Le Colombier

Reliable quality and service.

Excellent french cooking, wine and service.

Relaxed. Like a civilised corner of France. Very good value for money.

Never disappoints. The perfect 'local' restaurant - welcoming, top quality food, good wines and professional staff. Timeless.

Nice.

The intesreting thing about this restuarnat is niot the restaurant but the comments made. If you want to go to restaurant where 3/4 of the wine list is from Aus/NZ/SA , or you want to order food that isnt classic French then it orobably isnt a good idea to go to the best French bistro in Chelsea/Fulham. I have ate at this restarurant for nearly fifteen years. It still sets the standard but isnt pretentiious. It doesnt pander to fashion. It does have one fo the best french wine lists in london for value. It has solid good French cooking, parisien style i would llike to say . The service , welll, its brusque, but you are in a bistro and they arent charging you one fiftya head for a smile. They are clued up , know what they do and polite to regulars. I know. I am spoilt. Johnny come lately realise rhe wine list is a third of the price elsewhere , the food is top notch. If you dont get it, go to a place down the road and drink grog and eat ordinary and double your price. Happy dining

We met up with friends at Le Colombier and had a lovely evening. This isn't our side of town so we relied on their choice, it's old-school French with brisk waiters and a menu including fish soup, snails and foie gras for starters and a good selection of shellfish, and meat for main course including veal kidneys and sweetbreads. It was a summer evening although cold so we all went for fish. The crab salad with avocado was popular to start, and the chilled asparagus simply served. Main courses of fish were plentiful – the special of the day was lemon sole in almond butter – something I haven't seen for years, so how could I resist? The others had monkfish and said it was very good. The food was accompanied by a lovely Puligny Montrachet at a relatively modest price so all in all it was delightful. The restaurant was busy with a mix of mature people, business types, and family groups. Tables are quite close together but it wasn't a problem, we could chat and still hear each other. Didn't really notice the decor, we were too busy catching up with friends, but it all seemed pretty traditional for a French restaurant in Chelsea.

A recent visit confirmed Le Colombier's position close to the top of the Kensington & Chelsea list of places. Wonderful and reassuringly confident cooking, charming staff, even the occaisonal modern twist on the classic menu – and there there's the sun filled dining room – brilliant! Continuez comme ça!

This is a much-hyped restaurant with a reputation which based on my recent visit is undeserved. I found it be over-crowded and vastly over-priced. The service was not just poor but awful. I asked for a bottle of wine from a wine list which was exclusively French, unacceptable these days when excellent wine is cultivated all over the world, which was simply left on the table and I had to ask them to offer it to me to taste. The sardines we were informed came in a tin and it was debatable if they had indeed been bought locally rather than fished fresh. The waiters were even by French standards surly. The plates were plonked down in front of us and removed with the same lack of grace. The fare was average ; the portions were small, the dessert no more than ice cream with a chocolate sauce and the crepes suzette cold. The special which was venison was good but at almost £30 too pricey. This was a bad experience and had I not been one of a party I would have walked out. This restaurant was recommended to me. I will not repeat that compliment to anyone.

This is one of the best little places in Chelsea and extremely under rated. I always arrive five minutes early to look through the extensive wine list which is very good value for money. The food is simple but always excellent. Fellow diners can be a little old but don't let that put you off and rather suprisingly you can always get a table at the last minute.