Sketch Gallery

I was taking out my girlfriend on my birthday and the best thing we had was the wine. Our starters were absolutely tasteless and the main of my girlfriend was so bitter that she couldn't eat it. When I wanted to talk to the chef, he said that English people do not understand the French cuisine. However they finally served her some scallops, but unfortunately the were swimming in a strange kind of cheese-bechamel sauce. Not a very nice experience..
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Philip
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Thursday, March 19, 2009

My partner and I went to Sketch this Friday. Overall we had a great time and there really wasn't anything to complain about.

Food- Complex dishes with lots of different flavours and textures. We skipped on the starters as nothing really caught our eyes. For main my partner had the stone bass and I had the chicken breast. Both dishes were beautifully presented and tasted fine. We weren't blown away by the flavours, but the dishes worked well. Slight disappointment were the aubergines with my chicken. They were overcooked (burnt in fact in some places) and left a very bitter taste! Desserts were AMAZING. The bubble gum ice cream was out of this world, as was my chocolate cake.!

Service- Prompt. We did arrive early, so the restaurant was quite empty, therefore you would expect a good service. Although they seems to slack towards the end when the place started to fill up.

Atmosphere- Great, funking looking place.!

Value for money - For a one off night I suppose this place is ok. It's very much style over substance. I think its worth checking out at least once. I've heard the the Parlour @ Sketch does fantastic cakes, and based on our desserts I think we will give this a try next time rather than the main restaurant!
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Merwyn
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Saturday, February 14, 2009

An ordinary story of narrowmindness and bad service.

Just before Xmas I was invited by friends at Sketch for a few drinks. I joined them at around 5.30pm in the circular bar (the one below the egg shaped loos).

After the first round of drinks I asked the barman if we could get some nibbles to go with the drinks as I hadn't had lunch that day and was starving. Being in such a posh place - or rather a place that "acts" is they were posh - I assumed that having 2 more bars serving food and 2 restaurants, getting something to nibble would have been straightforward. But guess what? The barman categorically excluded the possibility of getting ANY food at the bar. Reason being - listen to this: "We don't serve food or nibbles in this bar because of company policy. If we bring you some olives or any other food, the other people here will want some too!". Oh my God! What a problem!

Here's what's profoundly wrong with this situation:

1. In an expensive place like Sketch, any reasonable request from a customer should be satisfied. This is not Starbucks. The line "It's company policy not to..." should never been uttered in a place were drinks cost £15.

2. If your customers are asking for some nibbles or bar food which they are happy to pay for (not cheaply either) you should give it to them as this will increase your income. And if this causes more customers to ask for bar food, that's good, not bad! Remember, there is a credit crunch going on in case you didn't notice.

I got so angry that I ended up having to reiterate my argument with the bar manager, the restaurant manager and finally with the manager for the whole place. I spent the best part of 45 minutes arguing with these guys who, instead of simply saying "we are sorry, we'll bring you some food", came up with astonishing statements like "you can go in the bar next door, sit down and have some food there" (while I was having a good time with my friends in the bar, why on earth should have I wanted to go on my own to another room just to have some olives????).

So, eventually, the barman litterarly smuggled a tiny bowl of olives in the bar for me. I swear, he was hiding them!

They asked me for my business card. I expected someone to get in touch apologising for this unacceptable behaviour. Clearly, no one called or emailed me.

Anyway, with all the nice places in Mayfair, I am not sure why someone should bother going to Sketch for food or drinks.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Saturday, January 03, 2009

in a word...silliness, if u like silliness then this place is 4u

the food is ok but is over the top and simply does not make any sense..most of the time u dont even know what u r putting in ur mouth

the prices are an absolute joke as r the portions

we appreciate art but snow lights on the wall and egg shaped toilet pods that resemble aeroplane toilets inside r not really that impressive

service is fine just not very professional

we had 2get a steak on the way home 2fill us up..go somewhere else and get a proper meal dont b a sheep and go 2this place just cos it is 'trendy'
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kay and james - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 1
Saturday, December 20, 2008

Just had the most amazing holiday party at Sketch and thought it worth writing a review to insure others know what a special place this is. For an event the layout with dining in one room and dancing in the other with a supplied DJ created an excellent setting. What I experienced highlighted the incredible service that truly matchs the decor. Every detail was attended to from start to finish by a manager who was clearly passionate about his job and a wait staff that worked seemlessly for our party of close to 50. We have had holiday parties at places like Blue Bird, Ivy and the Cinamon Club in the past and none of them have come close to the overall dining experience we had at Sketch.

