The Belvedere

I have eaten at the belvedere several times and always really enjoyed the food and setting. yes the waiters are not all silver service (or so it seems), but generally have always been happy. Until my birthday in july when my boyfriend took me there for a meal. We both ordered pasta starters, which when they arrived were about 3x the size of usual (his gnocchi was good, my mushroom risotto excellent). Unfortunately, about 2 minutes after we'd finished them, the mains arrived (duck and venison). This had the effect of ruining the meal for me, as, too polite to send them back, without the requisite break between courses we were both full enough to roll home and had to eschew dessert and coffee. All in all, we were in there for just over an hour. Not the romantic meal I had envisaged! And simply because no-one bothered to think about us and what we'd ordered - when I phoned up later I was told that they had a big party upstairs and so the chef had decided to push out our mains rather than make us wait. We were offered a free glass of champagne when we came back....haven't been yet, but do feel sad that my bday meal was cut so short.
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Lula Summer
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, December 03, 2008

We had a superb meal here last night. This has to be the loveliest venue in London and the excellent food and highly professional yet friendly service does it proud. I having eaten hear a dozen or so times over the last couple of years I can find nothing to fault. An ideal venue for a romantic occasion.
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David H
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Saturday, November 29, 2008

I am very interested to read this review. I had an extremely disappointing experience at the Belvedere last November. Having visited several times over a number of years, I took my family there for dinner one evening. On that occasion the restaurant was also virtually empty (never a good sign - especially near Christmas when people tend to eat out more). The service was non existent from the moment we arrived until we left. There were never more than three staff on hand to serve about five tables and they obviously couldn't cope - nor did they seem to care. The food was awful. Three people had ribeye which was about 50% gristle. Unlike the reviewer we had a constant problem getting our wine. I cannot remember all the details nor indeed do I want to but I had a quiet chat with the Maitre D. His response was polite but no more. I paid a bill of over £200 and left. I wrote a detailed account to their head office explaining that I had dined there numerous times without a problem but on this visit , the wheels had come off both foodwise and servicewise. I received no response. About three/four weeks later, I wrote again. Same non-repsonse. It was now beginning to irritate to the point where it was now a matter of principle so I wrote a third time. This time I got a grovelling reply offering me a free meal. I wrote back to expalin that I wasn't looking for a freebie - all I wanted was good food and good service which they obviously could not offer. I declined their invitation and have no intention of returning. What a shame as I have enjoyed many good meals ther over the years.
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Ronny Talisman
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Friday, September 19, 2008

I had concluded from the previous reviews that the food was middling to excellent, but that service and attitude could be improved. This week, I saw this statement modified somewhat and not in a good way. We visited for our second anniversary so we were looking to have a special experience and unfortunately, it just didn’t happen.

On arrival, the rather young staff were not particularly welcoming to an almost hostile extent. I was annoyed to see that only two other tables occupied as we sat down, considering the yes/no trouble we’d had making a booking. By the time we left, only 2 further tables had been occupied so it wasn’t busy.

The food was astonishing but in a bad way. Some dishes were good, some just inedible. The bread was just ok, my partner noted that it would have been better slightly warmed. His black pudding starter was a 6/10 as the bed of fondant potato was smooth but tasteless. My remoulade was not good on two levels: the mustard used was too strong for the parma ham and the sauce was flat. Infact, it looked and tasted like simply like shredded celeriac, poor quality mayonnaise and mustard. The ham was so dried out/thick in parts that I struggled to cut it. 4/10.

Mains were steak and venison. The steak was very tasty indeed but again, the potatoes were tasteless and the side vegetables arrived 10 minutes later. 8/10. The venison, served with red cabbage and potato was sadly inedible – it was tough and its flavour was completely overpowered by the liberal amounts of black pepper used and its overly nutmeg-flavoured red cabbage accompaniment. There was no depth of flavours, no sublety, and as a dish, the balance of flavours and textures simply did not work. It was returned to the kitchen, something I have never had to do before. 0/10.

The dessert menu failed to attract me and the coffees were largely tasteless too. How does this happen? Staff-wise, the Maitre D’ was efficient but the other waiting staff repeatedly and pointlessly intruded to the point of irritation: I found myself constantly having to break my conversation to tell a different member of staff to stop giving me wine. We were trying to have a romantic supper! Atmosphere: A beautiful room, but no intimacy. Lighting was low but not soft. Music was erratic. 3/10

Overall, disappointed. We would have had a better meal from a supermarket.
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GMF
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Friday, September 19, 2008

went there today for my brother in laws birthday. service was excellent. food was good value for money all round. the staff weree very good and waited for us all to finish each course before clearing away. will definitely go back
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jacque
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Sunday, August 10, 2008

A WONDERFUL MEAL. That last review - whilst no doubt reflecting the dining experience of the reviewer - is nasty. Dined at The Belvedere last night. Each course was superb. Wine excellent. Service good (apart from some slightly slow coffees). Atmosphere lovely. Will certainly be returning.
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ralbum - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Thursday, July 17, 2008

This USED to be a great restaurant, even before Marco PW came along, but sadly it doesn't deliver anymore. Which is a shame, since it will always be a great location in a great setting, but the food is tired, the staff lack confidence (the head waiter had to read out the list of specials) and after a while you even notice that the plants in there are pretty stringy, plain specimens. Compare that to a restaurant doing well, where the staff are very switched on, the decor is resplendent and the food is ambitious and delivers.

I should have realised, when offered a choice of three consecutive dining times (it's not that big a restaurant), and at short notice, that the Belvedere doesn't have pulling power any more. So down in the dumps is this restaurant that even the table we were seated leaned horribly with even the slightest pressure from the elbows - we were terrified of flipping the table top and our food onto the floor! (Not that it would have been a great loss ...)

Bottom line, better give it a miss.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Thursday, March 13, 2008

Excellent food, however the experience was spoiled by apalling and surly service from inexperienced and in some cases completely untrained staff!
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Brad Thiele
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Sunday, December 30, 2007

My best friend and I were booked to go to the Belvedere on Sunday for lunch, we were celebrating my birthday and it had been booked for months. The Belvedere setting is beautiful and we had heard good things about the Sunday lunch from other friends. On Saturday afternoon we got a call from the restaurant asking us to move our booking from 1pm to 12.30 because they had a function on and needed the space. We weren't pleased but we were ok ayabout it. Half an hour later we get another call and were told that we had to come at 12pm instead and but ready to give the table back at 2pm. My friend was really disappointed and said to the person at the Belvedere, this was a special dinner and we had booked it months in advance. She was told curtly she could take it or leave it. With less that 24 hours notice it was really unfair to put us in that position and to be honest smacks of £££ over people. Sometimes it is about your reputation and the loyalty of your customers and not how to make the most money quickly. I am disgusted, it ruined my birthday and I hope someone at the Belvedere starts to think about it's customers.
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samantha
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, August 13, 2007

monday night at the belvedere was an interesting affair...the staff really struggled with our order. Was the piano too loud or was it their lack of english? on at least two occasions we were brought the wrong drinks due to misunderstanding. To be fair the mistakes were all corrected without too much of a sulk.

There were only a few tables occupied but the quality of the food was fantastic. As there were 5 of us eating i managed a nibble of everyone's. The scallops and the gnocchi were the best starters from our selection. For mains, all were faultless. I had the posh fish and chips. I know, never eat fish in a restaurant on a monday but it was superb.

not cheap because we had several bottles but if there's a set lunch menu i'll be back
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, March 14, 2007