La Pampa Grill

I agree with the bulk of the reviews here - it's poor. The food can be good - rather variable, but the service is always terrible. I also agree that the wine is rubbish.
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Julian
1 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Friday, May 28, 2010

It's a shame as the actual meat is excellent flavour. I ordered the Sirloin tonight, my only quesiton is why can't the chef trim it properly? It's a sirloin, the chef must know there's a hard piece of gristle which runs all the way along the back, so why can't he trim it off leaving the fat which could melt properly when cooking? If you're going to pay £15 for a steak which has been flown half way round the planet to be served at a premium price, for crying out loud - get someone who knows how to prepare it! The chips, salad, sauce etc were excellent - but I go to eat steak! At the moment I'd recommend you save £3 and visit Cattle Grid 5 mins walk up Northcote Road.

£45 for two steaks, chips, tomato salad and two cokes is a bit much when the chef can't even prepare the meat right.
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Michael, London (from Northcote Road)
6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Very disappointing. Took my daughter and her husband for a wedding anniversary dinner. We were charged £3.60 for a cup of hot water and lemon and for dry cold bread we had not even ordered (thought it was complimentary).

The steak had no taste. However, the bill for 6 people came to £140. We could have eaten at a Chinese restaurant for have the price.

I would definitely not recommend my worst enemy to eat there.
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Hannoe
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, February 16, 2010

I took my children to this restaurant this evening, left after 10 minutes just couldn't stand the smell of the WC and paid for the drinks we never even touched... Everything was dissapointing from the beginning and I am so glad we left before ordering the food... Do not recommend at all and I hope they will take these reviews and make the changes... Shame my son really wanted to eat a steak..
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Jill Taris
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Sunday, February 14, 2010

I came to this restaurant with some friends because I was assured La Pampa is one of London's best steak restaurant chains, and that the meat is flown in from Argentina especially. They can keep it, as far as I'm concerned. Charring a piece of beef is no substitute for the flavour of the meat itself. My sirloin steak was cooked medium rare as I had asked, but did not taste as if it had ever been attached to a cow, and had the stringy texture of something had been sitting at the back of a freezer for some time. I did not enjoy it at all. The side salads were limp and totally uninspiring - shredded iceberg and overripe tomato - and the waitress brought bread which we were charged for even though we didn't ask for it.

The wine we ordered from the middle of the list was sour plonk which was obviously too old, a shame because Argentina produces some really great value juicy reds. Service was slow, harrassed and unsmiling, even though the restaurant wasn't full, and the music was so loud it made our exit onto traffic-filled Battersea Rise feel like sweet relief. The atmosphere in the place was subdued and melancholy even though it was the week before Christmas - perhaps because of the stale steaks and sad salads, but probably more likely because of the prices: at £30 a head for one course and drinks each, I was pretty fed up by the end.

If you're standing on Battersea Rise and absolutely need some steak, then La Pampa is acceptable if you have a spare £30 and some ear plugs. Otherwise, there are a dozen better places to spend your money in the area. With that £30 you could feed four people the meal of their life at Mien Tay on Lavender Hill, and if you order the beef pho, your meat cravings should be more than satisfied...
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crutherford
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Monday, December 28, 2009

Not Impressed! Very disappointing!
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Mario
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Saturday, August 22, 2009

I have eaten at La Pampa Grill on several occasions and never had any cause for complaint, until last night. We arrived at the restaurant at 18.30 and were the only customers, however it then took 20 minutes to even order a bottle of wine (no Voignier as usual, its on the wine list but they never stock it), and a further 15 to 20 minutes to order our food, the waiter was pre-occupied with cleaning and re-stocking the bar. By this time we had already consumed the complementary bread, which by the way costs £1.95.

The chorizo starter was fine and came quite quicky, followed by the 2 main courses. I ordered a rump steak (medium) and my friend ordered the rump steak (medium rare). My steak was huge, but unfortunately it was cooked well done, where as the other steak was much smaller but cooked OK.

Unfortunately my friend found that half of his steak was actually inedible gristle so he left this on his plate. When the waiter removed the plates he was somewhat surprised when we complained that the food was inedible, he told us he would ask the kitchen to check it out, however nothing was reported back to us.

A bout 10 minutes later I asked for the bill and when this arrived it was for the full amount, with no discount for the half inedible steak, at £16.95 you certainly expect food you can eat.

I complained to the waitress who was now on duty and she muttered that the Kitchen had checked the steak but gave no further explanation, so she took the bill away after I refused to pay full price.

Shortly afterwards the Manager appeared in the restaurant, he must have been called over from the other establishment across the road.

He approached our table and instead of a polite, "I hear you have a problem sir" we were greeted with a rude "You eat the meat and don't want to pay", hardly expert customer service. We explained that we had eaten in the restaurant many times before and were surprised by this drop in standards. The Manager said we should have told him earlier so that he could have done something about it, however he wasn't even on the premisis !! Without another word he took the bill away in a huff.

A couple of minutes later we were given an amended bill. The whole steak had been removed. We would have been happy to pay for half but were not going to debate this further. We paid the bill, without a tip and duly left the establishment.

We encountered rude and lazy staff and did not even get a simple apology. Unfortunately we will not be eating here again and would Not recommend the restaurant to others.
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Paul Steed
3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Friday, August 14, 2009

Ate in the Northcote Road La Pampa Grill last week and thought it was excellent. We had a variety of the steaks and the burger and all were delicious!!! The service was very laid back and really suited the place.

One guy even commented that he preferred the steak here to a steak he'd eaten at Gaucho..high praise indeed!

I'd certainly go back and would recommend it highly to anyone!
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Anthony Collett
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, May 11, 2009

Living in Clapham i often walk past it and think 'I must eat there. It looks really nice'. In short, the answer to this question is DO NOT.

The ambience in the restaurant is nice with a cozy feel and pine tables, so the evening with friends started well. We ordered two medium fillet steaks and a sirloin.

When the steaks came, the waiter could not remember how we had asked for them to be cooked and whilst the sirloin was a good size, the rather small fillet (medalion) had been sliced in half presumably to aid cooking time. The side salad it came with looked like something from a cheap curry house. Chopped iceburg lettuce with a piece of lemon on top.

We ordered 2 sides of chips and 1 of potatoes, but only the chips arrived. When the bill came we were charged for all four, and when we challenged this they said they gave us 2 large bowls of chips which made up for the potatoes. Refusing to take off the charge for the 2 potato portions they had not given us we left in disgust leaving not a penny in tips. VERY DISSAPOINTING!!!
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Mark
3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, March 25, 2009