Porters English Restaurant

A rather tired and footsore family of four were in dire need of rest and refreshment last Sunday evening (4 May 2008).

Having enjoyed a Christmas evening meal with work colleagues at the restaurant two years ago I tentatively enquired as to the availability of a table for four aduls at very short notice. Delighted to be made welcome, we were superbly cared for by 'Chris' in the lower level dining room.

We are conscious that Chris was working flat out to meet the demands of a large family party and at least one other table or two so we especially wanted to write to you to commend him for his courtesy, diligence and good humour whilst under great pressure.

Needless to say the food was excellent with generous quantities and a credit to the Restaurant's commitment to keep faith with traditional English cuisine.

Thank you for rescuing and refreshing 4 weary travellers on a busy Bank Holiday weekend. We will be calling again and telling our friends!
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APS
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Had a wonderful meal at Porters on Sat 19th April following a show at The Dominion.

We arrived 45minutes earlier than our booking,and although the restaurant was packed we were accomadated straight away

I had the dressed norfolk crab for starter which was to die for followed by the salmon fillet for main which just melted in the mouth

Our waitress was 5*,very helpful,kind and efficient

The food and drinks were very reasonably priced, and will definately return in the future
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Julie
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Extremely disappointing - and embarrassing for my guests. Items selected from main menu were ok. Items from Sunday menu were nothing other than awful. £11.50 for piece of roast chicken and two roast potatoes - no veg! Part cooked micro-waved veg were £2.60 extra. Cauli was brown. Service was adequate but became stroppy when we said we were not paying £15 extra for service because of poor food. Would never want to go there again and could not possibly recommend. Presentable from outside and became quite busy too - must have been many disappointed customers. (Putting it politely). I would be ashamed to admit I was English based on this English restaurant.
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Michael L.
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Sunday, April 06, 2008

I prebooked a table at Porters for Mother's Day. I had never tried it before but thought I'd treat Mum to some traditional, hearty English fayre.

Firstly, having compared the Mother's Day set menu to the regular menu, it worked out approximately £5 more expensive per person, for exactly the same dishes...

Secondly, I ordered the steak pie with mashed potato but was told that there was no mashed potato available...strange, seeing as I could have new potatoes or a jacket potato.

I spoke to the somewhat abrupt manager, who explained that the mashed potato would not be ready for 2 hours...he then contradicted himself by telling me that the 'mash machine' (mash machine???) was not working today.

Sadly Mum and I chose to leave. What a completely ridiculous explanation for the lack of mashed potato!

If you're looking for friendly couteous service from people who actually care about their customer's, don't bother visiting Porters.
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Suzie MacAllan
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, March 02, 2008

The idea of this place is great, a traditional restaurant serving proper British food. Sadly, the food is poorly executed, service is slow, sullen and inept. I've eaten here four times since December 2007 (not my choice!) and on each occasion the service was appalling. The menu promises much, but what actually arrives at your table appears to be mass-produced, tastless and invariably luke warm.

They seem to be concentrating on dragging in unsuspecting tourists by emphasising the "Britishness". Unfortunately, the stereotypical view of the British having awful food is perfectly confirmed at Porters.
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CG
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Monday, February 04, 2008

This was the worst meal I've had in London. The service was ok, the atmosphere was dead even on a Friday night and the food nothing short of appalling. I'd be ambaressed to even call the food worthy of a restauarnt. I had the steak pie and it was bland, not to mention far too small. For some reason I decided to brave the pudding in the misguided assumption that things could only get better. Sadly my chocolate pudding was like eating cardboard and the sauce was worse than school dinner fare. My advice would be to avoid this place like the plague.
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James - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Monday, January 14, 2008

An average restaurant with OK food and would not be returning for a meal. Not an ideal location for a xmas party unless you actually want to escape the whole concept of xmas as the atmosphere proved to be very disappointing. And on another note, for some unknown reason there are chairs hanging off the ceiling, now whether that is an artistic touch or just bad interior design I will never know...!!!
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Jai Patel
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Friday, December 21, 2007

My meal was ok not the greatest not as bad as other reviews have made out. It really is the company that makes the night anyway. One of our dinner party guests complimented the microwave on leaving however.
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Alice
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 3
Friday, December 21, 2007

The single worst restaurant I've been to in London. Cold soup, indifferent service, cheap ingredients. It would appear they're hoping to cash in on the tourist market, as I can't imagine why anyone would return to this place. With its location, this place could single-handedly drive home the notion that British food is crap to London visitors. Unfortunate.
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The Queen Crab - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Monday, December 10, 2007

Went yesterday for Sunday lunch and it was terrible. I ordered Sunday roast and my wife had the chicken pudding with my in-laws both having the steak pie. My roast was stone cold and so was the wife’s pudding. The steak pies were hot but the chips were cold. The veg were terrible also, not cooked, cold and raw.

We sent all the meals back and the pudding came back cold again. This was sent back a second time and still was not hot when finally a third meal was sent. My replacement roast was cold with the Yorkshire puddings black and unappetising.

No apology was given, no excuses were given and no replacement food was offered. The manager was not apologetic but we were not charged for the food which was good as we did not eat it. We were charged for the drinks only with a service charge attached which we refused to pay.
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Andrew Rippingale
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, December 03, 2007