowing at each other. Isn’t this what private rooms are for? My companion, who had booked the table, actually apologised as she arrived. Evidently the manager preferred to take the money rather than consider the experience of other diners.

Meanwhile, the food itself was good in a top-end bistro sort of way, but often heavily salted. Starter selection was good – dishes like lamb sweetbreads and girolles on brioche, and whisky-cured salmon and salt baked beetroot – but the mains were a bit simpler. However, whoever wrote the menu itself must have been at the drinks cabinet. ‘Black figs’ turned out to be figs. Surely in the 21st century, nobody needs to see spelled out ‘Stilton blue cheese’? And they succumbed to the infuriating restaurant-ism ‘cassoulet’ when describing something that doesn’t involve duck or sausage – in this case, ‘seafood cassoulet’ (which was a pleasant mix of haricot beans,mussels and tiny baby squid).

Service was efficient and pleasant, though the staff-to-diners ratio was too high: five different staff members came to our table during the meal, every single one of them asked how everything was and some even asked how our days were going. They made a little show of wiping down the table in between courses. In short, they are setting out to pretend they’re a restaurant. The British gastro-pub succeeds because it’s a place where you can eat fine food that’s reasonably priced in a casual setting – and not feel guilty if you want a pint with your dinner. This is something that has quite clearly passed the managers of the York & Albany by.

My husband who is a long serving fire-fighter at one of London's busiest fire stations was recently awarded a Ramsay Voucher via his work. We had been very excited, yet undecided which restaurant to use the voucher at. We decided on York & Albany as a colleague of his had recommended it. My husband booked a table for us for 3pm Saturday 29 October 2011. We followed the directions provided on their website and allowed good time for delays and for the fact that I am heavily pregnant and can ‘waddle a little slower’ at the moment. We arrived at the restaurant a 3.06pm (6 minutes late). The bar staff directed us to the restaurant there were no staff to greet us immediately, however a well-mannered waitress passed us within a minute or so and asked if she could help. Whilst she was ticking us off the reservation list, what appeared to be a ‘hostess’ moved between us and the waitress, she ignored us and tutted, waggling her finger at the waitress saying “No. No. No!”. We were puzzled how she could be so rude to her colleague when we realised she wasn’t criticising her colleague she was insulting us; ignoring us but instructing the waitress not to seat us as we were late. It was now only about 3.08pm. My husband asked what the problem may be and the ‘hostess’ curtly said without even making eye contact “What time did you book?”. My husband confirmed 3pm. She then tutted again and said “3pm? Well you are late and the kitchen is now closed”. I explained in a light hearted friendly manner that I am a little slower than usual walking as I am pregnant, and that we were only about 5 minutes late anyway; which is time that could have been swallowed up by us taking time looking at a menu anyway. There were several covers still left in the dining area who were still eating. My husband suggested if they could then contact one of their sister restaurants, who's kitchen was not closed, to see if they had availability and we would pop in a cab there. She completely ignored our request, and us, and reluctantly after speaking with her colleague said she would ask the chef if he would allow us to stay (??!) We both agreed that if the staff didn’t want to serve us and the chef closed the kitchen at 3pm (when our table had in fact been booked for) then we didn’t want to stay and feel uncomfortable and have half hearted input by the restaurant. We were very disappointed. We had so been looking forward to visit. Safe to say that we won’t be revisiting that restaurant. I very much doubt that my husband's work will be using Ramsay vouchers as rewards anymore and I have suggested that they not rush to the venue if any emergency calls are put in! Good customer services cost litte to provide if you have the right staff, nevertheless it can cost a lot if you have incompetent individuals who do not take pride in their work, or their colleagues or business’s reputation. Really disappointing and unfortunate manner from an amateurish hostess, which has sadly reflected on Gordon Ramsay.

I went with 3 friends for sunday lunch, it was dreadfull. For my main i had lamb with tongue and olives, in nouvelle cuisine sizes, and it was tasty, but nothing amazing for 22 quid – this was the high point. I then had the artisanal cheese plate which looked so unnappetising i actually took a photo of it. A runny blob of the most unappealing looking chutney slapped in the middle of the plate with 3 crackers stuffed on one corner. My “chedder” was the size of a large postage stamp and a 1/4 inch thick – and was completely dried out. My cheese plate went uneaten. Clearly hit and miss quality control in the kitchen.

