Quaglino's

What a disastrous lunch we had at Quaglinos on 3 July 2012. I wanted to take my daughter somewhere special as we were attending an event at nearby St James Palace and Quaglinos had a great reputation. After our experience, it seems Quaglinos is living off its reputation alone. Such a disappointment. The catalogue of disasters: surly waitress, we had to chase my daughter's cocktail which didn't finally arrive until the meal was served, our vegetables had to be chased and then we had the steak debacle. My daughter ordered a medium rare steak. It arrived and it was virtually still mooing. She sent it back apologetically and changed the order to medium. The same steak eventually was returned…and it had barely changed. She was very embarrased; she sent it back again. The Head Waiter then came over and to his credit, he was the one spark of good service. He agreed fully that the first steak was in fact blue and the second was on the rare side of medium rare. He offered to cook a fresh steak and take the steak off the bill. All very good…except it meant that I finished my meal before my daughter's even arrived and the vegetables were cold for her. We would much rather have paid for an excellent meal than to receive a free entree with squirms of embarrasment. The ambience was fine…until the ‘tour bus’ arrived filling several tables with tourists and two translators in jeans running between the tables to help them. Rather killed the elegant setting. Would we go back? Absolutely not. Would I recommend this to other parents wishing to treat their children? Absolutely not.
Postscript: I am delighted to say that the General Manager at Quaglino's obviously does care about customer service and sent me a lovely apology. I still don't intend to ever go back; however, it was a gracious gesture.

Quaglino's has been one of my favourite places for a very long time. When I lived in the UK no trip to London was without going to this stunningly designed trendy spot. This time I had to organise a dinner for my daughter and her boyfriend from 6000 miles away. No mean feat when even the bill had to be paid from South Africa. And Quaglino's once again did not disappoint. From the first call to Polina, to making all the finer detailed arrangements with the very helpful Tracey, they seemed to take any request I had in their stride and with the utmost efficiency. I asked for the barman to give my daughter a message when he handed them their welcome cocktails. Quaglino's took that to another level and produced a card – WOW. My daughter was so delighted she texted me immediately. Everything I asked for they went one step further. Fabulous service, glorious meal. Thank you Quaglino's team. Samantha and Oliver had the most exceptional night. You turned a simple belated Christmas present into a wonderful lasting memory. For that I will be forever grateful. I can't recommend this place enough. If you're in London and you want a night to remember, it has to be Quaglino's.

I visited Quaglino's last night with a hen party of 10.

Reminiscent of the glory days of Mezzo, (which was THE London restaurant of the 90's – pre the celebrity chef-driven food revolution) with its decor, menu & ambience.

Pleasantly surprised at the quality of the food – duck rouille to start & perfectly cooked sea bream with new potatoes and samphire followed by an excellent eton mess were my choices. There's an extensive wine list starting around the £28 mark.

However, with the exception of a genuinely friendly doorman, the service lets down the kitchen. It's clear the waiting staff are on commission – in all my years of dining at London's top restaurants I have never been harassed into buying as much wine, side orders, coffees etc. But then a look around the dining room at 9pm on a Saturday evening to see so many empty tables gives you a clue as to the hard times upon which all of these type of places have fallen.

That said, it really is a great hen-do venue, particularly with its £25 for three courses plus either a glass or champagne or a Q cocktail menu – I just wouldn't take anyone of discerning taste for a romantic meal as some other reviews suggest, unless the purpose of your date is to spot washed-up second rate footballers and their ridiculously adorned wags.

C'mon D&D, we only have to look at the rest of your empire to know you can do better – a couple of million pounds on a modern refit & staff training should do the trick.

Not terribly impressed to be honest. The place was dead for a Friday afternoon and despite asking a change to the lunchtime meal offer on entry (which included a free gallery ticket which was not wanted), this was messed up upon payment. The non service staff seemed a little distracted although to be fair the service staff were prompt with the food and very good. The starter salad had far too much lettuce and you were scraping around for the fois gras somewhere in the bottom. The fish and chips were good but really, for £100 for two, were way overpriced for what was on offer (a bit more than the £18 each advertised). Will not be going back and will walk around Piccadilly for something else next time.

We have recently been to Quaglino's on 2 separate occasions to enjoy their special menu. The evening comes complete with a glass of champagne and the lunch with either a glass of red or white wine. Incredible value for money.

On both occasions the food and service were very good. The portions were ampleenough to be enjoyable and not leave feeling full and uncomfortable. My starter of carpaccio beetroot with goats cheese and walnut was excellent. The beef I had was well cooked and extremely tender, accompanied by a very tasty and subtly flavoured horesradish mash. 2 of my party also opted fro the beef, I am not sure what a featherblade is, but with clean plates and appreciative comments I know it was a good choice. 1 of the party opted for the stone bass. I am told it was delicious with a hint of chilli. In fact, it was called the best fish dish that had been enjoyed for some time.

For desert I have enjoyed both the Eton mess and the Passionfruit mess. 1 of my guests today had the ginger and rhubarb and I am told it was delicious with the rhubarb not being over sweetened and retaining it's tart flavour. The pavlova looked to be a little tough to cut but I am reliable informed tasted terrific.

