James' review of Dinings

Lee (see other review) has hit the nail on the head.

No real complaints about the food, which is fantastically fresh and innovative.

The main problems are with the staff and the basement sitting area.

I called on a Friday afternoon to be told that they had just had a cancellation and could fit myself and my wife in, but only if we could make it at 6:15pm. I asked if we could come slightly later, but was told that this was not possible.

So we hot-footed it to the train station to get into Marylebone. On arrival we were shown past the ground floor sushi bar down into the depths. Apart from 4 staff, we were alone. In a basement. No windows. Piped Christmas music. An impending sense of doom.

Anyway, we thoguht that we should give it a go and ordered a number of appetizers and bottle of sake. The highlights of the food were the Lobster Tempura salad (yum) or the mouthful of Cornish Gurnard with a yuzu dressing.

But the lack of atmosphere was getting to us. Eventually another couple arrived to join us in the pit.

So after an hour there were 4 of us in the hushed crypt. No atmosphere, no windows (obviously) and a nagging thought that these few mouthfuls might have cost me a lot of money. Dreadful.

After the starters we asked for the bill, to which the French waiter raised his eyes heavenward but he held back from the full “boff, bien”. £90 for starters and a small bottle of sake. Delicious, but really!

We spoke to the lady who took our booking and she rambled on about how Dinings is about an “experience”. Well if your idea of an experience is to sit in a quiet, non-descript basement and pay a small fortune for tiny mouthfuls of crab, gurnard and monkfish liver then Dinings is the place for you.

Perhaps the 8:00pm sitting is better. Anyone?