Le Pont De La Tour

The bar and grill at the Pont has been part of my life for at least 20 years, and the place to celebrate the kids successes – “Surf and turf, please Pop”; entertain the more amusing clients and celebrate colleagues hi days and departures, often sending an advance guard to occupy a stretch of red blanquette in the days when bookings in the grill were not taken. Well, that problem has certainly gone – on a dry if cold lunch time in late May only two tables were occupied inside and five on the terrace. A warning perhaps of what was to come.

The Salmon rillette was tasty and well seasoned but the plate of charcuterie was pretty dismal with a few slivers of salami and a decent piece of Parma ham. The bread though was excellent, warm crisp – perfect. I though was there for the shellfish and so went for the langoustines. Is it fair to judge a restaurant on just one course? You decide.

The langoustines arrived stacked like logs – a base of three with two on top of that. Yes, that's it – five. I would have thought that a sixth would have provided a pleasing symmetry… More

I had been to the restaurant previously and had high expectations of my second visit that were unfortunately not fulfilled. We visited on a Sunday this time without realising that we would be offered a limited menu only. Our starters were bland, served luke warm and brought to the table when one of the party was in the rest room – I would have expected a more attentive service for the venue and price. The wine list is very pricey with very few bottles under GBP40, the first three bottles I ordered were unavailable. On the limited dinner menu one of the starters and one of the main courses were off. Of the food we ordered the portions varied greatly – I had a plate full including vegetables and did not need the side dish I ordered whilst one of the other main meals was meat only and benefited from my surplus ! For sweet, my creme brule arrived in what I can only call a pasta bowl – it is my favourite dessert but a ramekin size portion is always enough. On the plus side, the tap water we requested was constantly replenished, the waiters were generally attentive… More

I visited this restaurant for Sunday lunch with two small children and a group of friends, attracted by what I thought was a reputation for good food, a reasonably priced set lunch on a Sunday, a suitable place to take (well behaved) children and a nice setting by the river. Well, the setting was pleasant, the waiting staff were polite, they provided high chairs and colouring pencils for the children. However, the food was very average and our bill appeared quite inflated by unnecessary additional costs. For instance, we asked for tap water, perhaps a jug of it for the table, and we were brought a bottle of mineral water. We repeated the same request on two or three occasions and each time a bottle was put on the table. We did not want to make a fuss and I know some restaurants which provide table water in bottles, so I did not necessarily expect to receive the hefty charge for bottles of mineral water which appeared on our bill at the end. I selected langoustines as a main course, which carried a supplemental charge. I believed I would receive a main course… More

I was a guest so I could not complain but the food was inexcusably poor. We were a party of 4, our main courses had been left under the lights and looked tired. The portions were tiny. My sea food linguine was miserable. I can and do often rustle up something far better for myself, using a bag of M and S froxen mixed sea food. One of our party had a horrid looking veal chop, smothered with violent orange cheese, that looked like the topping for a bag of Dorritos. Shameful really and only relieved by the setting and the fact that it was the first nice evening this summer.

This review is for the brasserie, not the restaurant.
It's a lovely place in a great location. However, the brasserie menu is not French food, it's English food, with smaller portions, but with the meals named rather pretentiously in French. The waiter took our wine order, then forgot to bring us our wine, even though the place was nearly empty. My friend had the steak pie, was was OK, but not as good as say, Wright Brothers, down the road in Borough. The potatoes that came with it appeared to be crisps.

I knew I'd ordered plaice and some kind of potato but I was surprised to hear the waitress announce it as “fish and chips”. If that's what it is, why isn't it called that on the menu?

The plaice was nice, the chips, all five of them (!) were underwhelming. The service was poor and I could see no reason why I was paying so much for such ordinary fare and shoddy service. I shan't be going again.