Almeida

I dined at Almeida last weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed my evening, as did the rest of our large group, due to the service and delicious food. The service was some of the best I have ever come across in London. Very attentive staff without overdoing it. The food was very tasty as well as interesting and the whole experience was reasonably priced. I would definitely dine at Almeida again.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, March 18, 2008

We live in Islington and have eaten at the Almeida on and off ever since it started...5 or 6 years ago? On and off does describe it actually. I've had some great meals and experiences in there and some not so great. Things had got a bit grim, however, just before they closed for the recent refurb.

On the whole i've found the food to be pretty good. The previous chef Ian knew his onions although I never really went for the tower block of gargantuan chips he stuck to throughout his reign in the kitchen. And when he wasn't on duty standards did sometimes slip.

Since Ian left the food has been ok to good but the service (a previous strong point) has been slipping. The Maitre D's are fine but the general waiting staff, while friendly, don't seem to have a clue and this is surely due to lack of, or poor, staff training. I'm wondering whether this might be connnected to the sell off of shares in the Conran Empire last year? There is a general trend for using waiting staff from other countries in London restaurants and this may be a cost cutting strategy (i notice the same thing starting to happen at J. Sheekeys). Whatever, it now seems that you never meet the same waiter twice in the The Almeida and many of them, are not very familiar with the menu, wine list and language. This is a management issue and proper training needs to be provided.

The Almeida has recently been refurbished so we decided to check it out at lunch on Friday. While the same service issues still apply the menu has been reconfigured (more bisto-like) and was really great. We went for the set menu - 3 courses for £17.50. Mine was a delicious butternut squash veloute, smooth, flavoursome and creamy with a wisp of nutmug underneath and my partner the house terrine (always good). Mains were a seafood gratin and calves liver both served with curly kale and both excellent. The gratin is a fish pie containing good chunks of fish and mussels in a creamy saucee with potato puree on top. My partner is a calves liver afficionado (can't stand it myself) and this was pronounced as excellent - good meat and v well cooked. I love curly kale and this was pretty yummy though not enough of it!. I tried to resist dessert but they did sound nice. I had the prune and armangac ice cream dish and partner the warm chocolat pot with vanilla ice cream. Great. Nice bread and decent butter. A couple of decent glasses of wine and Bloody Mary for partner to start (suffering from Val's night blowout at home) two coffees and some sparkling water came to a reasonable £64.

However the service charge is added and it's 12.5% which is hefty when it is hardly 5* or 4. So what are we paying for here...a hidden extra charge for food and wine methinks...grrrrrr. Final bill = £72.

And the refurb? It's fine without going over the top. The bar sitting area has been moved upstairs which adds some buzz to the dining room. The tables are closer together but that seems ok though it might be a bit much with a full house in the evening. The effect is more streamlined and modern

Overall, a very good meal and pleasant dining experience, all plates licked clean (i rarely finish my food in restos). I like the The Almeida and am glad it's there and looking good so please get the service issues sorted and we have a very good resto here in Izzy.
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Jules di Islington - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Saturday, February 16, 2008

A French farce-of the highest order. Having been disappointed last time I visited, was tempted back by tales of a refurbishment and an online deal. Won't be falling for that again.

We were brought the wrong menu-having been through this before, we knew the drill. Check whether this is the correct menu for the special deal. Explain yourself repeatedly since waiter clearly has no idea what you're talking about. Wait as waiter diappears for 15 minutes with no sign of menus. When we pointed this out to the maitre d', he responded in a way the most snooty Parisian waiter would be proud of: "I hope this will not spoil your evening" as a threat, not an entreaty.

Once the order had finally been taken, miniscule, overchilled starters of smoked salmon and a terrine arrived-no bread offered with either. Mains were again tiny, and included a double whammy of soggy roast pork and dry poached chicken.

I almost forgot-and so did they-our wine failed to appear by the time our main courses had. The wrong one was proffered-by this time we were too depressed to quibble. But when they presented us with a bill which included a charge for the wine (supposedly included in the offer), quibble we did. Cue multiple huffings and puffings from the maitre d', and a new bill-still complete with "discretionary" 12.5% "service" charge. It was all we could do to flee before we were fleeced any further.
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Lucy
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Friday, February 08, 2008

Four of us reently took advantage of their early-evening offer, booked online, of two courses for £14.50. Naturally, the bill increased as we added bottled water and wine, but it still came out as terrific value for money. This is an attractive space in which to dine, and the service was first class, despite our cheapskate status. Perfect for pre-theatre or cinema in islington. We will be back.
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Nosher - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Thursday, February 07, 2008

