Toby's Reviews

I seem to have been coming here on and off for at least the last 10 years and, bar a refit some years ago, it never changes; which is both a good and a bad thing.

The menu is almost unaltered over the last decade, and it felt a bit dated 10 years ago, and they’ve made little attempt to move with the times in terms of décor or staff – some of whom have worked there the entire duration of that period, but that does give it a consistency sadly lacking in many places.

You always know exactly what you are going to get, particularly if you’ve ever been to Il Bordello in Wapping as the menus are almost identical, and that is massive quantities of simple, unfussy food from a wide menu (all be it lots of variations on a theme e.g. around 25 different pizzas) at good value prices; around £12-14 for a main course, desserts at around £7 etc. If you want a pizza the size of a sports car wheel, or enough pasta to fill up an Olympic athlete preparing for a particularly strenuous training session this is the place – and it’s generally very good (I’ve often though the Pizzas were amongst the best I’ve had in the UK – though sadly they are still not like you get in Italy), but rarely, if ever, exceptional. If you want the latest tastes in innovative fusions then look somewhere else as you won’t get it here.

The staff are generally friendly and I think most of them seem to know me and many of my friends and family as it seems to be somewhere I’ve been with most of the people I know at one time or another.

Atmosphere is mixed; sometimes it’s packed out, other nights you can be one of very few. Summer is nice if you get to sit outside and try and catch some of the sunshine that is all too rare in the English summertime.

I’m sure I’ll be back again and doubtless it’ll be much the same as every other time.

At short notice I was set the task of finding a restaurant in Piccadilly for lunch with a friend in between her day of meetings. Short notice ruled out The Wolseley and price ruled out Nobu etc. what with it being just 2 days to pay day, so funds were getting short.

After a bit of hunting I ended up with Sartoria – this wasn’t without some trepidation as many of the ex Conran restaurants seem to have declined quite badly with their shift to D&D. I used to like Pont de la Tour and the Butlers Wharf Chop House but haven’t been to either in a long time as they got rather over priced with a distinct drop in quality, but Sartoria is alright – not fantastic but alright.

It feels slightly dated inside, but not in an unpleasant way – just a cool 5 years ago type of vibe. There is lots of space and comfy chairs, but it’s also just a bit too beige/grey.

Service is distinctly mixed – some of the staff seem to struggle with English as it’s clearly not their first language and so whilst they are all friendly enough there do seem to be some moments of confusion. Bread went missing – apparently it was on its way but didn’t make an appearance till 20 minutes later and only after being chased, though it was lovely when it did arrive and the olive is definitely the option to go for. The bill also took far longer to arrive than would have been ideal, but we got what we ordered and plates were cleared quickly.

The food was reasonable – not exceptional but miles better than many of the other D&D options. I had saddle of salt marsh lamb with olives and aubergine – the lamb was a little too dry but otherwise alright, though I would have preferred to get asked how I wanted it cooked as a bit pinker would have been better, my friend ate rib eye beef. We accompanied these with roast potatoes which were great, deep fried courgette – lovely tempura, almost as good as the ones at Daphne’s – and purple sprouting broccoli with chilli, which was fine, but you couldn’t tell there was any chilli in… More

Foxtrot Oscar is, to some, a polite way of dropping the F-bomb. With an, I suspect fully knowing, irony it’s also the name of one of Mr Ramsay’s restaurants – and anyone who has seen him on TV will know he is rather keen on making extensive use of the 6th letter in the alphabet.

I’m clearly in a Ramsay mood following on from the triumph that was his 3 Michelin starred signature restaurant, but given I was paying the bill this time we opted for the far cheaper sibling a few doors down Royal Hospital Road.

It’s compact, vaguely bistro styled and slightly eclectic in décor, but just hope you don’t get asked to sit downstairs – we did and asked to move as it’s tiny and down a very narrow and winding spiral staircase. Noise is kept to a minimum upstairs by a very effective, but very ugly, acoustic ceiling (one of the joys of dining with a facilities manager is a discussion about ceilings!), though their choice of music is at best curious. Staff are friendly and polite and generally service is good, though less than polished e.g. reaching across you etc.

Food is perfectly pleasant but certainly not worthy of 3, or indeed any, Michelin stars. I started with chestnut veloute, served with crispy pork belly and granny smith apple; you get hot, thick chestnut veloute, which is curiously bland, poured at the table over a small portion of shredded porky belly and granny smith ‘croutons’ – which are a strange and unnecessary addition.

This was followed by a burger and chips. The burger was lovely – cooked medium, with cheese and bacon, it was properly handmade and really thick with great chips – hand cut, huge and thick, with crispy outsides and white fluffy centres. The bun the burger came in was slightly strange – toasted but more a glazed roll than a traditional burger style bun and perhaps the tomato relish was a bit over done, as it seemed to have been applied more in the manner of pizza topping.

Dessert was the most disappointing element – caramelised banana pannacotta with… More

First time dining at Murano, we went for my mum's birthday. We went early evening and got off to a slightly unfortunate start when sat next to a table of well refreshed hedge fund managers who'd been out celebrating their work Christmas lunch, and probably spending part of a bonus that is around 10 times as much as my annual earnings! They were fortunately packed off shortly afterwards reducing the noise level by about 80%.

The first thing that strikes you about Murano, other than the hedgies noise, is that it’s grown up – I’m nearly 40 and for most of the evening I was the youngest customer there. It’s also a stunningly dull room – everything is beige and the combination of subdued lighting and slightly too warm heating wasn't conducive to a great atmosphere. All of which makes it sound like I hated it; but I certainly didn't.

