Marco Pierre White Sydney Street Grill

My sister was over here from abroad and we had booked her birthday dinner at Sydney Street Grill. This booking was cancelled on the day as there was something wrong with the kitchen and we were offered another date or the booking at Marco's on King's Road. We were disappointed as we had been to Sydney Street Grill several times before and really liked it but due to time constraints we accepted the booking at the King's Road restaurant. It is also very nice but does not match up to Sydney Street Grill. The staff is professional and welcoming but the restaurant itself is quite small with too many tables squeezed in for diners. There is a constant coming and going of guests which made us feel slightly uncomfortable due to the close proximity. The food however was very good and so was the service, very polite and always with a lovely smile. Because our booking had been changed from Sydney Street to this restaurant we were greeted with a complimentary glass of champagne which went down very well and when it came to our desert, as they knew this booking was for my sister's birthday, the waiter brought her desert plate with a ‘Happy Birthday’ message written in chocolate and a lovely big sparkler in the centre of the plate. To see the delight on my sister's face at this surprise was lovely. Good job really well done.

An absolute DISASTER and an awful indictment of the poor quality of the Marco Pierre White chain of steakhouses. I have never had steak that has so woefully underwhelmed as the sirloin tried here. Terribly tough, stringy meat that has not a smidgen of seasoning added and a total lack of flavour. The peppercorn sauce was lovely in comparison, but the chips were limp and greasy. Worse still was the side salad, which evidently had been left sitting in heat as it came out limp and lifeless. Service was good when the staff were around, but a struggle to get them to notice and be attentive. Credit to the manager who took the steaks off the bill, but really the waiter should have done more than just shrug his shoulders when we complained. It isn't hard to make good steak, so I really can't understand why they fail so miserably here. Awful, simply awful.