The Exhibit

My girlfriend and I went to the Balham Exhibit for drinks and dinner last night. The service was excellent and the decor is just as cool as it always has been - although now starting to look a little 'used'. But our main problem was the food. I ordered a house burger which was cold with no special relish just an overload of onions. My girlfriend had the pesto chicken. It was sold as breast but also turned up partly on the bone and the pesto/tomato sauce had a slight meaty/fishy/taste... To top it off the other reason of the evening was to watch a film in the cinema on level three afterwards. Although the price seemed very reasonable at £3 each it was delayed by half an hour. Thankfully the manager understood that we weren't happy and gave us vouchers to return another night but was a shame as the staff there are excellent but food and service are going downhill rapidly...
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, September 03, 2008

I have visited the Exhibit quite a bit over the last 3 years and it used to be one of my favorite restaurants in the area but I feel the food standard has slipped. I would say the food at the moment is o.k, not great, not terrible, just o.k. Service is great, fantastic wines but I have a hard time recommending their menu to anyone.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 5
Thursday, August 28, 2008

I had dinner at The Exhibit with my wife. Food was nothing special and it was incredibly overpriced. Avoid this place, there are much better places in Balham.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Saturday, July 12, 2008

Went on Friday night and had a really lovely evening. Atmosphere, service and food were tops. The lamb dish was the best tasting I've had and the steaks were tender and full of flavour. Wonderful fries and perfectly cooked veggies.Waitress was friendly and helpful. I didn't realise there was this great restaurant upstairs as always thought it was just a bar......this place is just what Balham needs.
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Ian
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, May 04, 2008

What a lovely surprise to find a restaurant that ticks all the boxes. The food on the new Spring menu was innovative, superbly cooked and presented....... the spring lamb with lasagna was great. The atmosphere is cosy and intimate and the service friendly and attentive. Wine list could offer a wider selection, but some very good Reds on offer. It is good that Balham now has this lovely restaurant.
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Rob and Jan
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, March 20, 2008

Great bar, shame about the food.

This place has a nice ambience, and I love the bar downstairs with its fishtank and fireplace. Unfortunately, the food is pretty sub-standard. Don't come here if you like good food; you'll only be disappointed. Oh, and the service, though friendly, was slow and unattentive. I got neck ache trying to search around for a waitress..
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Monday, March 17, 2008

Simply the best restaurant in Balham. My partner and I have been twice now and although new to the area, there really is nowhere to beat this place for great food, friendly service and such a cosy atmosphere. Last night my boyfriend had a beautifully aged steak cooked to perfection with chunky fries and I had a huge burger which was delicious. Thanks Exhibit-we shall be back soon.
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Pat & Bruce
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Friday, March 07, 2008

My boyfriend and I were both really disappointed by The Exhibit.

The prices it charges would indicate that you should be receiving a pretty high quality of food - which it simply does not live up to. I had the fish of the day, which at £15 for a tiny fillet served with some limp lambs lettuce and a bit of lemon that had been sitting out for some time was seriously disappointing. It was cooked well, but ridiculously overpriced for what it was, considering you are not in a great location (Sainsbury's car park!)

My boyfriend's steak was quite the opposite - plenty of it but extraordinarily tough to the point of inedible.

I would really advise anyone considering The Exhibit to give it a miss - overpriced and not great quality.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, February 26, 2008

I wanted to write to congratulate The Exhibit on a simply fabulous Valentines Dinner on Thursday. The monkfish in mussels sauce was to die for and the shoulder of beef with chard was absolutely delicious-it melted in the mouth. The shared chocolate dessert was unusual, beautifully presented and very tasty. The service was friendly and caring as usual .......... and we had a great Australian Shiraz. Overall a fabulous evening.

On entering this review, I noticed the previous review about their Sunday roasts and i really cannot imagine that these people went to the same restaurant..............also I can't imagine anyone ordering roast beef with no meat ....................!!!! This gave me a good laugh.
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H.T.
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Saturday, February 16, 2008

As a group of 7, we headed for Exhibit yesterday to enjoy a Sunday lunch with all the trimmings. I have eaten upstairs in their restaurant but never on the ground floor before.

Everything seemed to be going well until we started to order our food, firstly as two members were veggie, they wanted the roast but simply without the meat? Apparently this was not possible? Disappointedly, they chose to have a Risotto from a very limited selection of veggie dishes. The rest of us chose a selection of Roasts and sat back to await our meals. Time sliped by and we all became increasingly hungry until our waitress started to bring out meals. Firstly, the veggie Risotto turned up with more cheese on top than risotto below... next the first Roast Beef, which was covered in the largest pile of sour-cream and only the smallest of selection of veg. 0 from 2 so far, next the Roast Chicken... unfortunately their average did not improve any - as with the Roast Beef, the veg was sparse and certainly had not been roasted, but this was not the main problem. The Chicken could hardly be recognised as a piece of Chicken, and the size was more akin to a much smaller bird. It was extremely overcooked, tough to chew and frankly tastless (can you tell who had the chicken?). We complained about the size of the portions and were told that the portions were not small but that the plates were very large thus giving the impression of a small meal!!

Eventually, after speaking to the Manager they did conceed that indeed the meals were not good enough and gave us 50% off.

Not what I have to come expect of this venue, and certainly won't be eating there again..
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Monday, February 04, 2008