What Restaurant did you eat at last night?

the-evaluator said:
Yeah. It's OK, nothing special and not worth a price. Which is pretty much my opinion of Duck & Waffle actually. I think they're both overpriced.
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Hmm will stick with Nobu then. It appears the premium paid is for location and views as opposed to top tier food? Thanks.

I loved Duck & Waffle - went purely for the loaded waffle 'Full Elvis' and coffees. It was incredibly good. However overall it's not what I expected. It was very small and the tables and chairs seemed a bit run down. From photographs it appears a lot more grand and swanky. In terms of dinner with a good view, Darwin Brasserie at The Sky Garden I found to be much better.
 
I couldn't fault the food at Duck & Waffle but the service was awful! I had to get up from my table and go ask for a menu, twice. Then when our order was finally taken the waitress didn't write it when and when she confidently read it back to me she had every single dish wrong. She then got a notepad. Then when the bill finally arrived I had to ask twice for someone to take the card payment. I didn't leave a tip.

I think about 30% of the price is there just because of the view and location. I haven't been back and probably won't go back.

For dinner with a view my favourite is Galvin at Windows.
 
It was meat... the missus made me :)

We had Crab and Brown Shrimp Salad and Old Spot Ribs as starters. The salad was really fresh and zingy with a briney sweetness. The ribs were pretty good but I find it hard to get excited about them in general. For a main we shared an 850g Porterhouse Steak which we asked for rare but came medium rare. It was just a shade away from being overseasoned, the missus loved it but it was a touch too salty for me. Never mind, I bought a bottle of Michele Satta Cavaliere Sangiovese which offset the saltiness beautifully with its leatheriness and rich, ripe fruitiness. We had sides of lemon and garlic spinach, buttered greens, dripping chips, triple-cooked chips, grilled bone marrow, and field mushrooms.

In all, food got 8/10 and wine 9/10. Servce was impeccable but the whole thing was very expensive. She wants to go back. She'll change her mind if she has to pay...
 
Your missus was right, it shouldn't be legal to go to Hawksmoor and not have steak :)

I've not been to the Manchester branch but have been to most of the London branches and they're all a bit keen on the seasoning. I'm quite sensitive to salt so am quite quick to think something is overseasoned and they haven't quite crossed that line yet. It's surprising that the steak came out over, they're normally experts at cooking it spot on.

It's definitely expensive especially when your go to cut is the biggest chateaubraind. Last time that was a 1kg. That's £130 just for the steak.
 
Went to Restaurant Gordon Ramsey on Friday evening, where we had the Menu Prestige along with matching wines. Superb food, absolutely fantastic, and some lovely wines too. The service was great; slick, professional, very attentive without being overbearing, and friendly. No pretentiousness at all from any of the team.
At the end of the evening we had a visit to the kitchen which was very much appreciated by my father in-law who is a big fan of Gordon Ramsey. Lovely evening.
Next stop, Momofuku Ko in New York.
 
TS7 said:
Has anyone been to Sushisamba? I had a brief look when I went to Duck & Waffle recently and it was incredibly busy, the chap downstairs at the door said there was a waiting list spanning months.

My friend has Nobu booked for a few months time. I'm thinking whether Sushisamba may be a better alternative?
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I had a terrible meal at Sushisamba and even worse service and response from the manager. I would NEVER eat there again. It's full of bankers taking people out for mediocre food with a great view.
 
Chonky said:
Went to Restaurant Gordon Ramsey on Friday evening, where we had the Menu Prestige along with matching wines. Superb food, absolutely fantastic, and some lovely wines too. The service was great; slick, professional, very attentive without being overbearing, and friendly. No pretentiousness at all from any of the team.
At the end of the evening we had a visit to the kitchen which was very much appreciated by my father in-law who is a big fan of Gordon Ramsey. Lovely evening.
Next stop, Momofuku Ko in New York.
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Excellent, I'm glad you liked it. I couldn't fault it when I went. I must get around to booking there again.
 
We're booked to go back to The Man Behind The Curtain in November.

The booking process has changed, you now pay for dinner at the time of booking. That's fair enough, I don't mind that. I don't like the way the price varies though. Dinner at 18:30 is £80/head but go at 19:30 and it's £90/head. Not a big difference which is expained by the restaurant as follows:

We have adjusted our pricing accordingly meaning the most sought after times/dates are at a higher price and the lesser at a discounted rate. In short we acknowledge the fact that 6:30pm on a Tuesday is less appealing than 8:30pm on a Saturday night.
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It sounds like profiteering to me but it obviously doesn't bother me that much as I still made the booking. Bookings can't be refunded but can be transferred. The lack of a refund option is a bit poor.
 
the-evaluator said:
We're booked to go back to The Man Behind The Curtain in November.

