Geales

Bad value for money
I visited this restaurant recently with a friend. Although I enjoyed the food everything was quite expensive. I paid £85 for 2 salads, fish platter, bottle of water and 2 glasses of house wine, including £10 service charge, not mentioned in the menu. I consider this too high a price for a place where service and atmosphere are below average and my expectations.
Conclusion – really bad value for money.

Geale's, nestled between the über-wealthy Kensington (W8) and Notting Hill (W11) have, to put it briefly, devised a magic forumula which should be studied by economically-minded sociologists: “How to turn simple, average fish and chips with mediocre side dishes and a few bottles of wine for four persons into a £300 meal?”. It also spells out as “Arrogance + Ignorance X Location”. The only (remotely) justifiable part of the equation is “Location”, as yes it is handily located off Notting Hill Gate, but the rest is simply shocking. These are the kind of restaurants which give Lonodon gastronomy a bad name among visitors. Geale's was a Kensington stalwart until it was overhauled and then hyped-up. It now sports minimalist black-and-white decor and has lost all of its original charm. What a pity. And if one is after a good (and be it pricey) meal in this neck of the woods there are plenty of options. To avoid. No, better: run!

We have had two extremely enjoyable lunches at Geale's – the perfect place for a relaxing lunchtime rendezvous, or a great place to meet before a movie at the Gate or the Coronet. Most fish restaurants are a bit cold and clinical and nowhere near as inviting as this. The food is delicious and excellent value for money, the decor stylish and elegant. The service was good and attentive. We'd go back there in a heartbeat if we were in the area again.

Very glad to have discovered Geales after being recommended by a friend.
I very much enjoyed every aspect of my meal.
The food was superb and I consider it to be excellent value for money when compared
to many other restaurants of an equivalent quality and standard.
The service was good and friendly and the food ( in particular the lobster spaghetti which was exceptional ) was excellent.
I would fully recommend Geales to any friends.
A thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Loved it
I love this restaurant I went years ago and returned last week and was very pleased with its refurbishment as it has kept the old character that I loved but vastly improved the food. The fish was fresh and perfectly cooked and the new additions to the menu were fantastic. The hot smoked salmon with pear was perfection as was the tempura crab. My partner had fish pie and mushy peas and gave it 10 out of 10. My food was so fresh and healthy that I felt justified in indulging in blackberry and apple crumble and it was divine. I will go back as there are so many interesting things on the menu that I want to try. Service was good too it was full when iwas there but we still got served quite quickly.

This lovely fish restaurant tucked away in a noting hill back street was a real find. The atmosphere is friendly and service was quick and friendly. We had prawn cocktail to start , a real old fashioned dish but was delicious. I had fish and chips as a main that had most amazing batter and real chips . Yum!!

Great local

The food was OK. However, it was service / the staff that contributes to the low score. The staff felt it necessary to continuously chat between themselves at maximum volume so that the customers are forced to hear every single word of their conversations (which are mostly complaints and comments about other staff and customers!). As you don't get any side dishes with the meals, we ordered a second portion of chips. This arrived after the waiter had taken away our plates when we were done with our meals. When I remarked that it would be nice if the chips would have arrived while we were still having our meals, the girl who served us said rather sarcastically “that it takes some time to cook them”. To make matters worst, she walked over to her colleague and started chatting about how she had told me off (at maximum volume, so that the entire restaurant could hear this). If you like rude, uninterested staff and being insulted, then this is your place. One to avoid.

A friend and I ate at Geales in March 09 and it was very bad value indeed. When I ordered the £12 fish pie I expected a freshly cooked portion big enough to be a proper meal. What I got was a 4"x4″ dish that had been microwaved and whose contents, once turned out, were little bigger than a starter. I spent another £2.95 on a portion of beans and got 15 of them, cut in half to make 30 or so bit. So that was 10p for each half bean. My companion had sole which was ok but small at £16.50 but spent another £2.95 on a side order of new potatoes – and got just six of them. so that was 50p per spud. And they were very small. The rest of the meal had the same theme – we got charged for every little thing – and little was the operative word. A bowl of olives was £2, bread and butter was £1.25 and water was £3.50 a bottle. Worst value of all was the cheese at the end. That cost £5.50 and included three small slices of bread and five thin slices of cheese.
So, in the end, we'd had a small sole, small fish pie, some small portions of vegetables and cheese and some water – but the total came to £68!. Thank goodness we skipped the starters and the wine. But we were still very hungry at the end.
Perhaps the final insult lay in the service charge of 12.5%. We paid this believing it would go to the staff, as implied in the word “service” but on checking with the manager discovered it goes to the owners. The staff, largely foreign, are on near-minimum wages and to be fair, they did their best. So don't go is the best advice. But if you do then pay the tip in cash!