The Grill at The Dorchester

Had Sunday lunch. Everything was lovely, wonderful service, quite generous portions.

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!

The interior designer must have been told Robbie Burns not Aiden Byrne when they came up with the interior which is more befitting the Braveheart set than a restaurant.
That said though, the food was exemplary, the service friendly and efficient, won’t be long before he get a Michelin star again.