Smiths of Smithfield Top Floor

Four of us ate here on Friday night. I was a little unsure after reading some of the reviews, but we were pleasantly surprised. The bar downstairs was a little busy but that is to be expected on a Friday after work.

We ate at the Top Floor restaurant and we all thoroughly enjoyed our food. The squid is delicious and my steak was perfectly cooked. The service was superb.

John Torode himself was dining at the table next to us which was an added bonus and he stopped for a chat when I embarassingly decided to introduce myself afer one too many glasses of wine!
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Danielle
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Monday, April 28, 2008

I dined here on a busy Friday night. Service was very slow, with dishes taking a long time to come out of the kitchen (over 15 minutes for the starters!).

They had run out of squid by 9.30pm, so their popular starter of salted squid was unavailable. We were only told about this when it came to ordering, so half the table had to choose another starter at the last minute. We should’ve been told before it came to placing the order.

I opted for the Dorset crab on toast as a starter. One third of the toast was BURNT, literally black. This is inexcusable. The chef in charge of that dish should’ve put the burnt toast straight in the bin, rather than trying to hide it under the crab. It only led to an unpleasant shock when I took a bite to discover the taste of bitter, charred toast, which ruined any flavour the crab had. The Head Chef should not have allowed this to leave his pass, but I expect he didn’t notice as the toast was hidden.

For a main I chose the Hereford rump, pan-fried with a béarnaise sauce. The steak was perfectly cooked and flavoursome. The chunky chips were nice too. The béarnaise sauce was delicious although it had been poured on top of the steak already, and I prefer to have it on the side for my chips. A slight bug-bear of mine.

The chocolate dessert was good, nothing spectacular but nothing to complain about either.

In summary, John Torode needs to spend some time in his restaurant, ironing out the problems in the kitchen and front of house. And they need to have a serious word with the chef who served the burnt toast! Prices here are way too expensive for the low quality of service and cooking they currently offer.
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The Rogue Scribbler - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, April 11, 2008

My wife and I took her mother and father to SOS for a treat on 10th Feb.

We have been to the bar and the dinning room several times and once to the top floor. I raved about the choice of meat and the quality of service!!

We arrive a little early to be told that there was no longer a bar on the second floor as it has been turned into another eating area - seems that John Torode is only interested in making money now rather than creating an experience!!

When we went upstairs we were shown to our table - all okay so far!!

First disappointment was the selection of meat - 3 rump and one sirloin, mmm not a good start. I re-assured everyone that it would be good not to wo, rry!!

Starters arrived, well 3 at first then a short, but long enough wait, for me to say start before yours get cold!! My wifes squid was marginally over cooked making it slightly rubbery!! My foie gras was extremely underwhelming - and the marmalade was way overpowering. More like one of JT's contestants on Master Chef would turn out than a top London Restuarant!!

Well not to worry, JT would make it up with the meat. The room was almost full by now and waiting staff were hard to come by. How many times do you have to say "excuse me can you fill our wine glasses" Very very disappointing!!

Hurray the meat arrives - oh dear, the medium sirloin is more well done and looking rather lonely on the plate!! AGAIN only 3 dishes arrived - another short but noticable wait for the 3rd dish. The mash was just warm enough to eat, the vegs were how shall I put just courgettes - not a lot of variety!!

I could go on on, but I think you get the message - the 15 minute wait for the dessert order, the repeated requests for the bill and the lack of staff who seemed to be interested in you really just added to a very disappointing evening. I'm used to poor service in London, it is par for the course, but this really annoyed me, your paying top whack and expect to be treated better, so much so I asked for the service charge to be removed!!
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RalphT - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Monday, February 18, 2008

We were really looking forward to our visit for a Good steak at the Top floor at Smith's restaurant last Saturday evening. But we were So let down, especially as the meal was so expensive!

The sirloin was tasteless and hard to cut. However the chips were very nice!!

My friend had to send her steak back to the kitchen as it was not cooked the way she ordered it. Hence we had finished our tasteless meal by the time her's returned.

The starters were nice, the atmosphere was lively in the bar downstairs and the view from the top floor was good.

A shame we were SO disappointed with our meal. My husband cooks a better steak on the BBQ at home!!

Won't be returning. Think it's so unfair that these expensive restaurants can get away with serving such bad meals.
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Anita - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 1
Friday, November 30, 2007

Had dinner on Tuesday night and frankly was really dissapointed with the food. A starter of smoked eel was not exciting. The cote de bouef £58 for 2 to share was so bland that we didn't bother finishing it, it was fatty, chewy and no flavour whatsoever. For that price you would think that the chef would make an effort. And asked for medium but got rare, so had to return to the kitchen.

