Scott's

Probably one of the best restaurants I've ever been to and never fails to disappoint.

Be prepared for quite a hefty price tag, but its worth every penny. The service from the moment the concierge pulls the door open for you is impeccable; you're made to feel every bit as special as the token celebrity diners around you.

The atmosphere is buzzy without being so loud you can't hear each other speak, but enough that diners next to you can't overhear your conversation! The aroma of beautifully fresh shellfish hits you as you step through the door and see the magnificent display at the oyster bar that monopolises the centre of the restaurant creating a stunning focal point. The food itself then lives up to every expectation; cooked to perfection and delicious. And the service is second to none. Your glass is refilled without you noticing and the food arrives at a perfectly even pace, allowing just the right amount of time for sipping wine and conversation between courses.

If you're going for a special occasion – do let them know when you book. We went for my boyfriend's birthday and they took the effort to pipe Happy Birthday and his name in chocolate on his dessert plate. A lovely touch.

The one undisputable draw of Scott's, given that if you want good, hot food you might as well cook it yourself at a fraction of the price, is that on settling at the bar during evening service you are transported to a world of elegance and sexy sophistication that even Mayfair prices fail to diminish . You may have to bring the sex and sophistication yourself but the room is simply great.

Service is friendly though stretched so food seems to come the long way round, but once there the scallop starter was plump and fresh, sea bass and slip soles mains basically fish on a plate but good quality and the setting is not your average kitchen table so everything looks a lot nicer. The maitre d' was accomodating about moving from bar to a table and the wine list is exorbitant, obviously.

It's fun and romantic and very expensive.

Is Scott's the best restaurant in London?

Judging by most of the comments here the answer would seem to be yes. But not for me – it probably wouldn't make a top 10. 

Yes some things are very good, but others you expect more than it delivers. 

Service is excellent: staff are great – helpful, polite, efficient, know what they are doing and do it without any fuss. When I turned up for lunch and let them know my friend was going to be a few minutes late, as she always is, they offered me a newspaper and kept checking back to see if there was anything I needed, but didn't do so in an overbearing way. Sadly the booking experience isn't quite so good – the online option doesn't work on anything from Apple, and they aren't great at actually answering the phone, so lose one point for this.  

The atmosphere is slightly strange – its really old school Mayfair with panelled wood, tiled floor, dark bar and art on the walls and it all looks horribly dated and would benefit from being brought into the new decade with a makeover, I fail to see why people rave about it. Tables are far too close together, one of my pet peeves, and whilst the noise isn't excessive it's not a place for a private conversation. 

The food is not as good as I expected. We shared a starter of Parma ham and nectarines – it was fine, but hard to go wrong if you use decent quality ingredients. For the main course I had roast cod with shrimps and samphire – strangely bland and not a patch on Murano or Pollen Street Social where they really know how to cook fish – which is odd for somewhere that prides itself in being one of the best fish restaurants in London. My friend ate the steak which was a better option from the sample I had – though I didn't really rate the chips it came with. Dessert was the chocolate bombe with passion fruit – a wonderful piece of theatre, where the hot chocolate sauce is poured and the bombe eats itself to reveal the caramel and popping candy centre, but not a great dessert, though I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate desserts anyway and it was my friends choice that we shared.

Prices are high – wine comes with the Mayfair mark up where anything decent is £50 upwards. Main courses are reasonable at approx £25 though expect to pay extra for side dishes, which always seems a bit of a con. Starters are expensive as are desserts. Two main courses, water, shared starter and shared dessert, bottle of white Rully plus service came in at £175, so expect if you were both eating 3 courses that you wouldn't be getting out for under £100 a head. Incidentally do we really need the £4 cover charge? It's a bit naughty really to pull that kind of trick. 

I didn't hate it and expect I will go again as it deserves a second chance, but it didn't live up to expectations – its one of those places where you go as much for the experience of having gone as for what it delivers. For the sort of prices it charges I think you've got a right to want more and would far rather go to Pollen Street, which is way cooler and with better food. 

Well, I wasn't going to add a review because this place doesn't need any more good ones, but I just read Continental Diner's review, and can only assume he didn't “close out” his date.

