With a top reputation and good reviews it's hard not to try this place. Sitting down for the meal, the staff were attentive and warm, as was the atmosphere. Lovely contemporary area with a lot of promise.
Why only two stars? Because a restaurant is about the food and here it's woefully underwhelming. The prices are inflated beyond belief in an attempt to prove that the food is worth it.
Running down: the pheasant terrine was bland with overly sweet caramelised onions. My sister had an overdone cod and my father had a piece of well prepared pork sitting in a sauce so bitter that he might as well have been eating cardboard. Mum had a medium rare streak which, to it's credit, was medium rare and finally I had a lamb meal with bland lamb and duchess potatoes. Here's the ultimate clincher, either that was powdered mash or the chef managed to remove every last piece of moisture from his prep.
We finished with coffee that proved the place had an espresso machine.
The short version. At Tom Brown's you pay through the nose for beautiful ingredients that the chef has no idea how to prepare.
How to explain the good reviews? Either Britain is fine with small portions of mediocre food or we had the exception of the general experience. However I have to doubt this. It was just bland and badly prepared.
Avoid unless you like superficial experiences which allow you to feel like the generic middle class.
2 stars may have been generous read more
