The Commander

I visited the restaurant's website before arriving and was favourably impressed, particularly with the news that they have a creche on Saturdays and Sundays. However, notwithstanding how appealing would be to dine while having my toddler entertained upstairs, I won't be going back.

I went with a friend and the first problem was with our “appetizer”. Neither of us ordered one but we did order some bread with dinner. Because we ordered the “rustic” bread (i.e. that you pay for), it was treated as an appetizer and our main courses were not started by the kitchen until we had to tell the waitress that we would not be finishing the six pieces of bread before our dinner arrived. We were both somewhat surprised that a basket of bread was treated as an appetizer, but the manager confirmed that it is. That was a first for both of us.

When our main courses finally did arrive, my fish was too tough and rubbery to cut and my friend's “medium” burger was rare, at best. So we sent both back. When the main courses returned, mine wasn't much better, the fish still a sad and unpleasant specimen on top of a very greasy and over-fried (essentially burnt) rosti.

I still wouldn't have been overly irritated except that the service was unapologetic and borderline argumentative, and notwithstanding the initial delay (sorry, I don't accept that an order of bread is a starter) and the problems with both main courses, no efforts were made to induce a return. Discriminating diners not welcomed, although it isn't quite cheap enough to justify that attitude.

We discovered The Commander while ambling around Notting Hill and popped in for a casual lunch. We loved the decor, which is slick but relaxed, and secured a fabulous booth overlooking the street.

The staff couldn’t do enough to help and were quite formal for a lunchtime, adding a sense of class to the occasion. The menu was reasonably priced and mainly full of American casual crowd pleasers, but with more upmarket things for fish lovers. We had a big tuna salad that wasn’t very big, but good all the same.

Overall – A great local and a lovely place to while away some time in upmarket but relaxed surroundings.

Hmmm – The Commander – Well, you know it is never a good start when one enters a new restaurant full of excitement and anticipation, only to be told that “No – we cant fit you in because we have a large booking coming soon and the kitchen will be too busy” . Also – it was particularly irritating when one could see several spare tables. So – after negotiation with staff far friendlier than the Maitre'd – perhaps it was her first opening? We managed to secure a table for two. Perhaps we should have left while we could! The starter, described a salmon and dill terrine – was essentially remoulade from the supermarket shelf – then after asking for some brown or soda bread to go with it – was told that there was none available, and after three different people had been to see about it, eventually the chef came out and said that he would prefer not to give us yesterday’s bread. Ok – well perhaps some more of the small white pieces of bread that were offered with the table then? Anyway – some semi fresh brown bread eventually turned up.

On to the mains and the first one was pork belly – which had nice and crisp roast potatoes and braised cabbage – but the main attraction – sadly undercooked I’m afraid! And the other main – touted as prawn and monkfish brochettes – what arrived was a tiny 10p size piece of monkfish and two prawns (in their shells!) and some unadvertised tuna. By this stage, we were afraid to try desert and opted for another glass of wine – the only high point of the meal – a nice white rioja at a very reasonable price, in fact, the wine list overall represented good value.

Most of the above was probably attributable to new opening trials and tribulations – however these hiccups were not helped by generally rude and uninformed staff – perhaps the owners should have been on hand to ensure a smooth opening – well to at least ensure locals to the area return – as unfortunately we wont be!