I normally do not go out of my way to write negative reviews because I understand people/places can have off days, but I just can't express how disappointed I was with this experience. I booked this for my anniversary dinner after multiple articles recommended it as one of the best date night spots in London. We were visiting internationally and trying new restaurants is typically a huge portion of my travel itinerary. This happened to be one of only four restaurants I booked in advance out of all the glowing reviews I read for several other places.
The service started out ok with the waiter giving us detailed descriptions, but got progressively worse throughout the evening. We didn't see him again for the entire remainder of the night after placing our food order, only the food runners, and a different server who took our payment at the end.
They started off suggesting 4-5 dishes to share between two people, which I would argue is not enough considering the portion sizes. I would be ok with small bites, and often prefer it, but that only works when the dishes are decadent or complex IMO. Everything that wasn't entirely bland was disguised by over-salting. We ordered the bread & butter, shrimp croquette, hen of the woods, clams, and dandelion pasta. Two of the plates were served over a weirdly thick sauce of identical consistency, which I would think for somewhere with such a limited/frequently rotating menu, there would be a bit more versatility and creativity amongst each dish. The pasta dish also immediately smelt like raw flour when placed on the table and tasted even worse, and the dandelion leaves added absolutely nothing to it.
We also waited 25+ minutes for our "mains" to come out after a promising pacing of the first few plates. No one checked on us throughout the entirety of our meal to see how things were, refill waters, ask if we wanted to order anything else, or offer us more drinks. Instead, someone just walked up to us asking if we were ready to pay. Did not even ask if we wanted dessert... Luckily, by this point, we had decided we didn't want to give them any more of our money.
Overall, the ambience and architecture of this place are absolutely not enough to excuse the poor service and, I hate to be this harsh, but horrible food. I can't remember the last time a dining experience was this upsetting. Absolutely nothing artsy about it other than the discrete entrance and matching hand-painted uniforms. We left and had a romantic finish to our evening with a 20 piece nugget box from McDonald's. read more