Whilst there amazing offers continuie it is a place to visit on a regular occasion and enjoy the experience.

Judging by recent reviews, it seems my two recent visits to Qauglino's in the last two months were very fortunate indeed. Or perhaps I'm looking through a different, untainted set of lenses. For me, I'm less concerned with what Quaglino's was, and more about what is currently offers its diners i.e. me.

On both my visits, I found service to be swift and attentive, food to be of a generally good standard (given we were dining on the piper heidsieck champagne set menu) and the atmosphere to be electric, contemporary and aesthetically pleasing. One of the biggest surprises I was pleased to come across, was value for money. A set menu at Quaglino's thankfully doesn't mean half the portions and second rate service. Secondly it offers variety, with something for everyone, including vegetarian options. And finally, the venue does have a certain wow factor that engages with its diners, from the colourful and exotic cocktails in the bar, the sweeping staircase, the vast dining room with its fluming vase displays and of course, the seafood display.

For me, Quaglino's as a middle range London dining destination scores on all fronts. Admittedly it is more posh pub grub than silver service British dining, and I think herein lies the discord. If its struggling to win the diners over, it is because some are still stuck with perceptions of what it should be based on its glamourous past. Move past that and you will see an altogether different dining experience in front of you.

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My husband and I visited Quaglino for the second time in 4 years yesterday. As we have a small child we do not go out very often and when we do we would like to spend an enjoyable evening. Quaglino was bad the first time and much worse yesterday.
The cocktail bar tables were dirty, the cocktails expensive and average and no nibbles or ameuse geule were served, when they are in almsot every cocktail bar in a restaurant of Quaglino reputation.
The tables in the restaurant are glued together and there are too many of them, you can not even sit down without spilling someone glass and no we are not fat!
The service was pretty bad with 4 people serving us, but no small plates for the bread or no collection of cocktail glasses.
The food was I am really sorry, awful!!! My husband had a fish soup which was cold and tasted of tomato sauce. I had escargots, which were cold, served without bread and not and inch of salt on them. Just pure garlic!
As a main course my husband had a stone bass with chorizo and broad beans and I had calf liver on mash potatoes. Disaster! my husband plate was a slump of tomato sauce, some unidentifiable sausage which did not look remotely like chorizo and the side dish of new potatoes were uncooked.
My liver was overcooked, no wait it was burnt!!! The mash were dry and looked like they were out of a packet. Only positive note was the wine a lovely Alsace Pinot Blanc 2007, dry and crisp.
We decided to skip the dessert and head for post dinner cocktail at Browns bar!!! Finally a great drink and great atmosphere.
We will not go back to Quaglino. We are happy to pay for great food and service, so Quaglino is not the place!

We went here for a birthday celebration on Saturday night and had a lovely time. The bar was buzzy, the singer was great and the staff attentive. We then descended the stairs to the restaurant and again had good service, the food was disappointing; mushy mussels and undercooked meringue, but it was at the end of the meal when we were accused of not leaving a tip! that the evening could well have turned sour. Having left a generous tip already, to be asked again was outrageous! unfortunately the gentleman with us put his hand in his pocket so as not to cause a fuss in front of the birthday girl! – shame on you Quaglino's

I had my birthday meal in here last year on a Saturday night, there were 6 of us and to be honest I was really disappointed, the food is nice and the staff were friendly but I just felt like we were in a great big fish bowl.
You have to go down steep stairs to get to the main dining room and in heels this was a slow process.
We were sat in the middle of the room and we all felt like we were being over listened and looked at for the whole meal. I had wanted to eat here since the late 90's at the height of its fame, but I think it needs a re-vamp as it is a little tired now and not as glamorous as I was expecting.

My recent visit to Quaglino's where I celebrated a friend's birthday was quite an enjoyable visit. The food we both thought was very tasty indeed and the portion sizes more than adequate for an upmarket bistro type of restaurant.

My friend was almost salivating over her rib of beef in an orange and olive sauce, something she was slightly dubious of ordering beforehand and the suculancy of it was indescribable, absolutely perfect. I chose the Quaglino's signature burger which was also very tasty. The only minor gripe I had with this dish was that I'm pretty sure that the burger bun itself had been previously frozen which for me was quite disappointing, surely at 13 pounds I deserved a fresh bun. Still, not the end of the world when the remainder of the meal was wonderful.

Oh the desserts, absolute heaven. I had the Autumn Berry Pavlova which was absolutely delicious, and I have to say it was the largest dessert I have ever been presented with. I am a real dessert person but sadly even I was forced to leave a little. My friend's Creme Brule was also very generous and tasted beautiful.

After receiving the bill, which again I thought was very reasonable indeed taking into account that we each had three courses with wine and water, I was slightly miffed that our server either forgot to bring me my change or just assumed that I was happy for the restaurant to keep it. I had every intention of tipping the restaurant fairly generously after what was a superb meal but clearly it was all taken care of for me without me having to move my lips.

I would definitely return to Quaglino's at some point in the future.