The Gilbert Scott

I had a great time at the Gilbert Scott when I dined there with a group of friends recently. The bar has to be one of the most beautiful in London, or even Britain. The cocktails are really good too – quite creative and very tasty! The staff in both the bar and the restaurant are also very good, they all have a personality which does not seem to be restrained by the establishment. It is friendly and knowledgeable without being at all stuffy. The food in the restaurant is really, really good. So many options on the menu it was difficult to choose! We all had something different and were all really happy with our choices. The rib of beef (to share) is one of the best steaks I have had in a very long time. Save room for pudding too as they are again all very good.
I will definitely be back!

Such a disappointment! The food was so average and really overpriced for the quality. My welsh rarebit starter resembled a deep fried mozzarella stick.
Stunning dining room, but let down by the food and the very dreary waiting staff who had no rapport with their diners in the slightest.

St. Pancras International station is probably one of my favourite places. William Barlow’s arch spans 240 feet and upon its completion in 1868, became the largest enclosed space in the world. Inside, urbanites travel to-and-fro, couples relax and drink coffee while others wander the famed construction that epitomises the glamorous.

The sense of grandeur is still evident today. The Gothic red brick Grade 1 listed façade, sculptures to honour of poets and lovers, and the five-colour rings of the Olympiad welcoming every national and international.

Sir George Gilbert Scott designed and built the Midland Grand Hotel after winning a competition run by the Midland Railway Company. The east wing opened in 1873 with completion of the entire building finished in Spring 1876.

In 1935 the hotel was closed making way for railway offices, shutting doors again in 1985; vacant, home only to the vermin. Twenty-six years later, the Gilbert Scott restaurant has opened under Marcus Wareing.

Wareing holds two Michelin stars and is what you could call a lavish chef. He’s particular, appears punctional and proud, serious about his craft. To take on the kitchen and dining room here requires all of these elements. The task is grandiose and the expectation immense.

There’s complimentary popcorn from the bar. It’s smokey (bacon-esc rather than fag ash), which is rather charming. It’s also rather commonplace now however, with the likes of Texture and Spuntino doing the same. I’m also told by a knowledgeable source that Wareing’s own Petrus offers complimentary popcorn.

The bar is smaller than I’d imagined given the expanse of the building and the length of the hallway you navigate to get there – which is lined with spectacular antiquarian wardrobes for hats, cloaks and brollies and is, I expect, also a portal to Narnia and other fairytale worlds.

The dining wing curves around to the kitchen at the far end. A staff service station separates two dining spaces: the tables at the front – close to the entrance – are oddly scattered while further down, tables appear too close in proximity and it’s an elbow-to-elbow experience.

The room could – and should – be vibrant with regulars and travellers. This is, afterall, one of London’s busiest gateways. Sadly, the room is lacking an identity, which given the scope of the space and surrounding history is a grand shame. It’s table and chairs in a corridor. A corridor lacking warmth and welcome, no thanks surely to the oil paintings of bleak winter trees and polar seascapes.

When you have strong first impressions of a restaurant and its design, thoughts naturally shift to the food and whether it can live up to the surroundings and your own expectations. My starter of duck egg on sippets was good; a fine sized egg with glowing, runny yolk sat on sippets (just overblown wording for bread) with duck hearts and devilled sauce, while ‘potted shrimp’ was in fact potless and average.

Mains are all upwards of £16 and there’s a £55 ‘Lake District rib of beef for two with bone marrow’ that the couple next to us were enjoying.

‘Kentish pigeon in a pot’ is mixed with mushrooms, thyme and prunes. It arrived in a bowl rather than ‘pot’ along with a plate. I assumed this was it and began to transfer the contents from one piece of crockery to another (a waste of a good bowl), before realising what a simple portion this was: pigeon breast and mushrooms for £18.

I’m sure this is all deliberate so you’ll jump to the £4.50 accompaniments section, and foolish me, I did, increasing my main from £18 to £22.50 in one cursory swoop. ‘Cauliflower pudding’ was baked with cream and nutmeg and arrived rich and bubbling.

‘Dorset snail and chicken pie’ was another plate that failed to impress. Bereft of even middling presentation the pie was lukewarm containing a mixture of cold garlic and parsley mingled with chicken skin, grey, thick and rubbery. We signalled a waiter bringing this to their attention. “It’s supposed to be in there” he replied. When we questioned this further he took the plate to the kitchen, returning several minutes later, “the chef agrees that the skin is too big and tough.” Then, rightly, withdrew it from our bill.

