Acorn House Restaurant

Went to Acorn House with a party of eight the other day and we certainly won't be returning. The fact that the staff are entirely amateurish can be forgiven as they are friendly enough but the minuscule portions of food and the extortionate prices are an extremely off-putting combination. There was nothing wrong with the food as such--it was just that the portions were all a few nibbles and by the time we had finished our lunch we were still all hungry.. Had they offered us bread we could at least have filled up on that but there wasn't a single slice.The lamb was well cooked, as was the herring, but there simply wasn't enough to constitute a proper meal. The starters were a non-event, as were the desserts. The only substantial item here was the bill which, in all honesty, must be the biggest rip-off in the whole of this expensive city. Definitely not to be recommended and only go there if you want little for your money. We felt completely ripped off and would have complained had it not been for the fact that we were entertaining guests from another company.
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Stephen
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Saturday, June 28, 2008

Maybe the service (not too coordinated, but efficient and friendly) and the decor (a bit like a nice canteen, though candles in the evening adds some atmosphere) aren't worth £50 a head, but the sustainable, well prepared and presented food made up for it. Whole sea bream was flavourful and the lamb was cooked perfectly and very tender. The seasonal menu was compact but had enough choice for everyone, and the wine list offered some good variety. The six of us enjoyed our meal very much.
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Dan - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Thursday, April 17, 2008

Were all of these people who are complaining about the food, the service and the price at a different restaurant?? I took my mother there about a month ago and we had a thouroughly enjoyable evening. The food was delicious (yes portion sizes were large for both starter and main course) the service was friendly, efficient and unpretentious, and while admittedly expensive (c£80 for two) we both thought it well worth the money. All that and locally brewed beer (Greenwich), plus a free packet of seeds at the end of the night. What's not to like?
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Monday, March 31, 2008

My girlfriend and I went there last night with another couple. We'd heard good things about the restaurant and were keen to see if the restaurant lives up to its hype.

In short, it doesn't.

The atmosphere is acceptable and the restaurant's mission is laudable, but it falls short in many ways.

We were dining quite early and yet a number of things were already unavailable. The choice isn't great to start with so with things missing it becomes severely limited. The biggest disappointment though is the food.

The portion size for the starters is too large (which is a surprising thing to criticise) and all four of our starters were underwhelming and over-priced.

The same thing applied to the mains. My ravioli was reasonably good, but my girlfriend's farfalle with porcini mushrooms was really poor. It tasted little better than an adventurous student supper.

Service was poor throughout - my lemon sorbet (£4 for one scoop) turned out to be pear) and the bill came to an astonishing £240 for 4 people.
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Daniel
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Sunday, January 27, 2008

Went for lunch with a friend, the food was good, if a bit pricey... the service was a tad slow as well, nevertheless we had a good time, and it's useful to have so many good, new restaurants springing up around King's Cross...

May it continue...
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Saturday, December 22, 2007

Came with a friend to Acorn House to celebrate my birthday yesterday night. We were slightly apprehensive because of the bad reviews on this page, however, we were pleasantly surprised. Our starters were very fresh and tasted wonderful. I had the mackerel and she had the goats cheese salad. The mains and desserts were equally excellent. The staff serving us were very friendly and accommodating. Would highly recommend.
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Victoria O''Sullivan
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Sunday, December 16, 2007

Very rude, poor food and very pricey! Maybe it was a bad night there but we were so looking forward to the Acorn, we'd heard good reports. The celaric soup was more like mash, very odd. And it tasted of...nothing more than mashed celaric.

My main was the curry with roti. The curry tasted of pre mixed spices, very poor and the roti was dry and tasteless. What's the point of making curry in a place like London if you can't make it authentic? At £16 I was more than a little disappointed.

