Albannach

have to agree with the last reviewer. I would expect a restaurant to have an off day, so perhaps my really quite lovely experience will need to be tested for consistency, but it's hard to fault such a thoughtful, friendly, creative and deliciously simple experience.

Why do we all want ‘authentic’ this and that? Why not just concede that British – and Scottish – combine a complex mix of cultures, history and evolving ingredients, ever changing!

Which is why I love the fluffy, smooth update on what was obviously a staple fisherman recipe – the Cullen Skink. Or the stunning sausage board which boasts so confidently a variety of the best British bangers. I am going to go out on a limb and even stake a British claim to the sublime macaroni cheese they served up on the set menu – note the fantastic British cheeses out there. My partner's venison dish was equally sumptuous.

And when this gorgeous guy came out to recommend the best whiskies to top off the evening, I thought: this is cool Britannia – deeply founded in our domestic and world experience, beautifully conceived and stunningly executed.

Let's shout about it! Well done Albannach!

Great food, lovely ambience… Things must have changed since the reviews below. I would thoroughly recommend and also suggest you try the Venison, outstanding!

JL

An odd evening of pluses and minuses. On the plus side, the staff are charming and attentive and the food is pretty much OK. The major minus is the fact that this has to be the noisiest place in London. The restaurant is in the bar and the deafening din from a bunch of beer-swilling M&S-suited oiks quite ruined the evening for us.

Great location, great atmosphere, but I wouldn't come back here for a business lunch or dinner when you need good service. Not sure if we were just unlucky and that either there was an insufficient number of waiting staff, or if we got the trainees, but the service was embarrassingly poor. It took ages to get someone to take our food order, food took a long time to arrive, there was no salt/pepper on the table & it took ages to receive these, we ordered chips with our steaks, but we had to ask 3 x before we got them … we thought this place would be slick but that wasn't the case. Would highly recommend the venue though if you're on an evening out with friends or colleagues and it doesn't matter so much about the service, as the atmosphere was buzzing.

We were looking forward to enjoying the 50% discount from Top Table and thought we would be getting top notch food with a Scottish flare for a steal. However, the whole experience was somewhat disappointing. The staff were friendly enough for the most part, if somewhat disorganised, not even knowing which table was reserved for us. The service was distinctly slow. We were a party of four, and were not drinking excessively quickly, as were drinking both wine and water, a second bottle of wine was offered before they had even served the starter! We were also confused by the menu and restaurant not particularly having a Scottish feel to it, with the only Scottish items being from the Scottish speciality section of the menu. The majority of the rest of the food did not even seem to be sourced from Scotland (Icelandic Cod?)

When the food eventually arrived, the starters were quite nice, the warm goat's cheese tart particularly enjoyable. The scallops were well cooked, but unfortunately any flavour was drowned out by the pea puree. We were particulary looking forward to the main course, as two of us had ordered the signature fillet of beef. Considering the price of the dish (before discount) we were expecting something special. However, the cut proved to be somewhat chewey, and although a nice dish, was definitely somewhat short of spectacular. The beef came with just a few (over buttered) vegetables, and potatoes were at an extra cost.

The toilets, although well appointed, were a number of flights downstairs through the bar and shared with the Doon cocktail bar. We decided up until the end, that the food was worth the price we were paying at the 50% discount, but if we had paid the full price we would have been sorely disappointed. The experience was a bizarre mixture of fine dining (the price) and gastro-pub (ambiance).

However, the evening ended on a low point when we received the bill, and the “optional” service charge of 12.5% had been charged at the full price of the meal, not the discounted. We pointed out that this amounted to adding a 20% service charge, which we would have only paid for an exceptional meal. We were rather rudely told that the waiting and kitchen staff had to work very hard, and deserved the 20% tip. We refused to pay it and instead payed at a more acceptable 12.5%. The waitress was not happy about this, and queried it with each of us as we paid with our cards. I am not a fan of adding the service charge to the bill automatically but accept that this is now the norm in most restaurants. Adding a 20% service charge is just cheeky however!

Haggis = Scotland – right??

Expensive – small portions.

Albannach manages to combine all that is risible about going out in central London.

There is so much to dislike it is hard to know where to begin, but let's start with the 12.5% service charged added on to everything …even a standard bottle of wine, ordered at the bar had appreciated in price by £4.50 by the time the cork was removed. The prices generally are high without the cache of one of the more luxurious drinking experiences in London such as The Blue Bar. The cheapest 175ml glass of wine is £5.00 and it was moderate.

However, price and sneaky service charging is not the main reason to avoid this bar. The worst thing about it is the depressingly poor effort to make the self-styled ‘Scottish’ bar in any way authentically Scottish. Having lived in Scotland for five years it did not resemble any bar I ever visited; neither the old fashioned drinking dens, the festival haunts nor the high-end grand hotel experiences around Princes Street. Even if the idea was to recreate some of the rich atmosphere and culture of the country, it still failed. The whole bar is over conceptulaised, with pretentious wrought iron, moody photos of Scotland and a paper machie deer and although it was packed with a post-work office crowd when we went, it still managed a relatively lacklustre atmosphere.

If you are seeking an authentic Scottish experience go elsewhere. If you are seeking a loud, post-work bar with atmosphere go elsewhere. If, however, you really don't care how you spend your money or your free time and care nothing for Scotland, this could be the perfect bar for you.

I went to join friends for drinks on Saturday as being from Scotland this seemed a great place to meet everyone. The drinks were overpriced and the service was incredibly slow and a service charge of 12.5% was added to every receipt even when ordering drinks at the bar. I won't be going back.