The service and ambience was the real killer. The waitress wasn't directly rude, she just had no idea what she was doing. When asked what the seasonal vegetable were she looked at me like i had asked to see the colour of her knickers. She had zero knowledge of the food they were serving. The general feeling in the place is fairly pompous, which doesnt have to go hand in hand with fine dining. Many places balance ferocious attention to detail with a light anf pleasant touch.

Bottom line, if you want to spend 40 a head before wine go somewhere else.

I watched Ramsay's the F work last night…and had to comment on my experience at York and Albany on Friday, September 10th.

I was expecting smooth service, quality staff informed and capable, and solid food in terms of standard and refinement as his establishment. Was that what I was treated to at the York and Albany?
was it F***…

So when we ( a party of three) turned up and see the man himself meeting and greeting diners as they round off their evenings, I thought we'd be In for a good time. Surley with Ramsay in the house we’re onto a winner…

We arrived 20 min early for our 930 booking, a late dinner so to beat the busy drinking and dinner crowd. Its a god call the place isn’t busy the small drinking parties and couples seems content occupied in conversation. So, we head to the bar planning to kick off the evening with a cheeky cocktail…

We check in wit the maitre de and sit at the bar, the staff for some reason flustered, greets us with a hello and the three of them get back to what looks like serving the only two other people at the bar and of course orders for table service. But there are three barmen and the place is not exactly big and is only a third full. 15 minutes later, we are still sitting at the bar….
Finally he serves us.

‘A Mint Julip A Martini* and a Summit please’
“a wha…?’
‘A Summit’
‘A what???
Er… a Summit. It’s on your bar menu…’
‘a Summit’ he repeats…
He then shrugs looking baffled and walks off….

We all look at each other, what just happened.
First drink arrives 5 minutes later, the next five minutes after that and my Summit eventually turns up.

Nice. The Julip has melted away, the Martini is doing a good job at warming up….
We should’ve ordered beers, but I fear he would’ve hopped on the Eurostar to Belguim to go fetch them and brought back two Pepsis and a Sunny Delight instead.

Not the greatest start
So now we have out drinks and so get to work on them in their various states the maitre de comes over,
‘You have table was booked for 930 right?’
‘Yes we do’
‘Do you still want it, it’s just, well your still at the bar and its 9:50…’ with the slightest hint of pompous attitude…

I explain to him quite shortly we are only at the bar still because it took them half an hour to serve and make three drinks…
He apologizes for the bar staff and our wait
So to speed things up we decide to take our drinks to the table…
We ask if we can have a corner table, its not busy so figured it wouldn’t be a problem.

So when we walk in we find we are slap bang in the middle of the room with out table trust up against another party dining directly behind us we all are suppressing our irritation at the nights events. We take it, grit out teeth and settle for dinner.

The room is lit intimately, the few remaining diners seem to be into the tail ends of there meals… we see desserts and wine on the few tables left. Its not busy out here

So our waiter turns up, a few read by rote pleasantries and dumps the menus unceremoniously in front of us and skuttles off
So we browse the menu, talk amongst ourselves, look around, read the menus again, talk… and talk some more. 10/15 mins later; Where the hell is our waiter?!?!?!?!

One has appeared briefly I hail him as he brings coffee and aperitifs across the way, again seems startled that we want service…
We order, he takes it, and flees again.
Maybe there is a staff diner being served about now?

He Arrives back sometime later with our wines, pours it out like its soda at a kids party.

The starters arrive, one good, one questionable and mine bad… Breaded fried oysters, crunchy and tasty to begin with until they went off like a depth charge in my mouth with no amount of pinot blanc to quell that taste…
Whoa mamma that was fishy.

it got worse but you get the picture. I wanted to eat here for several months as I walk by on the way to Regent's Park frequently…I now wish I didn't. It was one of my work dining experiences in London to date.

Although this is my first review, it won't be my last. I usually am overly positive in my reviews however, this experience was just THAT bad that I can't help but share to save other diners this sort of experience. Maybe his other restaurants will be better…Frankly, I'm afraid to try them at this point.

