Back To Basics

Don't choose this restaurant if you have a Times £5 for 2 courses offer or any other promotion. I went the other night with my friend and the dishes on this menu were fourth rate compared with what we saw on the plates of other diners. The size of my trout was insulting - it was about an inch wide and 3 inches long and the rest of the dish was made up of mountains of couscous. What there was of it was nice enough but there were no veggies in sight so if you wanted a nutritionally balanced meal you had to order that separately adding another fiver to the bill.

Presumably the idea of this was not to make money (obviously) but to find new customers. However treating people like 2nd class citizens isn't a good way to get people to come back for seconds.

This offer was clearly undertaken begrudgingly. The surly, unfriendly attitude of the manager (no eye contact policy) didn't help either. The waitress was nice but her English was so poor she couldn't understand 'side salad'.
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Madeleine
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Saturday, January 29, 2011

Just read very bad comments about the best fish place in London and that is true that people love to say bad words then good. If you don't believe me check on tv. There is more war, racism, fights, dying, terrorism etc.

I've eaten at back to basics many times. Always enjoyed and every time having new experience. The service is wonderful, ladies friendly and chaty.

I love BTB!!! And if I could I would give you a million on each position but I can only 10. You deserve it XXX
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Karolina
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, November 01, 2010

We were passing by this restaurant on our way to Oxford Street and haven't even planned on going to eat anywhere but there was a couple sitting outside enjoying their meal when I noticed a plate of beautiful oysters served on ice on their table and that was it for me, simply had to try them. We were welcomed with a smile as soon as we entered the restaurant (the staff is very friendly) The choices on the menu are fabulous!!!!! I never knew fish could be done in sooo many different ways, it took us ages to decide what we would have. In the end we opted for the oysters to start with (12 to share between the 2 of us) and they were exceptional.

For our mains I ordered the sea bass with stir fried veg in a wonderfully flavoured sauce with soy and chilli, the combination of it all was amazing, my husband had fillets of mullet in a shellfish curry which he also enjoyed very much being a curry lover. After the oysters and the mains we could not find any room left for dessert (the portions are very generous) which was a shame as I would have loved to try the chocolate fondants. All in all we were very pleased with ourselves for having to discovered this gem of a restaurant. We will definitely go back for more and anyone who likes fish or want's to try something different should also go there. Fantastic!!!!

P.S. Having read some of the reviews below makes me wonder if only people who are dissatisfied in some way are bothered to write reviews, there should definitely be more of the complimentary for this place.
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Claudia
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, September 20, 2010

A friend of ours had recommended this restaurant to us and im so happy she did. We went to Back to Basics on a Friday evening and it was busy, noisy and full of caracter, the food was amazing. I had the wing of skate which was cooked to perfection along with glazed carrots. Its such a nice change to find an independently owned restaurant in central London that hasn't given up its core value of providing fresh fish in favour of becoming part of a large chain. The waitress were friendly and we ended up have a long conversation about this and that. Since my first visit i have returned with colleagues and they all loved it. Two bits of advice, firstly i recommend you make a reservation as this is a small restaurant and does get full and secondly dont be surprised if some of the menu options are crossed out towards the end of the evening as this fish is only ordered daily.
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Daniel
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Saturday, September 18, 2010

After not having visited this restaurant for many years we thought we'd give it another try, but I wish we hadnt bothered. Our waitress was extremely rude throughout the whole meal, and service was very slow - there were only 2 waitresses serving the whole restaurant (its not very big but they could have done with one more).

The starters were actually quite tasty - we had mussels as well as oysters. Main course was a disaster though. I had the lemon sole which had a very strange taste and did not taste like the catch of the day at all, more like the catch of last week. The waitress actually got very defensive and annoyed with us for asking when it was caught and when we told her it didnt taste fresh.

In terms of value for money - the fish was £18 fish - a lot of money to pay for unfresh fish with a nasty taste. Good choice of wines, but the cheapest bottle comes in at £32, and well thats all OK when you're in a nice restaurant with good food and good service but they certainly have no earned the right to charge such high prices.