John Torode - owner/chef was sipping champagne at the bar, perhaps should have spoken to him rather than the rather slacky staff who didn't even bother asking if we've enjoyed the half eaten beef.

Definetely not returning to the much 'acclamied' top floor, very very dissapointing!
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Nadia
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Thursday, October 25, 2007

I am rather reluctant to praise any restaurant unless the whole package is perfect.

Despite the reviews here my visit to the third floor was splendid. We walked in and were offered the last table on the roof terrace. Service was swift and polite.

The food was excellent - it could have been priced at 10/15% less but never the less my starter of octopus was spot on and the venison wellington was cooked perfectly.

My partners fish was also cooked perfectly and the whole experience was relaxing and unhurried.

The views were nice and the restaurant had the right balance to make it a good dining experience.
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Gav
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, October 08, 2007

I have been to Smithfields twice now, once on the middle floor and once on the top floor. The top floor has the views, but like watching football in a hospitality suite, you'll pay the premium for the surroundings. On the middle floor which was still very pleasant, you will get much more value for your money. I had the best steak ever, it was tasty, succulent and it cut like a hot knife through butter. All washed down with a great selection of wine. Can't wait to return.
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Mark
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, June 05, 2007

I wish I had read the reviews here first. Having chosen the restaurant from the hype in 'Square Mile' I took 5 colleagues last night. It is a poor restaurant that is very over-priced. The evening started badly when the wine waiter insisted that Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra "should be sour". No it should not! It was badly kept wine that had turned. I eventually got it replaced - but only after a struggle. The food (I had 'seared tuna' and a rump steak) was frankly very bland. The underlying product seemed well sourced but no effort had been made to do something special with it. It was also tepid at best. Service (apart from the stubborn wine waiter) was fine - but a little slow. What amazed me most was that the place was packed to the rafters, when there are many, many restaurants that serve significantly better food at a third of the price! What a shame that people care more about where is fashionable than the quality of the food, as this gives the owners no incentive to produce quality. Come on Smiths - have some pride - you should be embarassed!
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Bob - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Thursday, December 07, 2006

I was very excited about going to Smiths of Smithfield on a recent weekend break to London. Having read the great write-up in Olive magazine. However, I must say that my partner and I were a bit disappointed. The atmosphere was quite stark and echoee and you could hear all the noise from the kitchen. Some music might have helped. The starters were good. However there was no fillet steak on the menu only 2 sirloin and 2 rump steaks (sourced from different farms). We both ordered sirloin at £28 each and were a bit disappointed. Both were quite fatty and it was quite tough to get at all the meat. However, the potatoes were just fantastic. The desert menu was also a little disappointing for a Saturday night and we left the dinner table directly after the main meal. In total we spent £150 including a half bottle of Chablis and a bottle of Bordeaux. Which we both felt was a little steep. The Cocktail bar downstairs was good as was the ground floor bar. I would go again but would avoid the Top Floor as I don’t think its good value. Try the dinning room instead. So in summary Smiths is a good place but the Top Floor is a disappointment. We went to Galvins on Sunday evening and had a much better meal with Champagne for £30 less

MAB Staffs – 22nd September 2006
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Mark Bent
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Friday, October 06, 2006

Oh dear! .. my wife & I being big fans of "Masterchef" were looking forward to experiencing something special on my wife's birthday.

The starters were fab, I had the squid (perfect!) and my wife, the venison terrine. For mains I had the beef and I have to say that here's a dish that's easy to get right and as we were right outside Smithfields and having read all about the passion about ingredients how could I go wrong? wel, it arrived dry and not rare (as ordered). I would have sent it back but I my wife would have been eating alone and I would have had to wait. SUCH a disappointment. Funnily enough, the people on the next table ordered the same. On our way out I stopped by and asked them what they thought of their main course...... they were extremely unhappy. Sorry folks, you just have to read this. I give feedback when things are great too (Incognico last week was fab!). To cap it all we were charged for deserts we didn't have and if I had not noticed then the whole thing would have been a bigger rip-off. Lovely location, good wine list but this would not have made it past the 1st round of Masterchef !

Lastly, I read the crits here just before setting out (my heart did sink!) so next time I will check out this site well before the big day. Thanks to all for the input so far
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Peter
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Sunday, August 13, 2006