Tom Aikens

I took my son to Tom Aikens for lunch on his birthday as a special treat. The restaurant has been completely refurbished which I was keen to see, but perhaps because it was a Tuesday lunchtime, there were only two other tables with people eating. The food was delicious, but the service was appalling…in spite of the fact there were probably only ten people eating in the whole restaurant! Our wine was put in a bucket the other side of the room, and I had to keep calling the waiter to top up our glasses. Overall it felt like fine dining in a cafe atmosphere…i won't be hurrying back!

The most amazing dining experience – the food tasted absolutely wonderful and the presentation was stunning. All of the food was very imaginative and there was lots of choice – I would love to come back and try the tasting menu. Wine was delicious, but only disappointment was that they don't do cocktails as they don't have a ‘proper’ bar. Staff are charming, very attentive and extremely knowledgable about the food and ingredients. Very good value food, and the wine list wasn't overpriced. Would recommend to anyone and would absolutley go back.

Was bought for my birthday a lunch voucher for two to this place. Was a little disappointed at first as was expecting a voucher for Marcus Waering or Gordon Ramsay.

But what a great choice, the place exudes class and style from the colour scheme to the location to the level of courtesy and interest shown by the staff. I felt this was even more on show with us being a lunch cover and the level of service was impeccable.

The standard of food was the best I have had and the first trip for my fiancée to a Michelin starred restaurant. She found the food to be above her expectations and went away thoroughly impressed.

The roast veal chop was fantastic and my partners John Dory were cooked to perfection. The sides on offer give a great alternative to the usually food added to these meals. The fresh bread choices on offer to start of the meal were great and the knowledge and helpfulness of the staff was worthwhile alone. The little added extra amuse bouche added those touches that you expect and thrive on when in such a place.

I would happily eat here again and would like to sample the more adventurous sides of the menu. The idea that there is an arrogance or aloofness to be found in this establishment was not noted by me at all, in fact clearly the opposite with helpful and attentive staff who were welcoming and willing to spend considerable time with guests in order to make sure they were fully happy.

I hadn’t been to Tom Aikens for years, although I do recall the famous spoon incident, which I thought had happened in 2004 – clearly, from the most recent of reviews, the man has not relented in his desire to account for missing cutlery. All I can say is that this remains one of the finest restaurants in London: quite how it has failed to garner a second Michelin star is somewhat beyond me, as the food is amongst the best in London.

I should, perhaps, add a word on my rating of 10 for “value for money”; the four of us went in February, when the restaurant ran (or is running, depending on when you read this) a promotion for customers of Berry Brothers & Rudd who get to BYO with no corkage. Hence we were able to quaff a Schramsberg Reserve 2000 pink sparkler, a 1988 Leeuwin Estates Chardonnay (which, even though it was a Denis Horgan Reserve bottle, was a little tired), a glorious 1982 Caymus Special Reserve Cab and a very youthful Ridge Montebello 2002, for which the restaurant received not a bean. How good is that?

From the moment we arrived, bearing our wines, we were made to feel most welcome. We sat in the (tiny) bar area with a glass of Fino, the menus and some amuse bouche. These consisted of an intense olive reduction; a highly truffle infused warm duck jelly and a parmesan and polenta ball. The latter may not have been to the same standard as Angela Hartnett, but to criticise it for such would be unbecoming.

At the table, things continued as they had started: service was polite, discrete and nothing but friendly all evening. The breads, from mushroom fleur de lys to bacon brioche, were uniformly lovely.

Starters too were excellent. The pick was probably the scallops with beetroot: the plate looking like a Jackson Pollack (not in the rhyming slang way, I hasten to add), and the intense flavours of scallop, beetroot and roasted red onion went superbly together. The salad of mallard was another visually pleasing dish, delivering intensely flavoured meat amongst the greenery, with white carrot tubes (like mini cannelloni) filled with various delights. The langoustine risotto, with a base of pea and an egg on top, was a joy, if a tad over-salted, whilst the crispy pork belly in the lobster dish was a strong counterpoint to a very delicate lobster and apple consommé.