I would definately not recommend this place to anyone, don't waste your time. Don't be fooled by the the posters on the wall with good reviews, I'm sure they're probably all outdated, because no critic in their right mind would give this place a good review and publish it in a magazine!
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Michael - View all reviews by this user
3 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Friday, April 30, 2010

I am writing this because I am so cross about the poor meal I received here. The seating was far too high, making you hunch down like Quasimodo to eat. The tables are too close; one of our group had to literally climb under the tables to go to the toilet. The steak I received was horrible - all fatty and gristle. When I asked for roast potatoes or chips to accompany it, the waitress actually argued with me, and produced a bowl of instant mashed potato.

I am so cross, what a rip-off. I will never set foot in here again. It was recommended by a friend - I think this place must have been good once, but is now relying on it's reputation.
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0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, December 24, 2009

I really liked this place. Very enjoyable in a straightforward unpretentious way. The tables were very close together, and had it not been a Monday night I think we might have felt a little cramped, but despite that I will go back. Portions are generously sized (I could only get halfway through my main course) so it is probably worth sharing starters; they are interesting enough that one wouldn't want to forego them entirely. I had mushroom stilton and pine nut tart, which was delicious, and the starters at the next table looked equally tempting. Main courses also good. Both the waitresses were friendly despite the negative comments in other reviews. I would definitely recommend this place to friends.
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Alex M
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Three of us went on the Times Eat Out for £5 deal and it was superb value.

When we got there, despite booking, they didnt have a table for us and proceeded to find a table and plant it outside in the middle of the pavement right away from the other outdoor seating. We then waited about 15 minutes and had to ask for a menu and for our drinks order to be taken. However it was busy and when the waitresses came they were pretty friendly.

I wasnt expecting great food, given the price we were paying, but was very pleasantly surprised. I got a huge bowl of very nice Curried Celeriac soup while my friends both had a pretty substantial Rocket, Mushroom and Stilton salad.

Mains were King Prawn kebab, and Fillet of Gilt Head Bream. Both were very tasty and made from clearly good produce. Wine list quite expensive - £16.50 for cheapest bottle of house wine and service wasnt great at all. And had we be paying full whack I maybe wouldnt have been so complimentary. However at £5 for two courses - it cant be beaten.
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KB
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Visited this restaurant on the weekend with my husband. He used to go there quite often and said it was great so now that we have moved back into the area we were eager to try it out. The restaurant is cute and looks like some shack you might encounter on holiday. We ordered two mains and a few side dishes. My husband had the monkfish with prawn skewers and cous cous, I had the lemon sole with lime leaf and lemon grass butter. My main was nice and fresh, but on the rather small side, and slightly undercooked. For a restaurant specialising in fish, this was a bit of a no-no. Husband's main was nice but he wasn't overwhelmed. He said the monkfish was a bit overcooked and the prawns were definitely not fresh. I had ordered a side salad, but I had wish I had been told that my dish came with a salad. The additional side salad was really nothing special for £3.25. All in all, this was an OK meal but the prices were higher than what we would expect to pay for OK. Mains were about £18.00.
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Sarah
6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Monday, March 23, 2009

Went there with my fiancee after work this week and now find myself wishing I'd never heard of the place. I have never written a review of any type before but feel compelled to let other potential visitors to this restaurant know about our experience. True, it seems to carry a good reputation. Yes, there are things said about it on the net which make it seem a decent place. (This is why we went there.) But to us this seems like a case of 'the emperors new clothes'. The staff are barely cordial. Everything that is brought to your table is accompanied by that attitude that suggests they're doing you a favour. And then the food is overcooked and seems like something from the supermarket. The seafood starters were a kind of mushy vol-au-vent (of prawns and mussels and some other unidentifiable flakes), covered in a muddy sauce. My sea bass also had an odd aftertaste that suggested it was going off but that the over-cooking had almost succeeded in disguising. My fiancee's salmon was very small and completely dessicated. The salad was past its best. When we tried to complain the woman who seemed to be running the place indicated the other diners and intimated there must be something wrong with us. The only decent thing they served was the wine, but even then we had to ask three times for some means to keep it cool and by the time they brought one of those cold-jackets it had completely lost its crisp cold. Our bill was a more than negligible £90. Obviously, we will never return.
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Mark Wise
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Friday, March 06, 2009