Clos Maggiore

Have been several times for the really excellent value lunch – limited menu choice on the set meal but incredible value for food of this quality. Coffee indifferent with inferior petits fours, though. I honestly don't think the food quality justifies the a la carte prices charged in the evening. Very pretty decor and attentive service, although a bit cold and detached.

Whilst it isn't cheap, a meal at Clos Maggiore is worth every penny. The atmosphere cannot be beaten anywhere in London, particularly in winter, when the fire is blazing.

It doesn't matter whether you're there for a main sitting or for a pre-theatre meal, you never feel rushed or as though they want to get you out ready for the next customers. Service is somehow fast but unhurried, making a meal there incredibly relaxing and guests feel special.

The food is incredible – even the set meals are of a higher standard for the price than any other restaurant I can think of. And the wine list is extensive though unpretentious, the somelier being knowledgeable without pushing any particular wine.

My absolute favourite restaurant in London (can you tell?!)!

My first visit to Clos Maggiore and was not disappointed. Excellent staff and fantastic sommelier. Dishes were excellent, roasted duck foie gras as good as any I’ve eaten in London. Roasted duck superb.

Wine list is amazing and very good value, recommended by a friendly, knowledgeable sommelier.

A very intimate, romantic setting with great food to match. Will definitely be returning.

Clos Maggiore is nothing short of magical. Superb cooking supported by great service and one of the prettiest dining rooms in London is surpassed only by the service. It is so pretty it deserves a third star on the rating at SquareMeal. Cheap it is not, but the value is outstanding. Bon appétit!

It is a very average cooking restaurant but the best course that I have ordered was the soup (starter) but unfortunately other courses was not up to high standard and I am definitely not going to pay for this price as well!! The main course was a bit salty and also no wow factor of favours and the dessert was cold as well and too creamy from my personal taste.

The food had taken so long to deliver to the table!!

The atmosphere was very good, it is nice and cosy. Best to meet up with friends and come as a couple!

It is not value for money since the food didn’t give me the wow factor (average cooking) and the service was also average, so as whole it wasn’t a very good experience, but overall they do deserve a 5 from me.

Had booked a table for two for my Husbands birthday, been a tough few months so wanted somewhere extra special as treat and we were both really looking forward to it.

I can't comment on the food this time (although I have been for lunch before with clients and it's very good) as we never actually stayed that long. I had requested several times for a nice table, if not in the conservatory area then near it but had a feeling that this was never going to happen down to the snotty tone the Lady in reservations took with me – I should have told them not to bother then.

This was the same snotty tone that continued when we actually arrived on time for our meal and yep, I was spot on – table right at the back by the waiting room – zero ambience – basically an area away from the main restaurant where they could cram an extra couple of tables in… good if your having an affair I guess and don't want to be seen but not nice at all when on a night out with your Husband and the reason you book is for the pretty surroundings in the heart of it etc.

It's just a poor show – when we asked to move tables as I reiterated it was for a special occasion and the Lady at front of house basically belittled it by saying “isn't it always a special occasion for everyone trying to get a table in here” – I guess accusing me of lying just to try and upgrade. As I note from an earlier review on here “ the whole point of this restaurant is the pretty bits” – how very true because with rude stuffy and arrogant staff it's certainly not a place I would ever bother with again – no matter how good the food is. The manager did try and appease the situation by saying perhaps we may get moved by dessert but the evening had already been spolt so told him not to bother and we would try and find somewhere else. So off we went to try and find somewhere (no mean feat considering it's two weeks before xmas but a lovely Italian on Poland Street saved our evening from being totally ruined) that did not treat us like we should be grateful they allowed us to book a table.

oh dear, maybe it was a slightly off night, so E & OE etc etc

We rushed in, 5mins late for our 7.30pm slot (previously on the 'phone “table back by 10 please”), but not to worry – “your table will be ready in two minutes.” eh?

