Villandry
special offer
Special Offer only available online - please book above
50% off the total food bill
Offer Details: ...from the a la carte menu. Includes Vat, excludes service. Please note there is a turnaround time of two hours on all tables.
Available: Monday, Tuesday 18:30 to 22:30. Friday 18:30 to 22:30. Saturday 12:00 to 22:30.
Maximum people: 6
Terms: Expires 31st July 08
our comments
Making our way past the swanky Friday night crowd toasting TGIF with champagne at the pavement bar outside, we entered Villandry's restaurant through the deli and foodstore. Gourmet chocolate, Secretts Farm salad greens and rather bizarrely copies of the latest celebrity chef copout 'Nigella Express' stocked the shelves, alongside a formidable selection of French charcuterie ,but we soon forgot Nigella and got our own Friday feeling as we nestled into a comfy corner table in the dining room.
Inviting, darkly-lit and calm almost to the point of being serene, the restaurant is an appealing contrast to the drinking crowds outside. Hard to believe that this 100-seater temple of ochre and dark wood has its roots in the original, tiny and ramshackle shop that was Villandry when it first opened 17 years ago.
When the menus arrived we could have easily been in a Parisian neighbourhood brasserie with the white paper and chunky typeface proclaiming the rota of 'plat du jour' specials for each weekday and a boxed in section highlighting the selection of oysters and crustacea.
And brasserie style cooking is what Villandry does, and it does it well. No foaming canisters or sous-vide nonsense, the menu is just seasonal and varied enough to keep things interesting but stops short of foraying into ground-breaking territory.
With ingredients like white asparagus, globe artichokes and pea shoots on the menu, the chef clearly cares about the ingredients he is serving and the combinations are well thought out. A starter of ham hock salad with pickled wild mushrooms and sauce gribiche was delicious with lots of nice sharp dressing. The hot smoked salmon on pea puree with caper dressing was equally tasty with generous, fat chunks of salmon served just the right temperature on a sweet and velvety puree.
A main course of calf's liver on creamed polenta with sauce diable arrived branded with an unapologetic grid of grill marks seared across it. Crisp, buttery and perfectly pink inside, the liver could have single-handedly undone some of the damage that school dinners have given liver in the British psyche. Crunchy strips of bacon, sage and the sauce diable (a rich reduction of stock, mustard and herbs) made for flavourful accompaniments and the polenta nicely soaked up all the juices. A second main of scallops on creamed leeks with yet more bacon were beautifully caramelised if a little bland.
The desserts offering was a little on the dull side unless sorbet and cheese are your thing. Rhubarb crumble and white chocolate cake with strawberries were ok but the calories could have been better spent elsewhere. Perhaps next time we'll keep things French and stick to tarte tatin and the cheese plate. After our brief tour of their deli counter - we suspect that the cheese selection would keep all but the most refined lactophile happy.
Service was professional, humane and discreet with the kind of staff that would cope equally graciously with a romantic table for two playing footsie or a gaggle of children engaged in fisticuffs at a 12 seater family outing. You get the sense that they have seen it all and bat few eyelashes.
Perhaps the nicest thing about Villandry was the sense that we weren't being rushed. That feeling of being able to settle into a table for the night is such a rarity in London where tables are being turned faster than you can say 'lobster foam'. Here you really feel like you can kick back a little and put your feet up. Metaphorically that is.
Overall, the food at Villandry will never be referred to as groundbreaking, but in a city like London where every moron with a foaming canister and a 2 week stage at El Bulli calls himself a pioneer, Villandry's quietly consistent food could easily be considered a blessing
J.K. - April 2008
your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne
The food is nice, very nice really, but it should be at these prices. the service was another matter. I was alone for lunch, it was just before 12, I asked if lunch was being served yet and was told yes and shown a table. The waitress (sullen and unsmiling girl) then told me, when I tried to order, that "we don't serve lunch until 12". It was precisely 11.58.
Feeling annoyed but not feeling like bothering to go somewhere else, I said I could wait two minutes to order my food. I then ordered a glass of wine and some water. I had to ask for the water twice and by the time it arrived I had nearly finished the wine, not the way it should be.
The pepper and salt pots on the table were empty. I just could not be bothered by this stage to ask the sullen one to fill them, no doubt this would have taken ages.
For these prices I expect much better service.
