City Social

A 360 restaurant with excellent views of London. Outstanding food although maybe a little bit pricey, so good for a special occasion but not a quick meet up for lunch, unless the company/client is paying :-) I had the Chicken dish which was one of the best I have had. The only thing that could improve is the lighting as it could be a bit brighter but then again it sets the ambiance of the restaurant

For a lunch venue the service was very slow. They took 20 minutes after requesting the bill to bring it, as well as taking a longer than usual time to take our order and bring the food.

I love this bar and restaurant. The views are fabulous, the atmosphere is relaxed despite being a formal restaurant. The staff are welcoming and friendly and the food is superb. No complaints and definitely will return

I’ve wanted to try City Social some time now and wasn’t let down. The food was about the best I’ve had all year and service spot on, there were eight of us and they all agreed. I’ve been to all of the other ‘high rise’ restaurants and expected not to be impressed with the view, but nestled in-between all the other city skyscrapers, there is an intimate feel. When I try a restaurant for the first time, the acid test t always has to be ‘do I want to go back?’, and in the case of City Social, I can’t wait!

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.

Even though it's Jason Atherton and I'd heard positive things, I was still a little dubious of City Social. Restaurants so heavily frequented by City types are rarely exceptionally good in my opinion and with such a stunning setting and views, you could forgive a restaurant owner for thinking that's enough for a good evening. I was quite wrong because the service and food were very, very good. My pigeon starter with pearl barley and corn was delicious and a main of seabass with an oyster volute was heavenly. I was slightly less excited about the dessert, a chocolate tart with raspberry and lychee but it was good, it just lacked the wow factor of the other courses. The service was confident and very competent as well as being well paced and not intrusive. The setting really is gorgeous as well - I actually preferred the views to what you get in Sushi Samba or Duck and Waffle because as you're lower down you feel more 'in' London rather than above it. The restaurant itself is beautiful also - a lot bigger than I expected and all dark moody lighting and silver interior. It wasn't mind blowingly expensive either - £200 for 3 courses for 2 (including a bottle of wine and 2 glasses of Champagne at £15 each).

Directors were very pleased with the client lunch they held here and will be returning again in the not too distant future.

Discrete attentive staff combined with great imaginative dishes. Both individual and combined flavors for each dish was well presented. Options to select smaller plates allowed for four courses to be taken on this night - two starters, a main and dessert. There were familiar presentations of the dishes to that of Pollen Street Social I like the intimate dining/private dining feel even though the restaurant was at full capacity. The tables were far enough from each other to give you this feeling. Couple this with the great views, it made the Saturday night dinner very enjoyable.

Discrete attentive staff combined with great imaginative dishes. Both individual and combined flavors for each dish was well presented. Options to select smaller plates allowed for four courses to be taken on this night - two starters, a main and dessert. There were familiar presentations of the dishes to that of Pollen Street Social I like the intimate dining/private dining feel even though the restaurant was at full capacity. The tables were far enough from each other to give you this feeling. Couple this with the great views, it made the Saturday night dinner very enjoyable.

My fifth or so experience at Jason Atherton’s restaurants was the least impressive and rather a mixed bag. We opted for starters of quail with pearl barley and sweetcorn and very welcome crisp pancetta rashers, smartly presented, deftly done and very good to eat. My partner ordered an intermediate cep risotto which was little short of heavenly, pervaded by deep, wintry, earthy flavours yummed up by a mini creamy quenelle, scented with black truffle; a dish that I’d want to order again and again. However as inspiring a start that had been made, the bubble burst with the main event, and here’s why. Firstly my lobster and chips: acrid, charred tentacles and shell edges smelt so over-powering that it was quite unpleasantly dominant. Duck fat cooked chips were fine as was the choron sauce and the lobster was fortunately properly cooked inside, so I ate without making a complaint, trying to quickly put the one bitter mouthful of charred flesh out of my mind. The venison was a dish that amounted to less than the sum of its parts (apologies for the cliché) but that was the impression I got from my man who was evidently underwhelmed. Overall, main courses were lack lustre and mine spoilt by the burnt skeleton (exo to be pedantic) to the point that I found it hard to believe that it originated from a JA kitchen. It is sad to see such a promising start degenerate. Service whilst just about correct lacked enthusiasm despite praise for the starters and no one asked whether we had enjoyed the main course. Gary Rhodes failed to wow too at this address - jinxed maybe? In a rather sterile air-cooled atmosphere, for me there was something missing that not even the view could help buoy-up.