Can I take your bags as there's no space at the table. Huh. really? ‘no’ space? Turns out she wasn't lying – table for five (with one at the end), but we had to squeeze in six. Three ‘thinnies’ down one side, me and the other broad-shouldered one opposite. There really was no space for the bags.
7.55pm and the menus hadn't come. “They'll have to remove me physically,” I muttered – long day at work. Should really get a proper job, away from The City.

When it came, the menu was a bit safe, a bit disappointing. I wasn't feeling tuned-in enough to work out whether it was particularly seasonal or not. Most reviews had described CM as roughly good/classic/reliable, maybe somewhat more inspired than that; but the big deal was supposed to be the woh-man-tic atmosphere.

I suppose it was. CM is pretty cosy – we were downstairs, in the booth on the left before the courtyard. If you look hard you could deconstruct it into clubby furnishings, generally low lighting, some twinklers, some plastic hedge, and a few mirrors for added sparkle. If you're a softy or in the mood, you'll like it. But for me, well… you guessed it!

The special was black…iberico…pork chop. I should have chosen that, it was pretty tasty if a little pink for most (including that diner), and for me a bit under-seasoned. I had sweetbreads, then pork belly.

So to the serious bit, the food.

Pretty well cooked sweetbreads, tender, again bit under-seasoned for me (and I'm not a salt addict). Slightly caramelised salsify which was a bit bland, diced mushrooms, forgettable pan jus, and four little imperceptible green leaves. The combined effect was too rich, in a sort of tacky-on-the-tongue, cream of tartar, cornstarch-y way, too homogenous, and crying out for balancing acidity. I took some of the remaining black olive tapenade leftover from the bread course to raise the flavours out of the flabbiness, thus sacrificing the delicate flavour of the sweetbreads and salsify for the uplifting quality of the olives… and sadly their overbearing saltiness. Mistake after mistake. Next.

I fancied pork belly, a nice slab, properly rendered, crispy skin, tasty unctuous layers of flesh, and naughty but acceptable remaining fat in between. It came rolled, like a metal presentation binder – crispy, well…hard on the outside. Smokey potato fondant thingy, well-cooked clean flavoured dark and pretty broccoli tips, caramelised cocktail onions (acidity – bravo!), mustard and tarragon sauce. Just had to remind myself of the sauce constituents by checking the menu online – didn't detect the tarragon and that's usually pretty obvious. Moreover it would have lent another source of much-needed acidity to another mercilessly rich dish. The belly was ‘piggy’ – you know, really porcine; but not a gamey, or developed flavour. Maybe I should have thought more about how it would turn out given it was baby suckling pig and therefore a relatively thin cut of belly (say an inch before cooking, rather than one-and-a-half). The mid layers of fat were just a bit too connected, and not quite sufficiently disintegrated (don't know the technical term) for it to be enjoyable in the sense that fat around well cured ham can be. I was also disappointed by the crackling. Well rendered – yes; but too chewy. I guess it was cooked separately, crisped, then reapplied to the rest of the pork at a temperature when it was bendy; thereby allowing it to be wrapped round the cut of belly, and harden into a horse-shoe-shaped restraining role on cooling. Tidy!

Anyway I couldn't finish it – too rich…even after carefully portioning the onions to relieve as many mouthfuls as possible, and eeking-out the small glass of barbera. I hadn't made the mistake of joining the others in the bread course, and had only crunched one bread stick. So theoretically my appetite should have been there.

At that precise point I wanted a citrus sorbet cure. But in the time it took for the dessert menu to arrive, I'd gone-off the idea. Though spiced pineapple with alphonso mango, coconut financier and pina colada sorbet was tempting. I settled on nothing, knowing I could steal some of my wife's mint tea and one of the accompanying petits fours. They were good.

Everyone else seemed pretty happy with their food; though they are all less…er…demanding than me. The squash soup was well-liked; I mentioned the special iberico; the lamb looked ok too. I fail to get excited by duck and figs, or by chocolate fondant and raspberry sorbet.

