14 November 2015
I love the buzz, the views, service, design and that we didn't get turfed off our table after 2 hours but that's where my love ends. For starters, the drinks, hmmmm, not that great...they tasted like those Refresher sweets. I like a nice long elegant cocktail, not a gimmicky, neon blue concoction. Starter of quail and popped rice was ok, not the best quail dish I have ever had, in fact, probably the worst but inoffensive I suppose. No-one raved about their starters. The waiter had been waxing lyrical about how good the sea bass was, best dish on the menu he said, so two of us ordered it...It was monochrome in appearance and monochrome in taste. The desserts again, were just ok. Sound great on the menu but in the real taste versus imagined taste contest, the imagined version won. I make pears poached in red wine a lot and even I do it better. There was one very odd tasting ingredient, the red wine syrup was watery and really, it just felt like I was eating a cooked pear. The key thing that really ruined the night though was how loud the music was. It wasn't soft gentle background music but poppy dance music and we were left having to shout at each other and constantly having to repeat ourselves because half the table could not hear what the other half were saying. Its exhausting when you are trying to have a fun conversation and you land up competing with the music. We could not hear what the waiters were saying half the time so just smiled and nodded politely. I maintain that Mr Atherton is highly overrated having visited 2 of his other restaurants; its style over substance.