Marco Pierre White Steak & Alehouse

How it should be done

A lovely evening. The staff were polite and attentive without being obsequious or intrusive. The Asparagus Hollandaise was the best that I have ever eaten; perfectly al-dente. My guest had the liver and bacon, which was done to perfection. My main was Wild Halibut, and I added broccoli with toasted almonds and triple fried chips. The wine was the most beautiful New Zealand Sauvignan Blanc that I have ever tasted: Mansion House Bay 2012. Very reasonably priced. Sticky Toffee pudding to round it off. The wine list looked very good, and included three great dessert wines:- Ice Wine, Tokaji, and Recioto Della Valpolicella.
“I shall return”

I travelled up yesterday to meet my husband for a meal here on a Wowcher voucher. The starter was ok, I asked what the 'Fish of the Day was and was told it is fried haddock. In due course what arrived was battered fish and chips.Batter outweighed fish by a ratio of 1 part fish 5 parts batter, in fact there was more fish in a fish finger compared to what was placed before me. Fried fish needs to be better explained;i.e Deep fat fried in batter,battered fish of the day etc,as people could perceive fried fish to mean “pan fried” as we did. The dessert menu did not have a cheese choice but due to the waiters error in explaining the fish of the day he said we could have the cheese board. When it arrived the portions of cheese were for 1 person.

We have been to MPW in St James and it was far superior but I have now been caught out twice with vouchers from Groupon and Wowcher only to realise the offers are already availabe in the restaurants, so like the supermarkets it is all a sham the food was never at a higher price in the first place.

Absolutely appalled with the atmosphere, service and I did expect a higher quality of food.

Firslty, people noticed I was waiting to be seated and just ignored me which meant I had to stand around awkwardly for a few uncomfortable minutes

A total of four people dealt with us during our short stay and each of them asked us the same questions and obviously weren't communicating with each other

My friend asked for some gluten free bread and it was as if she'd asked for something entirely unreasonable

We asked what the fish of the day was and the waiter had to go and check… and he forgot to come back to us so we had to ask him again…

Overall, it was an aweful dining experience and we shall not be going back

I had the gravalax to start which was tasty but not of the standard you would expect at MPW

I then had fish and chips which was actually lovely

It was really the service that let the place down

I went to the Marco Pierre White steakhouse with my partner and another couple two weeks ago. We were drawn in by their special “2 courses for £10 deal”. When we booked, we were told to come at 6pm on Saturday as this was the only time allowed for the special deal. Bit early, but with the good price we thought we'd give it a go.

When we arrived at 6pm the first ones in the restaurant and we were seated at a very nice table for four at the back wall of the restaurant with some very comfortable seating. they gave us regular menus, but when we reminded them about the deal they made us get up and sit on a tiny table by the toilet. The awful “too cheap to sit here” table shifting set the mood and it went downhill from there.

The special deal menu was awful. Starter was some pate or a tiny sliver of smoked salmon. For main I had chicken, which was a plain, thin chicken breast and some overcooked veg. It was the most bland, disappointing food I have had in a restaurant.

the other mains were calf's liver which was overcooked and dry and salmon steak which was also very bland, with no sauce. Salmon was completely raw in the middle and had to be sent back. No sides were included with the meal, so we ordered some more veg.

The wine list was very expensive, a cheaper white cost £35. Without dessert the bill for four came to £135, not bad for a london restaurant, but considering the awful food, and the fact we had a deal which was £10/head for two courses, we felt completely ripped off.

We'll never go back

Overpriced food for boys. The only good news is it won't last long.

Not much of a review really as I did not get to eat at the place, booked a table online and had an email confirming a table booked for 2 at 19:00, received a phone call from the restaurant at 17:00 to confirm my booking at 18:00, I pointed out their error and they said they were busy at 19:00, we'd have to come at 18:00, very useful as my wife does not finish work till after this. I said that we had booked a table for 1900 and wanted this time at the earliest, after a long loud sigh I was told they could maybe fit us in at 1845, I thanked them and opted to eat elsewhere. Awesome service don't you think?

