St John

The food is consistantly good, the 'bland' surroundings are accepted and enjoyed by regular diners. Of course intestines and trotters are not going to appeal to some and I am not surprised to see a few 'bad' reviews.

it could be that this restaurant is misunderstood- but not by me.
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Will
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Monday, March 31, 2008

Relaxed canteen like atmosphere and a mixed crowd of young and old so no one feels out of place. Set the trend for simple, gutsy food with fresh and top quality ingredient, simply cooked to perfection. One example is their carrot, boiled egg and aioli: one might envisage to be a salad but turned out to be raw bunch carrot, perfect boiled egg in shell and a dollop of aioli. It was unbelievably delicious simply because of the use of fresh ingredient. Unfortunately, the food standard has dropped since its best around 2005/6 but nonetheless a great place to go. Service is attentive without being over bearing. The Madeleine is a must when you visit and razor clam is great when it's available. It's a great place for those who like their food simple, fresh and delicious.
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Chris H
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Thursday, March 27, 2008

I'm intrigued about this Ironic taste of venison liver ?(mentioned in the review below) ....oh sorry you mean "irony" as in "goldy" or "bronzey". I get ya. ;-)
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Edmund B
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Thursday, January 24, 2008

I thought St John was excellent. I was slightly dubious about the whole offal thing (a touch of the Emperors new clothes perhaps) but it was actually truely tasty and subtley flavoured. Would recommend the venison heart in particular if its on.

Service was freindly if a tad slow, surroundings were sparse but fitting and the price was probably spot on. And to handle the sizeable puddings you'll need a stomach as big as your eyes.
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Peter, Fitzrovia - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Monday, January 14, 2008

Having read much about St. John before actually dining there, my expectations were high on the evening I visited. I tried to forget about the indifferent reviews I'd read on this site and focussed on Bourdain's never ending praise he'd bestowed on Henderson and his resturant.

Roast bone marrow and parsley salad was perfectly judged and unctuous. Smoked eel, bacon and mash; simple and delicious, but the flavour of the eel itself was lost in the smokiness. Lamb's tongue with anchovy; offally, tender, subtle, and really rather good. Braised Hare with swede was rich, gamey and melted-in-the-mouth.

Eccles cake with Lancashire cheese are generously portioned and compemented each other perfectly. Chocolate pots are rather small, but very intense.

Beers include, Meantime (local) and Blacksheep. Wines are affordable.

St. John is relaxed and unpretentious, the cooking simple and honest, service is unfussy and attentive.

I would recommend going just to sample the bone marrow dish alone.

It really is that good.
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Vincent M. Ducasse
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, December 31, 2007

A familiar pattern for me - have a good visit to St John, then some time later read a slew of negative comments here, go back to the restaurant and find all is well. And it's happened again. I never experience the kind of pitfalls others here seem to, thankfully. And I'm a very fussy diner.

I hadn't had the bone marrow for some time so chose that; it was possibly the best serving I've had, with everything I love about this sloppy, tasty, tactile dish absolutely to the fore. How could I have stayed away from it for so long? For main I had venison liver with lentils, which featured two hefty slabs of meltingly tender liver with earthy, intense lentils, nicely accompanied by dollops of dijon mustard.

As usual the staff were helpful, and friendly but not overbearing. They made sure to ask whether I needed to get away by a certain time, which I did, and accordingly advised on waiting time for the courses.

Yet again then, I'm happy to report that the malaise others find is afflicting St John isn't evident to me. Maybe I'm just really lucky. I'm hoping to be part of a group booking for a xmas dinner here so that will be interesting, as most of the reports of group meals are not good.
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Backdrifter - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Thursday, November 01, 2007

My wife and I had seen this place on Tony Bourdain's show and the food took our fancy. She booked it for my birthday and we were both pretty keen to go.

Killing an hour on the day itself I flicked on here and saw all thee negative reviews. I've always found them pretty accurate and so when I read almost completely negative reviews, I nearly cancelled.

Thanks goodness I didn't.

Warm, funny helpful staff made us feel welcome talked enthusiastically and knowledgeably about the food, and were on hand whenever needed. The maitre'd even delayed our main so we could pop out for a cigarette.

The portions were a good size, the side dishes, if anything, too large, and the desserts delicious. The food was quirky, well prepared and tasted heavenly.

I'd go back in a second, and wholeheartedly reccomend St. John.
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Graeme
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Sunday, October 21, 2007

The suckling pig banquet was a rather vulgar and tasteless (in every sense) affair: exaggeratedly theatrical sweeney todd butchery: the meat is chopped up roughly in the style of a chinese shredded duck, then served on platters with feet and tail sticking out for maximum THIS IS A PIG impact.

In case you miss the trotters - the head is served to the chief guest, to play with and pick out the cheeks, brain and tongue. It is pitched as head to tail eating but even as a meat eater who is perfectly aware that meat comes from whole animals not polystyrene trays - i found it over the top squeamish. Heart served with beetroot was quite tasty, but one can't help feeling that the beetroot is there to ham up (sorry) the blood and gore feel to the evening.

The disappointing texture and taste of the food itself made it seem like a unneccesary gimmick of a meal. Everything was over-salted, overly-heavy, overcooked, & overpriced. I felt like I was being laughed at by the proprietors of this restaurant, it seems the sort of place big fat city boys should go and show off to each other in braying voices, while paying for the overpriced stodgy school dinner food on expense accounts.

Also the table that fits into the private dining room was uneven so there were dangerous spots for wine - hidden from view underneath lots of paper napkins... and at £48 a bottle it would be a shame to spill it because the table is shoddily made out of strips of MDF.

The service was very good I thought, however. Patient and good humoured.

I won't be going back - but it was certainly an experience I will never forget.
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miss piggy
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Friday, October 05, 2007

I live in California, but have wanted to visit this restaurant for a long time. I was finally able to arrange a one-day stopover in London on the way home from another trip to the continent, on a day the web site said they were open. I couldn't make the reservation at the time of booking as I used miles for this trip and had to book many months in advance. Imagine my dismay upon attempting to make a reservation several weeks in advance when I was informed that the place is booked for a private event. Repeated explanations and supplication, for a table in the kitchen, early seating, anything, yielded nothing except a statement that the bar will be open (no full menu). Sorry folks, you get all zeros for that. This is a level of indifference that is nearly unmatched in my experience. Small wonder that the reviews for this supposedly great restaurant are so surprisingly poor.
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Alan Yoder
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, September 24, 2007

Having just enjoyed my first meal at St. John this evening I was really surprised to see the mixed reviews, especially the review posted on August 25th. I couldn't believe the bit about small portions - anything but that, really! My husband and I were full enough from our starters of bone marrow and smoked mackerel that we had to cancel our order of welsh rarebit that was to accompany our main courses. Glad we did, if only to save room in our stomachs, as the main courses were very substantial as well! I must add that we hadn't eaten since breakfast so we arrived hungry. We found the waitstaff knowledgable and helpful, the atmosphere pleasant and the variety of food excellent (especially since I generally prefer vegetables to meat!). Very satiated but tempted by the desserts, we finished by sharing a half dozen madeleines (again, more than enough food) and fresh mint tea - perfect! The madeleines were hot out of the oven and absolutely scrumptious. Our total bill with a glass of wine and a beer, plus tip: 63.75 for two people - quite good value for such a high-quality dinner.

If I had to offer one comment, some music would have contributed to a nicer atmosphere, particulary as the dining room filled up and grew loud with conversation.
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Emily King
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, September 18, 2007