We ate at the York and Albany last night. It seems to me that it's a restaurant that has almost (but not quite) got it right.

The first two people we encountered to were unable to find our booking despite them having called me the previous Friday to check we were coming. Eventually the bright and smiley restaurant manager found us and told us, wryly, that “you just can't get the staff”. We rejected the first table (right under the air conditioning unit) and were seated at a nice round one although the person on the outside seat was asked to move several times during the evening in order for chairs to be pushed by and for staff to gain access to the wine cupboard.

There were highlights and lowlights.

So, to the highlights: the service was really friendly and very efficient and even amusing – in a good way. The food we ordered was, in general, excellent. The pace of service was also very good – not too fast and not too slow.

The lowlights: (1) The first basket of bread brought to the table was stale. I'm perhaps being unfair, I'd say that it had probably been cut in the morning and left to dry out but by the time it reached us, it was totally inedible (unless you fancy cracking your expensive porcelain crowns) and we had to send it back. Really not what you expect from a Ramsay establishment – must do better. On the upside, they replaced it very quickly with a fresh basket. (2) The wine list is outrageous moving seamlessly from the one or two reasonably priced bottles at around £25 up to very overpriced offerings starting at £50. We estimated a 300% to 400% mark up on most of them. (3) The lighting (absolutely fine when we sat down) was then turned down so low that it became difficult to read the menu. (4) The menu itself was quite difficult. There was really only one starter and two of the main courses that I fancied. (5) My summer salad starter, whilst delicious, was absolutely teeny weeny. A minute, nouvelle cuisine, doll's portion which was a shame because every single tiny morsel tasted completely delicious. I could have done with a portion at least twice the size.

We all opted for the Côtes de boeuf (I told you the menu wasn't easy) and it really was excellent. Perfectly cooked and served with a delicious braised endive, the like of which I've never tasted before. Lovely.

We didn't have dessert, we drank one bottle of wine between 4 (two of our party were on some sort of mad ‘detox’) and at £115 per couple we thought that was pretty expensive. Because of that, we won't be rushing back.

Whatever happens, don't accept a table downstairs. It's roasting hot, cramped and claustrophobic. We cut short our dinner to return to the upstairs bar. Why can't they efficiently air-condition the below-stairs Hades?

A pleasant ambiance and a good, if slightly predictable Ramsay menu is destroyed by some of the most dreadful service I have ever experienced in London. On the night we attended the waiting staff had completely lost control of the room and responded to valid complaints with childish smirks. Very poor.

It's not a good start to any dining experience when the restaurant keeps you waiting for your table for over half an hour and doesn't seem that concerned about it. I have had lunch here several times, I am a local, and the service has never been better than average and more often than not very poor with an attitude that appears to value the cutlery more highly than the customer. Yes the fixed lunch menu represents outstanding value for money and yes the food is very good when you get it and the atmostphere buzzy, but it doesn't deserve to succeed and I doubt it will until they sort out their front of house and the quality of their serving staff.

My wife and I had lunch (5th June) during a mini week end break to london. I was a little nervous having read some lets say less favourable reviews? We arrived early but informed our table was ready when we where and had the option of being seated early or not so we did not feel rushed. Our table in the corner was big enough for four and a ideal place to people watch from. Our little waiter was very pleasant and friendly and was very attentative all afternoon. We decided to order from the main menu, But lots of people where having the set lunch which looked really nice and at just £18 for three courses value for money. My starter of rabit raviolli with wild mushrooms and peas with a marjoram emulsion was delicious. Try the steamed halibut with smoked ham hock and celariac broth which was really good. Overall we had three courses and two bottles of wine plus a pot of tea which came to £126 including service 12.5%. which is a reasonable price as we have paid much more in our local restaurants in our native Lancashire. As a food lover and former chef myself this place hit the right spot for me, Not stuffy but very relaxed atmosphere, good quality food and not over complicated with too many flavours. Thanks again to our waiter who kindly let me take home our menu as a souvenier. Would go again but with so many good restaurants in London to visit I may try the Boxwood cafe next time.