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Nikki
Overall rating 
Food 7 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Friday, July 04, 2008
Can't rate the food as we walked out before we ordered. Sat at an inside table and were completely ignored. Had to ask someone to come and take our order (we were beginning to think we had to order at the counter). Rude waitress arrived and got very cross with us as we ordered food before deciding what drinks to have. At this point we just got up and walked out.
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Overall rating 
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Had a super dinner at the Villandry with friends.
Completely recommend the macaroni and cheese and the vegetables with the anchovy dip as a starter and the calfs liver as a main course. The parmesan fries and courgettes were pretty great as well as sides. To top it off we had the baked alaska which was a fabulous end to the meal.
Would recommend going to Villandry on a walm balmy summer evening (rare in London I know) and sitting outside.
Good service and great wines.
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Sheirna Petit
Overall rating 
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Quite quite the worst meal out for the price i and partner have ever had in London. Opted for the red mullet soup (canned bisque from the super tastes better, and less watery). Then came the chicken-literally a chicken breast with a blob of tomato on top and some rocket.
The hot smoked salmon on pea mash-well once again: pop to the supermarket and you'd do a better job.
Tiny portions, bland tastes and a total rip off.
oh and the barman needs to lose the attitude and smile a bit
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Angus B
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Dinner at Villandry Friday evening as part of London Restaurant Week. We were given a nice table despite being there on a special deal and were never rushed.
The food was wonderful all around: the red mullet soup delicious. We all enjoyed our mains, including the sea bream and roasted chicken. A reasonably priced South African Chenin Blanc was a good recommendation from our waiter.
The one drawback for what was otherwise a lovely evening was the wait staff that was a bit amateurish. When asked a few small details about ingredients of the food just served to our table, the waiter didn’t know and had to go back to ask. Another waiter opened a bottle of champagne behind us and sprayed the entire back of my husband’s just cleaned suit jacket. Waiter never made a move to address it….only when I got up out of my seat to wipe it off did he fumble over and say ‘sorry about that’ before scurrying away. Shame that the same care over the food and ingredient selection isn’t given to training the staff.
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Overall rating 
Food 10 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Sunday, April 20, 2008
I visited Villandry on the off chance one Friday evening, as it was near by to my work and had always wanted to go, even though i have heard nothing yet mixed reviews about it. My friend and i were greeted by a charming female manager who even let us select our own table when we arrived late! This plesant service continued throughout the entire evening. Our waiter, was obviously very busy, yet still attentive and friendly to all our needs. The food was delicous, i would highly recommend the crudites and the Mussels are to die for! It was was a lovely night, in a cosy and rustic setting, a place that i would definately recommend and return, regardly of what the critics say!
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Overall rating 
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Sunday lunch at Villandry was a very depressing affair. If memory serves, Giles Coren reviewed Villandry rather unfavourably in The Times about 18 months ago, and I wondered whether that had inspired them to improve. It hasn't. The basics are just not right. Water served in a dirty jug; a limp and unappealing rocket and parmesan salad; scrambled eggs the consistency of an overcooked omelette; elusive waiter. A lovely room that could be so much better, but my advice is: Avoid.
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Overall rating 
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Monday, February 25, 2008
Following a friend's recommendation, I went to villandry on a Friday night with my boyfriend to celebrate a special occasion. Upon arrival, I was firstly awed by the elegant yet warming atmosphere. However, when I was showed to my table in the main restaurant, I was immediately dismayed as it was in a corner right by the exit with a huge menu covering the street view behind me. The food menu was ordinary and typical, nothing exquisite like the French cuisine I expect them to be. We decided to try the more extraordinary food such as the terrine of foie gras and artichokes as starters and duck confit and sea bream for mains. However, my boyfriend had extreme difficulty trying to figure out how to eat the artichokes and his sea bream was...lets say a very weird combination of the chinese black bean sauce and pan-fried sea bream which reminded mi a little of fish and chips. My cassoulet of duck confit was most disappointing because it tasted like heinz bake beans and roast chicken. Then, we decided to try out their dessert, in hope that the final course would change our impression of the restaurant. However, we had to wait for half an hour before we got hold the waiter's attention, another half hour before the dessert arrived and finally another half before we got our bill. By the end of the meal, we were very tired of waiting for the waiters and were just desperate to get out of the restaurant. Personally, I would definitely not return to the restaurant and for others. I had chosen to come to the restaurant despite having read some negative reviews and thought to myself, perhaps it might be worth a shot, but trust me, it's not. London has more to offer elsewhere definitely.
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Sunday, February 24, 2008
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
