Bentley's

Having enjoyed eating at Bentleys many times, our recent visit was a big disappointment.
Service lacked organisation and customer concern and interest.
Time gap between starter and main was unreasonably long. We were told that the Royal Fish Pie had to be created and baked from start to finish!
The Royal Fish Pie(costs almost 30 pounds)was very short of content(fish)and not particularly tasty.
We were a small party(3) and they got a very simple order wrong-delivered spinach instead of potatoes.
Desserts were amateurish.
Quite disappointed.
Will not return soon.

The food is mediocre to poor and over priced, the wine ditto, and the ambience somewhat claustrophobic with too much brass and white linen and not enough real character.

My spaghetti with clams was quite foul – greasy, and the clams were fishy and had seen much better days. The fish pie was nothing to write home about, and overpriced for what it was. Calamari with Seville orange sauce were OK, but overly sweet, and reminiscent of orange chicken in a Chinese.

Probably the nicest thing was the creme brulee, which was vast, creamy and very good. The wine list is singularly expensive and not especially interesting.

The outside terrace is lovely for a drink, but if you actually want a decent meal, my advice is to go elsewhere.

Just had lunch at Bentleys with a couple of clients, it was my first time there and I can honestly say I will go back. The service was impeccable, and the food was delicious. Not being a fish lover, I was a little worried about menu items beforehand, but the wild duck salad (a special) and the rib-eye steak were fantastic (Gaucho's, eat your heart out !)
The chocolate brownie with cappuccino mousse as a dessert was the best I had in a while, I had it with the accompanying glass of Maury Mas Amiel , which worked perfectly with it, very nice recommendation.
Our waiter was helpful and classy, and the whole atmosphere is lovely, without being stuffy. I will definitely be back, and not just for client lunches!

I found some dishes over salted and others without seasoning. The ingredients were clearly excellent, just not prepared to equivalent quality. Not up to the standards of other similarly priced restaurants, maybe the chef had a cold?

I visited Bentley's for a birthday meal last month and had an exceptionally fun time! The whole party was treated like royalty and the surroundings are so beautiful. The food was to die for – and although it is predominantly a fish restaurant – they serve incredible steaks with a scrumptious and flavoursome peppercorn sauce. We sat at the bar afterwards and enjoyed a couple of cocktails which were delicious and Bentley's has some of the most welcoming bar staff in town.

Great food, lovely place – staff are shocking. Rude, un-attentive and un-professional. We were left sitting for over an HOUR between main course and our plates being collected in time for dessert. Even after excusing ourselves on several occiasions to our waitress (and other peoples waitresses) and requesting the dessert menu we were just ignored. Actually got up, left and complained to Maitre'D who was confused when we came down to front door and asked for our bill. We were given a discount and an incentive to visit again but we do not plan to. Service ruined a fantastic meal – not idea what dessert's are like but can highly recommend everything we were served!

This was a disappointment, after looking forward to the meal. The service was snooty, the food was seriously mediocre and very over-priced. We had booked a table at the oyster bar and we moved to the restaurant with no notice; the night we went there was a special menu that we had not been told about when we booked. It was so disappointing we left before coffee or desert and went somewhere else.

We had 6 oysters to share which were the best thing, but took about 30 minutes to arrive.

I had the monkfish en croute – the fish was fairly tough and the sides – broccoli, creamed poatoes – were unimaginative and entirely bog-standard.

My wife had the lobster fish pie – although the lobster was tasty the whole thing in general was bog-standard.

I would like to go to the oyster bar ( which is where we'd wanted to go in the first place) but based on my experience in the restaurant would not go there again.

Tucked away on the aptly named Swallow Street this comfortable old landmark was rescued by the Michelin-starred Richard Corrigan in 2005 and has won high praise ever since. Whether impressing a date, catching up with good friends or treating your mum, it consistently delivers the goods.

The Grill upstairs offers unobtrusive service in non-crowded surroundings, while the French chaps behind the Oyster Bar downstairs serve up platters of natives and charming banter. Two-course set lunches with very drinkable house wines begin at £22.50, while the a la carte runs all the way up to market fresh (market price) Dover sole. Show-boating with the huge shellfish platter won't disappoint, but then neither does the humble fish pie, generously filled with prawns and chunky salmon.

It seems unfair to single out dishes when the kitchen produces such well judged and lovingly prepared food. Seabream and nice specials stand out, but it is hard to go wrong here.

The well-chosen wine list is good at all prices and knowledgeable staff happily offer helpful advice. Admittedly it's reassuringly expensive and getting a table can be tricky, but Bentley's deserves its admirers who clearly know when they're on to a good thing.

Something has gone very badly wrong here. When Richard Corrigan took this place over and revamped things, it was a roaring success and qucikly became our London fave, especially the downstairs grill/brasserie area. It had a great atmosphere, good value food and friendly efficient wait staff. However, our last 2 visits (once upstairs and once downstairs) have been disappointing in the extreme, and were marred by sloppy, disinterested and inattentive service on both occasions. The most recent visit (early October) my chosen dish was so oversalted as to be inedibble (both the Dover sole and the spinach) and had to be sent back. Our guests from abroad were not over impressed. The restaurant did not charge for the returned food, but by then the damage was done

It all smacks to me rather of complacency. Start off well, get the punters coming in and then relax. At these price levels there are certainly now better alternatives in London. Bentleys needs to either pull its socks up or drop its prices or else people will start going elsewhere Caveat emptor…

If you like your fish, then Bentley’s is as good as you will get. Upstairs is formal and a bit stiff, downstairs more casual and a little more lively, but not buzzy. The food is very good, oysters terrific and cod is a guilty pleasure these days but here a fat juicy one! Wine list terrific and there’s a very knowledgeable and approachable sommelier. Your fellow dinners are likely to be ‘mature’ but this is a place to enjoy what’s on your plate.