The Grill at The Dorchester

Steve M. (50s, Male, United Kingdom)

I was entertaining a friend and his wife from India, who were visiting England for the first time. I chose to go to the Dorchester because it represented what I hoped would be a great example of a classic British restaurant, as opposed to many of our ‘top’ restaurants that are French or Italian inspired. Both of my guests were vegetarians. However, the Grill Room web-site claimed that they catered specifically for vegetarians and I was pleased to download a sample vegetarian menu to review. This looked great and it had lot's of choice. Making sure that I emphasised that two of my party of six were vegetarians on making (and re-confirming) the booking, I was confident of a great evening. You know what is coming next, don't you!! The amuse bouche was made of chicken and there was no alternative offered. The only starter suitable for them was a cheese pasta. Well, not too bad, but disappointing that there was no choice. For the main meal, again there was only one suitable plate on offer. Guess what! Pasta … with a cheese sauce. My guests were of course gallant and polite, but I was deeply embarrassed. The waiters were seemingly unconcerned, and the ‘maitre de’ unable or unwilling to push the kitchen to be more creative for us. How a top hotel can fail in this way is really inexcusable. For the rest of the party the food was acceptable, but expensive. I shall not be returning!