Fish Market

It started so well…the door flung wide and “good afternoon” rained down on us literally as we set foot on the bottom stair leading up to the restaurant (good job we weren't in two minds about going in!) Alas, it gradually went downhill from there on …

We were a party of three during a busy Friday lunchtime; two of us took advantage of the current D&D/Evening Standard restaurant offer, our third sticking to her lunchtime salad regime. We were provided with both the offer menu and the a la carte, but no pressure to chose the dearer option. The starters arrived after a noticeable wait, or perhaps it just felt lengthy being that food arrived before the wine! This faux pas was swiftly followed by another when the starter salad arrived fully dressed…despite the request to have the dressing on the side. The two offer starters were pretty good, my squid was excellent with a real chilli kick but why serve it on a wooden board making it difficult to stop pieces going everywhere?

Main courses were, sad to say, a bit of a let down. The chicken and vegetable pie arrived with no garnish nor side vegetable to liven up its appearance, and worse was to come when the “vegetable” element comprised just two slices of carrot. My mussels were plentiful but individually very small and it felt more like an exercise in eating than anything more enjoyable. Must be the first time in this country that I have ever left mussels for Mr Manners…

Despite only ordering one dessert, this was clearly too much for the staff and we ended up having to cancel the order due to the length of time it was taking. Whilst staff were apologetic, there really is no excuse for this type of oversight. True it was a very busy lunchtime and the tables are certainly rammed in, making it difficult for waiting staff to move around freely. At one point, I had to give two of them one of my “looks” as they stopped right next to our table and then had a very loud discussion about where to sit waiting diners…

Given its proximity to our office, I daresay we will revisit, but perhaps just for drinks and seafood – the outside area looks very inviting once we get the weather to enjoy it. But having experienced and thoroughly enjoyed D&D offers in sister restaurants, I have to conclude that this is currently the poor relative.

The decor is nice, service fine but clueless. Food is average (good quality raw ingredients but a really dull menu).
A really average restaurant. Shame as it has promise. I will try again one more time next year to se if they can inject some real flair. With good ingredients, it is a crime not to produce exciting menus and dishes.

Also get people who know food to serve customers, failure to do this will kill your trade.