La Poule au Pot

Most things in life that have any meaning are generally simple. Simplicity tends to belie great effort and skill. Las Poule au Pot, in my view, represents simplicity in its true form. The food is delicious, the service is smooth and helpful, the atmosphere is easy and unpretentious. Winter or summer you'll eat well, sink some lovely wine and, perhaps, after a glass or 3 you may even catch sight of Le Tour Eiffel. A lovely place to go. Bon voyage.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, July 01, 2009

This is without doubt my wife and I's favourite London restaurant. We have been delighted customers of La Poule au Pot for the last 4 years entertaining friends and family in the most convivial of surroundings. Last Saturday we pitched up after a quick whizz around Ebury St market and enjoyed a superbly leisurely two and a half hour lunch. Having lived in France I can guarantee this is the real deal, good honest rustic French cooking at it's best and most simple. The weekend set lunch is such fantastic value about £21 for 3 enormous courses, lots of choice and of course the famous house wine which you are bought by the magnum and charged by the glass. Last Saturday I had wonderfully fresh mussels, toulouse sausages with mash and red cabbage followed by a superlative tarte tatin. All served by the friendly french staff. We have got to know them well and they are always so chatty and friendly. One reason we love this place is that it suits the depths of winter where you can cozy up eating boeuf bourgignon by candalight or high summer when you can sit outside by the market and watch the world go by.

Looking at some of the comments on here I really feel a lot of people don't get the charm and joy of La Poule. This is a place for a leisurely lunch or a romantic dinner. If you are in a hurry to eat go get a salad from Daylesford. The cooking here is rustic if you are looking for emulsions, foams and all that nonsence go to see Mr Ramsey, if you want honest tasty food this is the best around. Also in response to the previous reviewer if you are looking for Gratin Dauphinoise then this isn't the place for you, they don't serve it! They do serve lovely pommes de Terre boulangeres though, I would expect a "trained chef" to know the difference!

Anyway you can't please everyone and testament to the excellence of this restaurant is it is always full and mostly with regulars. I cannot wait for my next visit.
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david ginsberg - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, May 20, 2009

The food wasn't great- based on what I had for lunch today. Skate wing in "beurre noisette" sadly swimming in some oil with skin formed on top, gratin dauphinois: again separated potato slices swimming in endless oil. A simple Pea and bacon side dish: it looks like those sadly over cooked peas from the tin- with bacon pieces sweat in its own juice in stead of properly cooked crispy bacon pieces. The service... was interesting. Table was booked for outside sitting. It was very windy and cold when I got there. Asked the head waiter to change my table to indoor. "No" he said, "people are coming from the church after the service. It will be very busy." Now this is the interesting part. Is there a church finishing its Sunday service at 1pm? around the area? NO.

I am not going back. Not for the food. No. Definitely not for the service after I almost froze myself to death while having lunch there. Did it get busier after? NO. There were plenty tables indoor.

Maybe its just me. Not the food or the service. But then I am a chef myself and I saw them turning away 4 tables worth of potential walk in customers by telling them to sit outdoor. Now that is interesting for a restaurant which is opening for business.
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beverly
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Sunday, May 03, 2009

Had heard of this place and wanted to try it but evening started with a bad experience - taxi driver couldn't be bothered to help us find the place and dropped us off at the wrong end of Ebury Street (hence long, cold walk).

Our experience of the place was generally good - thought the menu offered a good selection, including some unusual things (I had jugged hare), and I enjoyed the candlelit atmosphere. But on the downside it was very tight - we were right near the door with people constantly squeezing past, and it looked like there were few better tables for two.

There was also definite pressure to leave by a certain time, and the thing I've now read about in other reviews, ie being given wine in a huge bottle and then being charged by the glass, is fair enough as long as it's explained to you on your first visit, which it wasn't so we were confused about whether we'd been given the wrong thing and what we might pay for it.

Despite the generally bad reviews, I would give it another try, maybe at a quieter time.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Sounds like the service and food are unpredictable. But I think I know the secret trick. We went to la Poule back in March 2008, for our third (or fourth?) visit, had our usual favourites off the (decently priced) Saturday lunch menu plus the magnums of house wine. We took my girlfriend's sister for her brithday lunch, plus another friend, as we'd been raving about La Poule to them. We loved it, they loved it. Just don't go expecting it to be what's not. It's good, solid French cooking. Not exceptional, but then again I don't think it ever claims to be. Go knowing what to expect and you won't be disappointed. Still, I'm not looking forward to the one time when we do go and are unhappy with the food or service. But that has not happened not yet. So, it's still one of our favourite Saturday lunchtime places.
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Toby and Claire
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, October 10, 2008

The atmosphere is good, charming, and cosy but for me romantic also means space for privacy.

I mean that I don't really find romantic to have a private conversation with your girlfriend sitting just 20 cm from the customer in the next table and this is because this is the tiniest restaurant I've ever seen, tables are just like 10 cm distance one each other with hardly space to move just a bit.

The staff is nice but they make so many mistakes, like giving me a spoon to eat the escargots, forgetting one of the main courses, giving me a different bottle of wine to the one I asked for and so on and so on.

I mean, this is nothing too serious to spoil your dinner but I don't think this restaurant is worth the &120 for two people that we paid (2 starters, 2mains, wine, 2 deserts and coffee). The quality of the food was just average if not so so.

I sum up there are many other romantic and nice french restaurants when you can get much more value for that money
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Ruben
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

when the waiter leant over to me and my party and quietly said that the food was not really that good and better to wait for deserts, it set the tone of the whole evening! The staff and atmosphere is lovely and we were made to feel very welcome, but really, the food is a total total letdown. Most of us didnt heed the waiters warning and left most of the grub on the plates! Looking around, most of the other customers were pulling faces or just pushing the plates away. If even the staff recommend we dont eat because he liked us, then no chance for anyone else! Would come again as the staff are so very sweet, but we would have to bring our own M & S picnic hamper!! is that allowed?
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Karen Connor
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 2
Monday, August 11, 2008

I have been to this restuarant 3 times and really love it. I have been just with my husband for a romantic meal as well as with a group. The atmosphere is friendly and cosy, the staff attentive, the food excellent and lovely wine - though they give it to you in a huge bottle and keep topping you up so you can get carried away and drink more than you thought you were!
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Jo Miller
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, July 08, 2008

This is one of our favourite restaurants in London - the food is simple and good - French rustic and doesn't pretend to be anything but. The chips are a speciality. We have friends from all over Europe who will not come to London without visiting. The atmosphere is friendly and the service is attentive and informal, We are treated like family. It offers great value at lunch for a prix fixe menu and is always busy and buzzy. House wine is offered in magnums (but you only pay for what you consume). Overall the experience every time we eat there is a great one: we have introduced lots of people to La Poule because we love it so and they all come away converted and anxious to return. Decor is ecclectic - seasonal flowers, lots of orchids and tiny posies on the tables (definitely not plastic, despite what some other reviews have said!). It has become our Sunday tradition.
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Amanda Stephenson-Carter
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, June 10, 2008

What's good? Friendly, informal service. Lively atmosphere.

What's not so good? Main thing, food. All pretty ordinary from the soup to the bread to the butter to the coffee to the wood pigeon to the red cabbage to the wine.

Other niggles. Plates so hot I got a minor burn, and not warned. Decor stuffed with random tat. Pretty expensive. No choice of wines by the glass. Service not really organised. No apparent assignment of tables to individual staff.
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Simon r
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Saturday, June 07, 2008