Service is generally lovely, polite and effective – though they did seem to have a few initial problems with the drinks order and the bill took one request and one Paddington Bear style hard stare to make appear, but other than that it all worked as you'd hope, so perhaps they've sorted out the gripe lots of other reviews on this site seem to have had.

Food was wonderful, though given the chefs name, the Michelin star and the cost (circa £110 per head for 3 courses, water, wine and a drink before starting) perhaps you've got a right to expect something special, though there are other venues with similar qualities that fail to deliver.

I started with pumpkin tortelli, sage butter and crushed amaretti; pasta is frequently, unless you're eating it in Italy, heavy going, but this was light and delicate, warm autumn flavours. This was followed by halibut, bread purée, pear compote, white onion fondue and scallop velouté – the fish was wonderfully firm, cooked to perfection and the range of accompaniments gave everything a warm sweet twist, the only slight oddity being the white onion, which could easily have been omitted without spoiling anything… More

For those of you local to Wapping and with long memories Smith’s is housed in the ill fated Smollensky’s – that means a view through a wide sweep of windows across the Thames to Tower Bridge and the Shard, hopefully it doesn’t mean it will suffer the same fate.

The room has a spacious feel, with tables adequately separated so that noise is manageable and you don’t share the next table’s details of their day. Everything is clean and smart, if a little dark. It’s dominated, on entrance, by a wall of wine bottles and the view across the river is striking. Tables come with white clothes and chairs are those comfortable looking, but actually uncomfortable, ones that restaurants seem to like.

Atmosphere is mixed, it was never more than half full during the Thursday evening we ate there, and most of the clientele were suited and presumably on their way home from work to their over mortgaged flats nearby. Music is an awful soft jazz selection that some places seem to think adds class; it might if being played live but when recorded sadly all it does is make me feel slightly murderous.

Service is also mixed, everyone is polite and helpful, but they do seem to be sadly lacking in co-ordination or organisation. Twice we got the wrong bottle of wine with them seeming incapable of grasping what we wanted even when we gave them the number of it. Gaps between courses were uneven, but always too long, plates left sitting empty just long enough to be annoying and our apologetic waitress said sorry on at least 2 occasions for the delay with our dessert order as “a big table has just had their food go out” – kind of makes you wonder how they’d cope if they were full? But, despite all that, it’s funny how much politeness helps smooth things over and, due to the staff’s attitude, it all seemed less of a problem than it could have been elsewhere if the staff were as bad as, say, Wheeler’s (see my review for details).

Food is fine – not inspirational but all very well cooked and strangely… More

First time eating here and I suspect the last as well.

We went on a sunny August evening but the room is funeral – the Adams family would feel at home. It’s like a slightly tacky nightclub in Romford, everything is black – walls, floors, ceilings, tables, staff uniforms and really dim lighting – the only thing that breaks up the single colour is the ‘cow hide’ chairs which are uniquely itchy and uncomfortable. It would be far better if someone was issued a 5 gallon tin of white Dulux emulsion and some 100 watt light bulbs and it also gets very noisy as it’s got low ceilings and some of the clientele seem to think they are in that Romford nightclub.

Service is good, polite, swift and helpful though points off for 1. Introducing you to your dinner – the only time I want to see my steak is cooked and on my plate, I don’t want to see it raw and be told its name was daisy and it enjoyed running round the pampas 2. The merciless up-selling of wine – the sommelier was very polite and really knew about her range of Malbec, but really attempted to push you into paying more.

The steaks were excellent – the fillet was just about the best I’ve eaten, but sadly the rest wasn’t that good and its really poor value; £31 for a steak is not cheap but its fair enough till you realise that chips – which incidentally are horrible, thin, cold and overcooked till they are like shrapnel – and sauce (of which you get all of 2 teaspoons) are both extra and by the time you’ve had something like spinach on the side your £31 steak has become more like £41 and let’s be honest main courses at that price are the preserve of places with at least one or more Michelin stars. Fishcakes to start were also around £10 and tiny, all be it they were delicious. After adding desserts (which are not very good), water and that expensive wine the bill came to over £260 for 3 people with service (they don’t add it on which is a novel touch for anywhere in London); it’s just not that good and value for money is… More

Service and value seem to be the general issues with the Cinnamon Club. Personally both were fine for me.

I went for lunch with 2 friends and the set lunch option at £19 for 2 courses was fine value; even allowing for wine, water, service and side dishes our bill came to under £40 per head; it's not quite as good value as Roux, but still reasonable. Service was also very good – in and out in an hour and a quarter, no long waits, the right food and drinks (which were topped up in a non-intrusive manner), the bill arriving quickly when asked for and payments being taken, staff being polite and friendly – basically everything you could want.

Food was average – main course of Thai chicken curry, fine but not special and no better than a number of alternative venues, followed by chocolate and cherry pudding, again OK but certainly not one of those wow moments that you sometimes get served up.

Atmosphere is quiet but pleasant and business like for lunch – the old library seems to have the effect of making people very quiet, almost as if you expect to get told off for talking too loudly. Tables are spacious and reasonably spaced, seating comfortable, everything clean and tidy, the room looks exactly like the pictures, but its not stand out in the same way as you get with other venues e.g. there is no view and the room doesn't make you feel as special as, say, La Chappelle.

It’s a nice option if you are around the Westminster area – personally I'd rather go to Roux – but I'm sure I'll return here.

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.