Mains too were all on top form, with the suckling pig for two meltingly sweet, with a good layer of crackling. I am a big fan of suckling pig; yes, I know that the poor dears don’t get a long life, but they do taste so good. If you are a baby porker lover too, go to Segovia in central Spain, about an hour north-west of Madrid. It is a magical town in its own right; the cathedral rising out of Spain’s plain like an ocean liner through the waves, but it is the home to suckling pig. They worship the porcine baby. There are statues of great chefs, plates in hand, ready to do battle with the beautifully roasted whole animal; these plates, by the way, are not to bare the pig to the table (no, the splayed little dears come to the table in tiny roasting tins), but, as the meat is so melting soft, to cut the animals up with.

I digress. The suckling pig was very good, and the artichoke (and more pig, this time in the form of Iberica ham) and fennel side dishes went very well with it. Our guests had no complaints over their red mullet and salt marsh lamb dishes, but next to the pig, they barely registered with me.

By this stage, we were flagging, so I am afraid that I cannot tell you what the deserts were like: the cheese trolley, however, was a joy. Not huge, but with a lingering aroma (which they maddeningly kept bringing by and then taking away so that some other lucky punter could get a whiff).

I’ll certainly be back, although I may again wait until Berry Brothers have their next corkage free BYO promotion.

I recently had the misfortune to dine in this restaurant on a Friday night. Let me clarify before I continue. The awful experience was as a result of the appalling service and pompous nature of the staff, rather than the quality of the food and the atmosphere of the restaurant.

I dine in similar restaurants on a fairly regular basis and have never before been made to feel the way the staff at Tom Aikens restuarant made me feel. I hardly remember a thing about the food, what I do remember is how the manager proceeded to humiliate me and my partner in front of the entire restaurant.

The issue arose when the manager approached our table and informed us that a spoon had not been returned to the kitchen and he was upset and disappointed as they are very expensive. Confident that we had nothing to do with the issue (as we have no desire to go around stealing spoons) I asked the manager what he was suggesting by approaching us with that statement. He had no other response than to repeat himself, shrug his shoulders and look at us questioningly. Not clear on what he was expecting from me I repeatedly asked what he was suggesting, even once offering to be searched and have my handbag searched. By this stage I was quite upset that a lovely evening had quickly spiralled downwards into false accusations and humiliation, particularly as he had chosen to do it in front of the entire restaurant.

As we left the manager apparently found the spoon under the table and proceeded to accuse us of bending the aforementioned item of cutlery! Constantly expressing how disappointed he was as it was a very expensive spoon, he made us feel even worse.

I am disappointed to say the least.

Firstly, had he dealt with the issue more discreetly the situation might not have been as awful as it was.

Secondly, when dining anywhere one should not be made to feel like a common criminal, nor scolded like a small child. Particularly when one has not done anything wrong.

Thirdly, it was about a spoon. A spoon. I thought that at a restaurant of this calibre the manager would be trained on discretion and diplomacy. I found the staff filled with inexplicable self importance and arrogance.

I vaguely remember the food being delicious, and very clearly remember how I felt at the end of the evening. Upset, humiliated and angry.

Avoid this restaurant if you are afraid you might accidentally drop something or spill something or knock something over. If being treated like a child and being humiliated in public is your thing, then I would highly recommend this restaurant as the food is(from what I can recall) really quite good

I visited Tom Aiken's with my girlfriend a couple of months ago and had high expectations. Sadly, I left feeling a little disappointed. I'll keep this short and sweet; the service was fine and everything is very well presented, all the staff were professional without being particularly interested, warm or endearing, the food arrived in a timely fashion and the general ambiance of the restaurant was pleasant, if a little stale.

What I felt just a little let down by was the food itself. It's not that anything served was poorly cooked, quite the contrary, but many of the dishes were simply unbalanced and seemed to have been concocted by someone lacking a particularly sophisticated palate.

For example, I had fois gras to start and aside from being barely able to taste the sliver of fois gras I was given, the over-riding flavour on the plate was one of sugar – this from the small cubes of jellied sugar that came dotted around the plate. My partner had risotto, which we found to be a stodgy mess in a dish, completely overpowered by the egg at it's centre.

