Hawksmoor

Second time round at the Hawksmoor was definitely not as satisfying at the first. As usual the food was pretty good. Scallops to start were cooked perfectly and were nice and plump. The steak was fantastic, obviously well sourced and hung and cooked perfectly. The sides were ok but didn't justify the price tags. It does irk me somewhat that so many places fleece you for sides - I have come for a meal and expect a balanced plate not having to order £10 worth of sides to supplement an already expensive main course. Anyway perhaps that's something for me to avoid.

What was truly appalling was the service. If i am paying an arm and a leg to eat somewhere I don't expect the waitress to make me feel like it's a chore to serve me, spill stuff everwhere and make a ham fisted effort to clean it up and I certainly expect to receive what I order. She was simply terrible. She forgot drinks was nowhere to be found when anyone needed anything and was completely po faced all night. What was nice was that the excellent waitress who I think runs front of house brough me the bill. She had served my table on a previous visit and was immaculate. She asked why I wanted the service charge removed and agreed that it was not up to scratch but the question remains is why do they let people pay good money only to have the experience spoilt by surly staff? I'm sure other people just shrug their shoulders and pay it but if everyone keeps doing it we will just have to keep putting up with it.
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Gav
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Thursday, May 22, 2008

I went to Hawksmoor last night in a party of 4 and was very disappointed by the experience.

Drinks: The cocktails we ordered were nicely made, possibly slightly undersized, but good nonetheless. The wines available are expensively priced. We ordered one of the cheapest available (a £30 Malbec), which was nice but still left me feeling a bit cheated.

Food: The menu deliberately points out that the steaks are huge. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not sure that serving huge steaks is much of a selling point in itself? Anyway, we were told by our surly waitress that the minimum size of fillet they had left was 400g. This was at 8pm on a Friday so hardly the end of the night.

Onto the steaks themselves - nice, but very salty indeed. Surely there is no need for this with the quality of meat that they use. Was it just poor execution? Either way, it spoilt the steak in my opinion.

Sides were ok, again nothing special, but the field mushrooms were nice. Desserts (peach melba, banoffee pie) were fine, but I'd had it with the restaurant by this point.

Service: Awful from start to finish. Waitress was surly and rude. I've been served better in places when I've paid 25% of what I paid here.

With a bill that came in at £70 per head. It just felt like a rip-off and might I say a tad cynical? As other reviewers have pointed out, there are better places out there so I'm not sure how long this place will be around if they don't clean up their act.
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Dominic - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Saturday, May 17, 2008

Another great steat at Hawksmoor last night. The 600g ribeye was cooked just right and was washed down with a nice bottle of Cline Zinfandel. The place was busier than on my last visit and this made for a much better atmosphere.

Not a cheap place but a must for steak fans.
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Chris - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Thursday, May 15, 2008

Spend your money on the steak and cocktails and forget about entrees and dessert because, unless you're a sumo wrestler, you won't be able to fit them in.

I went to Hawksmoor with my parents and boyfriend - all of us being enthusiastic carnivores - and our high expectations were met if not exceeded. The steaks were huge and cooked to perfection with a beautiful caremelised, barbequey flavour. My boyfriend and Dad ordered the 600g rib-eye and neither of them could finish it despite being the sort of people who usually have thirds.

Service was attentive, friendly and unpretentious. Our casually-dressed blonde waitress gave us the choice of any table in the room bar one (and those where people were seated) which set the tone for the evening.

The sides were tasty, if unremarkable. I really liked how each steak automatically came with 3 different sauces (bernaise, pepper and homemade tomato ketchup), so you could try all three or just have one (or none) if you preferred.

Booze is the expensive part of the Hawksmoor experience with cocktails at £7.50 a pop and red wine starting at (gasp) £27. My Floridita Rum Daisy was worth every penny though - it packed a punch but hardly even tasted alcoholic thanks to the skilled blending.

