Kensington Place

Food was great but the service atrocious. To be placed by the toilets in a half busy restaurant after having booked a day in advance is a disappointment. That was only the beginning. Our nibbles didn't show up until the main was on the table and that was only after having asked for it twice. After having asked for them first time, it was realised it had been missed which is a mistake I can accept. However, when assumed we for that reason didn't want them I understood things really weren't about to improve. Starter was enjoyed all around the table and the pork belly and venison pie mains were really tasty. We almost had to eat the sides with our fingers though as cutlery was apparently considered as extras. The chocolate macaroon desert was also nice. I can recommend a visit but bring a handheld GPS for the waiter and with a bit of luck your experience might beat mine.

Credit should go out to the kitchen boy who without experience still tried his very best to carry the more senior staff in the front.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 5
Sunday, December 13, 2009

Lovely room. Efficient enough, though not exactly enthused waiting staff. But the food? Really not at all good.

We took a party of twelve here last Friday night. I appreciate that large groups are difficult to cater to satisfactorily. I know that and make due allowance for it. But the food was just rubbish.

My starter: Coconut broth with dumplings (I know: why order that? Get that in an oriental resturant not a bread and butter modern UK place. Silly me, I know). What I got was two sad little dumplings which sat on my plate for almost 10 minutes, curling, drying up, and dying there on the cold porcelain, before a little jug of watery, badly spiced, coconut water arrived. It tasted like a couple of garden slugs served with a watered down Korma. I left half of it despite being starving.

My main: a sad little fillet of sea bream which had been pan fried to death. It would have been a criminal waste of good fish were it not for the fact that the fish was clearly not fresh. It smelled and tasted distinctly fishy in a bad way. What the Russians used to call "not of the first freshness": that is to say, slightly off. What was it served with? Nothing memorable. Left most of it.

I didn't bother with dessert (why would you?). So ,was still hungry. The majority of the party felt their food, too, was well below par.

The wine list was, relatively speaking, a saving grace: some interesting choices. All marked up a tad higher than they should have been (Perrier Jouet NV at over £60 a bottle is always a bad sign). The Gavi (which they only had 4 bottles of) was excellent. The Alborinio was good too. The Prosecco was fair.

Our waiter was ok but strictly without charm. The manager?/sommelier was nice enough, and seemed a little anxious - as though he knew the food was a a bit poor and regretted how badly it let the whole place down.

The restaurant was pretty busy, and there was a nice atmosphere. If they got in a brigade who could cook it's be good, this place.

I'd happily have paid more for decent food. As it was the apparently ok-ish pricing was way over the top for food that was what you'd expect at a dinner party given by a friend who couldn't cook very well and hadn't entertained for a year or two. Not much of a recommendation I'm afraid.
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Kwev - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Monday, October 05, 2009

My husband and myself went with our two friends a couple of weeks ago for Saturday lunch. I was a little bit sceptical since you do read very mixed reviews of KP. The meal started of with a delicious selection of bread being offered. My main course were very tasty fishcakes, however one of my friends had the Gazpacho which is amazing. For main course I had the Middle White Pork Palliard with polenta, rocket, oregano and parmesan which was delicious. The sweetcourse - and I normally do not eat a sweet, only cheese - sounded so wonderful I just had to try it: Peanut Butter Parfait, Milk Chocolate Ganache and salted caramel ice cream - believe me, it was totally to die for !!!! Amazing!

Service was attentive the entire time, our glasses were constantly topped up with iced tapwater without us having to ask for it. The bill was reasonable and definitely good value for money. Recommended.
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Claudia
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Having been to KP many times over the years - my friends and I are huge fans of what Henry Vigar, the head chef, is doing. The food is colourful and beautifully presented every time.

I went with a girlfriend for a relaxing Friday dinner. We had a lovely table in the window. Staff were attentive, but not pushy and we found them to be very good and efficient. We asked the manager to choose our wines by the glass to accompany and compliment our dishes. He did this with no trouble at all and his choices were spot on.

