• Added: 2nd of July 2008
• Area: Marylebone
• Category: Restaurants

London W1U 3DB
020 7486 9696

nick644 said
fab restaurant
My wife and I have now been to this lovely restaurant on three occasions. It just seems to get better and better. Twice for dinner and yesterday for lunch with a friend also. The service is very friendly and charming, attentive without being in your face. The food is different and interesting. The sort of dishes you wouldn't dare attempt at home. Sometimes they can be a tiny bit over complicated but always interesting, (not sure about basil ice cream!) But everything is exremely fresh and well presented. Portions are small, in typical French style which is what we like anyway. But they are very rich and we have never left hungry!

All in all for us we find this restaurant hard to fault. Perhaps it could be a bit bigger inside. Some of the tables are a little close to each other. Decor is very tasteful and for a local restaurant to us it is of a very high quality. Full compliments to the chef and staff!

• Added: 1st of July 2008
• Area: Mayfair
• Category: Restaurants

London W1S 2FB
020 7758 9160

nick644 said
A bad experience!
Its taken us a while to get round to writing this review. I don't often put 'pen to paper' as it were, but two months on I still find myself getting angry by a terrible inexplicable experience at this restaurant. I made the unfortunate mistake of booking this restaurant for our anniversary on the Wednesday evening of the 30th April this year. We arrived and were promptly shown to our table. The woman leading us being rather neutral, perhaps a little tired looking, as can happen in a busy restaurant. The restaurant is long and narrow with wood pannelling and quite attractive. Mostly people sit rather cheek by jowel, as is often the case in central London restaurants, though we noted some tables for 4 and more which were more private. Apperitifs and water and bread were ordered...two glasses of house Champagne and menus given.

After 25 minutes of waiting, the evening started to turn sour. I guess our faces didn't fit as my wife and I were totally ignored and the waiters well trained in averting their eyes when we tried to attract their attention! I have always wondered what school they attend to learn this skill so well! Not what you would expect from a One Michelin star restaurant!

Eventually, as we became more irritated, I had to stand up to be noticed and managed to stop someone walking at high speed through the busy restaurant! A charming French gentleman who explained that he was the bar man! However, quite obviously embarrassed by his colleagues lack of attentiveness, took our order efficiently and explained the menu to us! My wife had a rather delicious crab filled ravioli. I guess my starter wasn't that memorable as I can't recall it now, two months on! We didn't order a bottle of wine as we had had a cocktail already around the corner at Browns and just ordered a further two glasses of champagne. (we are not heavy drinkers). I assume, to the manager of this type of restuarant, this was considered a major faux pas. He must have thought this because the couple next door to us were being lavished attention by him that would normally be reserved for royalty! In fact at no time did a waiter or the manager even speak to us other than when serving our starters and main course.

After the starter we waited more than 40 minutes for the main course to arrive without word. We had assumed that there had been a mistake in the kitchen. Of course it was impossible, without making a scene, to atract a waiter.

When it arrived, it was a little disappointing for a restaurant of this nature. My wife had a bouillabaisse, which she had to serve herself onto her plate, (I guess the waiter was just too tired), and I had an extremely salty cod dish. The bouillabaisse was very plain with a very weak tast. Again not what you would expect from a Michelin Star restaurant. Of course no one came to ask if everything was alright, though the manager stood with his rear end at me for a good 10 minutes talking wine to the couple next door to us in the most animated of ways while I was eating...nice touch.

Eventually, our plates were taken away and we were again ignored for the next 10 minutes, by which time we had had enough. We managed to attract a waiter for the bill. I recall telling my wife what a shocking experience it was at the only time the manager came to our attention giving us the bill. To this day, we have no idea whether he even cared what we thought.

We live in the West End, I have my business in the vicinity. I regularly have business meeetings over lunch and my wife and I eat out at least 3 or 4 times a week. We like to make a point of supporting our local restaurants in Marylebone and Mayfair and have to date been to most of the well noted ones. Were we just exceptionally unlucky? Was it just a case that our faces didn't fit? Whatever the reason, we've not had a problem like this before at this level of restaurant. We will never set foot here again or its sister restaurant Arbutus which I assume will also have a similarly arrogant attitude to people the manager deems unsuitable. Very strange! My wife, being the wonderful positive person she is insisted that we just walk out quietly, not make a fuss and not let this experience ruin what was a lovely anniversary day. We ended up going out to Bar Italia in Soho for coffee and dessert which put a smile back on our faces! Sometimes simple down to earth behaviour without all the airs and graces are best after all!