Jill's Reviews

Have been to the restaurant many times in the passed and always loved it. However, I was there (group of 8) on Friday night (20 Feb) and it was bad (apart from the sommelier who was great).

We had a couple of vegetarians on our table who had ordered a veggie starter and the vegetarian risotto (i think the only vegetarian main course) so you would think that the staff might have an inkling that they were vegetarian…however, everyone was presented with an amuse bouche containing ham. This was just dropped in front of all without explanation as to what it was (as though we should be thankful to receive something gratis). Enquiries revealed it was a ham and cheese croquette so the 3 vegetarian servings were picked up and replaced with a leek and potato amuse bouche – guess that is something – they could have ended up with nothing (which I was half expecting).

I ordered the scallops which were not good due to grittiness (something not cleaned properly?), tasteless cream sauce and the miserly scallop portion – the scallop either suffered a birth defect and its growth was stunted or it was sectioned – cut horizontally into 4 small discs of about 1cm in height…a proper whole scallop is about 3cm in depth at least. Think that dish was about £10 – my guess is the raw ingredients would have cost less than £1 – now that is a rip-off!

For main course I had wild sea bass on a marinara risotto. My friend next to me asked the waiter what was in the marinara risotto (she doesn't like mussels and neither do i). Just prawns, was the answer, so we both ordered it. Very disappointing as the bed of risotto was more like the seafood mix you get at the supermarket with those tiny unidentifiable shrimps and mussels (yuk) etc. Anyway, the sea bass was topped in this tomato based stuff and then had breadcrumbs on top of that. Am not sure why you would ruin a good piece of fish with unnecessary additions – maybe to make the dish appear more plentiful? Anyway, it was not good – i think the price for… More

Had lunch here on Sunday, 22 Feb. Was very good. We were next to a very large table (approx 20 people) but as our booking (just 2 of us) was at 2pm, the large table was just getting its main courses so we fortunately missed what might have been a difficult service period.

Sunday lunch is 3 courses for £19.95 which is excellent value given the quality. Bayonne ham with celeriac remoulade was brilliant, as was the endive salad with roquefort and walnuts. Main courses were tiger prawns with chilli and garlic (not so french maybe but really good all the same). My friend enjoyed the rabbit pie. Nice merlot, not too expensive and a fantastic cheese selection and creme brulee for dessert washed down with a nice dessert wine (sold by the glass).

Overall, a really nice sunday lunch – the place was very busy – always a good sign!