Aubaine Heddon Street

Pre-matinee Saturday lunch

The atmosphere of Aubaine is overly feminine and artificial. Actually, there may not be any atmosphere. The room looks like a washed-out (as in pale) garden conservatory, with tables spaced so closely together that backs of chairs rub against one another and you could easily reach across to sample your fellow diners' meals. Nonetheless, the food is reasonable for lunch. There are enough choices on the menu to please everyone, and the quality of the food is fine for a pre-theatre type meal. I wouldn't book this place for a romantic evening (or any dinner, for that matter) – but as a reliable lunch venue it fits the bill.

Be careful of sales tactics here. I wanted breakfast which should have involved at £3 croissant and £3 pot of tea at most. I got a piece of cake that was next to the croissants and was charged £6 for it… (after they couldnt serve me 2 of the items on the breakfast menu). Total bill was £10 for 1 small cup of tea and an inch thick slice of cake… I wont be going back.

The food is good, the ingredients fresh and the presentation can't be faulted. But these very competent offerings from the kitchen are completely let down by inattentive and careless front-of-house service. We asked for a minor change to one dish (a different sauce from another dish on the menu), but this was not what was served, and the subsequent replacement arrived with no sauce at all!

Whilst only half-full on a Saturday night, the staff were too busy chatting to each other at the bar to attend to their customers. At £55 per head, it's surely not too much to ask that the staff know their menu, that wine and water are topped-up without asking, that the order is remembered accurately (maybe write it down to make sure), and your coats are retrieved for you at the end of the night.

My impression was that perhaps the waiting staff don't really want their employer to last. So if you really want to go, do so now, before they go under – I give them 6 months.