For main, I chose veal chop with lemon mash and roasted artichoke. The mash and artichoke were stunning and held absolutely heavenly flavours, however, this made the veal pale in comparison. It was perfectly well cooked but was totally overawed by the other flavours on the plate. My partner had loin of lamb marinated in ewes cheese which was so-so and once again was dominated by the flavour of cheese.

For dessert I plumped for crème brulee which was very nice . Girlfriend had vanilla pannacotta with white chocolate and black pepper. This was one of the very worst desserts I have ever tasted. The whole dish was completely dominated by the taste of black pepper and also of the N2O gas from the foam. Frankly, it made both of us feel more than a little sick.

After this fairly underwhelming dining experience, we then had cognac, dessert wine and a selection of cheeses. The selection of beverages and cheese is very comprehensive but then that is the easy bit to get right. In total, when considered with the bottle of wine that accompanied our meal, the bill came to around £180.

When you are paying £30 for a starter, £35 for mains and £17 for dessert, you at least expect to be presented with something above the average fare. With the best will in the world, I can't recommend this restaurant unless you have more money than sense and really aren't too bothered about enjoying what you're eating. Shame.

I just spent my “birthday supper” here with my girlfriend and everything was phenominal. Although there are more ambient restaurants in London, the service and quality of food was simply unmatched. I tried the Pigeon for my main with coffee and cinnamon and have never tasted anything quite so amazing. Yes the wine list is pricey, but after tonight I would quite happily save up again to enjoy the quality of food and wine on offer here. Awesome.

Tom Aikens was a brilliant evening. We dined on a busy Saturday night, the atmosphere was excellent and the service was prompt and friendly. The food was brilliant. We will definitely return in the near future.

Having read the reviews on this website, I went to Tom Aikens uncertain of what to expect, and left wondering how anyone could come to a bad conclusion about this place. We were served promptly by the staff, who were friendly without being too intrusive, and had a sense of humour to my obvious excitement that there was a dessert which is basically a chocaholics dream! We had the one hour lunch menu, which has a brilliant range of choice unlike some other restaurants of this calibre, followed by an a la carte dessert. The amuse bouche was, for want of a better word, fascinating, as it was full of interesting flavours that were balanced perfectly. For starters I had the langoustine risotto and my mum had the baked scallops, they both had more to them than was described on the menu (for instance mine had a langoustine foam around the outside and a perfectly runny egg yolk on top) and both were so delicious it stopped conversation for a good few minutes (something very rare in our case!) The main (canette of duck, for two) was just as conversation halting, and the dessert was so incredible, that even though we were both stuffed, we continued through until our plates were spotless. Throughout the whole meal the waiting staff were attentive, helpful, and provided a steady flow of some really wonderful breads, our glasses were topped up whenever they looked a little low and the courses seemed perfectly timed (none with too long a wait, and none so quick that you've barely digested the last mouthful!) The atmosphere is formal, and at first i felt a little uncomfortable, but soon relaxed and realised that the staff aren't watching you for mistakes in table manners or etiquette as I've felt in some other restaurants, and just genuinely want you to enjoy your meal. I would most definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone, and would certainly go back without hesitation.

We have dined at Tom Aikens and were not disappointed . Friendly welcome and good atmosphere We enjoyed a bequtifully presented tasting menu with matching wines. The service was excellent qnd the sommelier wine was superb.

