The Athenaeum

Booked the 50% off food offer, requiring us to book a table after 9.30pm. This was not a pleasurable experience. The quality of the food was average and not as good as expected. The big let down was the service. The waitress seemed to be unhappy with our 9.30 booking and was more interested in what was going on in the bar area than in providing good service. She didn't like the fact that we didn't take the bottled Hildon water at approximately £6 per bottle and her response to me pouring my own wine at one stage was 'oh my god'. She also came very close to spilling food over my wife's dress.

All in all- a disappointment, especially as this was my 50th birthday meal and we were staying at the hotel. When my wife conveyed our disappointment to the hotel staff, they provided recompense in the form of not charging us for breakfast the following morning.
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D Roberts
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 5
Saturday, May 14, 2011

Went here for a hen day girlie lunch on saturday and had a great experience.

The decor is safe and comfortably posh, although lacking a bit of personality.

With the lunchtime offer, the price was worth it. The food was OK, nice enough, good presentation, but nothing to write home about.

What really stood out for us was the outstanding friendliness and helpfulness of the staff! They were accomodating and understanding even when certain members of our party were late.. very late!

Complimentary water, coffee and truffles was a nice touch!

Thanks so much to the staff who made it an extra special experience for the bride to be :)
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Cherry - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, July 13, 2010

I went here for our office Christmas lunch, in a party of 10 people. The food was very good, although the service was disappointing.

First the food. We ate from the set lunch menu, which made it very good value. It would have been considerably more expensive to go a la carte. I had a truly excellent starter of watercress soup with truffle oil, which was delicious. My main course was lamb, which was good quality lamb, cooked to perfection, and served with delicious vegetables. Looking at the contented faces around the table I'd say that everyone else's meals were equally good. The only weak spot was the Welsh rarebit which I had as a savoury (instead of dessert), which was rather disappointing and much like the sort of cheese on toast you'd rustle up in 5 minutes at home.

The service, however, was not up to the same standard. I don't want to be too harsh, as our waiter was friendly and clearly well-meaning, but his good intentions were not matched by good training and support from the rest of the waiting staff. We waited about half an hour after we arrived before anyone had any wine. It took a while to get anyone's attention at all. When we did, and said we'd like to order wine, the waiter agreed that that was a reasonable request, and then disappeared again. When he finally came to take the order, we had another lengthy wait, before they brought a wine other than the one we'd ordered. More delay while they fetched the right one. Then it seemed to be a major undertaking for them to fetch wine glasses (mine was dirty and had to be sent back), which took far longer than you would imagine it could.

My main course didn't come with all the vegetables that had been promised on the menu. When I pointed out that I was still waiting for some veg, a waitress told me it was "just coming". A little while later, I asked another waiter, who also told me it was "just coming". A couple of further interactions later, I finally got my veg, but by this time I'd long since finished the rest of my main course.

They cleared the plates away from the main course while one of my colleagues was still eating, which I find extremely bad form.

My savoury, as well as being disappointing as mentioned above, was also very late, and wasn't served until after all my colleagues had finished eating their desserts (this might have been sensible if anyone had ordered both a dessert and a savoury, but given that no-one did, it wasn't). To be fair, the waiter was very apologetic about this, and offered me a complimentary glass of champagne by way of an apology.

All in all, although the food was excellent and very reasonably priced (dinner for 10 of us, with wine, came to about £400, which really is good value), the meal was rather let down by the bumbling amateurishness of the service.
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NautiusMaximus
7 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 10
Monday, December 21, 2009

Very good quality food, very good service. What more can you say?
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Alan McBride - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 7
Thursday, July 30, 2009

I went with my son for the lunch deal 3 courses with and a glass of champagne for £25.

The welcome was excellent in spite of the fact that my son looked like a tramp.

The surroundings are sumptuous and the tables well spaced so the acoustics are very good in comparison with many modern restaurants with their wooden floors, cramped tables and lack of furnishings. It does make a big difference.

The food was very good -small servings but adequate over the three courses.

The service was also very good except that the waitress -probably Eastern European couldn't understand my son asking her whether the fish was from sustainable sources. She thought he was asking how it was cooked. She didnt think to ask her manager.

A small criticism for an excellent lunch over a leisurely two and a half hours for £25 a head. Stunning value. Highly recommended.
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9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, March 17, 2009