The Forge

Paid my first visit to the Forge in November 2010 with wife and 2 teenage children. Been back just the once since then, but am planning another visit for end of January. Food was superb, service and staff were great. Wide variety of choice on the menu. Atmosphere although busy, still managed to maintain comfortability. Would definately recommend it.
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James Pomeroy
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Thursday, January 20, 2011

My husband and I went to The Forge on Tuesday early evening as it was my birthday and our wedding anniversary. The service was excellent, and so was the food. I had a warm duck salad followed by Black Thornback which is similar to skate wing, then tarte tatin. Everything was perfectly cooked and the best meal I had eaten in a long time. With a bottle of wine, it was £116.
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Sally Mayne
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, November 25, 2010

I went to The Forge with a friend last and either I got lucky or the other reviewers have far higher standards than I. I'll start with the only negative that I have, which is that the decor was a bit uninspired. Other than that I found the staff to be charming, the food excellent and the price reasonable.

I had a very good wild mushroom tart with a really excellent tarragon hollandaise followed by roast lamb with mashed jerusalem artichoke and gratin dauphinoise. Everything was superb, the lamb was cooked exactly as I had asked and the dauphinoise was deliciously rich. My friend had smoked mackerel followed by guinea fowl with risotto. I tried the guinea fowl and risotto and though that that was very good.

The portions were generous enough that neither of us felt the need for pudding (not even the delicious looking tart tatin with calvados) but had a delicious selection of cheeses instead.

All told I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and felt that the cost was reasonable.
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Ned
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Dined at The Forge on 25/10 taking advantage of special offer of 3 courses plus half bottle of wine for £20.50. The food and service was first class; the main course of frito misto was divine! Don't miss out on this wonderful place.
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Richard Coe
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, October 26, 2010

why go here? even a caff is better than this.
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maria lucia
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Saturday, October 02, 2010

Great value deal (from toptable), very nice atmosphere and very tasty - would definitely do again
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9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, August 03, 2010

We went to The Forge a few weeks ago while on a trip to London visiting a friend. From the look of the menu on the website we thought we would have a great experiance. We were wrong. We arrived and were seated, then just left for about 20 mins. No waiter came over to see if we wanted drinks or to explain any specials etc. I eventually had to call the waiter over, who may or may not have spoken english, i couldnt tell as he only moved his head, he didnt speak to us. He took our drinks and food order and left. That was it for the night service wise. No one came back to check on us at any point during our 3 course meal. No one came back to see if we wanted more drinks. Nothing. We were virtually ignored. They may have been understaffed as the maitre'de seemed to be running around serving tables. The food was very basic, nothing exciting and the presentation of the food was very very low standard. Some of our tables coffees were cold and one dessert came out burnt. We sent it back and 20 mins later a new one still hadnt come over. We called over the maitre'de who simply looked at us and said "yeah so......yeah". We deduced from that, there was not a new dessert coming, he gave no explanation as to what happened. Again, nothing. He ofered my friend a glass of dessert wine, which was refused. We wanted to get out of there.

This is probably the worst dining out experiance ive had before in my life. Ive never experecnced such bad and ignorant lack of service. They also had the cheek to add a tip onto our bill which we took off of course.

I would not reccomend this place to anyone.
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Stephen Taylor
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Sunday, March 28, 2010

I went to the Forge last night with two friends and I was thoroughly disappointed - the service was poor (we waited 15 minutes for our bottle of wine to arrive and everytime we asked where it was they said 'it's just coming', as though they were maybe decanting it or something, although of course they weren't ) and snobby (one waitress virtually sneered when we asked to share one dish of vegetables between two of us); the food was pretty poor as well - two of us had steaks which was chewy and stringy, badly presented with a mountain of chips pilled across the plate in a way you might get in a fast food restaurant; and it was expensive for the food we got. Bad experience all round.
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Victoria Read
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Saturday, November 21, 2009

Ate at The Forge last night. The service was generally good, with friendly staff, crisp white tablecloths and nice cutlery and crockery but unfortunately the food was a major disappointment. We dined a la carte, which wasn't cheap (£80), and while the quality of the ingredients was undoubtedly good there seemed to be a major problem in the kitchen. My starter of Lobster Mulligatawny was tasty but just about lukewarm. It didn't seem serious enough to complain about, but when my main course of rack of lamb arrived that was even colder. The waiting staff sent it back without complaint but the replacement that arrived, while warmer, tasted like it had been basted in salt. By this stage I was hungry, and did not particularly want to ruin my, and my partner's, evening by having to choose something else from the menu and wait for it to arrive, so I ate it. My partner chose the salted brisket, which was unsurprisingly salty - but also excessively so. The Forge does many things right in front-of-house, but is anyone actually tasting the food they send out of the kitchen?
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JJ
6 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Sunday, March 01, 2009