Scott's isn't perfect, and if spending your time among people 100 times richer than you is going to put you off your grub then don't go. But they produce consistently lovely food, have a great menu and wine list (yes, the latter is very marked up – please refer to the address), and I have always had great service – warm, friendly and efficient.

And I've brought dates here and they've loved it, for the right reasons. So as not to make Continental Diner jealous I shan't comment on the related “closing-out” status.

And if I was 100 times richer no doubt I'd even get a nice table….

I have been going to Scott's for about 7 years and love it. It manages to get all aspects of the dinner service right. It is quiet but visually entertaining. The food is simple (without complicated, never ending descriptions) yet good quality. The bill is surprisingly appropriate for a top class Mayfair market leader.

It is delightful to watch the other diners wondering who is real money and who is out pretending to live in Mayfair (like us!). I agree with another reviewer, not a first date place, more for business or close friends and family, enjoy it, it is one of a kind.

I love the décor and find in very relaxing ( a bit like being in the 30's crossed with the 00's).

The oysters are a must (mixed plate), the “prawn cocktail” is very fresh and is not just prawns but a great selection of hidden surprises, the steak (on the bone), the Dover sole – delicious…

Now, reviews are a subjective thing. But Scott's, I think it is safe to say, is a matter of taste. It does, without doubt, encapuslate a certain pre-2008 financial sphere and scene of early 21st century Mayfair. However, you should be absolutely clear about one point before coming here: you come to be seen and, if you're lucky, to see others. Food is secondary, service is tertiary. Wine is widely availible at a London and Mayfair markup. But, especially if you come here when you're tired, there can be moments where you feel like being in a (not very good) movie. However, as an anthropological experiment it is quite interesting. Having said this, I would like to make rid wih the myth that this is a good place for a date. It is not, unless your opposite is the kind of person who like to name-drop where they've been taken out…

The other day I read in a newspaper a list the places serving best fish and chips in Britain.

On Saturday I was telling a friend about this list and made the comment that in my view the best fish and chips in the land are to be had at Scott's.

He was somewhat dubious about my claim and started rambling on about some establishment on the Orkney Islands that he had been to thirty years before.

In order to cut short what seemed set to be a long reminiscence I interjected, I said that there then I would take him to Scott's, thus proving my point.

I telephoned Scott's and managed to get a couple of seats at the bar.
We arrived there half an hour later.
The place was packed.

There was however a table for two that was sitting there empty and they were delighted to let us ‘upgrade’.

Bread arrived almost instantaneously, this followed by the most delicious butter, probably whey.
The bread is fabulous, so much better than it is possible to buy from any London bakery that I can find.

We ordered an English Pilsner beer each – the only type that they sell, and then gave our order for halibut in batter sitting on a bed of mushy peas with chips on the side.

After a few minutes of conversation about the recession and how it was packing out London restaurants – and theatres, our order arrived and it was unexpectedly accompanied by a sauce-boat of tartare.

We ordered two more beers and then started.

The fish batter was really well cooked, not too hard, just right. The halibut inside the batter was full of flavour and the portion size big,
The taste of the mushy peas had been so altered as to taste mainly of mint which was a relief as normally I find mushy peas unattractive to look at and perfectly vile to eat, These were delicious though, perhaps their colour was a little too sensational. The chips had clearly been twice fried and were as good as any obtainable in France.
The tartare sauce was obviously restaurant made, as was the bread.
The English pilsner was delicious.
We then ordered a plate of restaurant made chocolate truffles and two coffees.

Four pilsners came to just under £20.
Fish and chips for two £35.
Bread, coffee and chocolates and 12.5% ‘optional’ service charge came to about £20.
The bill was just over £75.
A quid under a saucer for the guy who has to clear the table, another to the hat-check lady and one for the doorman.

Apology from friend who had doubted me, free.
Chateau Tap, free
Feeling of immortality when hitting the street afterwards, 100%
.
Of all the restaurants in London none can beat the friendliness and efficiency of the staff, they are quite simply the top crew in London. I don't care what other reviewers say below, it has in more than ten visits never been my experience to have anything other than immaculate service.

I intend to keep on returning and returning.

As to the peroxided women, uncles with their nieces and Russians, as noted below, I have no idea whatsoever. I go to restaurants to eat and enjoy the company of my guest/s. People who go to celebrity watch and order obscure dishes of which they have no knowledge whatsoever and then out of tgnorance complain, deserve, in my opinion, everything they get.