I’ve spent some considerable time since researching chicken pie recipes and speaking with chefs, all of whom suggest ‘discarding the bones and skin.’ Well it seems obvious, doesn’t it? Not at The Gilbert Scott.

I had been looking forward to desserts after hearing about ‘Kendal mint cake choc ice’ and ‘orange marmalade Jaffa cake’, so why I choose ‘Mrs Beeton’s Snow eggs’, I don’t know? I think it must have been the phrase ‘Snow eggs’, a mystifying description with imagery of fluffy gooeyness. What it was in fact was softly poached meringue with an Everton toffee core, sprinkled with salted peanuts, resting on ‘burnt honey custard’ or rather, crème anglaise – the highlight of the meal.

Wareing has a knack for getting desserts right and here he’s on the money, it’s just a shame that the afore courses fell short, and as popular as I think the desserts here are going to be, they’re not so good as having to wade through two-courses of sheer disappointment in a dining room that doesn’t feel at ease with itself.

Had dinner here last week and had an amazing experience. The staff were fantastic – friendly, very knowledgable and also very good at reading our expectations. The food was SO good, food you really want to eat, a lot of! Standout dishes were the quail mulligatawny, the halibut and the eccles cake with cheddar cheese ice cream (incredible!). The wine list is great too – there is enough choice for all at very good prices. Make sure you go to the bar also, even if you are not going to the restaurant – it is stunning and the cocktails are fabulous. The kitchen table also looks incredible (we were given a tour). I cannot recommend The Gilbert Scott more highly and will definitely be back, very soon!

I wanted to love Gilbert Scott. I did not. After our first date together Gilbert Scott showed some charm but mostly left me feeling disappointed and a bad taste in my mouth. The room is beautiful if a little lacking in atmosphere, it didn't help that we had a terrible table wedged between two other couples and we felt part of both their dates instead of on our own. I heard one of them remark "it's just pub food' and he was nearly right, what he should have said is “it's very expensive pub food”.
The food was a mixed bag. My starter of baked onion was delicious, creamy and savoury. The heritage tomato salad was nice but nothing to shout about. My sea bass was sent back, both fillets were served under cooked, raw to the point of being bloody. Our waitress was very understanding and dealt with the sea bass swiftly so we carried on with our evening hoping for the best. The steak flank with tongue was underwhelming and a little on the mean side. Not a whole steak but 3 thin slices and a curl of cold tongue. Stingy!! I'd been looking forward to Mrs Beeton's Snow Eggs but again felt short changed. The smallest smear of ‘Everton toffee sauce’ could hardly be detected inside the poached meringue. I'd been promised oozing sauce not a speck, a smidge or a smudge. The custard a little thin and weak. I glanced round the room and it looked to me like a few other glum faces, pointing at the desserts with upside down smiles. A chocolate pudding with chocolate cornflakes pulled in the most grimaces.
I'd happily pay £100 or more for a perfect meal and an evening of wonderful memories so when Marcus Wareing ‘opens’ a new destination restaurant in a prestigious venue I was more than happy to buy into his brand of perfection. However, at £90 a head with just one bottle of (very delicious) Pinotage and three uninspired courses, some which which poorly executed Mr Scott and myself will not be having a second date. I recommend going to The Gilbert Scott, have a delicious cocktail in a truly majestic looking bar then get in a cab and head to Les Deux Salons or St Johns for some really top notch food.

We had the table until 9pm so it was important that service was prompt to complete the meal at 9:15 a waiter turned up at the table (not the person that had been serving for the rest of the meal) and informed us that we would have to vacate the the table. We had been waiting for 20 mins to order our dessert which we pointed out the waiter disappeared for another 10 mins and the manager came back to inform us we would have to move to the lounge. Very poorly handled the food was only average so I would recommend you eat elsewhere. It is a real shame that the incident ruined the meal as the surroundings are impressive.

Oh dear Mr Wareing! When I read about your latest opening back in March, I booked our table with great anticipation to celebrate my birthday. But to wait 40 minutes to be seated last Friday night and then taste such average food was so disappointing! Other customer comments about closeness of tables are accurate, so try and avoid being seated at the banquettes on the side of the room.