My husband took me to the Almeida last Thursday after good memories of the night we went there 6 years ago. What a disappointment! The service was pretty bad and clumsy (eg we were served a plate of ham when we had only just arrived, the maitre d' knocked my glass of champagne over when bringing wine glasses...) and the food wasn't fantastic either (oysters too cold and two of them "milky", fillet of beef a bit tough) although my starter (scallops) was delicious. All in all, bad value for money and I would rather go to Pizza Express next time.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Friday, October 12, 2007

A group of us visited Almeida yesterday evening for an early meal. We all decided to opt for two courses (starter and main). The menu was not long but everyone seemed to have trouble deciding - which in my (humble) opinion is a good sign. The portions were small but very well put together using lovely fresh ingredients and when the dessert trolley appeared we couldn't resist indulging in a couple to share between the five of us. All in all the whole experince was surprisingly good.

So in addition to the food - one bottle of red, one bottle of white, three glasses of muscat, two mineral waters and a Virgin Mary the bill was around £50 per head. Not cheap but well worth a visit.

Oh and yes we did think that some of the staff were a little surly....but it made us laugh and only added to the quirkiness of this Islington gem.
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Goodwoogie
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, August 28, 2007

My other half and I visited the Almeida restaurant this evening once again for the fifth time! As you can see that as we have visited the restaurant on so many occasions our perception is pretty much self explanatory! As we sat down we were asked what we wanted to drink and were given the menus to look at. Our drinks took longer than usual which my lead my other half to ask what had happened to them. Once we had received them the friendly waiter took our order, minutes later we received a delightful platter of bread and butter. On our previous visits to the restaurant we would only receive a platter of bread if the waiters could be bothered to bring us one over! Surprisingly this time round as we had barely finished the 1st platter a 2nd platter with fresh bread landed on our table! We received our well presented tasty started of Warm Goats Cheese with Salad and ate it down to the very last crumb. In just under 10 minutes we received our main which once again met our standards, i ordered the Rib Eye Steak with Pomme peux neuf aka large chips they were a little more over done than usual but the meal was still to perfection. To conclude i had a petit pot aux chocolat to serve my sweet tooth. Overall the service was perfect and all staff were friendly. The atmosphere was relaxing and we were very well looked after as the waiter consistently topped-up my water glass and there was no long wait around for our meal. Would recommend the Almeida, to anyone who would like to enjoy simple French cuisine in the comfort of a classy relaxed North London restaurant.
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Annique
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, June 20, 2007

After living around the corner for almost 3 years and trying to get around to sampling the restaurant, I finally found the excuse to visit after receiving a membership card in the post with the offer of a free bottle of champagne on my birthday. I had my doubts after reading so many poor reviews, but was very pleasantly surprised. Sure the atmosphere may be a little sedate (one of the reasons I'd stayed away) compared to the more traditional La Petite Auberge across Upper St, and the starters were a little restrained in terms of flavour, but the mains (pork, beef and lamb amongst the four of us) and deserts were all very good. The service was excellent - attentive but not overbearing, with (what seemed) genuinely friendly waiters. I felt the £27 for 3 courses at dinner was good value. While the wine list could offer some more variety in the £30-£40 range, the nicest surprise came at the end of the night - when my 'free' bottle of champagne appeared on the bill for £32, I thought I was in for an argument; however, the maitre d' immediately rectified the problem with no fuss, and also came back with the bill with all the drinks reduced to 50% because it was a Monday (I had no idea). £80 off the bill was a nice way to finish a lovely evening!
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Chris
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, June 12, 2007

In london for a few days of theatre and eating out and booked this restaurant via link from Almeida Theatre. So convenient for theatre just a few steps across the road. The special on line set menu at 14.50 (2 courses) or 17.50 (3) is great value.

We arrived at about at 9.45 and there were only a few tables occupied. The service was fine but they were not busy. However, I found the level of english spoken/understood by the waiting staff pretty awful! When I was brought a bottle of wine, already opened with no label I asked about the particular bottle I had ordered by name. My server didnt understand what my question was and called her colleague who just repeated several times the name of the wine that was in the unmarked bottle! I take it that this was a kind of 'carafe' situation but wasnt mentioned in the menu. However it was fine as a house wine and our total bill came to 45.00. not bad for London prices but the venue was totally lacking in atmosphere and staff not particularly friendly. It is a pity the other links from the Almeida site do not have a booking on line facility.
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Rita
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 6
Monday, April 09, 2007

Went here with my wife and found it a major dissapointment.

The food was mediocre, the staff were snobby and rude, the service abysmal and the prices expensive. Do yourself a favour and go to one of Upper Streets many friendlier cheaper restaurants.
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Jamie
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Thursday, April 05, 2007