Currently writing this negative review while at the restaurant- because why waste precious time?
Our evening started well. Got the seafood bruschetta and Charcuterie for two for starters.
Went down great. Following this, we ordered our mains: mixed grill for two, and two 14oz rib eye steaks. When we asked the waiter if the steak came with any sides he replied with 'let me ask the chef'. It seemed as though he did not have enough knowledge about the menu to answer our basic question. He did return after asking the kitchen to address it, and correctly sharing the steak came with chips & side salad (we assumed so anyway).
After waiting for 50 mins, we saw the waiter bring out a large platter- seemingly the mixed grill for two. Unfortunately he was bringing it over to another table- a pair of guests who arrived after us. The table turned away the mixed grill platter as they had just received their starters. So we waved the waiter down to say it might be ours. He apologised and placed it on our table. Sadly the steak on the platter was well done- so we asked to get the for the steak (only) to be replaced with a medium rare steak (what we had ordered). Moments later the chef came out- apologising for the 'mix-up', we replied with its okay but we just one the well-done steak replaced with medium rare and the two other missing steaks. But this confused the chef, saying the only ticket she had was for 2 risottos and 1 mixed grill platter.
At that moment the penny dropped. The waiter NEVER put our order through, only that of the other table. We had been waiting 50 minutes for absolutely NOTHING. And had it not been for the platter mix-up, it would have gone unnoticed.
We are grateful that the chef came to us personally to apologise, to fix our order. It was clear that the waiter messed up our order, and failed to write it properly. When we eventually got our mains, It was not great- definitely not worth the wait. The steak tasted like charcoal with no seasoning. Considering it cost £18.99 per 14oz steak I was expecting to have steak food coma. Massive disappointment as they claim 'best steak in Ealing'. On the upside, the chips were lovely.
If Yelp had let me, I would have awarded 0 stars.
The only saving grace from the shambles of an evening we had was the chef offering dessert on the house. Though her kind gesture was was much appreciated, I'm afraid It will take more than free dessert to drag us back to smoke cottage.
We arrived at 20.00, it is now 22.54, finally my review is complete and the bill paid. read more