I think you really need to re-rate and re-review the two star Tom Aitkens as your guide bears little relation to the mixed reviews on your site. Put simply Aitkens is charging two or three michelin star prices for food that scrapes a star, and service that falls well below that.
I and three friends visited the restaurant on a Friday evening, it was three quarters full, maybe repeat visits are down given the experience of eating there is not one everyone would want to repeat.
In detail, the room was lovely, the atmosphere fine, but the food was inconsistent. Lobster was described by friends who had it as virtually raw and too fishy, while a lemon turbot had a citrus flavour so overpowering that one could barely taste the fish, the same was true of the smoked beef. The latter was an interesting dish, but at £40 one would have expected to be able to taste the beef. The food seems focused on very powerful, concentrated flavours. There is clearly skill here, but not the subtlety one would expect.
Service again was mixed. There was little warmth, charm or personality in the service. The whole experience felt expense accounty, and corporate. One felt they didn't rally care about the individual.
There is distinct waft of arrogance in some of the old school French service, one had the sense that they felt you should be grateful to eat there. Arrogance would perhaps have been better justified if all the staff had expertise. Our rather sniffy french waiter for example poured one bottle of freshly opened red wine into a glass that was half full of another bottle that had been open for two hours, so ruining the flavour of the wine that had had time to breath. One would not have minded so much if it hadn't been a £200 bottle of bordeaux he was ruining.
It's a shame because some of the food was exquisite, but overall, your money is better spent elsewhere. One does wonder sometimes whether the industry becomes caught up in all the hype and can't actually see the reality of a restaurant experience for what it is. In the case of Aitkens, some high spots, but a flawed offering.

Pleasant greeting on arrival. Plenty staff, courteous and helpful. Warm spacious dining room with positive ambiance and attractive decoration. Feeling of space and tables set very reasonablly apart. During the course of the evening the staff became more aloof and there were no pleantries, no smiles, little, if any, engagement. Felt there was some confusion as to who had ordered what, with one waiter leaning across in front of diners whilst they were talking to each other rather than laying knives and forks from the correct side. Food was slow to arrive between courses and the inevitable medium to well done lamb cutlet (one third the size of a computer mouse) arrived rare. The contrast of tastes on the plate were too severe for my taste. This I believe is a trademark of his cooking. Of the six dining in our group five did not like the food and openly commented on it after we left. One is a hotelier and felt the suckling pig was neither cooked long enough nor presented well on the plate being a large slab of meat with the skin only browned. Too easy to be disparaging but I doubt any of our group will return. A pity as this restaurant has the potential to go far but it benefits from having a wealthy clientel who shelter the management from reality and who frankly, if they were paying out of their own pocket, would not do so. On balance the restaurant was overpriced, aloof to the needs and wants of diners, lacked charm with indifferent overrated food. A sadly disappointing experience. Give me Ramsay any day.

A recent visit to this restaurant failed to live the expectations raised by the Square Meal comments.

The food on the tasting menu was good (scallops were overcooked and small) and the cheese platter was excellent. However the service was woefully slow and completely unresponsive. It seemed as if the service was following a timed act, rather than listening to the needs of the customers. Most of my fellow diners arrived hungry and the intervals between each course were just too long. The wating staff were not bad, just unresponsive. As a result there was too much bread proferred and too much wine even before the first course was served which took ages, despite the menu being ordered in advance. And it took nearly 4hrs to get to the cheese course by which time people had to leave for home before they could have their desert…which would have been served around midnight!

The wine partnering the lamb, a Saint Emillion was served far too cold, at cellar temperature rather than at room temperature and it had not been aired in advance despite the notice and pre-ordering. Surely a basic error for a restaurant that purports to be so good. Wine selections on the whole tried to be original but were not good enough quality for the money.

Dinner at Tom Aikens was outstanding. Service exceptional with polite, charismatic non intrusive staff. Tom's food lives up to it's reputation inventive, original and delicious! It has to be experience to be fully appreciated!
I will be back!!

Possibly the best restaurant in London.

Fantastic ambience in a room that is not vast and cold… felt very cosy but with excellent and professional service. The food is very tasty, good imagination and combination of flavours and the desserts are pieces of art, especially the petit fours that come with coffee!

Tom Aiken is without a doubt one of the best restaurants in London.

Food was executed with precision and flair to be expected, and was delicious. The wine list was extensive and there was enough choice to suit all budgets, we opted for a moderately priced Chablis which was excellent.

Service was brisk and attentive, without being cumbersome, and we were able to enjoy a fantastic afternoon stretching on for 3 hours enjoying the amazing food, wine, and modernly tasteful setting.

The atmosphere was relaxed but still formal, and I would think perfect for a romantic meal, as well as a formal meal with work colleagues.

I have not stopped raving about Tom Aiken's restaurant since going, and cannot wait to return.