Boyds Grill & Wine Bar

Lovely food, wine and ambience.

It's a nice little place with good food and at a great location. Not too busy so great for a quick business lunch or a catch up with a friend.

The food was absolutely fantastic, please don't loose the chef and their team. The person I was with told them it was my birthday when we arrived. They surprised both of us with a bailey's chocolate cheesecake which was divine and something they didn't have to do. All the staff were lovely and attentive. This is somewhere I would recommend anyone to go to as you will have a fantastic evening. Many thanks for looking after me and making my birthday very enjoyable.

Boyds is basically the secluded section of a space that evokes the lobby of a faded grand hotel. Indeed, this was once the Imperial Victoria and it could have served as a set for the film "The Grand Budapest Hotel". The upholstery of the furniture is irredeemably ugly and the modern paintings on the wall have no artistic merit and are nothing more than Eurotat paint spills. Descending from the distant ceiling and jarring strongly with the opulent faux and real marble are a number of weird chandeliers, clearly leftovers from a Star Trek episode that didn't quite work. Once in a while, though, our constitutions are left healthier for a bit of jarring and this setting certainly does it. But that is all that is disconcerting. The food is well above average and the menu gives you the inspired ability to combine what is effectively a number of tapas followed by a main course that is inevitably very good. Service is competent but variable. At best, it is coolly efficient, and at its worst the servers stand around looking vaguely uneasy. Maybe they fear what an earth tremor might do to those chandeliers. Nevertheless, this is a good restaurant despite the unfortunate esthetics. It is becoming popular and deserves to be, especially in the chilly culinary desert that is Northumberland Avenue.

We ate at Boyd's on a Friday night pre-theatre; great space, being in the main rear lobby area of a former railway hotel. Surrounded by various coloured Italian marble from decades back (plus a garish splodge painting of the owner's which clashes impressively), and not too obvious music, the 2 or 3-course menu had varied English tapas starters (quail scotch egg, potted shrimps, belly of pork etc) and then a short list of mains; we had warm salmon salad and a roast chicken portion; both very respectable. I also had a modest glass of powerful, tasty, Belgian beer, at 7%. In and out in 1.25 hours, so all very efficiently done, and reasonable too.

First impressions count. Boyds is achingly trendy + yet very welcoming. The bar area overflows nicely into the eating section. Minimal couches + around the bar seating give over to the dining seating area. Lighting is dark, yet fits the overall mood. We were nicely in the corner. Very eager staff. I like to take my time. But they were discreet and yet eager to take our order. My wife liked the tapas. Me not so. Fish + chips were excellent. Delicate batter/crunchy chips. Beer from Pilsner Urquell was from the barrel but flat as a pancake and yet cool + tasty. Wine serving could be a bit more generous for the price. All in all. Trendy, OK to good food, nice ambience and pleasant staff. No regrets.

I recently had lunch here with a client, and it was fantastic. It’s a great and beautiful location. The service was extremely friendly and efficient (I liked the Boyd's cufflinks that the waiting staff wore). We were slightly pushed for time and had an early lunch, so on arrival the atmosphere could have been better, but there was a great buzz as more people arrived. The absolute star, though, was the food. We shared the “pie and pint”, and it was delicious; a very generous and delicious venison pie with a pint of claret – genius! I saw it on the menu beforehand and was very intrigued. It certainly exceeded all expectation, and the claret was a great match. I thought it was very good value given the location, service and quality of food/drink, so will definitely be returning very soon.

I was looking for a reasonably priced place to eat near Trafalgar Square and after reading lots of reviews settled on Boyds. We had the fixed price menu (£16/£19), starters were carpaccio of beetroot with feta or smoked salmon croquettes – both good, but the star of the show was the main course of whole plaice which was beautifully cooked. Served with new potatoes and cucumber. We ordered a side of spring greens which I thought was expensive for the amount served. Pudding was summer fruit pavlova – simple, but light and delicious. A bottle of Jaques Cartier champagne (made by the Laurent Perrier team) was reasonably priced at £37.50 and served nicely chilled. Service was welcoming and friendly and the courses timed well. I would go back again.

The cooking is really rather good but despite a lovely setting the restaurant is essentially the hotel foyer . The redecoration extremely bland, although the lighting and original marble pillars create a good effect. There is an interesting choice of little dishes for starters and we mixed these; ox cheek and beetroot tortelloni, and salt beef with a regulat ox cheek starter. Mains were the signature dish of sussex chicken and the daily special of Mackeral with lime dressing. The chicken was a little dry but everything else was very well executed. Desserts were blansd and un-inspiring. obviously our palates differ from the mainstream. Unfortunately this interesting restaurant is let down by it's locationwhich is the foyer of an old hotel located off Northumberland Avenue. If you're in the neighbourhood and don't care about ambience I recommend it but probably not worth a trip across town.

Third day eating here and I was disappointed by the sea bass. I found myself scraping the plate for any kind of flavor as the sea bass was over done. It is served dry with a potatoe side. It wasn't good. The smoked salmon I had yesterday was great and the chicken the day before was ok. Today's meal has me a little upset as I think someone in the kitchen just did not try. Great service from the bartender, can't blame her for the sad cook. Unfortunately, I can now say that it is possible to serve a bad sea bass. Too bad, the place looks great. It just need to follow through with the taste. Order the smoked salmon.