Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester

I went here for lunch and the place was almost deserted. The food was nice but I suppose it's saying something that the highlight were the freshly baked macaroons! The seats were comfy and there was plenty of light with the service being quick and efficient.

Unfortunately I cannot recommend going here as Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley and Roussillon are far more superior places to eat.
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Mr CM - View all reviews by this user
5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, September 29, 2010

I ate dinner at the Alain Ducasse last night (8 Sept 2010) for a birthday treat, and this was by the far the best meal I have ever eaten in my life - every course was better than the one before, and I swear I almost died when I tasted the milk fed lamb, followed by the rum baba - it was all a little peice of heaven.

On top of the three course menu, there was all the little added extras that we didn't expect, including an amuse bouche at the beginnging, the delightful cheese puffs, and macaroons and chocolates before dessert. Plus they left us with a little goody bag of biscuits and orange cake to take home with us for breakfast!

And to top it all off, the service was unbelievable - the waiters were friendly and thoughtful. Not at all pretentious, which can often be a real let-down at expensive establishments. And we were invited back to the kitchen to meet the chef at the end of a meal, which was a real treat.

I could not recommend this restaurant enough - everyone should eat here at least once in their life!! It really was worth every penny we spent there. I literally can't stop thinking about it - yum!
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Jackie
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, September 09, 2010

Our experience at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester was unforgettable! We wined and dined in the beautifully decorated restaurant on 3rd August! The service was first class, very kind and friendly. The food was incredible!!! We chose the a la carte and tasting menu and we enjoyed every dish as well as a Puligny montrachet 2004 wine. It's a lavish restaurant, a place that everyone should experience!!!
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EFTYCHIA CHARALAMBOUS
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, August 10, 2010

We always go out on a birthday for a nice lunch. Today we went to Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, mainly because we couldn't get in to Le Gavroche.

With a table in a shady corner and any view of the rest of the room blocked by the private dining area's hanging curtains, the ambiance was not great. The decor is bland, modern-weird; almost as though it has been designed by committee.

We were going to try the lunch menu but it was uninspiring; we looked at the à la carte which didn't get the juices flowing either (Tournedos Rossini, Duck à l'orange), so we settled for the lunch after all.

There are some really nice things about this restaurant: great, friendly service, good bread (but very salty butter), chocolates and sweeties with the coffee. The amuse gueule, small seafood ravioli in a ginger flavoured broth, was delicious and promised a great meal.

Sadly the promise got lost somewhere in the kitchen. My oeuf moellet starter was OK, not great but OK.

My wife's halibut goujonettes consisted of a three small pieces of fish in a very hot (spicy) sauce with strongly pickled vegetables. A failure of concept or of execution? Either way it wasn't appreciated and most of it was left on the plate, apart from the fish which she ate and the bits I ate to try to prove to her that it wasn't really that bad: it was.

Next we had the Ox cheek with vegetables: I was surprised when SWMBO ordered it because I'd cooked it for her previously and she didn't like it. However, it was the only meat option on the menu: maybe that's why she went for it, she's a serious carnivore.

So how do you turn a cheap cut of meat into something worthy of a 3 star restaurant? Answers please on a post card to "The Chef, Alain Ducasse..."

Anyway, it looked great: four chunks of meat with a column of thin rectangles of vegetables up the centre and a rich dark sauce. It tasted... well, like Ox cheek: slighty chewy, gelatinous texture but somewhat dry. I ate it but the birthday girl chewed a few bits, gave me a look far worse than when I’d served it to her and decided to go hungry.

So far, so-so. The puddings varied between pretty good and brilliant. My contemporary (i.e.deconstructed) vacherin was really sorbet and coulis with a trio of small meringue teardrops; so small, I could have cried. But the flavours were there and it did round off the meal well. OTOH, C's chocolate mousse was exceptionally good, so I was only allowed a little taste (she can be so mean) but they'd stuck a candle in the ice cream boule especially for her birthday.

The house wines were well chosen, albeit the portions were a bit tentative. Then again, a small glass of champagne at fourteen quid seems expensive until you consider that a Peroni beer is seven quid.

So, without trying the orange juice (is that really the acid test of a fine restaurant?), I can only say I was disappointed: I've certainly had better meals in no-star restaurants although not so elegantly served.

I really would like to highly recommend this restaurant but then I'd also like to fly to the moon: sadly I can't do either.
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chris spencer
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Friday, May 28, 2010

It was depressing to read some of the negative reviews of this restaurant as I headed for a business lunch there yesterday as the guest of a client. My experience was very different from that of the whingers. While the room is indeed a little pretentious - as is almost everything at the Dorchester or with the kind of price tag which accompanies this level of dining - and the private table behind the hanging light curtains indeed an oddity, I could not fault either the food or the service.

Having recently emerged from intensive care my appetite is still not back so I settled for simply two light courses: an utterly delicious starter with crayfish, avocado and a perfect poached egg which was sublime, and a main course of scallops with vegetables including wilted lettuce. Both were cooked to perfection, served delightfully and carefully explained by an attentive, but not overly so, waiter. The amuse bouches were surplus to my requirements but consumed with enthusiasm by my host and I longed to have room for some of the petits fours and amazing chocolates and macaroons which came with his coffee. He managed a dessert involving three apples and a zabayonne sauce and could clearly have eaten it twice. The bread was also wasted on me as I had insufficient room but looked superb.

