Galvin at Windows

The food poisoning comment compelled me to write.
Although I have not been there since… about a year ago… and when I complained I went through a process and they told me I had not indeed been sick, which confused me since I thought I'd know best.

The Bar at Galvin is a very special place, but unfotunately the restaurant fails to keep up. Service is OK, but the atmosphere is disappointing. In a room which has the view of one of the world's great cities, it is interesting how one can make three fundamental mistakes. 1) paint the walls in a dreary shade of beige 2) fit windows which refelct whatever little and cold lighting there is and thus spoiling the view in the evening and 3) fitting a ocean-liner inspired “railing” to sections of the restaurant which are exactly on the hight of the eyes of most normally tall diners. A mystery to me.

We recently went to Galvin at Windows for their “credit crunch” lunch and were sorely disappointed. Despite eating from the special offer menu, all of the courses were options on the a la carte menu and thus I was expecting each dish to be quite special.

For starters, we had the warm ballotine of pigs head. The first taste was quite pleasing, however it was so salty that we were both unable to finish it.

The roast fillet of plaice for main course was equally unremarkable, with the fish and it's accompaniments being so bland that you barely noticed eating it, The creme brulee I quite enjoyed, though unlike any other creme brulee I've had, seemed to consist of a bowl of warm thick cream.

Despite the mediocrity of the food, the restaurant itself is pleasing and has stunning views. As we had not been fortunate in getting a table by the window to dine, when our coffees arrived, we asked if it would be possible to go and sit in the window to drink them – we had dined quite late and so the restaurant was largely empty by this time. The expression on our waiters face at this point was comparable to what I would have expected had I asked to change a baby's nappy on the chef's table, and he said no we couldn't as we might dirty the tablecloth.

This lazyness and lack of customer care in a… More

Galvin at Windows may be just a little over-priced but the views and some of the dishes make it totally worth it. If you are going, have a drink in the bar beforehand and then sit down to enjoy a tasty seasonal menu. Our only complaint from the night was the mullet with artichoke, the artichoke has obviously been marinated in vinegar rather than olive oil so the vinegar flavour kept creeping in so I wish Id sent it back. The pear tart -tatin was way too big for even two people, four of you could share it. All the other dishes were lovely.