Smiths of Smithfield

There can be few more pleasurable ways to spend a leisurely summer Sunday lunch, than on the balcony of the top floor of Smiths of Smithfield.

It was a beautiful day and the ability to sit outside under the awnings provided a very relaxed and enjoyable location for lunch. The food was excellent. I am not sure what has been happening recently in the kitchens there but, on this occasion, the food was much better than we have enjoyed on previous visits. My eggs benedict to start with was very well presented and the egg poached to perfection. My friends had the smoked eel and the calamari as their starters and similar comments of satisfaction were expressed.

A very good bottle of Gigondas, sensibly priced, accompanied our meal.

For the main course I thoroughly enjoyed my roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, my friends had the roast lamb and the lobster. The meal and the accompanying vegetables were will cooked and seasoned, with no evidence of the ‘over seasoning’ that can sometimes happen at Smiths of Smithfield.

I declined the desert but I gather, from the appreciative comments, that the creme brulee and the tarte au citron were excellent.

To top off the occasion spendidly we were served by a waitress, who we learned is from Sydney. She was attentive without being intrusive and certainly added value to the selection of both the food and the wine. Smith's are to be complimented on securing her services and… More

I love watching Masterchef, but I fear John Torode is appearing in the wrong cookery program. He might be better suited to appear as a victim in an episode of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. It would be great to see Gordon in action here, saving SOS from any further decline.

We had an early table, it was busy and atmosphere was buzzy. You go to SOS for a good steak – you would hope that being located in Smithfield Meat Market, this would be the case. No starters, just looking forward to a really well cooked steak and chips. The food arrived incredibly fast, which always worries me. The waiter presented us with our food which looked pretty appetizing along with a small pot of bernaise sauce and promptly turned on his heel and left the table. Is it just me, or is it reasonably standard to be asked if we would like any other other condiments to accompany a steak? Hoping he would return and without disrupting the flow of conversation with my friend, I waited for him to return. He didn't.

The steak was very average, too grey, chewy and not really of great quality – I didn't enjoy it. The chips were anemic, bland and slightly undercooked, the bernaise not enough to compensate for lack of any other condiment. Our lovely waiter returned to clear our plates clearly not bothered if we enjoyed our meal – if he was, he didn't ask. Two mid priced bottles of red (another friend had joined us) and two cheese plates… More

I dined at the Top Floor restaurant with a party of six on a busy Friday night service. The dining room is noisy and it was hard to hold a normal conversation above the invasive din. Service was very slow, with dishes taking a long time to come out of the kitchen (over 15 minutes for the starters).

They had run out of squid by 9.30pm, so their popular starter of salted squid was unavailable. We were only told about this when it came to ordering, so half the table had to choose another starter at the last minute.

I opted for the Dorset crab on toast as a starter. One third of the toast was burnt, literally black, and turned upside down in the hope that I wouldn't notice, as if the chef thought I had no taste buds. It only led to an unpleasant shock when I took a bite to discover the taste of bitter, charred toast, which ruined any flavour the crab might have had.

For a main I chose the Hereford rump, pan-fried with a béarnaise sauce. The steak was perfectly cooked (medium rare, as it should be) and flavoursome. The chunky chips were nice too. The béarnaise sauce was delicious although it had been poured on top of the steak already, and I prefer to have it on the side for my chips. A slight bug-bear of mine.

The chocolate dessert was good, nothing spectacular but nothing to complain about either.

In summary, John Torode needs to spend some time in his restaurant, ironing out the problems in the kitchen… More