Dock Kitchen

Sublime. Highly recommended.

We visited the Dock Kitchen on ia busy Saturday night. The only time they had available was 9.30pm which was fine with us. On arrival we were quickly seated and given the menus, we were familar with the fact that they operated a set menu with only a few choices for the main course. We were asked if we would like aperitifs which we ordered but unfortuantely they arrived after we had been given the first course of a fennel and orange salad. The salad was fresh and zingy and it seemed like the food would live up to expectations, especially as Stevie Parle had just won The Observer Young Chef Of the Year Award. Thie next cousre Ribollata arrive quickly and was woefully underseasoned, the main courses of Seabass and a Ox Tounge and duck pilaff with Pommegrante arrived within 5 minutes of us finishing the soup (i was now thinking that we were being rushed as we had been the last table to be seated this evening and perhaps the staff wanted to knock off work early!). Again this was disapointing the pilaff was dry and had no flavour and the seabass whilst well cooked was just served on top of sweet potato mash.
The deserts on offer were a whiskey and chocolate ice cream which was the exact opposite to the other food that we had been served that evneing as the chocolate flavour was so strong you could only eat a couple of spoonfuls and a quince trifle that was forgettable. By the time we had finished it was just after 11.00pm most of the staff had left and tiding up was taking place around us. I really wanted to like The Dock Kitchen as only live five minutes and was looking forward to having a place round the corner that served great original food. Cost for 4 x people with two bottles of wine .£260.00

Last Thursday I went full of expectation to Dock Kitchen. With friends who had recommended the place we arrived through the beautiful courtyard setting with the pool of water back dropped by the linear restaurant – this will be a great summer venue. So far so good. Once inside we were immediately seated and given menus highlighting the fact that this was the evening of white truffle dishes. (a surcharge for the truffle depending on how much you have placed against the set cost of £35.00). Not bad I thought even though the recommended Pinot Noir was a pricey £55.00. We settled on a delicious Malbec at £35.00…

Then came the dishes… raw veal with white truffle to start… bland but nothing unexpected. Then the risotto with prosciutto, again bland but this time I was surprised and disappointed. Then came my main course the fish; this time it was not only bland but also raw inside (when it was supposed to be fully cooked) – this was quickly sent back with no questions from the discrete waiter. I was now not only surprised and disappointed but asked myself if we had the right restaurant!

The bill was £150.00 per couple!

If this restaurant, a destination restaurant, is to survive they really have to up their game… From my experience I cannot recommend it to friends and most certainly will not be returning… unless next summer is all round sunshine…

I had read a bit about this restaurant and was quite intrigued and excited to sample the delights on offer, overall I was disappointed. Great venue I must admit but the wine list wasn't that inspiring and erred on the pricey side. We booked a table for 2.45 – having worked in many restaurants the theory is don't take bookings no matter what time unless you can treat the customer like they are the first to arrive. (this was not the case here)

It was very evident that certain staff were about to finish their shift, wine for the main course arrived well after the mains – I sat patiently waiting to no avail as my food got cold in anticipation.

The starter of scallops and cauliflower was quite tasty although my companion's salad did look a bit lack lustre. Mains were average, but what was more disappointing was on the desert front.

Although the menu wasn't extensive you would expect them to have enough in stock to account for the reservations but alas no – we were given the desert menus without any mention of what was out of stock only to try and order those exact deserts that weren't available, so we asked for the caramel and salt ice cream to share. – the only remaining available desert on the menu. The friendly waitress came back with a quince ice cream apologetically saying they were out of the requested dish – in other words – we are out of all deserts on the menu – nice touch – incidentally we weren't in the mood for quince ice cream.

The more I thought about this and my disappointment the more I felt the need to query the manager as to how there were no available deserts – he went off investigated the situation and came back with some apple pastry proposition I politely declined but my companion accepted. After 20 minutes some pastry thingy with some apple arrived – very mediocre. I waited and I waited to ask for a coffee to no avail, eventually I nabbed a guy folding napkins who politely accepted the challenge.

Overall the experience was overpriced and disappointing I had such high expectations of this restaurant I had read about, on the way out the manager informed us of a review that was about to appear in the Observer as if he was trying to justify the restaurants stature – all I could think was I hope that critic had a better experience than we did.

What a disappointment – although on a positive note, I don't think it would take much to make improvements, a better attitude would be a start.

A great venue once you get through the fortress like security gates… but the food was disappointing and in my opinion overpriced. An experimental concept which doesn't quite work because the choice is limited and therefore it will always be a gamble as to whether there is something you really want. It is an over priced gamble at that.