The booking process has changed, you now pay for dinner at the time of booking. That's fair enough, I don't mind that. I don't like the way the price varies though. Dinner at 18:30 is £80/head but go at 19:30 and it's £90/head. Not a big difference which is expained by the restaurant as follows:



It sounds like profiteering to me but it obviously doesn't bother me that much as I still made the booking. Bookings can't be refunded but can be transferred. The lack of a refund option is a bit poor.
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Wow I've never come across either of those stipulations before. I often have to input my card details whereby if I don't cancel within 24/48hrs they hit you with a £50 per person fine (or similar). But no refund at all would put me off. Especially if you're a tourist or someone who doesn't live in London.
 
Paying up front doesn't bother me but the lack of any possibility of getting a refund is rubbish. The restaurant has complained bitterly about people not turning up for their reservations then reporting their cards as stolen when the restaurant tries to enforce the cancellation policy so I agree that something needed to be done. This seems a bit OTT.

As for the differing pricing, that's just profiteering. What they're doing is just trying to cash in. So far it doesn't seem to be working though, previously the place was booked solid as soon as reservations were released but that doesn't seem to be the case now.

But as I said, those things seemingly didn't bother me enough to make me not make a reservation.
 
Shake Shack... Madison Square, NY.
Went for a quick burger but of course had to queue for 10 minutes. Had the BBQ Shackmeister burger (patty, cheese, crisp shallots and BBQ shallots), bacon cheese fries, and a strawberry shake. Good, but no real difference to Five Guys, and certainly not up there with the best burgers you can get in London (Patty & Bun, Honest etc...). The crinkle fries were really good although the cheese was of course melted gooey chemical stuff. The strawberry shake was great!

Mighty Quinn's BBQ for lunch today :).
 
the-evaluator said:
Paying up front doesn't bother me but the lack of any possibility of getting a refund is rubbish. The restaurant has complained bitterly about people not turning up for their reservations then reporting their cards as stolen when the restaurant tries to enforce the cancellation policy so I agree that something needed to be done. This seems a bit OTT.
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I understand about not getting a refund if you just don't turn up. You wouldn't get a refund for a gig or the theatre if you decided not to go a day before or whatever.

But what happens if you get terrible service, or have to send your food back? Can you argue for a refund then?
 
The refund situation is solely for people who have pre-booked a table at TMBTC - now that the method has changed, payment for your meal will be taken after you eat.

So in your situation you can argue for something to be removed from the bill, but not to be refunded as you wouldn't have paid for it.
 
Oh... apart from not being able to read, I obviously can't remember what I've done very well either. I could have sworn they took the full amount when I booked TMBTC last time... was it a deposit? Was that refundable?!

So what difference are they trying to make with the new scheme? If they are that worried about people trying to turn them over with the cards, stop taking cards over the phone and insist on website processing and that stops people being able to charge back for being 'stolen' or similar.
 
The first time I booked at TMBTC (booking made in October 2015 for dinner in September 2016) I made the reservation online then had to call the restaurant for them to take a £20/head deposit over the phone. I don't remember if the deposit was refundable but I think the cancellation policy was something like £60/head payable if cancellations were made less than 48 hours before the reservation.

Getting through to them on the phoen was a challenge, I think I tired about 150 times over 3 days before finally getting though.

The reason they've switched to payment up front is they were getting a lot of missed reservations with people citing family emergencies and so on to try and avoid paying the £60/head. They also had people either reporting their cards as lost or reporting the cancellation fee as fraud in order to avoid paying it.

The thing is though, it's now pretty easy to get a reservation there now. The hype seems to be dying down, possibly because of the pay up front policy. It is a fantastic restaurant though, one I'd highly recommend if you like that style of food. Same goes for The Rabbit In The Moon in Manchester.
 
La Bandera in Manc this weekend. I love a bit of Northern Spanish fodder and am looking forward to trying this place before the misery that will be 'Bat Out of Hell' the musical (a Christmas prezzy for the missus).
 
Back from New York

Shake Shack - decent burger for a decent price, great shake.

Burger & Lobster - decent burger and lobster.

Amelie Wine Bar - Nice selection of wines in a cosy French inspired wine bar, although it didn't make much sense to go all the way to New York to drink European wine, which is more expensive than it is here :).

Mighty Quinns BBQ - Great BBQ meat, better than Blue Smoke. Good brisket, lovely pulled pork, and fantastic burnt ends. Chips weren't great, but that wasn't why we went there.

Momofuku Ko - Amazing meal. Absolutely superb, including one of the best dishes I've had. Also one of the most expensive meals I've paid for. An interesting contrast between Gordon Ramsey and Ko, having been to both a week apart.

Went to the folllowing coffee shops, and all produced a very nice espresso along with well stretched milk:
Birch Coffee, Ninth Street Espresso (Chelsea Market), Taylor St Baristas, Everyman Espresso, Culture Espresso Bar
 
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