Cannizaro House

We unfortunately booked lunch at this dreadful house. The website said 'Cannizaro House is a glamorous gem of a hotel, offering the very best of country house living with a modern twist'. The only accurate phrase in the description was 'modern twist' - hamburgers and chips served to the hoards of feral children screaming on the terrace and fighting on the grass just yards away from the restaurant. Staff constantly walked through the restaurant carrying trays full of the cleared remains of the burgers and used napkins - very off putting!

The menu was hardly exciting offering 2* food at 5* prices. Despite side plates, side knives and one wrapped butter pat on the table, the supermarket bread was not offered until we were half way through the main course. The starter of fish adorned with a few pea shoots was served in a 'kilner jar' and was bland but we did eat the fish and left the pea shoots. The main course of dry salmon on a bed of mash, was adorned with the same pea shoots we had with the starter but the dish tasted slightly better than it looked. Would we go again to the Cannizarro House again? Certainly not!
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Meg
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I was stunned at how poor the food was here, especially given how expensive it was. The food looked fantastic, but tasted of nothing. One of our main courses (the 4hour beef) was actually unpleasant. Redeeming features were the staff, who were attentive and fun, and the ability to enjoy a cocktail outside beforehand.
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seb
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Monday, April 16, 2007

Reading the reviews after going for the meal is probably not the brighest way to find out if its a good place to eat. I cannot believe it is the same place. The management must have done something spectacular over the last few months as the food and service was excellent. Nothing more to say except its obviously improving on a month by month basis.
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Gavin Rigby
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, January 25, 2007

We nearly cancelled our lunch booking given the recent negative reviews on this website but since we are regular visitors to the bar of the hotel we decided to give the restaurant the benefit of the doubt. I am glad to say we were not disappointed. We chose the foie gras and chicken liver parfait to start, followed by rump of lamb and pork belly. All dishes were cooked to perfection and artfully presented. Our desserts and the cheese platter were equally delicious and the unobtrusive but friendly service allowed us to spend over two hours enjoying a long lunch. We took our coffee in the lounge/bar area and once again reflected on how how charming and relaxing we find the atmosphere at Cannizaro House. Our meal included a glass of champagne each and an average priced bottle of red wine and with service we paid £60 a head, which for the whole experience was well worth the price.
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johannson 22 December 2006
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Our dinner at Cannizaro started badly when we arrived to find a wedding party in full swing in the bar area (lots of drunken people, massive noise level, impossible to reach the bar and loud disco music being played over the speakers). Had I been informed of the wedding when I booked our table (for Saturday evening), I would have chosen another restaurant.

We were shown to our table on time (8.45) but were then left with our menus and wine list for an eternity. It appeared that a large table had been set aside as a creche for the children attending the wedding. This table was in the main dining room (although there did appear to be a door which could have been closed) so when the very small children got bored, they started running amongst the diners with no reproach from their parents. We eventually ordered at 9.10 and then waited. And waited. Then the fire alarm went off (deafening). No one seemed to be making a rush for the exit so we and the other diners remained at our tables. Once the alarm had stopped the manager came to each table to apologise that a person from the wedding party had been smoking in a non smoking area. And still we waited. At 9.40 our starters arrived. Our waitress was very apologetic about the delay. She was very sweet and appeared to be the only member of staff doing any work. The starters were very disappointing - the gravadlax marinated in beetroot was almost tasteless and the seared scallops tasted of nothing but dirty cooking oil / butter - the pan had obviously not been changed in between servings.

Then began the long wait for our main courses. Again our waitress was very apologetic. The food eventually arrived at 10.10. The sea bass was completely tasteless with a very un-crispy skin and the fillet of beef could have been any red meat it had so little flavour.

At this point we decided to cut our losses and head for home on the basis that taking a risk on the desserts would be foolishness in the extreme. We were offered our wine on the house as compensation for the poor service. The evening was a disaster (we even had to complain about the Ladies toilet facilities which had been left in a disgusting state by members of the wedding party) and a complete waste of money. The only good thing about Cannizaro House is its setting.
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McCarthy
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, December 03, 2006

i booked this place for my civil partnership last weekend.

The athmosphere was terrfic . its an old house done upto the hilt and very tastefully set in beautiful gounds. Just how i had hoped.

The service .. well its true to say staff tried to attend your every need but bottles of wine are held away from the table and there were times i found that frustrating, waiting for glasses to be refilled. But the wine was superb both red and white. We could have knocked back tonnes of it, had it been on the table. Why they could not place bottles on the table is beyond me. if your going there ask them to do that rather than go thirsty.

the starters were excellent. very tastifully done, and extremely tastey . Mind you we had to wait best part for an hour for em. but then we were in no hurry and just taking things easy. (note the place was not packed as it was 1pm sat, a wedding arrived later and I felt sorry for anyone looking for service after that ). There were 10 in our party. The main course when it arrived again was very nice, although my duck was slightly on the cold side. but very very taste smoked it was and it was excellent taste wise . Comments were made on the lack of vegatables or offer of vegatable side dishes . we spent 3.5hours having our meal and decided to take coffee back at the house as we could have been there all night.

