The Folly

Very disorganised service. It took them two hours to serve a three course meal, which is a record given the fact that we had preordered a week in advance from a set menu. Waiters simply did not seem to know what they were doing and probably the worst was the quality of the food. It was really mediocre. A real pity as the restaurant is big, full of light and could be such a cool place… a complete waste.

The Folly is a simply stunning bar near Monument – whoever designed the place deserves an award as its beautiful, very nature inspired with trees around, the plant on the tables were herbs in a pot, you get the picture! Im giving it a decent overall review only for design and atmosphere – this is not a place if you enjoy your food (other than the chips…)

I went with a friend on a Thursday – it was packed out so i definitely recommend booking if you were to eat. Service itself was not as bad as id read on the net – though i noted that the Folly website was recruiting ‘mystery diners’ to review the place, so perhaps this is why service seemed fine. Toilets etc were lovely – i had to mention it as they were the cleanest and trendiest id ever seen!

Now the downside – food is pretty dire. We started with the mediterranean flatbread – but it was accompanied by what looked like taramasalata, humomous, and tomato and feta dip. These were just ok but the bread was stale. I made the assumption that it must be just the leftovers from other diners because it definitely tasted as though it had been there for ages.

My main was fine – a burger – but again, looked like it had been sitting around for a while, rather than juicy and succulent which id hoped for. Finally, the pub favourite, chocolate brownie, but wasnt anything better than the norm.

The Folly bar is stunning in design, food is rubbish. If i were to go again, id maybe have food elsewhere and then head downstairs and get myself a seat there as it definitely looks like a great place to have a night out otherwise!

What a pleasure it is to find somewhere in the city where you can have decent lunch-great wine and good service- and still be able to end your evening at the same place. The Folly has really surprised me, heard a couple a average reviews and wanted to check it out- was totally opposite, i was greeted and sat by a lovely lady and had great serive all through lunch-there were 6 of us and everyones meals were great- all presented on these wooden boards-the Fish and chips and the steaks were amazing. It was a friday and wanted to kick on and the manager then got us a table downstaires where we stayed till last orders..The crowd was great -plenty of good looking crew-and no drama's anywhere.Music was just right-not having to shout to the guy next to me helps. Thank you Folly i will be telling all my colleagues and mates to come down.Cheers

Visited the folly this weekend and loved it – service by the blonde manager was exceptional – she had complete control over the floor and the staff embodied this – they made it a great evening. will definately go back

i'm a regular at them folly and i always bring my clients here for business brunches / lunches. i love the vibe of the place! the food is great, the service is sharp but still friendly and overall i'm really pleased that we have a such a great spot next to my office. yes, it does get very busy esp on thursday night but hey that's the city for you.

First lot of Drinks took 20 mins to arrive at the table…then I ordered a beef salad and got given duck…My friend had a goats cheese salad and it was pracrtically just leaves…and they deep fried everything they possibly could.There was no loo paper in the toilet i went into …second glass of wine took another 15 mins to arrive …even the bill looked forever…Great venue, buzzy, really cool but food and service let them down…

Went for a lunch meal at The Folly today, I went at Christmas and wasn't impressed but was with a group today that had booked already and thought I would give it a second chance as it is close to my work. The menu is over complicated and no healthy optioned available, soft drinks were overpriced and the food tasteless to the point of being inedible. I don't think the wooden blocks work as plates as the onion rings were stone cold. Burger tasted of nothing and the ‘salad’ was three miniature lettuce leaves and 3 slices of tomato more of a garnish really. To be constructive I have the following comments for the owners
1. make the menu smaller and easer to navigate
2. have a healthy option that has had a bit of thought put into it.
3. ditch the wooden blocks and get plates, they are tried and tested and have worked for hundred of years
4. get the basics right, you are charging top prices so make it fresh, tasty and decent portions of salad/vegetables please no-one objects to paying a higher price but it must be a top end product.

I was excited about visiting The Folly so i recently popped in for Sunday lunch with some friends. We walked into this ‘urban sanctuary’ and instantly warmed to it. We had booked a table but were late and couldn't get through on the phone to let them know as it was just connecting me to a voicemail service. This wasn't a problem as it wasn't very busy and we were shown to a table in the middle of the restaurant area. On our way through we started noticing all the wonderful attention to detail within the interior design; the flower pot lampshades, the pots of mint replacing flowers on the tables, the mismatching cushions on chairs and the large bench tables perfect for large groups of friends and families. Our table was snug, and the chairs super comfy, even though we were close to other guests we didn't feel like our space was tight.

