Villandry

We took a chance on Villandry despite so many negative reviews, and were very happy we did! Perhaps those who have bad experiences are more likely to write these reviews? We were given a good table on a crowded Friday night even though our food was 50% off through a special internet offer. The young woman who served us was efficient, helpful and friendly, and we had a lovely meal for four with an excellent bottle of wine. The (vegetarian) onion soup was especially good, but everything else – lamb, bream, chicken, and pasta - was delicious, and desserts were outstanding.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, February 05, 2008

My husband and I had supper in the bar areas last night and I have to say that I was really surprised at just how poor and expensive the food was. My husband had a main course of pasta, which was the size of a reasonably modest starter in most places. The cost was £13 and the taste very indifferent. I ordered fish and chips, at £17. The fish consisted of 2 prawns and three small chunks of other types of fish, all covered with a large frizz of curly lettuce to disguise the size (the lettuce did not have a drop of dressing on it either). The choice of fish was strange, why deep fry tuna and salmon? Chips were indifferent. Overall the quality of food was comparable to what I might expect in my local (Tooting, South London) caff or pub. There are no other words to describe it but (if you will excuse the 70s phrase) rip-off! We have not eaten in the main restaurant, but if this is what they serve in the bar then clearly the food in the main restaurant will be bad and over-priced. I am quite surprised by this as in general, there are more and more good quality restaurants in London serving good food at reasonable prices, I cannot think that this place can carry on for much longer like this, relying presumably on passing/one off trade. I work just around the corner so we thought we might as well try it, but we will not come back here to eat.
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Tara
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Saturday, December 01, 2007

very good experience all round food and service 1st class.
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don
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Saturday, November 17, 2007

Wow, Ordinary with a capital 'O'.

The menu uninspiring. The food is so bland. The wine list ok. The bathrooms good. The service terrible.

We felt robbed when the bill arrived!
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Peach
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, October 16, 2007

We ate dinner here last week on a Friday night and the restaurant was less than half-full. Food was average to bad especially as even with 30% off, 2 courses and one bottle of wine between four was £35+ each. My main course of pasta was tiny and tasted like a can of dolmio had been put on it, and that was £14!!

Worst of all was the service. I can handle average but competent food if the atmosphere is nice, but we had to ask and second guess for every single thing, from bread to finger bowls for the mussels, and it somehow took us more than 2 hours to eat.

Espressos were brought out ten minutes before the dessert which is quite backwards in my book!

Very disappointing and would never come back.
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Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Friday, September 28, 2007

My Mother and I visited Villandry last night. I was very impressed with the relaxed yet personal atmosphere in such a large restaurant. I liked the mix of people, some coming in to buy some c heese and a bottle of red on their way home and others, like us. We had the French Onion soup to start which was exactly the same as the one I'd had in Paris last year. Sublime! Truely delicious. We then shared some Salmon and a Belly of Pork sandwich. This is was generous but a little dry and not as tasty as I hoped it would be.

Towards the end of our meal I visited the toilet which I must say was lovely. I loved the low set of everything and the lightening/sinks were fab. I then realised that there wasn't a toilet for my disabled and wheelchair bound Mother. This was confimed by our waitress (who was lovely by the way) and again the Manager - Kathy Gibson. I was disappointed that we'd not been told about this and to be honest, very surprised that in such a big place, they couldn't fit a disabled toilet. The staff were apologetic but that didn't help our situation.....we'd been there nearly 3 hours. So what was a good night and meal with some nice (but expensive) wine, turned into a journey back to Paddington in a panic......desperate to find somewhere that does cater for disabled people. Shame.
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Sarah
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Having, on many occasions, treated myself and family to the lovely bread and pastries from the shop I thought it would be a good choice for coffee and snacks at the end of a long week. Positives first and the coffee was lovely and service good. But we choose a couple of "sharing" plates --potato wedges (£5) and some sausages (£6). Both the dips were good but the sausages for sharing consisted of 5 (yes that's 5) thin chipoltas to share. So unless you are a party of 5 (not very hungry) people some dissection is necessary. The wedges amounted to a small potato when reassembled but you did get 6 which was at least a better number. Unfortunately they were not crispy but undercooked, bland and tasted like they had been microwaved. There were also no condiments on the table..

But on the bright side I bought some lovely bread and cakes to take home on the way out.
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Londonrom
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Saturday, September 22, 2007

villandry has got better and better over the last year well done and thank you

bar menu much improved
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duncan and trish
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, September 13, 2007

I had a fabulous dinner last night. I recommend the steak tartar, perfectly prepared with the right amount of spices and beautiful crispy chips. The maitre 'd was charming and he suggested we had the banana tatin tatin and the chocolate cake which was to die for but wished he had offered a dessert wine, I didn't think about this until it was too late.

Well done! I will definately go back
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, August 28, 2007

We had a lovely evening here on friday. very relaxed ambience and friendly yet relaxed service.

I had the terrine of foie gras to start followed by the steak which was cooked beautifully. My friend had the french onion soup which he said was really good but very filling followed by the chicken.

The eton mess for dessert rounded off a very pleasent night. I will be back.
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Mary
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, August 28, 2007