The new hotel @ St Pancras has been stunningly designed qand decorated, so imagine the surprise to find it's flagship restaurant looking so dreary! You get the impression the decorator used every scrap of leftovers from his last several projects, as nothing fits together. Fortunately the evening wasn't entirely wasted as the cooking was sublime. There are a number of old fashioned dishes which have been ‘modernised’ so skilfully I wonder why they ever went out of fashion. The wine list was good sand reasonable as well.
Just a pity about the atrocious decoration otherwise I'd like to make it a new regular!

I've read some of the other reviews on the Gilbert Scott, and absolutely agree that the tables are way too close together – my dining friend and I were seated in between two other tables, along a banquette, with the other diners as far away from us as if we had all been dining as a group of 6 people. Given the cost of the bill, and the lavishness of the room, I think it is a real pity that the ambience is spoiled like this.

The food was very good – a special mention for the bacon olives, but again spoiled by some elementary mistakes. My dining friend ordered the rabbit and prawn pie, only to be told they didn't have it that evening. Then why not say so when we sat down? My ‘sole in coffins’ was two rolled sole fillets, with a creamy brown shrimp sauce, sitting on mash. Absolutely delicious, faultless seasoning and texture, but not the sole in crispy potato casings that the menu promised. I had a coffee, which was an excellent espresso, but didn't even come with a chocolate on the side.

The service, however, was exemplary, even on a very busy evening. Red wine is left on the table, but white removed to ice buckets – if you are doing that, you have to have an efficient way of policing which glasses need topping up when, and the sommelier and his staff have that off to a fine art.

So, a good evening, in an amazing building, but coloured by some silly mistakes – and, Marcus? If you read this – take out a couple of tables, please!

The room is fabulous in this restaurant – high ceilings, large windows enabling to look at the wonderful building that St Pancras station is.
So when my work colleague suggested lunch, Iimmeduiately said yes.
I've never been to a "name"restaurant so soon after an opening, so I don't know if I'm being harsh with my opinion about the service that I received.
On both my starter (harrogate loaf) and my main (rabbit & prawn pie) the incorrect plate (one of my colleagues) was put before me. With a discretionary gratuity of 12.5% being added to my bill (not forgetting the £2 cover charge – what's that about?) I felt I had to let the waitress know of this shortcoming.
However, my main concern when I dine out is the quality, flavour and taste of the food. And the food here is good. As stated before I started with the Harrogate loaf with a parsley salad. The salad on it's own was slightly over seasoned, but combined with the terrine tasted on point. My work colleagues both had the bacon olives and I was fortunately to have a taste and again a tasty dish.
The rabbitt and prawn pie had succulent big pieces of rabbit, but I'm not sure this is a dish for a warm May afternoon. The pease pudding was a new experience for me and I could have eaten that all afternoon. A wonderful new experience for me, which I will attempt to replicate.
My friends ordered the featherblade steak and cumbrian lamb respectively along with side of roast potatoes and their clean plates, said it all.
I'm not convinced that the menu is appropriate for the warmer climate as it does come across more comfort cold wet windy days in its style, but I'm sure with time this will be addressed. I hope I'm invited back as I would say yes once again.

I took my husband to Gilbert Scott for his birthday.

We were seated on a table for 2 with two other tables on the side of us. We could hear the other couples' conversations and my husband kept elbowing the guest on its left. Two tables would have been fine in that area but 3 were too many.

We did not ask to be seated somewhere else as we could see restaurant rather full and it was inconvenient to do so. Although the food was good and service reasonably attentive, it felt like being seated in a crowded cafe in Romford. Very disappointing.

I have amassed a mountain of respect for Marcus Wareing. Brought into our line of vision by Gordon Ramsay, who he has since eclipsed rather massively through his culinary achievements and dedication to staying firmly in the kitchen, where a good Chef should spent the majority of his working time. With Restaurant Marcus Wareing, his highly successful first restaurant at The Berkeley Hotel, firmly established… opening a second restaurant was the next natural step for Wareing. Interestingly, The Gilbert Scott is also located within a very glamourous hotel, the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, which is certainly a good business decision in my opinion, although Chefs of Wareing's calibre never have problems filling tables. In fact, since its opening in late April, The Gilbert Scott has been fully booked almost constantly although securing a table certainly isn't impossible if you book in advance.