As it was Sunday, we had already made up our minds that we were having a roast regardless of what else was on the menu. So it was just down to a choice of rare roast sirloin of beef, roast pork belly or a whole roast chicken…all three please!? We chose to start with a flatbread to nibble on while we waited for a friend to join us. When it arrived it was sliced, pizza style, at the table and was a very generous serving with plenty of toppings. It was delicious. Once our friend arrived we ordered our mains and a glass of wine and sat back and soaked in the relaxing atmosphere. Our roast beef arrived in a baking tray with all the trimmings, perfectly cooked and smelt great. I'm quite fussy when it comes to a roast dinner (mum and dad always do it best..) but i was so pleased with our choice that i was disappointed when i started to feel full! What we got given to share between two could have fed three, perhaps four people. My friend had the ribeye steak and said it was great, obvious by her empty chopping board (not plate) at the end of our meal.

Our favourite part of the meal had to be when we ordered tea. A wooden board with a cup of steaming water, a milk jug and a posh ‘Tea Pigs’ English breakfast teabag and a small chunk of chocolate brownie to allow you to create your own perfect cup of tea. Yes, we took photos…

I would definitely go back to The Folly with friends and family for the food, but not the service. There was no presence of wait staff on the floor, when one eventually came into sight we were told that he couldn't take our order and we would have to find our waiter. Perhaps it would have been a little better to suggest that he would go and find the waiter for us. We asked for sugar and none came, and our salt pot was spilt all over the table and not cleaned up. The waitress also spilled water on my phone when topping up my glass and didn't clear that up, or give a genuine apology. The waiter served me the wrong wine and worst of all, when bringing over the tea, moaned about having to serve it as it was annoying to carry. This is one of The Folly's fantastically quirky USP's…he wasn't doing it justice at all.

However, i look forward to my next visit and working my way through their delicious menu. We weren't the only ones taking photos of our food.

The food looked nice but tasted of nothing. The service was poor, 2 of us got their started 20 minutes earlier than the other two. Our bread and oil didnt arrive till we pointed out that it was missing. The mains took a long time. The main /first was moody and took himself too seriously.

I had the fried zuchini which was really tasteless and heavy on the stomach. My main, the salmon salad was not too bad, but nothing amazing.

Nice deco, gorgeous space – huge potential but generally fail on the food and service front.

Had a work Christmas meal at the folly and the food was terrible, every course was poor. My main was turkey with the all the trimmings; I started cutting through a sprout and gave up to put the rest of my energy into prising my poor fork out of the rock-hard sad looking thing. The potatoes were over cooked and what I think was a parsnip was very hard. Hey the turkey was alright!!! Dessert: good ice cream but no hint of the expected rhubarb flavour, this was accompanied by stale ginger cake.
Great location and the atmosphere is not bad. But in an effort to make a quick buck out of Christmas meals, they might have done some damage to an already poor rating.

I had read mixed reviews but the place looked like fun and menu reasonably priced so thought I would give it a go. The food was pretty bad. The duck salad was cold and the duck pieces deep fried to within an inch of it's life, and certainly not any time recently. So it was extremely chewy, I only had a couple of pieces. The risotto was under seasoned with very little flavour. When we were asked how the meal was I told the waiter about our food and she proceeded to disagree with me saying that they had very good reviews. Didn't think she should really be arguing with a customer opinion she had asked for, but what do I know? I ended the conversation by telling her she should try the duck salad. Overall the service was pretty good, although we had to ask for the bill 3 times. The menu is so huge it is hard to believe anyone could make all those meals to an excellent standard so I think they are making things far too complicated for themselves. The burgers next to us looked great and were huge, perhaps they should stick to this maybe? Its a shame because it's in a great location with good atmosphere and character.

As it's just round the corner from where I work, thought it might be a good place to go to for our girlie xmas lunch. Tried to book a table for 8 to be told they were only taking bookings for 10 or more. Tried again for a Monday night as it was my birthday, to book a booth for 6 – they would only take a booking for 8 or more – what is that all about? We went anyway on the Monday and decided to have a cocktail or two, no such thing existed, all they could offer was Baileys on ice!! There were 2 people behind the bar, one lady trying to serve a room full of people and a guy who was busy making coffess, so the service was very slow. Trying to call is a nightmare, you're always put on hold and the person on the other end doesn't really seem to know what they're doing. Hopefully this is just because it's newly opened and things will improve!

Odd place – good initial vibe – busy, new obviously – went in at 1.30 asked if they had a table for 2 – hmmm, no – can we go to the bar anyway i ask? yes, but don't go downstairs its packed – went downstairs – masses of room, only one guy serving about 30 odd people – waited a good while for 2 beers – they were poured and left on the bar…eventually i got up and got them myself…food was ok though i have to say…called today – answer phone said we open on November 5th and we'll call you back (its November 10th today) – finally got thru…not entirely sure if they had room/didn't have room for lunch today so am going elsewhere – hopefully for them its just initial teething problems…