South Place Chop House

03 August 2016

To be honest, I can't say I was looking for a rapid return to South Place, given a somewhat uninspiring meal a few months earlier, but given the combination of finding ourselves in the City on a Saturday (zzzzzz), plus a revamped menu not to mention 50% discount off food during the first week of its new launch well it all added up to a bit of a no-brainer. First impressions were pretty good; very attentive staff immediately accepting our request to move to a table further away from the revolving front door, glasses of champagne brought to the table as a welcome and a very healthy "buzz" around the room; not what we had expected at 7pm on a Saturday. I have to admit, I could not discern any major changes to the menu and was a bit confused as to why it now has "Chop House" in its title, when there is only one such dish on the menu? That said, all the dishes we ordered lived up to billing with possibly the highest of all compliments paid by one of our party who is constantly in search of a properly executed "black and blue" fillet steak; perfection she declared it. A couple of gripes though; two of our party ordered the Chateaubriand to share and I think we were all a little surprised that it arrived as two already carved steaks on their individual plates; surely part of the theatre of ordering a sharing dish is to have it served and divided at the table? Also, it seems somewhat churlish and greedy to charge customers for sauces and butters (£2.50 a pop) and condiments (£1.95....for salad cream??) But that aside we had a great evening, all the waiting team were attentive and engaging throughout and whilst it still doesn't make it onto my "must return" list, I would have no problem in returning if others in my circle wished to do so.

14 April 2016

3 South Place is a lovely modern hotel, restaurant and bar with a quirky design. The food is good but not amazing but fine for a quick business lunch. Service is ok but got the feeling they were a bit understaffed for the volume of people in the restaurant. If you want a far more special experience then go The Angler on the top of the hotel which is amazing but quite pricey. It is lovely for drinks after work in the bar but it's not for a cheap glass of wine!

15 March 2016

This was one of those places where whilst I’ve got nothing bad to say about it, I cannot exactly rave about it either. The initial impression on arrival in the reception area is that you are stuck in a sort of “no-man’s land” between a very busy bar and a not so busy restaurant. Fortunately the hotel boasts several bars so we were shown to one where we were able to sit and sip our pre-prandials in relative peace. On returning to the restaurant, there was no discernible increase in custom so it still felt awfully quiet for a Thursday evening in the City. Putting aside the grill dishes, the menu itself is varied and to my mind, reasonably priced but I can understand previous reviewers’ comments about the prices if your taste should run to a steak where prices are all north of £30. We opted for the very reasonable set menu where portions were decent enough that we only needed the two courses at £22.50 each. Our choices of pumpkin soup and crab ravioli followed by slow-cooked lamb and rump of beef were absolutely fine, but this really did feel like we were eating in a hotel restaurant with the whole event being instantly forgettable from an eating perspective. I can’t say I’d rush back and with so many choices in the immediate area there is unlikely to be any need to, but if a friend or colleague expressed a wish to eat there, I wouldn’t have any issue in a return.

09 March 2016

good food and service. A regular haunt!

15 February 2016

always good - a great addition to London although feels like it's been here a while now!