Toby's review of Village East

My first time dining here, its only 10 minutes drive from my home but somehow it's one of those places I've always managed to miss.

Generally it's alright, though I find it hard to be quite as complimentary as other reviewers have been.

The good – well value for money for a start; 2 people, 3 courses, water, 4 glasses of wine and all for £95, no complaints about that (although some of the wine on the list is excessively priced and similar bottles are cheaper in Mayfair establishments than here). Food was also generally good – I ate haricot bean and roasted garlic soup for starters – tasted rather more like potato soup, but pleasant, thick and hot, followed by Icelandic cod fillet with saffron orzo, chorizo and roast cherry tomatoes – a really generous portion, nice thick piece of cod sat on a great, risotto style, bed of goodies – sadly the accompanying chips I had as a side dish were really disappointing – machine produced, overcooked and a mass of shrapnel like pieces, followed by baked hazelnut and ricotta torte raspberries, Grand Marnier tuiles – nice but certainly didn't set the world alight. Service was fine – we waited a touch too long for drinks at the start and there was a tendency to bring the right dishes but hand them to the wrong person, but otherwise no problems.

The less good – mainly the atmosphere; it was extremely noisy and very bad acoustics where you could hear the conversation 3 tables away but not be able to hear the conversation on your own table. Tables are also crammed in and very small so you've barely got space to move and the air conditioning didn't seem to be working so it was very hot.

Would I return – yes, but it’s not a place for a romantic dinner and I'd try and find a day when it would be cooler and quieter.