The fact that the restaurant is open from noon until midnight makes it so very convenient and user friendly.
Too often one has been stuck in a meeting for hours and hours avoiding the M&S or Pret sandwiches.
The thought of a quick dish of a few razor clams at 3.30pm to tide one over until dinner is more than appealing, it is a must. Sadly it is not really possible to eat fish and chips so late in the afternoon, it is too filling, particularly if you have to eat again later.

It really has to be faced.
If you want good fish and chips you have to go to an up-market fish restaurant that has a proper chef who cooks everything from razor clams to lobster.

If however you want the very, very best, go to Scott's.

It really is a no brainer!

Like most of us, I hate to admit when I am wrong. However, as the exam-board found with too many of the answers on my A level maths paper, I was, it seems, possibly not as correct as I could have been about Scott’s.

I'd wanted to go for ages; the glamour, the elvers, the top-hatted doorman, the possibility of a real celebrity. Instead, when I went a few years back, I hated it. All braying hedge fund managers, bragging about the size of their tigs, with their x-ray wives face-lifted to with in an inch of their lives, grins frozen to their perma tanned visgogs by botox. Now I don't know if the recession has found its way to Mayfair yet (nearly 30 notes for a slice of turbot suggests maybe not), but this time, they'd all gone, to be replaced by Russians. Lots of Russians.

Yes, there was still a sufficiently loud amount of braying going on; this time from the peroxide crew, presumably fuelling themselves for a busy night ahead, but the atmosphere had changed dramatically in the intervening recession.

The room reminds me of the Ivy: heavy wood panelling, that air of money, lots of uncles out with their nieces. Service too has the comically inept level that the Ivy has perfected so well. Not bad in the rude sense, just not good for a place charging the aforementioned 30 notes for a slice of fish. Sides extra. How can you end up with two knives and no fork when the food arrives? How can all the waiting staff suddenly disappear from view when you realise what has happened?

To finish the analogy with the Ivy, the food is never going to be the main point here: it is perfectly fine, but, with few honourable exceptions, never really rises above this.

The menu is split into caviar, crustacean, starters, fish and meat. Oh, and sides, as the mains come with nothing other than the fish or meat mentioned. I always like to try something new, so started with cod tongues. The tongue is a misused part of any animal, seemingly regarded as a nothing cut. Whilst of course I realise that a cod has a tongue, I have never seen one on a menu. Cheeks yes, but they are so last year. You can probably get them in M&S now.

It, or rather they, for the cod’s is small, were delicious, the standout dish, although the oysters (the West Mercia native no.2, as recommended by the waiter) were fine examples of the bivalve.

Then the real test: something so absurdly sounding on the menu that I was drawn to it irresistibly, like a moth to a flame. How could “shrimp burger” be any good at all? Well, it wasn’t, but I just had to try it. Potted shrimp is one of the most glorious British dishes; peeled brown shrimp, mace, nutmeg, maybe some anchovy sauce and butter. Chopping up prawns, turning them into a burger (complete with a slice of pickle) is just so, so wrong. I should have gone with the slip sole recommendation of my companion, who seemed far more to enjoy his than I mine.

To finish, a classic sticky toffee pudding, swimming in extra toffee and floating on some pretty good custard.

The wine list is fine and, for where we are, prices not at all bad, with many by the glass and few hitting the stratospheric heights of other local restaurants, which is odd, given how expensive the food is.

So certainly not as bad as I recall, and a fun evening, but don’t go here for the food; go to be seen, go to view how the other half live, go to meet blond Russian girls. Just take a credit card with a high limit.

We went to Scott's to celebrate my wife's birthday and were not disappointed. The oysters followed by a main course of ray and one of cod were sublime. As ever the atmosphere and service added to what will remain a memorable evening

Most people already know Scott's, or heard about it. So I won't write about the basics. This is more of an update. And – the hype is starting to get to their heads. Service standards are slipping, one can wait for 10 to 20 minutes to get its long pre-booked table (especially for second shift of diners), waiters forget who ordered what, filling in glasses is more and more often left to the customers. This is not what one would expect for the price tag, but the hype continues and lets the service “get away with it”. At least the food and the overall ambiance of the place are still as good as ever.