It is worthwhile booking ahead, especially when there is an event on at the 02, but on this particular night; our second visit to this restaurant, there was not and so it was extremely quiet indeed. In fact, for about 15 minutes, we were the only diners in the restaurant.
We booked ahead and they telephoned us to remind us of our booking, which was very good.
We arrived on time and the gentleman on reception welcomed us and offered to take our coats. We refused because we were quite cold on this early February evening and wanted to warm up first.
The gentleman took us up to our seat and informed us of who our waiter was to be. This level of care gives confidence to the diner that one will be well looked after and is another nice touch.
The restaurant oozes decadence and sophistication with cow hide covered chairs, black walls, large mirrors on walls and ceilings, chandeliers and candlelight, attractive staff and is a must for those who want to dine with friends or even for a romantic meal for two although it can get noisy, it will still impress!
The waiter offered drinks first and then allowed us enough time to look at the menu. When he returned, I commented that it was very cold in the restaurant. He agreed. I hoped it might warm up as they had just opened. It was only about 6pm. Yes, it was that quiet, which was a surprise to us as on an earlier visit, it was extremely busy, which is why we booked on this occasion. It was mid week though and as I said, there was no main event and we were there to see a film.
As we waited for our meals to be served, I wrapped my coat tighter around myself and my husband, who fortunately was wearing a shirt and jumper and more sensibly dressed than I, put his jacket over his legs.
By the end of the meal, we were extremely cold and I went to the bathroom to see if I could warm my hands up on the dryers there. Unfortunately for me, they had towels so, thinking on my feet, I decided to warm my hands up under the tap and that was when I discovered that there was no hot water either!
We both had fillet steak. We shared the hand cut chips and spinach. The steak was cooked exactly to order and could not be faulted. It was very tender and succulent and simply wonderful. My husband's was the same. He likes his well done and other chefs are inclined to cremate it but this was done beautifully. The chips were nice, as was the spinach but the coldness of the restaurant definitely made this dining experience far less pleasant overall and as well as us being cold, the food went cold very quickly too. In fact, the spinach went cold immediately and as I was finishing my steak, that was cold too.
The waiter bought the dessert menu round but by this time, I was far too cold to contemplate a lovely slice of cheesecake or panacotta, which I love and so I opted for an Irish Coffee. This failed to warm me up also and was overly sweet and the coffee was tepid.
We paid over £90.00 for a large fillet steak, a small fillet steak, one portion of chips, one portion of spinach, two lagers, one wine and an irish coffee. If you have starters and desert, you could expect to pay another £35.00 on top I suppose.
On leaving, the gentleman on reception asked if we had enjoyed our meal and I replied that we had but that we were absolutely freezing and there was no hot water. He said he was sorry, it was broken and was being fixed and I replied that it didn't help us.
I really felt that staff didn't really care for guest's comfort; that all the politeness was superficial and just part of the training. Had they done so, they may have put in a little more effort to ensure that diners were warm and in the event of heating/hot water failure, closed the restaurant until it was repaired or at the very least, warned diners upon arrival and made arrangements for electric heaters to be brought in.
The staff were obviously cold too, however and we noticed one member stood as close to the hot plates as she possibly could and was rubbing her hands and arms and stamping her feet and so I am sure it wasn't pleasant for them either but they could at least move around to keep warm. We couldn't but we quickly departed to visit the warm pub opposite.
Given the coldness that night, I wished I had dined in the pub even if the food wasn't nearly as good.
Update:
I emailed the restaurant today to complain and they telephoned my husband this afternoon. They were very apologetic and have refunded the cost of our meal. Additionally, they invited us to dine with them and have promised to look after us on our next visit, which we will look forward to because the food is very good. read more