L'Estaminet

This restaurant has now closed. A new place has just opened on the site (The Forge) which I am trying out on Friday.
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

L'Estaminet has to be the finest French Restuarant I have been to in many years. The snails are good, the chateaubriand is delicious and the chariot de fromage is unsurpassed. Excellent wine list and great advice from the staff. Thanks for making my anniversary meal so special!
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David
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Friday, October 06, 2006

This is a pretty and restful room off Garrick Street, and the pre-theatre menu at £16.50 for three courses was just about interesting enough to plump for over the rather pedestrian a la carte. I went for tartlette au fromage as a starter (cheese on toast) followed by steak bavette which was excellent. Dessert was a chocolate maquise with raspberries. The maquise was dry and the raspberries were a spludge. But OK as a pre theatre meal. When the bill arrived however they had charged us for each item separately and one of our party with an eye for financial detail realised they had overcharged us by a whopping £16.50. They put it right but without a word of apology. Nice enough meal but a nasty taste.
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David Coleman
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Friday, August 18, 2006

L'Estaminet used to be one of the better restaurants in the West End but now, like so many other restaurants in this area, it seems to rely on easy tourist money. We had a terrible meal there last night.

The service was awful: very young, untrained waiters who don't know that you should clear the appetizer plates before you serve the main course. They got some orders wrong, but their English was so poor that eventually we realised that they could not understand our requests: an order for coffee brought a creme brulee (after we had already had dessert!). Worse, one waiter was wearing a large bandage on one of the fingers of the hand he was serving with - probably unhygienic, definitely unappealing.

The food was mediocre at best - my fish was dry and overcooked, and yet it wasn't even warm. Similarly, the roasted potatoes were cooked to the point of being far too soft but they were served almost cold. The chocolate tart was sickly sweet and nearly inedible.

They could not even make a decent gin and tonic: it was a watery concoction with melted ice cubes.

At £43 each, this just isn't good enough.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, July 19, 2006

I had never been to this restaurant before and to be honest had looked up lots of places on the net and read the reviews. the L"Estaminet had some fine reviews and as it was near the theatre we were visiting later we chose it. we chose the chateaubriand as a main course and i can only describe it as the best meat dish i have tasted, it was heavenly. after we left for the theatre i felt so good that had the show been poor (which thankfuly it wasn't) i still had the memory of our meal. i highly recommend this restaurant.
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Ray Kelly
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, May 01, 2006

Visited this restaurant last month and both myself and my boyfriend really enjoyed it. It was busy but the table was quite private and romantic. The service was good and the food was lovely.

There was a good variety of main courses which were delicious. This was followed by a cheeseboard with a great selection of cheeses and we were also tempted by the mouth-watering array of desserts.

Overall the food was great, the service was quiet but more than sufficient and the venue was perfect.

Once we had finished dining we were then only minutes away from some great bars...perfect!
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Joanne
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Thursday, March 23, 2006

Ate here last night having had a peek through the window to see a warm and inviting looking restaurant.

The service was amazing - it seemed like there were only two tables per waiter/waitress and each one of them (and the boss!) would wait on us at one point, sometimes all at once! (bringing food, pouring wine, clearing table, bringing more bread, checking we were happy, etc)

Although not the cheapest of eateries, the dishes were of a more than reasonable size and all tasted fantatsic (we had the scallops, duck & fois gras salad to start, pheasant and venison as mains).

The cheese selection is not only quite extensive, but the suggestions made by our waiter turned out to be fantastic.

The dessert selection consisted of a selection of tarts and a couple of other things. Although the tarts don't look too great, I had the pear one and thoroughly enoyed every bite - every mouthful bordering on "too" rich, but not quite crossing that line.

Add to that a very nice wine, a smooth coffee, flawless service, and a full stomach and you've got a couple of happy customers ready to make this a regular outing.
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Robin Osborne
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, March 16, 2006

We have recently had the pleasure of eating here for the second time and enjoyed the same high standard. A very professional and comfortable restaurant.
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Sandra Blackford
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, March 14, 2006

I have eaten at this restaurant several times. The food is excellent and the atmosphere very relaxed. It is nice to be able to find such an old fashioned comfortable restaurant.left in Central London.
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Adam Wiles
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, February 08, 2006

we went there some time ago, the food was good but the staff and owner were not pleasant at all. i wouldnt go there again
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Saturday, January 28, 2006