Le Pot Lyonnais

I live very close to this restaurant in clapham and have many different places to choose from but always get lured back for another meal. Its wierd in the sense that there is nothing that blows this place away in terms of a swanky place to go its just got a really homely feel about the place. Its just very relaxed and the food is always good. I have had the onglet here pretty much every time i have been there as i find it so good I sort of feel i dont want to go off track but today my girlfriend and I went for dinner and found out it was steak night so there were a number of other more expensive cuts to try for much less than on non steak night (which is only friday and saturday night) We went for the chateaubriand which was absolutely delicious and I now dont know what to do next time I go there as i really like both dishes!!
In terms of the owner he is a sort of typical slightly grumpy french restaurant owner, but in a sweet and endearing way. He has been there for a long time and I think he genuinely cares about the food he produces. I have nothing to gain from writing this article other than i would hate for this restaurant to ever shut down as it has that ‘je ne sais quoi’ that french restaurant that has been transposed from any back street french city feel to it.
I am sorry that some people have had bad experiences but i have never one and will continue to go back. Go there if you are looking for a laid back atmosphere and rustic french dining experience, not if you are looking for a posh dining experience.

Unfortunately I can't recommend dining here. The service is at best indifferent and at worst resentful, the cooked breakfasts no better than those from the caf down the road and we waited over 20 minutes for drinks and 45 for food to arrive – one poached egg was only partially cooked so couldn't finish my meal. Please spare yourself the disappointment of this place!

I went for lunch at Le Bouchon Lyonnais on Queenstown Rd in Battersea two Saturdays ago. We had had a truly dreadful experience. I was a bit more than peckish after a walk in Battersea Park and thought that a hearty French onion soup would fit the bill. At just shy of £7 I imagined it would be a large bowl of earthy homey fare.My wife ordered the full English breakfast. We had to wait an eternity (possibly 40 mins) for the food to arrive and no apology was made in the interim for the delay. My soup arrived in a suitable hearty-sized bowl but I had to peer down over the edge into the depths of the interior to locate the five or six soup-spoonfulls which constituted the serving. As a reflex, I almost picked up the spoon and started to eat but, fortunately, a deeper sense of having-the—piss-extracted prevented me from tucking in. I decided to approach the waitress who seemed to be in charge of front-of-house with said untouched bowl for her comments. She showed little interest or concern and merely offered to go to the kitchen to get some more soup added to the bowl, which, at that point,righteous indignation mounting, was hardly the point! Meanwhile my wife had located a strand of hair in her scrambled egg which was also brought to the attention of the waitress who reacted with her customary nonchalance. I asked to speak to the manager about both issues. I was told that it was not possible because he was cooking- why was he cooking?- and that anything I had to say should be addressed to the front-of-house waitress-oh and, by the way, ‘there is nobody in the kitchen with that colour hair’ !!! No hint of apology or gesture of reparation on either count. This was certainly an object lesson in how not to treat your clientele. The arrogance of the management beggars belief. I can only endorse the views of other reviewers who suffered similarly bad experiences here. Clearly things have not improved lately. i paid for an adequate goat's cheese salad ordered by the third member of our party but refused to consume or pay for the disputed dishes. I will not be going back, and neither should you!!

I have the good fortune to have dined here regularly since it opened a few years ago – although my last visit took place on Friday 27th when I enjoyed a delicious brunch with my friend.

My friends and I often joke that I'm terribly unoriginal when it comes to ordering – if I'm here for lunch I'll choose the burger (served with crispy frites, a wonderful aoli and a tasty portion of coleslaw). If I'm here for dinner I'll go for the steak frites – always cooked perfectly medium rare. I'm often tempted and highly satisfied by other choices from the regularly updated menu, but I'm similarly always happy to return to these two old favourites. Needless to say I find it very confusing that the previous reviewer didn't enjoy these dishes. I've taken numerous guests to Le Pot and I've never seen one unhappy face.

The staff are always friendly and welcoming – and most of them are native French! Le Pot has such character and such charm, I can't recommend it highly enough.

I had the gross misfortune of dining here last night in celebration of a family birthday. As we entered and took our seats we turned to oneanother and commented on the coldness of the room. We asked for the heating to be turned up on two occasions, a request which was eventually grudgingly met by the manager. I and three others at the table ordered steak frites (usually my favourite dish) with foie gras for starters. I didnt know where to look when the tiny caramelized portion of foie gras turned up, accompanied by some fairly pretentious dribbles of ‘jus’ It tasted much as I'd imagine dog food to, with a revolting cloying texture. I was prepared to overlook this at this point, however, but one of our party wrapped the entire thing in a handkerchief to throw away. My brothers onion soup had a broad strata of oil about half an inch deep across the top. The onions in the soup were undercooked and acid tasting. Sugar had clearly been added to counteract this, resulting in a revolting mess.
After the dishes were cleared, we endured a twenty minute wait for the main course. Drinks were delivered painfully slowly too, odd for a restaurant that appeared to only have four tables occupied. The table next to us also sent back a cold steak as we waited for ours.
The main course eventually arrived delivered in a characteristically surly fashion. I tucked in, eagerly anticipating a textured juicy steak with bearnaise sauce. I was met with a texture that resembled cotton wool. It tasted as if the steak had been frozen at some point. After one mouthful, I decided to give the steak a miss. I would say the chips were sub Mc donalds standard, actually grossly unfair, they were sub Mc Cains microwave standard, wooden flavourless, and dry. The steaks went back to the kitchen largely uneaten. The bearnaise sauce tasted like it had come from a sachet, awful. My sisters mussels also remained largely uneaten too, and duly sent back.
By this point we'd made the decision that this establishment was a dead loss, so decided not to dare with dessert or coffee. I made contact with the manager discreetly away from the table and told him in a very measured respectful tone that the food and service was not satisfactory. I didnt want to make a big fuss as this was a family occasion, and it really is not in my nature to complain, but I thought that as the manger he might want to know that his business was not up to scratch in this repect. I was met with a barrage of questioning as to why I didnt enjoy it in a pretty aggressive fashion. I didnt seem to be enough for the manager that no-one at the table enjoyed their food, and I was made to feel as if it was in some way my fault that the food was so poor. The managers attitude was extraordinary, he kept repeating that he has many customers and that the food was fine, so it was essentially my problem.
Eventually he returned to the table, and had subtracted service from the bill along with one steak, despite the plates piled with uneaten food. The bill still came to over 160GBP for the 6 of us.We were made to feel unwelcome and unwanted by the manager. What a relief to be out of there!
All in all, a supremely depressing experience. Lazy, conceited and just embarrassing. This was nothing like any of the fine french restaurants Ive dined in over the last 30 years, more of a parody. It was a pale facsimilie of a restaurant, with no atmosphere, very poor food, dire service and complete disrespect for their customers.

Went for the first time with a friend on Wed 18 feb 09. I wasn't impressed at all. Not many people in there so lacked atmosphere and the food was average to say the least. We both had steak and frites – nothing to write home about. Saw some good reviews on the internet prior to booking so thought it would be ok but must have changed hands or has just gone downhill…won't be going back!