The home made bread selection was offered to begin with and there are lots of yummy choices to choose from. We had the gazpacho to start which in all honesty is the best gazpacho I have ever tasted. We also tried the foie gras parfait with cherries and it was smooth and luscious without being too rich. Then I had the salmon with sweetcorn ice cream and I was pleasantly surprised by the hot and cold of it - but it works beautifully. The flavours and colours on this dish are very summery. My friend had the featherblade steak which was cooked to medium rare perfection. For dessert we shared the peanut butter parfait which proved a good choice as we both thoroughly enjoyed it.

We will definately be going back again and again - it is too good to miss and the prices aren't bad either.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Being based in one of my favourite streets I've often passed this restaurant and intended to pay a visit. So on a beautiful summer evening my girlfriend and I took the plunge. I've always found that when something goes wrong at a restaurant it's never just one thing, but a whole series of calamitie, and unfortunately our visit here was rather like that. We arrived and waited while a window table was made available, only to then be shown to it and have to wait what seemed about ten minutes for some menus. We weren't offered drinks, and when I finally got some water we were literally given two glasses, no ice or lemoin, no jug, and no one once came offering us any more drinks.

When a waitress finally took oour order, she said she couldn't tell me what some of the dishes were as she didn't know. What is the point of making your menu deliberately exclusive and unusual if the staff can't explain or upsell it?

We ordered some croquettes which never arrived. When our strarters arrived I questioned this and was told I hadn't otrdered them. Then they agreed I did and delivered them in the middle of our starters: not much good then. My girlfriend had soup which they expected her to eat with a fork. Twice we asked for a spoon,

The main course she had was without prawns which the menu had listed: apparently they'd run out but no one told us this. My trout came without smoked mashed potato but with sliced, flavourless new potatoes which the waitress tried to tell me were mash and then tgold me weren't but the menu didnt mention mash anyway which it did. What really put the tin lid on it was the manager offering to remove the 12 and a half per cent service charge as a way of saying sorry. That is my choice to pay anyway!!!!!

Horrible, snooty and up itself.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, June 22, 2009

We visited early yesterday evening i.e. 7.30pm, table for 3 without booking. Having heard great things about this restaurant we were expecting a superb experience. First impression was that the decor looked a bit tired. Having ordered our food it took a full 10 minutes for 2 of us to be told that the roast beef sirloin was not available. We found this a little strange so early on in the evening. When a complaint was made to the manager he blamed a lack of communication between kitchen and waiting staff. Now to the food that we did have. The sardine starter was definately 'A' sardine. More like a large whitebait being only about 3" long, very thin and split in half to make it look more substantial. One mouthful and it was gone. Other starters were OK. The pork with polenta was very salty and as it consisted of 3 very thin small round slices, not very satisfying. The osso bucco was OK but the gratin on the rattatouille was almost non existant. Finally the deserts. There is not much you can do wrong with a chocolate tart but the cheese was sweaty and loked as if it had been plated up and left out a while. The best part of the meal was the bread basket. Very nice selection. I do not agree with previous comments about lack lustre waiting staff. Our waitress was courteous and pleasant from the start but extremely embarrased about the situation with the sirloin being off the menu. A dissapointing visit. I will not return and I will not reccomend.
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Edward FULLER
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Monday, June 22, 2009

This is the second time my partner and I ate at Kensington Place, and I can't wait to return! The set menu offered good selections, I will never forget my broad bean and mint risotto, and the asparagus and egg starter was excellent as well. I thought not to take the dessert, then ate much of my partner's (passion fruit something or other with coconut and mango creams)! The 2 white wines were excellent. All the food was very fresh and well-prepared. Seems to be young and inspired chefs. Only complaint is the young and uninspired staff, a bit too casual (though not in a good way). They should be more proud of the food they're serving!
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, June 15, 2009

Way back in the dark ages, Kensington Place was my wife's favourite restaurant. It had been a while, so for our wedding anniversary we cautiously ventured back, knowing that there had been changes afoot and not knowing what to expect.