I have no regrets about going there. I wanted the athmosphere more than the food, and i know we had heaps of time anyway, and the review previously mentioned delays in service. We did see some people having AFTERNOON TEA there and it looked fantastic place to go for afternoon TEA. I will send a note of thanks to the manager whom i never met, but will add he should place wine bottles nearer the table in future, if he is not going to assign people to wait in the restaurant hall to re-fill glasses.

it was about £50ph but for athmosphere alone i think it was worth it. pop along for afternoon TEA and judge things for yourself, its just north of wimbledon village, off the common
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Paul
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Sunday, October 08, 2006

I wish that I had read some of the reviews and not bothered with dining at the Common Restaurant at Cannizaro House. We took our parents in law there to celebrate their wedding anniversary and were bitterly dissappointed and embarrased by the fawlty tower going-ons of the entirely inept staff. Our main corses did not arrive till 10:15pm which is unacceptable for a 8:30 sitting. At one stage a fellow diner came over and asked us if we'd like a pizza as he was about to ring and order one. The wine was set aside in an ice bucket away from the table and 1) the staff were just not there to re-fill glasses so we spent half the evening thirsty and 2) a waitress poured water into our wine glasses and then offered to replace the spoilt glasses of wine with a bottle of water. Eh? How do you work that one out? I agree with some of the other reviewers that the food was blend and poor value against the prices charged. The mushroom rissotto was tasty but lacked mushrooms. The chicken liver parfait was ok. The duck confit was a duck leg served in an awkward to eat soup dish and although the texture was good was bland in taste. The tuna starter was nice apparently. Three main courses finally came but one was missing and so we sat there staring at our plates of food while waiting for the final dish to show up (in a fawlty tower move a waiter looked around our table and commented, hmmmm I think something is missing, no?) The steaks were nice (of course they had to give the guy who asked for medium rare the well done and vice versa). The sea bass was tasteless. The pork belly was so hard I couldn't cut through it with the inappropriate cuttlery (and I wish they'd not provide that awful sour apple lumps). The bill came, it was wrong and they had forgotten to deduct the £80 deposit that I had paid. We did speak to the manager who said he totally agreed with our comments of bad service and bad food and the reason he gave was that all the clients had come in together between 7:30 and 9pm and it was too busy. What a pathetic excuse. And dispite agreeing with our suffering we were not offered even a glass of water as an apology. We will not be wasting our time to go back to the common restaurant at Cannizaro house. This is such a shame as the venue is gorgeous and we live a stone's throw away. But nah, one fawlty tower experience is enough. We strongly do not recommend this restaurant. Don't go there.
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Rittie
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Sunday, July 09, 2006

After struggling to find a restaurant on a bank holiday monday and perusing the website, anticipation was high. Property and grounds appeared excellent as was the lounge area. We were presented with the limited lunch menu and the'common wine list'. The wine selected was served a little too close to room temperature but was chilled further on request. We had starters of tuna salad and chicken liver parfait. The tuna a little undercooked but otherwise pleasant, the chicken liver lacked sufficient toasted bread to accompany such a large portion. The main course was sirloin steak with hand cut chips and salad, we requested a peppercorn sauce for both diners which duly arrived on one plate only, situation was rectified. For dessert a selection of English and French cheeses was chosen along with soem form of apple dessert. n Th waitress had no idea what selection of cheese was available and insisted on telling us it was a selection when we enquired. Considering there was a 2.50GBP supplement it was the poorest cheese plate imaginable, five or six cheeses of tiny amounts, and to finish it off the restaurant had run out of crackers and biscuits. The apple dish was unremarkable with apple sorbet. As we were leaving we overheard the waiter informing the adjacent table there was no banana left for the banana desert!

Overall the facilities are pleasant and some of the cooking was to a reasonable standard however the waiting staff although pleasant really do let the service down, any idea of fine dining is laughable if a restaurant cannot secure crackers/biscuits and bananas inside the M25 even on a bank holiday!
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GF
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, May 30, 2006

This is the wrost meal I have eaten. I would not recommend it. The chef is not able to deliver on even the simplest of meals. The meals arrived cold, were tasteless and the entire group of people had a negative experience. This is NOT a restaurant I would recommend. WE went there for a special meal with high expectations and were very disappointed.
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Sarah Miller
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Visited the Cannizaro House restaurant for dinner, having been there several times in the past. Upon entering the Hotel, it was apparent that significant changes had been made. It transpires that the property changed hands early in 2005 (formerly owned by Thistle). Overall, the standard and ambiance has declined markedly. Whereas the Cannizaro used to offer high class dining in a refined setting, it now offers rather bland fare in a setting more like an up-market pub. This impression owes much to the prominent and newly installed bar just outside the formal dining room and the overly loud music playing in the background. This renders the famous Cannizaro grand piano redundant, although apparently not out of bounds of any inebriated customer who wishes to expose his lack of musical talent to all else present.

Inside the restaurant, the decor is basically the same as before but the noise level was constantly much higher due to the proximity of the bar outside. This, again with the accompanying background music, was intrusive indeed.

We were all disappointed by the fare with, for example, the mushroom risotto certainly under-represented in the mushroom department. My fellow diners were also surprised to see that the duck confit comprised an entire quarter of duck, reasonably prepared but basically bland. The main courses (beef, pheasant and duck again) also fell short of the mark, the beef and duck in particular being unusually tough to the point of presenting a challenge. By this time, we were not too surprised that the desserts disappointed also, with one extraordinary creme brule taking top prize for blandness (a huge portion that again made it unmanageble quite apart from the lack of any real cream content).

Overall, the restaurant has taken a big step backwards under the new ownership. The new proprietors seem to be aiming for an entirely different type of clientele. As a result, the Cannizaro no longer offers the classic, high quality dining experience that it once did. Expect plentiful but bland fare; not good value at these prices. There are much better offerings in Surrey.
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RT
Tuesday, November 08, 2005