Athenaeum

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

Athenaeum was a sheer delight. Having booked the three course set evening menu promotion I was a little apprehensive as to the quality I could expect to receive with the price being so reasonable but I can assure you both my mother and I were not disappointed.

I can thoroughly recommend this venue for a relaxed, indulgent and attentive dining experience. Thank you Athenaeum.
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- View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, January 19, 2009

Went there a few days ago and overall a very average experience.

We ordered the beef (starter) and a lamb from the a la carte menu. Both were pretty small portions given the price (I think the beef starter was 10-14 pounds and the lamb was over 25 pounds). On top of this, most of the lamb was in fact fat so pretty disappointing.

Despite the small portions the food did taste good so with bigger portions, who knows. The other thing I would say is the atmosphere inside is a bit dead - if you're going to go for the modern look, there needs to be a bit more ambience. Service was very good though.
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6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Sunday, July 20, 2008

My husband took me to Athenaeum for lunch on my birthday and it was absolutely lovely. The dining room is beautifully decorated with art deco pieces and enormous chairs to relax in and providing some privacy for an intimate meal.

We took the special lunchtime offer and had a lovely glass of champagne and three courses. We had the buffet selection for both starter and dessert it was a wide range of fresh and tasty options. The main course of fishcake on a bed of spinach was a little overwhelming with lots of flavours going on and a lot of food. No sides were required for us, but then we had filled up on the starters !!

We both enjoyed eating lunch here and would recommend it for the reasonable cost and luxury surroundings. It felt very decadant, but the service was polite and friendly without being overly invasive.
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S Rodgers
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Went here last night. Gorgeous surroundings which you cannot fault. Lovely waiter who helped us with our selection of pre-dinner drinks in the bar area. Food, actually was not all that - the choice from the set menu seemed like they knocked it together for the sake of it and as it was Sunday night. Service was good apart from the maître d' who seemed rather hurried (despite a far from busy evening) and abrupt. Our party consisted of 4 diners, 3 of whom ordered from the set menu and thus took up the £24 offer, the other from the a la carte menu. When the maître d' brought the bill she had charged the £24 for 4 plus the a la carte selections. When queried she said she had thought that was what had happened - in which case why did she even bring the incorrect bill in the first place - and that she blamed her hair colour. Indeed.

Overall a pleasant evening with good company (which we supplied!) and lovely surroundings. Champagne to start the meal and coffee and truffles to end, was a nice touch. Though, in between, the food was average and not worth paying for if you do not have this offer. Also if you do not eat beef (as none of us did) your choice can be somewhat limited. And watch out for the pre-dinner drinks prices.

Nice for the one visit. Won't be returning.
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7 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 5
Monday, April 21, 2008

I enjoyed a wonderful meal at Athenaeum last week - I loved my first course of seared scallops with pea puree, red wine and shallot jus. The accompaniments were just light enough to allow the delicious, delicate flavour of the scallops to come to the fore. This was possibly excelled by my main course of confit of duck with glazed onions, wild mushrooms and spinach. The duck was very slightly rarer than I requested, but the quality of meat was such that I didn't mind. The flavours and textures were balanced beautifully, while the portion size was more than adequate. My pudding of an Easter brownie rounded my meal off nicely. It was not a complex dish; I appreciated a simple - yet effective - dose of chocolate after my more complicated earlier courses.

My husband is a vegetarian and far harder to please when we dine out. Vegetarian options are often an afterthought, and can be far less exciting than the meat and fish dishes. However, he was really happy with his starter of goat’s cheese with citrus salad and orange balsamic reduction. The quality was maintained with his main meal of squash tortellini and ricotta in mature cheddar sauce. This sounds quite simple, but was presented thoughtfully and looked very appealing. It also tasted great, I understand!

Athenaeum is a very smart venue, but the service was far less formal and stuffy than I expected; indeed, it was exceptionally warm and friendly. The restaurant itself is beautiful and grand, with luxurious seating. This reflects the general comfort of the public areas of the hotel.

We were eating under a set meal deal (which included champagne and tea/coffee) and thought this was excellent value, although wine was expensive. The service charge is not added automatically, which is one of my pets hates - I wish other restaurants would take note! Overall, I loved the Athenaeum and would not hesitate to recommend it to others.
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dawnage - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Lovely restaurant.

I took my sister there for lunch and overall it was lovely. The waiting staff were helpful but seemed a bit confused that we wanted just a 2 course lunch and not the three and the maitre d had to sort it out. The staff were friendly and polite when you got their attention but generally they seemed to be rushing for unknown purposes as the starter and dessert were help yourself, we just kept seeing them go in and out of a door (possibly to the kitchen?) but not bringing any food. Each time you wanted something you had to ask. They forgot the yorkshire pudding with my roast beef and truffles with our coffee. The roast beef was a bit dry and the horseradish and creme brulee tasteless but overall the food was good and of a good quality.

The setting is very nice and comfortable and it's great the hotel is opposite Green Park so you can walk off the big lunch.

If it wasn't for the set menu deal I'm not sure the Athenaeum is worth it but as the deal seems to be on going it's a great place to go but not somewhere if you really want to impress.
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Alex TG
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Friday, March 21, 2008