Wine. It's a pretty old fashioned (out-dated?) list, all 90 leather-bound pages of it. Multiple Moutons, lines of Lafite etc. and pretty hard – I thought – to find many reliable names sub £40/50quid. “Which one of these two wines,” I named them, “is a better example of their grape?” A negroamaro around late£30s and a barbera around £40. The boorish wine waiter took me off into blends at higher prices. Not interested I calmly repeated the question, slightly louder this time, and got my answer. The barbera was fine. I'm not an MW, but I know enough not to be bullied. He may get away with it if you're gazing into your intended's and don't want to argue over thirty quid here or there on the price of your ice-breaker.

More importantly, haven't they heard there's a reasonably-priced biodynamic wine revolution going on in the rest of London? Perhaps King St. overheads are frightening?

Table service was generally ok: from the late-tenwtysomething men, some well-balanced, some a bit too familiar – the we're-not-mates-just-yet kind. And then by contrast the younger twentysomething women came across as meek, barely communicative and fading into the background behind the alphas. It didn't bother me, much. But I think if I was here on a date I'd hope to get female service.

Value. It isn't. Not so much because the prices are high – they're not stellar; but because you can find better food elsewhere. But it's not that bad. It's not as lazy/consistent a menu as the Wolseley; but it did read like clubby favourites. I should probably give the “seasonal” claims another chance. The problem is that the food is quite rich, and unless you're in such good shape and it doesn't matter, you really shouldn't eat here that often. So it falls probably falls into the ‘treat’ category where, I suppose, the point ‘is’ to serve you something indulgent.

I won't be returning – it's not for me. But woh-man-tics might.

I feel the urge to suggest alternatives, but I'll resist. Coincidences of great cooking, interesting food, and good service are rare, and maintaining them is hard. I need to get out more and discover some.

Sold on the courtyard setting and renowned service. We requested a table in the courtyard on booking but were told that this could not be guaranteed. A little disappointed, we arrived and were ushered to a table in the outer dining room, however, within 15 minutes and a little pouting on my part they had cleared a table, moved our drinks and set us up in a perfect corner seat, lots of apologies and very accommodating staff. Faultless from here on in – food sublime, seabass like no other! Great extensive wine list and helpful sommelier. Staff subtle but attentive. Have been back twice since, each visit played out exactly as first in terms of seating, changing tables etc but if you are prepared to faff at the start the setting and food are perfect. Not at all too pricey for the quality of the experience either.

Never one to write negative reviews on sites like this. Especially for a restaurant I was so looking forward to. Honestly, I take no pride in it. I'm just disappointed in our evening at Clos Maggiore.
After giving a birthday treat at the ROH, I was keen to wrap the evening up in the attractive interior of Clos Maggiore. I had booked well in advance, had explained the significance of the booking and had asked for a table in said ‘court yard’ area at both booking and on confirmation of the reservation. Our table was at 6pm so there shouldn't have been a problem. On arrival, we were herded up to a small and soulless room upstairs. I was particularly upset as when I took a peak into the restaurant proper before we left, there were a number of empty tables. It was clear that my mother's 70th wasn't up to the ‘inner circle’ of the main restaurant.
The food was exquisite, of that there was no doubt. The wine list was over 90 pages, with most wines north of £100 (many well up at the £400-£500 mark). Some may like this, I found it intimidating and a little pretentious. The wine was kept else where when we ate so much of the meal was left waiting for a top up (requesting the wine was left on the table was politely declined by the staff).
So, yes, for what was a very expensive (and good) meal, was left feeling a little too far down the pecking order by the restaurant which I felt compelled to pass on.

I found Clos Maggiore on the Square Meal under ‘romantic’ and it really is. In the winter it is very cosy with a fire in the conservatory.
We went with two friends and had a wonderful evening. We had the vegetarian tasting menu and went for the option that included wine with each course. The Sommelier was very helpful and gave us a couple of different wines to choose as we went through the menu. The food was absolutely divine and the accompanying wines were perfect. It is a bit pricey but would not hesitate to go back.
Excellent!