Pollen Street Social

We booked here hoping for a celebratory annual evening, we left having barely eaten! Table was booked for 8.30, we eventually sat down at 9.15. The wine waiter was very attentive and our drinks turned up quickly - he seemed to visit us very regularly to ‘top up” our glasses. The starters arrived and were mostly disappointing, the raw scallops were swimming in a tasteless cold dressing. After an hour waiting for our mains, having asked numerous times what was happening, our mains turned up all of which were stone cold. The General Manager couldn’t have cared less...we left just gone 11.00 having barely eaten and were still required to pay for our drinks. Something must have happened in the kitchen because everything about the experience was awful. If this is how the ‘Social Group” run their restaurants, we as a group will never return. As an aside the table next to us were regulars and they had a similarly poor evening and they made a comment that when Jason is not there the quality always drops...might be worth confirming his presence before dining there... We have since tried to get an explanation fro the restaurant as to why it was so awful and our emails have been totally ignored. It is very clear that they have very little or no interest in dealing with people that have walked away unhappy..

I've probably eaten here a dozen times, we wife a time or two less. But every time we come we leave with smiles on our faces having enjoyed very good food in a restaurant that is stylish but certainly not stiff. We tend to eat out at lunch and mostly vote for the set lunch. Its becoming quite difficult to find high-end restaurants where the set lunch food echoes the quality and imagination displayed in their a la carte. But this is not a criticism that it would be fair to levy at Pollen street Social. The dishes that four of us enjoyed this week had been carefully thought out and displayed imagination as well as quality. Twelve dishes, twelve winners, and I'd like to add that the breads, amuses bouches, petits fours and especially the mushroom tea as a pre-starter were all delicious too. The thing that does surprise me just a bit is that in the time we've been coming here, Mr Atherton's scope has widened enormously and he now has more than a few restaurants. Unlike many such "groups" this has been achieved with no noticeable drop in standards at the flagship. Whilst we keep getting dishes of this quality there is no question that we'll return.

One of the most refreshing things about my visit to this fine dining establishment in London was that there was no time limit on the table. This allowed time for a drink at the bar before eating. Portion sizes are quite small but exquisite and delicious. There are so many amuse bouches and pre- and post-desert delights that you will not leave hungry. It's a special place with a price to match but well worth it.

whilst we last ate here a couple of weeks ago, I'm somewhat surprised that for some reason I've not reviewed this restaurant on the Square Meal site, and that's a surprise since its been one of our favourites since it opened , and we previously ate quite a few times at Maze when Jason Atherton ran the kitchen there. This is a restaurant we always look forward to visiting, and indeed I chose it for my "birthday meal". when we generally visit somewhere special . I've not once left this restaurant feeling that I haven't had a very good meal, or begrudging what I've been asked to pay for it. Its a restaurant too where you are presented with quite a few little dishes that you haven't ordered and whilst the fact of this is no longer a surprise the content invariably is. I've always held a view that if you're giving food away, it should get the same care and skill as the food the customer is paying for , and its plain that here it does. All the "extras"- the amuses bouche, the bread, the coffee and tea, the petits fours, were delicious and contributed to the enjoyment we took from the meal. Special mention to the thin but incredibly flavoursome wild mushroom broth No "afterthoughts" here.. We both ate two courses from the lunch menu, and then an a la carte dessert. Everything we ate was impeccably cooked and presented. I might have liked a little more cod, but what I had was delicious. My blackcurrant Eton Mess was spectacular and whilst my wife enjoyed her dessert, I did catch envious glances in the direction of my plate. Furthermore not every restaurant today puts the same effort and quality into its set meals as it delivers on its a la carte, but I reckon this one does. The one tiny criticism I might make concerns wine values , and this restaurant is by no means alone on that score. The thing I have to say about Pollen Street Social is that I can't understand why its got one Michelin star. In an age when a single star seems to be given away with some abandon ( nearly 60 in London now), this restaurant is far better than the vast majority of one star restaurants in London, and indeed is better than more than half of the two stars we've visited. And that's been true since the minute this place opened a few years back. Actually there's one three star that I reckon would struggle to beat Pollen Street Social on blind-tasted food quality.

From the moment we arrived, we were impressed by the decor and the very attentive staff. All staff were very pleasant throughout the evening. I chose Quail - Breakfast starter which was as intriguing as it sounds. Very creative play on flavours - well done to the chef. My mother had the crab salad which she enjoyed very much. We then had lamb and roasted plaice. Both were delicious. Small portions but a lot of colour and flavour. We didn't have dessert as there is plenty food with small appetisers at the start, bread and then an assortment of petit fours at the end. A very very nice evening and a great atmosphere. However it is expensive, with starters around £18 each and main courses £34.

I would have loved to be been able to write a review for this restaurant but I was let down by the absolutely shocking and careless manner of the reservations team at Pollen Street Social, manager and their staff I booked ahead on 4 October for a table at Pollen Street Social and was assured that my table was booked for 3. On the day of the dinner Friday 7 October, I was told by the reservations team that the reservation member (who also had quit that week) had booked me in for Little Social instead. in the afternoon around 1pm .I requested to see if I could get a table at Pollen Street Social if anyone cancelled. At 5 pm, no one had called me back to even confirm which restaurant I was going to. I called up the reservations team again and was told there they could not fit me into the reservation for the evening. At no point, did any of the reservations staff offered me an alternative dinner booking time in order to make up for this gross oversight in their booking as a basic customer service gesture. Until I took the initiative to educate the reservations member that at the very least, as a Michelin star restaurant, as a basic customer service gesture after making such a mistake was to offer me an alternative dinner booking at Pollen Street Social. I am absolutely appalled by the lack of professionalism of the reservations team, the lack of customer service training of the team and think this is not acceptable service standards for a restaurant that has a Michelin star if even at the point of initial contact, it has lost a customer and their reservations team is not able to even handle an irate customer who has had their booking messed up.

Every dish and pre dishes were superb! Service was excellent. Will definitely go back.

We had an amazing experience at Pollen Street Social on Friday, wonderful food and service. We started with champagne and cocktails in the bar – where there was a very rowdy group that I assume were left-over from a very long lunch, and after 45 minutes or so we went through to the main restaurant. We were immediately presented with a 3 tier stand with amouse bouche courtesy of the chef, all were delicious (a beetroot puree tart, smoked salmon on rye slice and a corn muffin with cream cheese and cucumber) and that was followed up by a parmesan and mushroom bouillon and gorgeous home-made bread hot from the oven and butter. I chose the Wye valley asparagus, native lobster, shellfish hollandaise (rich and velvety sauce with beautiful new season asparagus) followed by Cumbrian suckling pig, roasted apple, cabbage and granola clusters – by far the best I have ever eaten. My husband ordered the Colchester crab salad, with apple and coriander on toast, which was light and delicate followed by the Saddle of rabbit and pancetta (this was good, but we agreed that the suckling pig was the better dish). Neither of us has a particularly sweet tooth so we shared a cheese platter – the calvados soaked camembert was out of this world. We enjoyed a very nice bottle of German Reisling. Prices are not for the faint-hearted (but I was lucky enough to have most of my meal courtesy of Square Meal, so thank you!).