Kensington Place

I have been to Kensington Place three times now, and each time I vow not to come back. The only reason that I have been as much as this is because it has been booked by people inviting me. Admittedly the food is often good -although frequently far from as good as it clearly thinks it is. The acoustics are dreadful, the place looks like a school canteen on acid and the staff are surly and uninterested past the point of rudeness. To summarise, good fish, bad decor, awful attitude - one to avoid.
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Helen
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Monday, February 12, 2007

I have had the pleasure of eating at kensington place. I found the food incredible, the atmosphere amazing and the staff were very friendly. The chicken and goats cheese mousse was beautiful and light and the duck confit was also pretty incredible. The management are very good at their jobs and are incredibly competent. Overall i was very impressed.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Thursday, October 05, 2006

Kensington place is a nice restaurant with pleasant food in general and same goes for the service unless one orders a bloody mary. they managed to give me the same mix three times after my complain that it was to salty. when i finally suggested to let me mix my own it turned out they had no tomato juice but a premixed concoction which could not be changed but by adding water or vodka. in the end i just did not drink it and it was still added to the bill. absurd for a supposedly good restaurant.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Not faultless but utterly dependable. Fish cheeks, pheasant, rabbit, all superb, as is the wonderful scallops starter. Yes it's noisy, but that's part of the deal. The wine is a fair price and the staff lovely. It's been here since Roman tims, seemingly, so must be doing something right.
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mike
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 4
Monday, July 31, 2006

I like Kensington Place - love the menu and the buzzy atmosphere, but I do find that meals there do tend to vary. I usually go there with one particular friend as it's situated exactly halfway between us, and when I book I always always ask for one of the tables at the end wall with the banquette. If you get plonked in the middle of the room it is very noisy and crowded and exposed, especially if there are only 2 of you.

Last time I had a pear & fennel salad - very bad choice- watery, underdressed and basically a plate of huge, crunchy slices of fennel with not enough of anything else. I was kicking myself for my bad choice as my friend had something with a poached egg on top which she said was delicious. Mains were fish - both very nice if not thrilling. One of the plus points of KP is the very good wine list with many wines by the glass. I recommend the white burgundy - very nice. The chablis was disappointing.

Service has always been good - I've never had a bad experience, but sometimes you have to be quite forceful to grab their attention!
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, April 19, 2006

We decided to book this restaurant but were a bit apprehensive after reading recent reviews! We went along and were duly unimpressed with the uncomfortable chairs and small tables, plus the uninterested staff.

However, more importantly, we came to enjoy the food. Our starters of Buffalo Mozzarella with courgettes, marjoram and candied lemon, was fresh but the Mozzarella was ice cold, I mean freezing! Not the best way to enjoy a cheese. We also had the feta salad with peas,purslane and mache, which was a very good combination of fresh flavours.

Our mains were the Cod with bacon and the Smoked Haddock with poached egg & spinach. These two dishes were cooked beautifully and we argued over which was the best! Really good flavours and very tasty. Equally, our puddings of grilled pineapple and steamed pudding were excellent and very more-ish. A lovely Kim Crawford wine accompanied the food wonderfully. So, we're left with mixed feelings - loved the food and wine but not at all impressed with the restaurant, and do no think we'll be rushing back - shame really.
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Cassie NGC
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, April 18, 2006

KP is as everyone knows, a Notting Hill institution, and any restaurant that has survived as long as this place has must be doing something right. But what that something is I have no idea. We had mains and puds plus a decent bottle of Red. The main courses were, I'm sorry to say - bad. Cod with bacon was over cooked and almost without flavour. My veal kidneys were the consistency of little rubber balls with as much flavour, to accompany this I ordered potato dauphinoise, which was risible, I mean undercooked and totally lacking any seasoning. The puds were ok, but nothing out of the ordinary. Service was on the whole slack, and tinged with boredom. It wasn't quite bad enough to challenge the dreaded "optional" gratuity but it did cross our minds. I have no axe to grind here, I want to like KP but I cannot, it is overpriced for the quality of food served and lacking, on the night we went anyway, any skill in the kitchen. I do hope someone from KP reads this and takes this onboard. KP should be fab but falls so way below expectations to become a joke.
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Daniel Chalmers
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Saturday, February 25, 2006

this place is great!

arranged a birthday meal on a saturday night for my girlfriend for 8 people. The staff were warm and friendly and more than happy to accommodate us when an extra 6 people turned up. They even served the birthday cake which I'd brought from Waitrose.

Food was good, house wine was great, staff were fantastic, ambience was perfect......dont have a bad word to say....HIGHLY recommended!
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Simon Mawdsley
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Sunday, January 22, 2006

My wife and I carefully chose this restaurant for a special dinner with a close friend. The food was excellent - the experience was a disaster. Overcrowded, smoky, noisy, and expensive only begin to describe this trendy, self satisfied location. I thought the staff was too consumed with themselves and this came through in virtually all of our exchanges with them. When we arrived the room was not full and we had a nice table with space on all sides. It seemed noisy but I thought with this sort of spacing we could get through the evening with shouting or repeating ourselves. As it filled up, it became more and more difficult to hear each other and we found ourselves bending over the table and repeating our lines. The smoke became overbearing and there appeared to be little or no air circulation. Twice during the evening, they asked one of us to move our chairs around our table to accomodate another table that the staff placed closer and closer to our table. This proximity added to the noise and smoke level. None of us chose the offered menu because one or more of the dishes did not appeal. Going a la carte was accepted as being more expensive, but when the bill appeared, carrying a total of almost $360, I was certainly surprised. Our drinks were moderate (no bottle of wine for example) and no one had more than a starter and main course. As I said, the food was excellent, but the chef deserves a better show place for his talent. As much as we enjoyed the food, the experience will keep us from returning.
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William - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Saturday, December 31, 2005

Obviously the place to be seen, but I dont think the food lives up to expectation. I have had far better scallops in other restaurants and the sea bass was just OK. Puddings were fab tho'. I think this restaurant is just getting too pleased with itself and it needs to go back to the drawing board and try harder.
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Rebecca
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Friday, December 02, 2005