Rivington Grill Bar

The Rivington Grill Bar is a place I wanted to visit for a while. A bit classier that the rest of the surrounding places and full of a buzzy crowd of the usual suspects for the area. It’s perhaps that my expectations where high, but unfortunately the restaurants/bar failed to deliver.
We arrived without a booking on a very busy Friday, but the friendly staff was quick to find us a table for two. We settled on the sparse, but elegant environment (if you ingnore a couple of cables sticking out of the main wall) ordered a couple of glasses of wine and really enjoyed the freshly made bread that greeted us after minutes of sitting down. I wasn’t fussed at all about the fact they had run out of chips around 9pm on a Friday.
What I was fussed about (and I’m generally quite easy going) was the fact the pear, chicory and Strathon blue salad, had enough cheese on it so that you could barely, technically get away with adding it on the menu, but it hardly featured on your mouth. The ‘devilishly’ done kidneys (the devil there alluding to the hotness of the dish) were presented on a piece of toast with nothing but a very strong smell to accompany them and that was just a prelude of things to come.
The starters were minor annoyances, but the mains were really disappointing. My roast suckling pig arrived lukewarm and hard, which really took the flavor away from the meat and made it chewey. The mash potatoes were a few degrees away from cold too and the Black Gold medium-rare, rump steak came nowhere near the quality you’d expect from the £23.50 price tag (menu attached as pic).
We did not have time to re-order or stick around for desserts.
The staff were very professional and friendly throughout. They offered complimentary desserts, which we could not accept as we had to go. Unprompted, the waitress took two glasses of wine off the bill.
Which is nice and the main reason that I may venture to the Rivington again for drinks and maybe a quick bite, but I won’t be booking any dinners any time soon.