Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's

Was expecting a bit more style. The sommelier seemed almost sad, and the food although fine, was nothing to rush back to.

Gordon Ramsey is a bit old hat nowadays but that doesn't stop him delivering fine food and service. The experience from start to finish is what you would expect from a top London eaterie. The staff were attentive but not annoying, without going into detail of what we ordered as I suspect its all brilliant, the food really delivered and the dining room is really rather spectacular. Pre and post drinks in the hotel bar made this a most memorable evenings out. I suspect chefs/owners don't much read reviews posted by the public but just in case Gordon is reading keep doing this (above) and stop calling people Big Boy or Swearing as there really is no need.

We were a party of 7 having lunch at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s last week. It was a fantastic end to end experience: beautiful surroundings, super friendly staff and sublime food.

I had tomato salad with goat’s cheese crème and fennel beignets, lemon sole with asparagus and citrus beurre blanc and a selection of cheese for dessert. Others had quail for starter, lamb with peas and mint sauce for mains and strawberries and fig tart for dessert. All dishes were beautiful presented and flavours were clean and very delicious. Perfect size dishes for lunch, 3 courses can seem heavy, but they were well proportioned and didn’t make you feel stuffed.

We had a lovely white vouvray from Loire, crisp and not too dry and a red pinot noir from Bourgogne, which were light and fruity. The 3 children in our party had fresh pineapple juice.

It was quite a view when the waiters served the dishes. 7 people lined up with silver trays and 2 waiters served us. Now this sounds quite snobbish but here it just seemed natural.

After having dessert, the children paid the bathrooms a visit and they were thrilled as the lady had turned the water on for them and given them soap in their hands.

Coffee and tea was served with petit four and left us all reflecting on the lovely experience. In the hall the afternoon tea was in full service accompanied by light jazz music and we went out in the real world.

Well done!

We returned to this restaurant for my birthday on Monday April 20th after an absence of about a year. On the night we were there something must have gone horribly wrong. We waited for 10 minutes to be offered a menu and that only happened after I complained. The explanation being that they don't offer menus until all the ‘preliminaries’ have been completed. So you are clearly expected to make your wine selection before deciding what you will have to eat. On being presented with the menu it was explained that the starters are on the left and main courses on the right. Having eaten in quite a few fine dining restaurants in my 62 years I think I was capable of working this out and found the comment quite patronising. The food was average and the cheese selection very limited. We were told that this usually happens on a Monday evening when they have fewer cheeses to choose from. I chose not to have a desert and opted for a 15 year old malt whisky. I was offered a raspberry desert to accompany it. Any self respecting whisky drinker would have been as horrified as I was.

On the positive side we met an excellent Sommelier whose knowledge and expertise was superb. She also excelled at customer service which was generally sadly lacking in the restaurant that evening. It may have been that we were just unlucky but at those prices it will be a long time until we give them another opportunity.

It was a great shame and it felt like an old friend was suffering badly.

In the last few weeks we have eaten at both Le Gavroche and The Ritz, both of which were excellent. With effective competition like that Gordon Ramsay at Claridges wil have to look to it's quality and service to compete for business.

I visited Claridges the other day for Monday lunch and the experience was excellent . The food and service were outstanding and it was well the money we paid.

I last dined at this stalwart of classic haute cuisine a few years ago for a rather hushed but memorable evening meal, and I was very much looking forward to the return visit. This time it was to be a busy Friday luncheon with the chaps from The Arbuturian Dining Club.

Service was predictably smooth, courteous and attentive. Some breadsticks were placed on the table along with two dips; a kind of aioli with truffle, and something delicious with salmon. Amuse bouche arrived as an intense little parsnip soup, again with truffle; a most delightful and warming start. The bread was a simple selection of mini-baguettes.

After perusing the hefty wine book, a veritable Bible of spectacular grapes from around the world, we decided to plump for a Chilean cabernet sauvignon at £29. It was a good example of a New World red, being full bodied, rich with blackcurrant aromas and a decent finish.

To eat, we chose to dine from the set lunch menu, very well priced at £25 per head for three courses. I began with a smoked mackerel salad with crispy bacon and tiny cubes of sautéed potato, and a mayonnaise dressing. It was very tasty, well presented and executed. For a main we all had the beef fillet with confit shoulder, accompanied by some courgettes, potato and a rich parsnip purée. Again, well cooked, nicely presented and a good combination of flavours. Portions were predictably small. Walk a block along the road to Le Gavroche and portion sizes increase for the set lunch menu, but then so does the price.

I asked the waitress if the Head Chef, Mark Sargeant, was in the kitchen, and she replied that no, he doesn’t cook all that often and that he’s away with Gordon working on recipes for their new book. Fair enough, I suppose. Mark has been working for Gordon since the days of Aubergine and like many of Gordon’s protégées, he’s been rewarded with a prestigious restaurant and minor celebrity status.

For dessert we chose the immense cheese trolley, along with glasses of Tawny port. We were very impressed by some of their cheeses, and the waiter kindly brought over their cheese list so that we could make a note of the names. Of particular interest was the Mont Briac, an extremely potent blue cheese from Auvergne, ripened in caves. The next was an equally potent Venaco, the killer from Corsica, made from sheep’s milk – make sure you’re sitting down when you try this one. A milder but no-less interesting cheese was a Morbier, made with a layer of ash through the middle. Highly recommended.

We couldn’t face coffees but were given some petit fours nonetheless. Little balls of ice-cream in a crispy biscuit shell and glazed with chocolate. I’ve no idea how those are made, but they were delicious.

In summary, I would say that the food was as good as you’d expect from a one-star Michelin restaurant. Portions were on the small side but that is the norm for set-lunches in central London. Service was excellent, as it should be. So in all I would say that it lived up to expectations. The grand art-deco dining room was buzzing with atmosphere, despite the apparent credit crisis. And it must be true what they say about cheese and vivid dreams. That night I was practically hallucinating.

I recently had my first lunch at GR Claridges after a long gap and was impressed. The key thing was the faultless service, which made the meal effortless. In so many other places you spend anxious minutes trying to catch oblivious waiters’ eyes whilst trying not to look desperate in front on tour guest, but not here. I never had to think about anything as a well trained chap had got there before me to politely enquire what we might need next. At no stage did I feel like the invisible man.

The setting is certainly plush but is perhaps beginning to date. It none the less has considerable wow factor and no guest would be disappointed.

We both plumped for the reasonable £35 a head set three course lunch which had enough choice on it to make everyone happy and escaped for £150 for two included a £55 bottle of wine. For this quality of establishment I had no complaints at this pricing.

The food was high quality throughout with no disappointments and the quantity well-judged over our three courses plus petits-fours.

Overall I would heartily recommend the experience and it is a good all round experience.