Let me tell you what not to expect. Don't expect the same buzz of its star-gazing gloried past . Don't expect pristine service. The staff follow the socialist model (no private ownership of clients) and so meandered backwards and forwards and required a lot of coaxing for both the basic (bread. water) and the absolutely necessary (wine). Don't expect to have to say : "haven't they redone the decor nicely!" They may have, but it is more or less a case of same old same old and indistinguishable from my memory of the place.

But the food. Ah the food. Isn't that what you really come to a restaurant for? It is rare that I pigeonhole a waitress and ask the chef's name, but I did, and I will tell you why. Two of the three dishes I ordered were quite simply very memorable, and for the right reasons. Braised Pig's Cheeks on a bed of sour cabbage (not to be confused with sauerkraut), piping hot and succulent as a starter. A dessert I shared with my wife, called a crunchie, which comes as a mousse mountain which fills the plate with little surprises hidden inside (a hot chocolate fondant, honeycomb crunchies, ice cream.) Definitely off-piste, both in presentation and taste. The confit de canard with cassoulet was correct, as the french say, with crispy breadcrumbs an unusual touch, but not in the same class. Henry Vigar. That was his name. Give him a chance. The guy is 27 years old, and has already been around the block a time or two. Buck up the service a bit, Henry but keep up the good work back there in the kitchen. You were certainly on your game the night I came, that is for sure. And that was in the depths of January, when a little post-Noel dip in form could be expected.
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Eric Pettigrew - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Thursday, January 22, 2009

I took advantage of the london eating offer and took my wife to Kensington Place last night. I have long been intrigued by this huge eatery and as it is a saunter away from home I thought we should give it a go. My wije had last been there in it's Meejah hayday and the interior certainly fits the bill. Lot's of clean lines, no frippery which I had to say left me a little cold. It's the sort of room that needs to be packed to have an atmosphere and last night it was 2/3 full at most. Now having said that the food was very nice. We both started with a warm squid salad followed by venison hot pot. The squid was a bit tough but the dressing lovely. The hotpot was first class, just the sort of peppery dish to keep the cold out. My wife enjoyed her house wine, I was less impressed. We both loved our deserts, the crunchie was lovely and light and my tarte fine was much better than the one at Bibendum. The bill including the offer came to £67 fot two which wasn't bad but the other items on the menu looked very expensive. I think we willl go back as it is so close to home and I like the look of the weekend brunch. Hopefully we can bring a bit of fun to the place as some of the clientele last night were taking themselves far too seriously.
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david ginsberg - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Friday, December 12, 2008

This place has, sadly, lost the plot. Since the new management took over it has been downhill all the way. I have been coming here regularly for eight years and have spent several thousand pounds in this establishment but, sadly, will probably not be back.

Why? The food, in a nutshell, and the service also. Just as an example, at lunch today my poussin was not only laughably tiny but borderline-raw; the potatoes WERE raw. I sent this rubbish back and it returned, heated-through with some (marginally better) potatoes. Service amateurish verging on shambolic. Our white wine was whisked away to be placed in a bucket (fair enough) but we had a devil of a job getting it back again. Every time I asked for 'our wine' the waiter misunderstood and brought us the wine list. Not a big thing but trying after awhile. Basic problem, as ever, is simple lack of English, but there seems to be a big training issue here as well. For the last few times I have been here it has never been clear who my waiter is, who is basically in charge, what anyone is doing. Some of the staff actually run away when you beckon them. It is a case of headless chickens all round. Never like this in the old days.

They have been getting away with this for some time now. But in the face of a recession I fear that if this place does not raise its game, and fast, London will lose one of its nicest dining houses. A shame.
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Mike
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Friday, October 24, 2008