Reform Social and Grill at The Mandeville Hotel

What ho!

Spring! As the first rays of life-giving sun hit your upturned cheeks and the nights recede into long placid evenings with the promise of chilled rose wine. A thousand BBQ's rumble out of garages, the long forgotten, rusty and oil stained armoured vanguard of summer. Spring! A time of salads and green and the lightest of touches. Spring! The perfect time to visit a gentleman's club inspired grill restaurant then… ah. No.. sadly not.

I'd had the Reform Social highlighted to me by a number of people back in the depths of winter (i.e. various points in the last 12 months) and the reports had all said broadly the same thing. Pretty decent food, if heavy on the meat and puddings, and a dark, clubby, cocoon of a space with snug leather seating you could drown in.

In summary, ideal for a long gentleman's luncheon before the weather breaks for the better… Well I'm no follower of fashion (just look at my wardrobe) and that's why I'd waited until the first fragrant days of warmth and light before pulling on my crushed velvet smoking jacket, adjusting my monocle and finding a saucy young slip of a gel to entertain.

Slotted underneath the Mandeville Hotel just off Marylebone High Street, the hotelish (and not entirely in a good way) bar was our first entry point. The way robustly blocked by a florid and fully padded post work crowd enjoying a discount deal on fizz we squeezed uncomfortably through to the dining room at the other side of the lounge.

Here I was pleased to see a full crowd of mixed ages. My gentleman's jacket wouldn't have looked entirely out of place, but neither were we marooned in fuddy-duddy land. The table of birthday partying hipsters and a gaggle of courting couples dining gave our section of the long dark room a gentle (and genteel) buzz.

Things started very well with a crisp, clean and perfectly cooked duck ‘Scotch’ egg, wrapped in a pliant and piquant black pudding shell. It clashed with an unnecessary trough of apple sauce, but solo was note perfect.

The mains sadly were less accomplished in their delivery. Both arrived on a generic root vegetable puree, hay cooked hake was a fine piece of fish, but smokier and saltier than a Glaswegian sailors mission. Stuffed lamb breast, a substitution for the stout sounding Angus rose veal chop I'd been salivating for, came as an underwelmingly small and fatty roulade filled with a fishy breadcrumb mix and topped bafflingly with tight and over-battered scampi, an odd mix that did none of the constituent parts justice. A side of pumpkin with chilli and sage gave none of the flavour of either and was verging on undercooked to boot. There's a good looking grill section here filled with some handsomely sourced cuts. I can only blame our ordering for missing them out.

Thankfully there was a knowing hand on the desserts, reason almost to return in themselves. My Bakewell Pudding, a crispy puck of choux filled with tart fruit and covered in thick vanilla custard the colour and consistency of whipped butter. A darkly decadent chocolate and blood orange pot was equally moreish. Given what I saw of the cocktails, I'm tempted to return for a lush's afternoon tea combining the two.

On a slight negative note, there was a noticeable level of fractiousness among the front of house team, commands and critiques hissed not sotto voce enough to be unheard as the harried team flew around us. It wasn't ideal. They were pretty good face to face, just less so when talking to each other.

There's less knowing cool than at that other modern bastions of of 'private member's-chic' like Dean Street Townhouse and Hawksmoor (both of whom definitely hosted planning meetings for this place) but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It doesn't do it quite as well as the aforementioned, but does well enough at a reasonable price that you won't probably shouldn't mind.

Does not meet the billing....

Four of us took advantage of one of the many offers currently available at this establishment, lured in by the prospect of a “quintessentially British experience”, taking [its] “inspiration from classic British gentlemen’s clubs” as the blurb on their website would have you believe. Oh dear…

The bar was, at first glance, not too bad with a clubby welcoming vibe catering for both those lounge lizards who like to perch on stools at the counter and those of us who prefer a more comfy sofa. Service got a bit slow as the clientele increased, and prices were on a par with other similar hotel bars (i.e. ouch!) What really let it down was the quite unnecessary thumping soundtrack of 60/70/80's dance music which went totally against the feel and ambiance the decor creates. As such, we quickly hot footed it to the restaurant, in order to escape into what we anticipated would be a more rarified, genteel atmosphere…oh dear again…

The blaring soundtrack unfortunately followed us and that, coupled with the darkness of the dining room, made for a pretty awful eating location. The food was ok-ish – we were on the steak or lobster burger offer; everyone gave the thumbs up to the accompanying chips, but mains themselves were so-so. A posh filet-o-fish my friend remarked and she had a point. I just found the darkness, noise and general crampedness of the dining room, somewhere that I needed to escape from fast.

Despite the offer our bill came in at a whopping £160 and I'm still trying to work out how on earth we managed that, given that our main courses and wine was already paid for up front. Having had a great run of truly remarkable restaurant offers for some while now, I guess it was time that our luck ran out. A shame as on paper Reform sounded really good, but clearly their interpretation of a “gentleman's club” and mine differ wildly…

Unlimited champagne afternoon tea

We booked the unlimited champagne afternoon tea for two a couple of weeks back.

I had been to one more venue that offered a glass of champagne. This deal was moderately priced at £ 26.50 + service charge at that time. The champagne served was Moutard. I cannot express how happy they made us, I had to change my time once and the staff over the phone were warm and pleasant. They have not misled anyone regarding the “free flowing champagne” offer, the staff ensured that our glasses were filled without us having to ask for it! They were warm throughout our sitting, we also requested vegetarian sandwiches to which they complied.

There was another deal I believe and we got slightly confused that offered a cocktail, when I asked the server, she explained politely that it was a different deal, however, she was really kind and presented me with the cocktail on offer, which was simply FABULOUS, I am mixologist and I can swear that it was a great cocktail!

The pastries and scones served were all very nice, I just thought they could have had the scones slightly warmer but who can complain for one of the BEST value for money offers in town.

I believe they extended the deal, but it is priced higher now, but it is still WELL WORTH IT! the staff are sympathetic and friendly, no body rushes you.

We also went to the Intercontinental's offer (£ 32.50 pp. + 12.5% service charge) and we were really looking forward to it, I will post my review separately but all I can say is that we were “highly” disappointed, their staff is rubbish, no one bothers with you, they fill only half a glass of champagne, and you have to consistently remind them to fill. I will not recommend it nor go there again. But to the Mandeville, YES!

Hope this helps :)

I visited Reform last month with my girlfriend, right after they opened. We had cocktails at the bar before our meal, I had The Great Green Ruby, my girlfriend had the Boyo, both were wery nice and refreshing. After our drinks we were shown to our table, a nice corner one. The atmosphere was very lively and the food was absolutely good.
My favorite was the Reform Triffle. The waiters were very friendly, polite and the service was brilliant.

We will definitely be back!

I visited Reform Social and Grill last month and was pleasantly surprised by the revamp. We had drinks in the hotel bar to start with and the drinks menu did not disappoint. We moved into the restaurant afterwards and were shown to a cosy booth although I assume they would normally be reserved for groups of 4, rather than just 2. Reform gives the impression of a gastro pub but it is has all the attributes of a quality restaurant. Reform had only just finished its ‘soft opening’ and although it was not busy the staff were very attentive but not overbearing. The menu was ‘compact’ but varied with a focus on locally sourced ingredients. I tried the vegetable broth followed by the lamb cutlets and my friend had asparagus followed by plaice with brown shrimp. We both thoroughly enjoyed our food as the dishes were perfectly executed and presented. The wine selection, like the menu, is limited but good quality. Overall price was reasonable at just over £100 including a decent bottle of wine but this included drinks from the bar. I will be visiting again very soon and hope to see them attracting more clientele which would help to create a livelier atmosphere.