Andrew Edmunds

I spend far too much money on eating out. It’s one of the inconvenient pleasures of living in a city with 50 Michelin-starred restaurants and hundreds of secret hideaway eateries just waiting to be discovered and then savoured.

Despite a constant urge to try out new places however, I always find myself returning to one of my favourite Soho establishments, Andrew Edmunds on Lexington Street.

Admittedly, Andrew Edmunds receives most of my custom during the winter months. It’s somewhere familiar to escape the drizzle and swap the falling temperatures for the warm dark glow of intimate candle-lit tables, plain white tablecloths, great British food and an extensive red wine list. I wasn’t entirely convinced therefore that I’d made the right choice when, on one of the warmest days of the summer so far, I reached for the phone and booked a table for two downstairs at this charming gourmet bolt-hole.

Maybe I opted for a table downstairs so we could pretend that the balmy summer’s evening unfolding on the street outside was actually a dark winter’s night as we swapped stories over a naked flame and drank a 2006 mid-priced bottle of Argentinian red.

Actually, the real reason I requested downstairs is because that’s where my preferred table is located (the only restaurant where I actually know which table I prefer). Tonight, table 22, side on to all the other diners so that you’re not distracted by their… More

From the person who took the phone booking and offered a two hour early evening slot to the service through the meal this was a thoroughly unfriendly experience that left our party feeling cheated out of what should have been a good Saturday night meal. While the food was perfectly decent and the wine good, the staff seemed concerned only with the table that was booked after ours, twenty minutes before our slot was up (and that's how it felt) we were told to order pudding even though one of us had not finished their main course. We then ordered to find strangely that every hot pudding – treacle tart, sticky toffee pudding, apple crumble was suddenly not available – we're talking here of a 8:45pm. Instead we were offered dishes that would clearly have taken less time for us to eat and so ensure we were off our table at 9 sharp. We felt totally rushed and unwelcome and we would strongly recommend only going to this restaurant on a later sitting to ensure you're actually able to enjoy it. Vile attitude from the maitre d' down to the phone guy. Reminds me of all the things I hate about London.

Dissapointing. Perhaps it was my expectation that let it down having read great reviews and walked past the ever-packed bistro style restaurant on Lexington St, but I would most definitely not go back. Willing to forgive the offer of ‘ I suppose we could get you a drink’ as we were very slightly early for our table, the meal was distinctly average and accompanied by a very long (45 minute) wait. Starters were good, a nice ham terrine and tuna sashimi – but the mains were distinctly average (a very fatty, dry, salty un-crispy confit of duck) . Mains are between £15-20 which, in my opinion, isn't good value for the quality. The staff's knowledge of what was a very good wine list was another dissapointment – as was the half an hour wait for the bill as all the waiting staff seemed to dissapear.

We sat downstairs so perhaps the upstairs experience is different, but my expectation was good, solid, unpretentious cooking accompanied by a great atmosphere and personal service which was far from what we received. At least the atmosphere was good, since we were in there for two and a half hours for two courses. Such a shame.