My personal test of fine restaurants is often the freshly-squeezed orange juice I usually request, as I am a non-drinker. The Ducasse juice was quick, perfect and clearly squeezed only seconds before its delivery.

Either they have studied the negative comments and sharpened up their act, or other critics have a jaundiced view of fine dining and are impossible to please.

Anyway, try it. My host had taken his wife for a celebration some time ago and was intending to return after our delicious lunch. Neither of us is easily pleased or fobbed off. Our experience was genuinely excellent and I was convinced all three stars awarded were justified.
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Sue Stapely
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Thursday, April 08, 2010

We ate at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester on the 16th January; the meal was distinctly average with poor presentation and mediocre service (poor value for a 2 star Restaurant we thought). Now I know it has been given 3 stars, in comparison to Hospital Rd, Waterside and the Fat Duck it is just POOR.

We ate at Le Gavroche recently and had a wonderful meal on every level; it is not a good sign that on the night we were comparing our experience at the Dorchester to another 2 star restaurant and feeling disappointed. As I now know it is supposed to have an extra star, it has gone beyond disappointing to misleading.

I have complained to the restaurant but not had the courtesy of a response, maybe the Emperor does not want to know that his new clothes have no substance.
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Peter Hales
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Sunday, February 07, 2010

I celebrated my birthday yesterday by trying out the lunch menu at the highly acclaimed Alain Ducasse restaurant at The Dorchester. Needless to say I was very excited, especially after hearing they had been awarded their 3rd michelin star. However this excitement proved to be short lived, as from the moment we were seated this proved to be a poor dining experience. The service was inattentive, the maitre d did not speak to us once throughout the meal and the waiters served the food with no explanation as to what was on the plates. The food itself was nice but I would say mediochre and the amuse bouche was very disappointing. I have dined out in many michelin star restaurants and have to say that i do not feel that this warrants 3 stars, purely due to the service, the staff make no attempt to engage with you at all. If you are looking for a true 3 michelin star experience, I would highly recommend Gordon Ramsay's Chelsea restaurant.
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Jo
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Saturday, January 23, 2010

First visit today- and yes my wife had made the reservation before we knew about its elevation to three star! In summary we had an adequate three course meal with acceptable wines and the usual clutter of amuses bouches, petits fours and so on. Was it a three star experience? Not even close. The people at places like Marcus Wareing , far more deserving of three stars and yet now ranked not as good as M Ducasse must be totally exasperated. The food here simply cannot be compared for intensity of flavour and sheer cooking skill with Royal Hospital Road, or the aforementioned Mr Wareing's place. And personally even if paying the same price I'd rather have a meal at Maze, Tom Aikens, Murano, or the Square than here. In absolute terms they are all better than this restaurant.

Blow by blow, we were brought an enormous pile of choux bun type concoctions that palled rapidly as they cooled. Then an amuse bouche of crispy vegetables in a broccoli veloute that was simply OK., and in which I could taste undissolved salt grains. I've said before that there is no merit in restaurants giving free food unless its as good as they can cook. It's a first impression, and these sadly set the tone for the meal.

My wifes butternut squash veloute was decent. I went a la carte and chose a wild mushroom veloute with snails and bacon. The soup was not notably different from tinned mushroom soup, and the snails had no flavour at all that I could discern.

Main courses- again both adequate but uninspired. My venison , requested medium was served with no pink whatsoever, and a tiny array of vegetables that certainly would fit onto a tablespoon.

Desserts followed a similar uninspired theme except that the ice-cream with my chocolate pudding , advertised as milk with fleur du sel, was salty almost to the point of being inedible.

My wife's £45 three course lunch came with two glasses of sound if less than interesting wines; coffee and water and all told would have been decent value had it been more interesting. My excursion off piste at £75 for three courses and about £110 by the time we add for a couple of glasses of wine etc. I can eat very well indeed for £110 at lunch, and today I didn't. It was just ok; worth maybe half of what i paid for it.

Summary- whoever was in charge of the kitchen today is sadly out of his depth. The food is neither very interesting nor supremely cooked. The service and environment are competent though not outstanding. M. Ducasse is a lucky man. Unless he grips this and starts delivering food of a quality to beat some very good two star restaurants and match the other three star establishments he may not stay lucky for long.

My fear is that the people here might talk themselves into a belief that what they're delivering is great and blame the critics not the food. They'd be wrong. It's simply not good enough.
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David Henderson
5 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Thursday, January 21, 2010

the place totally sucks. its really pumped up pub gastro food that my companion E.T said was O.K because she eats anything (Actresses do).

You can actually eat better at Wetherspoon than here because although the food is justly cooked there's little inspiration. Avoid the wines = very high prices.

The evening was made doubly worse by E.T's whining about how her BBC parts are not forthcoming anymore.

People get old and restaurants get tired and this place had both. Can the French cook? Not any more.
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g
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Friday, December 04, 2009

We went for lunch on Friday 18th, for the other half's birthday. We've been before and loved it then and we still love it now. The food is amazing, it's good value for lunch at £45.00 each inclusive of two glasses of wine. After a lovely amuse bouche of broccoli with fresh vegetables on to a wild mushroom risotto followed by sea bream and cheese to finish. The four cheeses each come with their own accompaniment and were delicious. To finish, enough sweets to keep a kindergarten quiet. Definitely one of our top three in London along with Marcus Wareing and Le Gavroche. The staff make it all complete and we even got a visit to the kitchen. Well done M. Ducasse, we're back in two weeks time with friends just because we love it.
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Gerry Fergus
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, September 24, 2009