Cafe des Amis

Me & my boyfriend had a meal last Saturday. It was my boyfriend 28th B-day. We are both big 'food lovers'. The plan was to go see Tour de France in morning and at the evenig go for a meal. My responsiblity was to choose the restaurant (as a supprise). Unfortunatley we are living in Ascot, in Berkshire and I had really big problem to decided where and which kind of cousine to choose on this special occasion, because I don't know any restaurants in London. I found Cafe des Amis on the Covent Garden Life web and I booked via this web site. I mentioned as well on the booking that my boyfriend have a b-day.

The restaurant looked very nice. Dinner was very tasty. Complement to the chef. Food was full of flavours. Only thing to complaine is: my main course: brest of duck, roast fig and marineted roast peppers - a little bit overpowered by peppers. I think it would be better idea to use roast peppers (home made, roast in oven) but not marinated. And my boyfriend main course: seafood stew was full of diffrend flavours but maby good idea will be not to use smoked fish (headdock) because again is overpowering the tast of whole dish. But anyway we finished with beatifull dessert - trio of chocolates . Fantastic!

Thank You very much as well for very proffesional service. Staff was very attentive & chatty at the same time. The bill was a bit supprise but very positive supprise. From the tottal of our bill was dedacted 20%, which I later found out was because I booked via web. Nice touch! My boyfriend and me had a wonderfull time. Thanks again. I am sure we will recomend You for our friends.

Just to let You know, we both working for years in hospitallity buisness and it is very difficult to execed our expectations, which You deffinetley did.
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Marta Wielgosz
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Sunday, July 08, 2007

You would expect better service for the price. It is a bit like being in Pizza Express - the waiting staff are fine but you feel hurried along and just like one of the many that will be farmed through that day.

The food is pretty good. Nothing special, but a nice good place to eat in Covent Garden if you don't mind paying about £80 for lunch for two with wine.
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George C
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Sunday, April 22, 2007

While Cafe des amis looks slick and welcoming, the food was anything but. The confit of duck was well presented, but far too greasy to eat. When mentioned to the waitress she replied that it was cooked in fat... Well yes, of course it is, but it doesn't mean it has to be greasy to the point it is inedible. The king prawns were smaller than any king prawn I've seen before, and rubbery in texture. Moving swiftly on to the mains (we got about 2 mins between courses) I was presented with the belly pork, topped with crackling... The only problem was that the crackling was still barely browned, and not had a texture more akin to rubber than crackling. It was promptly sent back where it obviously received a quick 30 secs under a grill, which did little to improve things. The buttered potatoes we ordered weren't buttered, and half were still solid in the centre.

We decided to skip dessert, and beat a hasty retreat, and I certainly won't be going back. The only glimmer of hope was the service, which was efficient and polite, although the waitress empathising that your meal is badly cooked shouldn't really be a reason for praise.
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Neal D
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Friday, March 30, 2007

Took my mother there last night pre- theatre and we were both very happy. The service was friendly and efficent without being intrusive. The food was of a very high standard and though not cheap, I thought it was worth the price. The only down side was that after sharing a very enjoyable bottle of wine, my mother ordered another glass of the same wine but was served something different. Overall though, very satisfied and will return.
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Darren
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Saturday, March 03, 2007

I went to Cafe des Amis last week with my boyfriend and we were quite satisfied with the place in general, although for the price you pay you could expect higher standards but that's London prices. The main dish was better than the starter (cooked oysters)and the dessert was really nice. We found the service efficient, but I must say it was late and there were not many customers to attend. The atmosphere is pleasant, elegant without being posh.
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Cecile
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Saturday, February 24, 2007

My wife and I were the recipients of truly awful service at the Cafe des Amis recently

I had specifically booked the table for a pre-theatre meal and I mentioned this fact again on arriving. I arrived at 5:45 and ordered some wine and water and my wife joined me at 6 pm. We ordered onion soup and salad starters followed by risotto and mussel and chorizo cassoulet off the prix-fixe menu by 6:10. Bread and olives arrived promptly but the starters did not arrive until 6:35. At 6:50 I asked a waitress if our main courses were imminent as we had to be seated at the Opera House by 7:30. She assured us they would be but at 7:05 I had to speak with the manager (I do not know his name or actual position) and at 7:10 our main courses arrived. To take 1 hour to serve main courses that even I could have cooked in 15 minutes in my own kitchen is unacceptable. I was unable to eat more than a small portion of my dish in the time available and we left at 7:20. We were only charged for the wine and the bread and olives which was a nice gesture but frankly having paid over £300 for opera tickets, saving a few pounds on the meal is neither here nor there. Watching an opera on a (small) bowl of onion soup was not my idea of a great evening out.

The couple on the adjacent table were in a similar position but having ordered off the a la carte menu after we had ordered, they at least reached their main course by 7 pm - still rather late but better than our experience.

My wife and I have been eating out in a wide range of restaurants for some 30 years and I have to say that we have never experienced such poor service. Especially given that we flagged up the situation several times before approaching the manager. But staff either did not care or the kitchen was so poorly organised there was nothing the front of house staff could do. The Cafe is in a superb position to take advantage of theatre goers but we shall not be using you again and I can only hope for the sake of the business that the Cafe learns from this.
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Keith Jones
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

We booked this restaurant because of the fabulous reviews. The atmosphere was fantastic, the decor was impressive, but whilst the food was presented well it was luke warm. I have decided to give it another go in the hope it was just a bad day.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

I would not recommend this place. The food was nothing special. They served the starters two seconds after we had ordered the food. Then we had to wait for 45 mins before they serve the mains. Food was suspiciously extra hot, as if somebody had put it in the microwave before coming to the table. Desserts were excellent, but by then we were so frustrated we just wanted the bill and get out. Sorry for the waitress, who tried his best to make us feel better given the obvious disaster.
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Saturday, January 27, 2007

I booked for a family post-Christmas meal and we were pleased to see the restaurant full even on a Wednesday night in early January - always a good sign. As with other reviewers, all 4 of us read the menu for ages because we could not decide what dishes to leave out! However, the friendly staff made sure we were well served with wine and water as we cogitated. The lamb's kidneys were cooked to perfection and served with a fiery horseradish cream, the pork belly came with delicious crackling and the seafood ragout was topped with a melt-in-the-mouth pastry top. I could not resist the lure of the chocolate soup with black pepper ice cream and although my waistline complained, I LOVED it! Just a couple of quibbles - a pity the bread and vegetables were at an extra cost and the toilets could do with a little TLC as they do not match up to the rest of the establishment. However, it was a wonderful evening and my relatives returned to the South Coast full of praise for the best meal they have had for some years.
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sarah lane
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Thursday, January 11, 2007

I went to this restaurant with high expectation after reading the reviews on the website. Unfortunately, my costly experience was a total disappointment. The food and portion was not bad for french crusine but then the menu was not very french at all!!! The dishes were well presented I must say. The service was very average considering how much they charged for the NY menu. The set meal did not include any side dishes and we had to pay a fair amount for vegetables and potatos. An extra pound was added on top of the food bill for a charity called 'streetsmart' without asking us beforehand. Did not enjoy paying the extra 12.5% tip! We genuniely support streetsmart as long as the homeless people benefit from the scheme one way or another. However, customers should not get charged 1.13 while the charity only gets 1 pound !! Not very impressed overall.........
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Thursday, January 04, 2007