Travel extensively and dine out frequently so have been to many of the nicest restaurants in London and in other major cities around the world and I would have to say that Sketch is a "must do" for anyone that wants to take a dining experience to a whole new level.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, December 12, 2008

I chose to visit Sketch with a few of my friends for my birthday in July because I had heard that it had to be seen to be believed and I had also had a tour of the place in the daytime for a marketing report I was writing so I was really excited. When I had my tour everyone was really polite and happy that I wanted to know about the place and were really informative so visiting Sketch for my birthday was a must! I booked a reservation for about 8 via email.

When we arrived I was really stressed because some of my guests had dropped out but I reassured myself that everything would be fine, however when we walked to the gallery after handing in our coats in the cloakroom and I talked to the maitre'd walked us to our table. She then realised that our party was smaller (a mistake on my part for not telling her) so rushed us to another table which was a little stressful and annoying. When we finally got sat we were greeted with immensely rude waiters who ignored us for about 20 minutes before asking us if we wanted drinks etc even though we tried to get their attention. It was so disheartening because I had chosen the venue I felt really pressured for my friends to have a good time. When we eventually ordered the waiters were rude again as some of my friends had already eaten only a few of us ordered food. When the food came we laughed for ages at the side dish of pomme frites as the portion was literally four chips stacked like a little house, so pretentious and ridiculous! My friend who had order the ravioli found it inedible! We felt very uncomfortable in the gallery so moved onto the bar. The glade had a much more relaxed atmosphere than the gallery however the seating looked really out of place and tacky. I had a few diamond martinis which were lush but my friends were bummed out from the bad service.

I wont go to Sketch again, it was such a stressful experience and the service was terrible! The waiters were so rude literally making the odd rude comment we couldn't believe it most especially when you pay a service charge. I'd say if you want to see the place go for a look in the day but at night its just a disappointing tacky experience!
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Charly - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

met a couple of friends for champagne, place is amazing, a real treat to explore, service ok, unfortunately didn't eat there but plan to in the future, would have been a lovely experience apart from one customer who was so rude because we were saving seats for friends, that did sour our time there but hopefully she will never go there again or at least when I go again.

overall a place to visit especially if you're only in London for a few days
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TH
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 5
Friday, October 31, 2008

amazing place and great food. already booked for next week!
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, October 14, 2008

I dined at the Sketch Gallery last night and it was absolutely amazing!

I had to wait for my friends so was shown to the bar by a very helpful french gentleman who recommended the nicest cocktail!

The food was outstanding and although i didnt really have room for anything else we had to get the malabar bubblegum dessert i had read all about!

The overall atmosphere and experience was great and i would definately visit again soon!
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sarah tucker
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, October 12, 2008

Dined here on Saturday night with 3 friends. We had a very friendly welcome at the door and were taken down to the restaurant. Decor and surroundings were fantastic; this place really is something different. Waiters were very friendly and service was excellent. Prices were pretty extortionate but the food really was much better than I had expected...we couldn't fault it and all really enjoyed our meal. Atmosphere in Sketch is great and very buzzy. Toilets were a real treat and like nothing I have seen before! Everything with the meal was really great although we did notice an extra £80 added to our bill which we queried and were told that this was a mistake and was a bottle of wine added to the wrong table. Watch out for this as its easy not to notice. This did put a little downer on the night as I hate to have to query the bill however, it certainly didn't ruin the evening. We drank in the bar after dinner which is pretty small but again the atmosphere was good. Drink prices were high and you can be waiting a while but that's probably because a lot of people were ordering cocktails. Unfortunately a service charge was slapped on each bar order which is a bit cheeky seeing as there was no table service and you had to wait at the bar for your drinks. 4 drinks came to about £55 which in my opinion is very expensive but it's not somewhere I'd go every week. Overall we had a really great evening! This place is by no means cheap but it’s definitely worth a visit for a special occasion.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Monday, August 11, 2008