My wife had the risotto, she is a risotto fiend. Without exaggeration she was unable to eat it due to the salt content. We called over the Maître'd who agreed on this but then came back to say the chef would be unable to cook another as she probably wouldn't like it and he couldn't prepare it any other way! A strange response to say the least, as my wife is vegetarian and the only other vege dish on the menu was the lack luster curry, she went without a main course.

On leaving the Maître'd had one last go at us, appologising that things had not gone well before adding that we had really upset the chef! Were we now expected to apologise for sending back a salty risotto I wondered? The bill came close to £100 for 2 gin and tonics, 2 starters, 1 main course and a bottle of wine. Not the experience you expect at these sort of prices!
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Murray Clark
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The most disappointing restaurant I have been to all year. Arrving at 8.30pm on Saturday night, a number of dishes were off the menu, the menu itself was a price point above the example mneu on the web. Then the problems started ... when the mains turned up "Sag Paneer" was just spinach and potatoes. The waitress agreed it should have cheese (paneer) , and went to the kitchen and was sent back to say "the potatoes were an extra" - no mention of the missing key ingredient - they wanted £16 for that, ridiculous. Service was slow all night, other side dishes were forgotten but not mentioned until prompted and the manager listened but did not really enagage or respond. We eventually agreed a heavily discounted bill, but it was like pulling teeth.

It feels like they are making big bucks out of their concept and don't really care about the quality (or reputation). I would not go again and have recommended to others not to bother.

It's also really very expensive for what you get. West End prices in King's Cross for King's Cross service.

As an aside, the toilets (by 2030 on Saturday) are like a nasty NHS health centre with paper towel debris oveflowing the bins and the floors wet.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

My wife and I dinner there last night and were more than a little disappointed.

The place is nice enough, though it's densely packed and quite noisy.

We started with a smoked mackerel salad with fennel and pickled ginger (me), and something-and-horseradish soup. The salad was very nice, except for the mackerel which was hard and very oily, surprisingly close to pre-cooked stuff you can get at Sainsbury's. The soup was very starchy (not enough stock - it was almost like mashed potato) and apparently "bland" (which might have been alleviated had we had salt and pepper).

Mains of roast pork belly and rack of lamb with herb crust were, respectively, better and worse. The pork was dense and chewy but tasty. The lamb, however, was almost raw. Had I not had to pull it to bits to find this out I would have sent it back to the kitchen for at least another ten minutes. The herb crust was pretty tasty, though.

The front-of-house was efficient, though it liked itself just a bit much. They were attentive and the kitchen was slow enough that they didn't have a lot of plate carrying to do!

As others have noted, it's expensive. A lot of that is doubtless the cost of organic, happy animal flesh, but by the rule of thirds I cannot see how the bit of lamb I was given could have cost them seven quid. The portions were pretty decent, but the mains at about twenty quid still want a side dish each (at another 3-4 quid) to make a meal rather than a bit of meat and some token vegetable.

In light of the above, it's hard not to conclude that those awards it seems to have been winning are for its impeccable social and environmental credentials rather than the food.

For ordinary food at high prices, I'll stick to Wiltons. At least the service there is impeccable and the tables are more than a foot inches apart.
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MTK - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Friday, November 09, 2007

Had dinner there last night and left with mixed feelings. First of all, I thought the decor was a bit strange. the mixture of plastic, wood and sanitised brick-a-brac didn't really work and didn't seem to fit with the 'sustainable' ethos of the restaurant.

The food was above average, but I didnt' really think it was worth the prices they charge. £19 for rump of lamb with beans is at least £5 too much by my reckoning, and the beans were dry and hard, although overall the dish was tasty. For pud, the apple compote was huge but rather tasteless and the fourless chocolate cake gloopy and the accomanying ginger ice-cream over-powering adn not very skillfully done. And considering the prices on the menu, charging for bread seemed a bit of a cheek.

Did I enjoy it? Yes, but I felt like I was paying over the odds (which I really dislike). Would I go back again for dinner? No, lunch maybe as I think it has a different format that might me more fairly priced.
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CJL
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, October 24, 2007