The hotel is grand in a very old-school way; luxurious and old-money, rather than the boring overly styled sort of establishments that seem to be taking over the City. On the particular evening I dined, I was joined by wonderful food loving friends and we settled in at the bar with it's comfortable leather slouchy chairs and attentive service. A truly lovely place for dainty Negronis and other such classic cocktails; we could easily have whiled away many an hour in the bar alone.

Finally seated at the table, we peruse the menu and each settle on our chosen dishes for the evening. Decadence is the order of the day and how well-suited to The Gilbert Scott, it is. Lobster is one of those choices that I am always ashamed to make. Lobster is lobster, it's not exactly the most adventurous choice on the menu but never one to be swayed by general concensus, I opt for the lobster salad and I wasn't disappointed. Wonderfully meaty morcels of lobster meat, juicy and sweet with mixed leaves, croutons and an almost Marie Rose-like sauce and fennel shards proved to be the perfect opener to the meal. Not a big lover of quail, my friend assured me that I MUST try the quail Mulligatawny – served in a dainty little cocotte pot – and WOW, is all I can say. It is practically the only time I have actually enjoyed quail and wished I had ordered it. The quail was moist and tender, on the bone and bathed in a curried broth that did nothing to overpower the delicate bird. Superb.

For mains, the haddock and mussels poached in Camel Valley Brut sauce was lovely and light which in our case was a good idea as between the four of us, we ordered a HELL of a lot of side dishes; Peas pudding, cauliflower cheese, roast potatoes, chips, spinach, mini yorkshire puddings and (wait for it) Paxo stuffing. Yes, Paxo stuffing! This, my friends, is what happens when you put 4 die-hard decadent foodies together on a table. Excess takes over and you end up ordering double the amount of food required to satisfy. No matter, life is short and is to be enjoyed. Our lovely Scottish waiter (young Nick) is highly amused by the sheer volume of dishes we have ordered. He deserves a special mention, because he was so incredibly efficient and attentive. Old school service of this kind is perfectly at home in an establishment such as The Gilbert Scott and if only more restaurants would try to ensure the same, then London would be a better place for it.

Stuffed beyond all recognition, I still find it impossible to refuse the offer of dessert. I would ultimately only end of regretting it later on in the evening, so I hone in on a classic Bakewell tart (which seems to be appearing on menus everywhere) and it was rather wonderful, although incredibly sweet. I could have lived without the icing on top, but then again it wouldn't have been a proper Bakewell tart without it. The moist almondy sponge encased just a hint of jam and made for the perfect dessert with it's accompanying dollop of Jersey cream. Perfection that may have just sent me slightly over the edge of what my stomach feels comfortable with.

After dinner, we are given a tour of the kitchens and there, busily toiling over the pass is Marcus Wareing himself. This is the most pleasing part of the evening to me. Shunning the limelight and PR shenannigans of his new opening, Wareing has his head down and is focused on delivering top quality food to his dinners. The Chefs table in the kitchen is filled with diners, many of whom are food writers I recognise and Wareing doesn't take his eyes off the pass for a second. He isn't schmoozing them or chatting with them; he is a Chef and is dedicated to his craft. An admirable quality in a Chef and especially in Wareing, who could so easily become the latest TV darling of our nation, but hasn't succumbed to the bright lights and camera flashes, thankfully.

As we leave, we spy a large table of about 16 or so of some of the most well known Chefs, restaurateurs and critics in the industry. Peter Gordon, Yotam Ottolenghi and Trevor Gulliver but to name a few… all seated in a cramped manner at a table in the bar tucking into their chosen dishes, seemingly just happy to be there. Who knew Tuesdays nights were the new Friday? The Gilbert Scott could be set to eclipse Heston Blumenthal's ‘Dinner’ restaurant as the greatest new opening of 2011. Either way, it is a MUST-visit destination for serious foodies who are looking for something infinitely less formal than Wareing's first opening. It's a real slice of what is best and should be revered about Britain and it's food… and what a thoroughly enjoyable experience it was.

poor & disappointing experience – it was 2 of us – we ordered a bottle of wine only to be told it was not available, we then ordered one of the main dishes on the menu and only AFTER ordering, the waitress came back to say it was not available, sent an email to restaurant manager highlighting our disappointment – never received a reply or acknowledgement – quite unprofessional in my viewl!
for being a Marcus Wareing's restaurant and considering the prices the experience has been far from memorable and far from being enjoyable – when I booked the restaurant I was really looking forward to the experience which did not live up to my expectations – extremely disappointing and won't go back

