The Rivington Grill

Decent quality food. It's questionable whether it's worth £22 for a pie with some mash and cabbage though, although it was very tasty. However, watch out for the sting in the tail regarding the supposedly "discretionary" service charge, which is nothing short of an excuse to add 12.5% on the price of every item on the food and drink menu, regardless of the quality or complexity of the service. The service charge sting is even worse when using one of Rivington's 50% food order discounts, which are used to fill the restaurant at quiet times, as 12.5% is added to the full menu price of the food order irrespective of the actual price payabale. In our case this meant that the service charge for a simple 1 hour service accounted for closer to 25% of the bill. These must be the best paid waiters for miles around.

Come on Rivington. If you want to be a top British restaurant, then play by the British rules and let the customers decide how much they value the service.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Monday, February 18, 2008

What a joy!

It really is hard to find truely British resaurants in London and in most of the UK but dare i say this may be it.

I must say if you are looking for facy towers of food look away now, because what you see on the menu is what you get, Some our friends looked quite put out by the fact that when they ordered the steak ( from some celebrated farm or another), and chips, all they got was that, steak and chips. Other dishes were more comprehensive, ie the lamb chop, with kidneys, bubble and squek and a great gravy. - but it is impossible to question the quality of the fayre - as a party of five we were all left very impressed by the taste, texture and presentation of the food on offer.

What really was impressive was the waiters knowledge... our tastebuds were salivating after the descriptions of the dishes and we were not left disappointed. Unstuffy service with a bit of flair.

A thouroughly good night out and one to be repeated.

i write this because its great to see a truely British restaurant thriving - something to be proud of
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Matt James
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, January 14, 2008

Lovely setting,decor, service,menu- food a great disappointment- hot food served cold. Plates cold- gladly took it back and returned not only still cold but rare beef now over done. Spoilt a birthday outing and NOT how a place of that calibre should have served food- Great shame.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 2
Sunday, December 30, 2007

I went with a party of over twenty people for a Christmas dinner, booked some months ago. The service was so slow and so poor as to be almost laughable (if we were not paying quite so much, needless to say) but the attitude was a lot less funny.

I had my knife taken away so I could have a steak knife but was then left with a steak and no knife at all. I was given the wrong dish, promised a glass of wine which never arrived, side orders arrived after the meal had finished, glasses were removed while still being used – you get the picture.

We had a glass of wine with our starters, but then waited almost an hour for any more bottles of wine to appear. One of our party managed to track down our elusive waiter and asked him to bring some. When, after a further twenty minutes and none had appeared and some people had almost finished their meals, I went to see the lady who appeared to be in charge of this particular comedy act. As I began speaking to her, our harried waiter arrived and interrupted me, saying “I know, I know, I know. I’ve been too busy”.

Too busy? Sorry? Is that my fault? Do I care? Christmas dinner, no wine (isn’t that where they make their margin), no service to speak of but plenty of attitude. As opening a bottle of wine is hardly rocket science, I found myself saying “Give me four bottles and a corkscrew and I will do it for you.” Hardly an enjoyable night out if you have to battle to get any service or civility.

To be totally fair, they reduced the bill in acknowledgement that we’d had less than impressive service. But I would have liked to apply a negative service charge. As it was we paid close to £1,500 for indifferent food and the worst service I have experienced in any restaurant for many, many years. I won’t be going back.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Monday, December 17, 2007

the food is excellent and the staff are lovely. this is a great place to go with friends ofr a fun informal evening. there is something to eat for everyone and the cocktails are fabulous.
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Jessica Rabbit
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Saturday, September 01, 2007

I went to The Rivington recently with my partner as it is very close to where we live and we thought we would treat ourselves as it is one of the more pricey restaurants in Greenwich.

We chose to sit outside which looked nicer than it was as the road is very busy and we had a tramp asking everyone for money!! lol

My partner ordered the goats cheese salad to start which had no dressing on it at all and was just leaves and cheese. I had smoked salmon which came with a bit of toast. This may sound fine but when paying £8 for it you would think they could be a little bit more imaginative. For our main I had lamb which was lovely but very fatty with only a small amount of meat. My partner had the crab and we had to laugh at when it arrived, it was just the crab on the plate.... no side plate, nothing with it...

The chocolate mousse i had for dessert was nice but way to rich and you couldnt have had more than a mouthful of it. The best part of the meal was a bottle of Pouilly Fume!!

I think this restaurant has a lot of potential, they have tried to create a simple menu (fish fingers and chips etc) which could be lovely but it just doesnt really work and it is way to over priced for what it is. I pay the same for a meal in Scalini's in Knightsbridge and the food is about a million times better!

The saving grace of this restaurant is its staff who are really lovely and helpful.

However If you want a really nice meal in Greenwich I would recommend the North Pole and avoid the Rivington.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Thursday, August 16, 2007

I went last Saturday. Maybe the food is considered good by local standards ? For us it was overpriced and bordering on amateur. Lamb was horribly fatty (ok Barnsley chop is always tough but this was stretching the limit). The portions were small and prices high eg £24 for a mediocre steak. The Egg Benedict was tiny and (almost) hard. Bread was good.

Serice was friendly - bright and cheery. It's an upmarket 'All Bar One'.
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Peter Rhidian
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Sunday, July 29, 2007

I have been here twice and both time the food, service and atmoshere have been fantastic. The waiters & waitresses have a lovley relaxed and "not too formal" way about them although they are still very helpful and attentive. The food was amazing, lovley fresh oysters and lamb to die for. Try the lemoncurd martini, amazing!!! This is one of my favorite places in London...... you will not be dissappointed!.... it's "f*****g beautiful".
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, July 10, 2007

I went there looking for good food. I found it!
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Adam Palk
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Friday, June 22, 2007

After 2 good recomendations, we visited Rivington Shoreditch. Right from the beginning we were recieved with a welcome smile and the evening just kept getting better.

Excellent waiter whom not just served us, discussed the menu in great detail was helpfull and had a greatsence og humour !

I started with the Crab and to my surprise was a whole one, which was 10 times better than the crab that i had at Scotts Mayfair the previous week.

Our only reservation about the restaurant & bar was it was rather smokey, thank God the 1st July is only round the corner.

Can't wait to return.

JK London
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Jonathan Kaiser
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Sunday, June 17, 2007