Racine

Had a fantastic meal at Racine last week - haven't been for a while and was impressed with a lighter menu - I used to find it a bit heavy and sometimes a bit pretentious. The service was discreet but friendly and very slick.

I will definitely be going more often to try out more of the new menu.
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Madeleine Chambers
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

A consistently good restaurant. Cosy and relaxed, with v. professional staff, v. tasty food and a decent price.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Thursday, March 13, 2008

Enjoyed a superb meal of the set three course lunch menu at £17.00 each

Food brilliant each course not huge but enough for a lunch menu

Service polite and attentive only gripe was the over the top service charge we always tip a good 10% and was staggered by the service charge.

But despite this gave as an enjoyable valentines lunch and a happy reminder of the Moulin Vert in Paris.
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Carol Thornton
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, March 03, 2008

Had dinner last week at Racine - the food was OK but the service was appalling! The maitre d' welcomed us in a gracious way to our table, but the waiter was extremely rude. When he was taking our order, he had an impatient look on his face, gave me a dirty look when he thought I was changing what I previously ordered, refused to accommodate a decision to change the payment from credit card to cash and when he was putting the cutlery on the table, he preferred to basicallly push my hand out of the way instead of saying excuse me. The worst of all, when we left, we decided to let the maitre d' know that the food had been good, the ambience pleasant but the waiter had not been at the same satisfactory level - to which the maitre d' responded that with 'why do you think that'? followed by 'well, that's your opinion, to me he's a very good waiter'. In short, this is the most appalling service I have seen in a restaurant of this calibre, and it is even more absurd that the maitre d' did not respond to our polite comment... we will NOT be going that again - absolutely shocked by their attitude.
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MLC
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

I ate here last night with my brother and was more than disappointed with the food. For the price and quality I have to say this is one of the most overated French restaurants around.

For starters he ordered a salad that was supposed to come with a poached egg...they neglected to put this in! I had some sort of escargot feuillite, which was a disappointing in size and was extremely bland. For our main we both had sea bream which itself was tasty, however what came with it was awful...cold pureed potato, some very acidic braised endive and segments of grapefruit...especially the gratefuit which is something I would expect to be served in a motorway service station, I accept they wanted to add citrus to the dish...this was not the right way to do it. I had a perfectlly acceptable vanilla ice cream with hot chocolate sauce for desert, my brother had just a coffee.

The service was fine not special but not bad, just standard...it did take a ridiculous amount of time to get the dessert menu and order it.

My advice is that there are far better French restaurants of this level in the area.
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Karl Suntay
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Just one word perfect!!!
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Karen - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, December 06, 2007

I had lunch in Racine a couple of weeks ago and found the food and service to be as good as ever. And that means better than most other restaurants in London. Service is not over the top three star Michelin (and who needs all that palaver) but has always been a joy. Love this place, Love it.
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m fitz - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, November 29, 2007

Myself and my partner visited Racine for lunch today. I had been before and really enjoyed it but today left us dissatisfied.

I'm not particularly fond of over friendly staff but our waiter was aloof to the point of being rude. When asked what the English meaning of a French word was, our waiter shrugged his shoulders and replied "it's just a vegetable". I'm aware that the whole thing about Racine is the unassuming staff but being as unhelpful as this is unprofessional - the antithesis of Henry Harris's vision, I'm sure.

Having finished our mains (which WERE lovely) we were looking to order our dessert. However, getting our waiter's attention was proving difficult as he was holding his colleague (a waitress) IN A PLAYFUL HEADLOCK!!!! Once again, I'm not so sure that this was part of Harris's plan.

Racine have let their standards slip - I was tempted to let the optional 14.5% service charge slip as well. We won't be revisiting.
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Joseph
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Monday, November 26, 2007

Sorry, can't let Jamie's comments be the last word (though he's entitled to his views).

I've been eating at Racine for about 4 years now, on average 3 times a year. Every time I look forward to it, every time I leave happy and contented. I was there again last Friday. Food, as usual, excellent: on a par with the kind of "good" neighbourhood restaurant in France which it emulates so well. Where else will you find a starter of calf's brains - delicious.

I was treating someone for their birthday and she was happy too (she always has the ham and celeriac remoulade so they must at least do that right).

But it's the service which makes it stand out too - wholly professional, friendly but not "chummy". I went once with a friend who had a dozen oysters. Just as he'd finished the first 6, a passing waiter obligingly turned the plate round for him so he could start on the remaining 6. It was done seamlessly, without fuss and showed that the waiters there know how to use their eyes (wish more would do so !). They deserve the 14.5% service charge.

In short, a top place and very reasonable value for the quality
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JohnP
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, September 25, 2007

rubbish food terrible
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jamie
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, September 18, 2007