Sketch Gallery

I have been a customer at the lecture room for a while and absolutely love it. I thought i would try the gallery tonight for a special occasion with some friends and it was terrible to say the least:

1. Food was tasteless with absurd combinations (tasteless food with astonishingly mismatched proportions, a tablespoon of miso soup for a cup full of noodles!)

2. Service was incompetent and rude (waited 30 mins to place the order, waiter refused to give sharing plates, waited 20 mins to pay on the credit card machine, and then when given feedback on the food the waiter did not care )

3. Manager made a fake attempt to pretend that he cared but in effect did nothing (after my complaint he still had the audacity to add service charge and never even offered a slice of cake for a birthday)

All in all I never understood why the restaurant has received such poor reviews as the lecture room is awesome but this experience has put me off Sketch for life! David in the lecture room is such a gentleman but the entire Gallery staff is incompetent running the place on the novelty rather than the food.
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ag
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Very poor but expensive! My wife and I went for dinner last Saturday to celebrate her birthday and it was beyond disappointing. We ordered two glasses of champagne and it was warm. We sent it back and asked for chilled champagne. We ordered Ceviche and Foie Gras for starters. The ceviche was bland - completely tasteless. The foie gras had been messed about with beyond reason.

By this time the champagne had not re-appeared and we had not been offered any wine, so we drank water whilst we waited for the sommelier. The champagne reappeared, but was still warm! For mains we had scallops and black pudding. Again they were disappointingly bland and tasteless.

They are trying too hard to impress and whilst they succeed in the design of the loos they fail equally spectacularly with their food and service.

Don't go unless you want your tastebuds massacred and your wallet lightened considerably in return. There are many great restaurants in London that will give you a much better gastronomic experience for £150 for two.
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Dushyant
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, March 16, 2010

COMPLACENT is the word for Sketch. we had dinner there last night - booked it because we wanted a fun night out with decent food and a great bar. The ambiance of the place is great, we asked the sommelier for some wine suggestions and he made an awful choice so second bottle we reverted back to what we knew ourselves. My starter, fish ceviche was bland, they used parsley rather than coriander and it just had no flavour (even after i added some lime juice and some salt) . The other salmon course I had was severely average , the only good thing really were the accompaniments, creamed spinach, vegetables and wild rice. In fact if i ever have to go again, thats what I would order. After dinner we resorted to the bar, as service was busy average waiting time for a drink was 15min and even after the first drink when the bar had quieted down, we left after another 20min as they still had not started making the drinks. SO, if you never go to decent restaurants, are below 20 and have no sense of value, go to Sketch! Owners of Sketch, it would be all so easy to get right!
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5 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Tasting Menu in the Lecture Room for 2. Beautiful venue, unusual and interesting. Friendly service by courteous and capable staff. Well constructed dishes prepared with meticulous detail with the emphasis more on the look of the dishes rather than how they taste. Frankly a triumph of style over substance for the most part.

However a pleasant evening if over-priced. Beware the offer of a glass of champagne! My wife had a small glass of Bollinger Rose NV which was charged at £38.50 - approx the price for a bottle of the stuff in the real world!
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Barry Bloom
5 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Saturday, November 07, 2009

Food and decor are good. Service is haughty and slow. Despite booking we were kept waiting 25 minutes before before allowed into the restaurant, with no apology or explanation. Then we waited 15 minutes before we got any service at all. Head waitress was not pleasant to our guests.

Very expensive and will simply not survive if this is its norm.

We don't intend to revisit which is a shame as we have previously enjoyed.
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- View all reviews by this user
3 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Thursday, October 01, 2009

We had drinks, then dinner, then more drinks here for 4 people.

The service was spot on. We were welcomed by the maitre d' who gave us a tour of the different rooms, and sat us down. After we ordered we were provided many courses of appetisers and petit fours in addition to our starters and mains. We had over 80 individual plates served to the table over 4 hours at dinner! Furthermore, each plate was divine.

The service was nothing short of impeccable, with each plate introduced as to what it was, staff were friendly, attentive but not intrusive.

One thing to be clear, this is a very specific restaurant for those who can appreciate eclectic cuisine. You must place your faith in the chef and be prepared to be surprised. The staff are very well informed and I can see why other reviewers may interpret this as the staff being rude.

The bill was not cheap, but this was expected. But it has certainly been one of, if not the best meal experiences we have had in London including many michelin star and highly regarded restaurants.

If you want comfortable food and drinks prepared the way you are used to, this isn't the place.
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Phil L
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Had the tasting menu last wednesday in the library and it was great. French but fresh and intresting almost concept food. Friendly staff and lovely wine.

The Venue has amazing decor with amazing themed bathrooms. Upstairs is the jewelry box and downstairs is an alien cocoon room.
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Cally - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, August 17, 2009

Garbage! The first word that comes to mind after dining in the Gallery with some friends.

I was a little hesitant to go to the restaurant in the first place because it was popular a few years ago but my friend had already made a reservation and I thought I should give it go! What a mistake!

The food was awful and just like the last reviewer, I started with the scallops and oysters and the dish was awful. The seafood was covered in this yucky, green, slimy jelly. I didn't bother to eat it and I had informed the waiter about my unpleasant experience. He didn't seem to care or try to offer any alternatives. The main course wouldn't have been out of place in a Wetherspoons except for the astronomical prices. With the amount of money we spent, you could have eaten twice the amount of food at some of London's best restaurants. I was utterly disgusted at the bill. It made me sick to think of the amount I spent eating there.

The night we were there, the place was packed with skinny model-types and I understand why they like it - Sketch is most definitely the place I would go to if I didn't want to eat anything.
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F Bancroft
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, August 12, 2009

found it to be very interesting experience. food was extraordinary from what i have had before, but i tend to dine out more for work based dinners in more stuffy restaurants where its not very inventive. what can definitely be said here was that taste and looks of the dishes was very good indeed. definitely try again (with my boyfriend though!)
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angela porizzi
8 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, August 11, 2009

I took two friends and two clients at Sketch's Gallery yesterday and I have to say I was horrified at the food and the service as we found that some of the food servers were blatantly rude and unpleasant. For instance, when one of my friends called the food server to send the oysters and scallops starter back (nastiest thing I've ever tasted in my entire life) we were screamed at that they were 'really fresh, brought this morning'. We felt that was unnecessary as so was to order my client not to ' touch things' by another server who was pouring a sauce in a salad. My sea bass was mediocre at best, and the cauliflower and cheese sauce in it was quite strong and did not taste good. Also, have you ever been to a restaurant where the waiter yells 'You're kidding me, right?' after a customer orders a drink served in a certain way? It was pretentious, ridiculous, mediocre and inexcusable. I suggest that you feast your eyes on the place because the food and its servers will not leave a good a good aftertaste, or simply leave your money somewhere else.
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Karen O - View all reviews by this user
4 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, July 28, 2009