Went to Marco Pierre White's steakhouse for a birthday dinner. Firstly, the glass of champers we ordered for a pre-dinner drink tasted like a cheap cava, so we suggested the rest of our party, who turned up a bit later, give it a miss. I had the beetroot & goats cheese salad to start. Well, there was no dressing, & chopped raw onion sprinkled over it, which I was still tasting after dessert!! My medium-well steak was well done, & the triple cooked chips were so crunchy you couldn't get your fork in them. That together with the crispy fried onions made for a very crunchy meal!

Service was ok, but I go out to enjoy the food! Very disappointing offering from MPW, only tempered by the 50% off main course deal. Needless to say, I will not be paying a repeat visit.

My name is Jonathan Nolan and I recently had lunch at Mr Whites Steakhouse and Grill with some clients,contrary to other peoples comments and that of Jay Rayner we had a lovely lunch,the service was excellent,the food was excellent,the atmosphere was good and we thought it was very good value for money.I have eaten in a few of Mr Whites Restaurants,Stamford Bridge,Frankies in London and Dubia and many times at the Yew Tree in Highclere,Newbury and each and every time we have had a lovely meal and the service is always excellent.Maybe on the occasions that these other people went and Jay Rayner it was them having a bad day and not the restaurants!!!.

Very bland food, boiled vegetables and very average beef. When paying £120 for lunch for 2 people you would expect a lot more. Tables far too close together but service was good.

LONDON RESTAURANT WEEK

In the event that anyone reads this review before they choose to dine at this restaurant as part of London Restaurant Week please take my advice and don't bother! I went last night with my boyfriend, who is a head chef in London and I have to say I was totally apalled. To begin with although I am aware that the restuarant reserves the right to vary the menu from that which appears on the ‘Last Minute.Com’ website, there was not one item on the menu which appeared in the sample menu except bread and butter pudding. It is not particularly difficult to guess why however on the basis that the ingredients required to make bread and butter pudding are very cheap! The sample menu, obviously created to entice diners, contained two starters which are significantly more pricey than what was on offer. Instead of something reaching the standard of Morecambe Bay potted shrimps or Kipper pate with whisky and melba toast, there was asparagus with hollondaise or ceaser salad…the latter hardly gets the tastebuds going in the same way as the former. Having said that had the starters been to a high standard they might have still been enjoyable. Instead my boyfriend got 4 rather limp looking pieces of asparagus with a hollondaise that tasted as if it came out of a packet while I received a tiny ceasar salad with the most runny, pathetic, almost non-existent excuse for dressing on it and what was obviously meant to be home-made croutons which had clearly been dropped in oil which had not reached the correct temperature for frying and so were just oil soaked half crisped pieces of bread! Moving onto the mains…what I found most pathetic was that the roast rib of aberdeen angus (on the sample menu) was no-where to be seen…and yes…in a steakhouse the closet thing to beef / steak on offer was some braised lamb! Again, had this been good it might not have mattered. However, my boyfriend opted for the lamb…which when it arrived really just looked like a school dinner on a plate! The portion was fit for a teenager, not a grown man, the lamb resembled a gooey pile of lamb stew…again tasting like it was in packet gravy! The carrots were haphazardly thrown on the plate and the mash…well…let's just say it was average. There was no effort in presentation whatsoever…simply three piles of food on the plate! I ordered the salmon…which while marginally better in presentation arrived on an overcooked bed of spinach with what I can only believe was meant to be crispy skin but was in fact a half crisped, oil soaked creation…somewhat similar to the failed croutons! I can honestly say the only thing which deserved any credit was the bread on the table and the desert…ceme brulee…(which was served far too cold but at least it was clear they had used an actual vanilla pod and not vanilla essence). The staff were again…average really. They did not take my coat when I arrived, did not pull out the chair for my boyfriend, failed to ask if we wanted water on the table and replaced the bread basket but had to be asked to provide more butter. (All these little things matter). At the end of the day, whether this is a meal deal or not, there is no excuse for such sub-standard food at a restaurant such as this! Aside from which £25 for 3 courses it not like the bargain of the century! I was under the impression that the whole object of London Restaurant Week was to allow diners to try some high quality food which they may not otherwise have an opportunity to try. I eat out a lot and I can afford regular prices…and as such if I go to a restaurant during this event and am wowed by the food then I will happily return and pay full price with no qualms! The bottom line with this experience is that it was sub-standard and I doubt I would ever go back. I am disgusted that I had to shell out £25 for such slop.