Marcus Wareing is one of my favourite chefs in London so I could not wait to try this restaurant. I was expecting its cooking to be at the level of DINNER by Heston Blumenthal. It was the total opposite. There were 4 of us and no one enjoyed their meal overall. I started with fish cake and the “cake” came covered in half an inch of chewy deep fried dough and the rest of the fish cake was dry without much flavour. My main course of mackerel came plain sitting in an insipid sauce, with no attempt at presentation. Hmm, maybe the taste is going to knock my socks off like they tend to do in the Berkeley Hotel? Wrong again. Tasted like it looked. At £75 a head it was not at all cheap esp for the fare we were served. We have every right to expect a lot better from Marcus Wareing. And we know he was in the kitchen that night because he stride by the table. Let's hope this is just teething problems and the restaurant will settle down to live up to Marcus' reputation. We hope it will.

I went for one of the soft launches and was very very very impressed.

The building itself was fantastic. It really made me look all around with amazement rather than just focus on the main restaurant.

The menu is really good fun – instead of knowing exactly what each dish is – it really started up different conversations on everybodys opinion of what they though the definition was! Our waitress came over and put our arguements to rest and explained what we needed her to in great detail.

I had the Yorkshire fishcakes to start with…I wish I had been more adventurous as they were amazing but they were similar to many great fishckaes I've had before. The Seabass was A.Mazing. I was really impressed.

For dessert I had the snow eggs…simply to see what it looked like and how it was presented. It was nice but very very very sweet!

Overall I would definately return and can't wait to try out some more things on the menu!

I like the experience of going to new restaurants and forming an opinion of them before others have tried them. I booked “The Gilbert Scott” on the day the booking line was open as I did not want to have to wait too long to experience this restaurant. The restaurant embodies what my guest called “Steam Gothic”(Gothic with a modern interpretation ) restaurant décor.

I was shown with my guest to table one, we decided that this was not a suitable table as it was located next to the bar entrance and patisserie. We checked if there was another table for two available and were duly moved to a more central table which was better located and afforded a better view of the room in which we were dining.

It is to be noted that there is a very affordable early supper menu served before 6.30 and would be ideal before travelling on Eurostar.

We were advised that the Suffolk stew and the lobster were not available as they had had a very busy afternoon. This still left a good selection of food to choose from to start my guest had the Yorkshire fish cake which was tasty, crisp on the outside but, unfortunately not even warm in the centre and I had the crab salad which was served with pear and hazelnut; it was flavoursome and there was a generous portion of crab. When our comments about the fishcake were offered to the waitress she informed us they would be passed on to the chef.

For the ‘main event’ we chose the Dorset jugged steak and the Kentish pigeon in the pot. The Dorset jugged steak was very tasty and hearty with miniature dumplings and port and redcurrant jelly. We both agreed it was a good dish. The same could not be said of the pigeon which was served in an impractical bowl , which may have worked if the pigeon was not so sinuous, rubbery and difficult to cut, the thin sauce in which the pigeon was served seemed at odds with the dish it did not enhance or embellish the dish but was merely there. I actually gave up eating it and decided that it was the most uninspired pigeon dish that I had eaten. I was asked if it was ok and I said that it was not, the waitress said that she would pass the comments onto the chef.

The sommelier was helpful and suggested the glasses of white wine to be served with the first courses, when we asked about the second course our waitress suggested two wines which we agreed to, the Sommelier brought the wine to us and suggested that as I liked a more full bodied the wine the wines suggested to me may not be appropriate and waited for me to try it and decide if I liked it – I did not and he was very happy to change it.

We did not have desserts, the enjoyment of the evening was dulled by the lack lustre pigeon, despite the several assurances on the presentation of the bill that our comments were passed on the chef. When we left the greeter asked if we enjoyed the meal and we gave an honest response he really did not know how to respond.

It is worth paying a visit to see the beautiful and sympathetic restoration of the space

Given this had only been open exactly a week when we went, I was impressed by how smoothly things seemed to be running. The menu is great – all 5 of us had different dishes at each course and no one was disappointed. I'm not a huge desert person, but please if you go leave room… they are heavenly! Was pleasantly surprised at the prices. Would definitely go again