My main criticism of Hawksmoor is the expensive wine. I mean, let's be honest, there are really decent wines that they could sell for half that price. And if the wine was a bit easier on the wallet, customers may be more likely to enjoy a second cocktail which means they'd still spend just as much money but come away without feeling ripped off.

Overall, if you appreciate a good steak, Hawksmoor is a must-visit.
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DK
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Sunday, May 04, 2008

This restaurant needs to change the opening times on their answerphone and website. It states it is open 12pm-12am on weekdays on both, so we drove for 90 minutes (after some fine meals here in the past) to eat here on a Monday at 4pm and were told they were closed until 6.30!!! A complete waste of a day.
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Lau
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Well, my review will differ from the previous two as four of us had a wonderful meal here last night. The steak was as tender as butter, and the scallops were just delicious. The atmosphere was very pleasant and the tables were not crammed together, and there was NO music. This has to be a bonus! Everything was beautifully cooked and the bill wasn't outrageous.
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Shirley Isaacs
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Sunday, February 24, 2008

Four of us went for lunch yesterday and found it to be the same as on previous visits. The steaks are great, in both quality and quantity, side dishes good but not cheap and great wine list, but again not cheap.The only thing missing on this visit was other customers as there were less than 20 people in the place.Service was friendly and quick. If you like your meat pay this restaurant a visit.
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Chris - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Friday, February 22, 2008

Returned to Hawksmoor. Surely their steak must be top notch at nearly £20 before you pay for side dishes? My rib eye I asked for medium. It came nicely cooked around the edges but raw in the centre. One third was gristle. I complained but was told it was cooked as I requested. On insisting, they took it back to the kitchen and cooked it until it resembled leather and returned it. Galling at the price. Won't be back.
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Stow Eater - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Went here for my husband's birthday a couple of days ago. It's a bit of a mixed bag really.

Good bits: the wine was lovely (Catena Malbec) and our starter of ribs was just beautiful, meaty and flavoursome. Chips and macaroni cheese side dishes were also excellent.

Disappointing bit: the steak. Clearly lovely cuts of beef but overzealous seasoning in the kitchen led to a steak which tasted of salt and little else, a little bit like it had been smoked. A real shame and one which required lots of water!

We didn't experience the 'loud banker' syndrome at all. The atmosphere at Hawksmoor is great, relaxed, no dress code and the service was wonderful, knowledgable and friendly.
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, February 05, 2008

I think the management at Hawksmoor have been reading the reviews on here and acting upon them, because everything about our visit last night differs from that of previous diners.

I was nervous about going to the Hawksmoor after reading the reviews on here, but the place impressed me. We arrived early and had some cocktails, which were great. Then - having been allowed to choose which table we wanted - we sat down. The waitresses were friendly and helpful and offered us good advice or guidance when we needed it. They were knowledgeable about both the food and the wine and were always pleasant and friendly. We both had steaks, cooked to perfection and without doubt the best steak i've had in England. Chips and salad were delicious as well. After our meal we ordered a couple more glasses of the wonderful wine we'd had (£35) and sat at the bar for a while. Got the bill, which came to £160 – and the waitress was kind enough to bother to separate it for us as we were paying for some of it through work and needed a receipt with a specific amount on it.

£160 for what we had – 4 cocktails, bottle of wine, two glasses of wine, two steaks, chips and salad – isn’t cheap but it isn’t that bad either, especially as the quality was top notch and the whole experience was lovely.

Some general points:

1) This place isn't cheap, but you wouldn't go here every night, and it's worth it for the quality.

2) Be aware it is at the wrong end of Commercial St, and in the City, so is often full of loud bankers which always have the potential to ruin the atmosphere somewhat… though we just ignored them.

3) You go here for beef and cocktails and not much else, don’t expect over the top décor, romance, 5 star service or an extensive menu – it’s really all about the big steaks and strong cocktails – and they do these really well.
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Emma
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, January 30, 2008