Galvin Bistrot de Luxe

Went back to Galvin last week after a few years. Everything was top class, food and service. Will be going back more often.
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Fred
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, April 12, 2013

Went back after three years for a family lunch and the whole experience was top class. Great service, superb food, divine house Champagne and excellent Burgundy to follow. The snails were melt-in-the-mouth and the lamb main a triumph. Very hard to beat this place.
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Toby Tucker
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, April 27, 2012

I moved into Marylebone last year and Galvins is on my doorstep. I have eaten there several times, different times of day and different days of the week and three times I have had a very poor experience due to the extreme slowness of the service. Last time I was there was the Friday before Christmas and we eventually gave up waiting for our main course and left. I would have expected the restaurant to have called with an apology as they have a very efficient database but no, not a word. I am not the only one to have left without eating. I was talking today to a colleague who felt the same as me and will not go back there. Such a shame. I love the ambiance but I will not tolerate this happening yet again.
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3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Thursday, January 05, 2012

An impromptu Bank Holiday Monday dinner after a stroll around Marylebone was a most delightful, delicious end to the long weekend. It is seldom I will comment as I hate this new blogging idiom - so many very poorly written and ill judged pieces - but sometimes you just have to sing the praises of a restaurant. The cooking precise, the gentle shift in menu to late summer/early autumn, lovely wines by the glass, and a relaxed but confident service. What more can you ask. Well, for me it is to feel comfortable in a setting that is chic but not over-stylised, and a lovely buzz of conversation not interrupted by music nor hard noisy floors. What did we eat - a terrine, a well dressed green salad, a tranche of pink calve's liver, and the evening's special Duck Forestiere, finished off with Rum Baba and Creme Brulee. You may think this is a bit middle of the road, but food is all about good cooking, done simply and well judged. The wine choice was Chablis by the glass (refreshingly cold and dry), and a Cote du Rhone (dry and earthy). If I ate as well as this in Paris I would be exceedingly happy.
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Ruth Meyers
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, August 30, 2011

very poor food - tried set menu - soup was tastelss custard - were it not for a dribble of truffle oil - supposed to be Vichyssoise with hard bits of leek.

followed by cod which was flakes of cod - not even salt cod - in a pile of mash
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radler - View all reviews by this user
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, August 15, 2011

I'm glad to report that Galvin Bistro de Luxe is back on form after a poor year. It is hard to find such excellent food, friendly service and great ambience as a complete package in other London restaurants.
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londongal - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Sunday, July 24, 2011

Cannot recommend Galvin enough. We visited last year with clients and like it so much we selected it as our "go-to" spot this year. Great food and great service. the Manager or owner or wine Steward (may have been all 3!) did a fabulous job helping us pick the wine. He even went as far as suggesting another wine to us (les sexpensive) then the one wew ordered! Portions were good and the "team" concept in service is well oiled. The desserts were great....accompanied by a good selection of Ports! We will keep it on our list.
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Steve Collins
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, May 09, 2011

The meal I had at Galvins' a year and a half ago still sits so happily in the memory!

When we arrived our table was not yet ready but we were carefully whisked downstairs to the bar, which was a cosy and intimate setting for a pre dinner drink (of water, mind!).

Once seated, I ordered sweetbreads (first time tasting), delicious with a well balanced vinegar dressing that cut through the richness, mopped up with bread, followed by blanquette de veau and smooth parsnip puree. Drenched in thick, sticky and delicious meat jus. Can't recall what she had, but won't be forgetting that sauce! Tart tatin to finish was lovely as well - it was the pastry wot made it. Timing between courses (oh so crucial and oh so overlooked by many a kitchen) was perfect.

Most of all, though, the service was just delightful. Warm humour and discretion mixed perfectly to leave us feeling positively royal upon exit.

Hoping when I next go back my experience will be up to the same and less akin to some of the below.
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Foodie - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Friday, February 25, 2011

I'm kind of at a loss to understand the recent negative reviews here. Had lunch here last week - I had last been there for dinner maybe a year ago - and I was as impressed as ever by the standard of their deftly done bistro classics. Steak tartare was unimprovable; snails some of the best I've had; mains of pot roast pheasant with lentils and duck breast both perfectly executed. A la carte, two courses with two glasses of wine and coffee came to £84 - not cheap but not especially expensive either for this quality of French food. The three course prix fixe lunch menu at £17.50 remains a hell of a bargain, tempted away from it though we were. The wine list is still as excellent as ever: I enjoyed a brilliant Dom Couly-Dutheil Chinon 09 and a very decent 06 Madiran. Overall it's just very solid and well done: neither glitzy nor wildly inventive - but then you don't want French bistro food to be, do you?
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Andrew Neather
7 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Saturday, January 01, 2011

Having just had lunch here for the first time in a couple of years, I feel like I have eaten my last (of many) meals here. The food is still fairly good, but lacks the finesse it once had, and the service today was really poor. Our waiter barely spoke throughout the meal. Amidst this awkward silence he was plonking plates down, whilst simultaneously appearing smug and disinterested. Who said men can't multitask?! The prices have all gone up and the quality has gone down, that may explain why it was quiet today.
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Shappo - View all reviews by this user
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Friday, November 26, 2010