Fino

Visited with friends on April 16th. Fantastic choice of sherry to start with to get us in the Spanish mood.

We ordered a slection of tapas between us to sample more tastes!

The food was excellent, in particular the chorizo, squid, risotto and belly pork - melt in the mouth.

Wine list extensive, although looked a bit expensive we had a good bottle for £27. Excellent choice of ports and desert wines to finish with.

Unusual deserts which were excellent.
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Michelle Cunningham - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Saturday, April 18, 2009

I went to Fino on saturday night as a surprise for my birthday and i have to say it did not let me down at all!

It has recently been refurbished and the venue looked lovely. We had some cocktails beforehand and the barman was absolutely great and recommended the most gorgeous Apple Martini!

The food really was delicious - the squid was perfectly cooked and the daily special of razor clams was absolutely gorgeous. Even the bread they brought us was divine! the pork belly was literally melt in the mouth and the bean and chorizo was also superb;y cooked and seasoned.

I would definitley recommend visiting - it is quite pricey in parts but the food really is worth it. They even put a candle in my pudding!
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Kimberley
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, March 30, 2009

I went to Fino the other day with a friend and loved it. Finally a good Spanish restaurant in London! We started with cocktails in the bar - yum! Then enjoyed a few tapas, all strong ingredients well prepared to highlight their best qualities. Sweet scallops ceviche, juicy lamb chops, etc. Despite the wide range of flavours. staff found a good wine for us. All the staff demonstrated the perfect balance of warmth and professionalism. And finally I thought the bill was pretty reasonable.

Reminds of River Cafe in its approach, another keeper!
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Andrea Leon - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Saturday, November 29, 2008

We had a really enjoyable meal at Finos recently. We selected a variety of the dishes from the menu and had no complaints about any of them. Particular mention for the tuna tartar, red mullet and the pork belly. What was impressive was that the dishes were brought in a complimentary order that allowed us to enjoy a few dishes at a time them rather than having them all turned up at once. This showed a bit of thought was going into things, and was a great example of the detail and attention that seemed to be prevalent at Finos. The service was also attentive without being at all intrusive. I found it very difficult to fault and felt the bill was also very reasonable for such an enjoyable meal.
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Olibob - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Sunday, October 19, 2008

Once you have found Fino [its not on Charlotte St at all] it's a characterless room with no natural light, with cramped tables.

This might not matter if the food was great, but its not. Some dishes were good, notably the arroz negra and crab croquetas. Most were bland, eg the quail and lamb cutlets. A few were awful, especially their take on patatas bravas. All were small in volume [which I suppose is fine for tapas, although at no point does the restaurant itself describe the dishes or style of eating as tapas], and all were overpriced, some more than others.

The wine list is fine, but again overpriced. As others have commented on here, 12.5% service is quite normal, although I might have expected at least someone front of house to actually speak Spanish. Anyone who thinks this is fine dining needs their bumps felt.

Avoid.
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Oscillator
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, August 27, 2008

If like me you're happy to pay Fino's full prices as an irregular treat, the current half price deal is simply not to be missed. The choice is from a shortened but still very varied menu and the quality and service are as good as ever. The food tasted even better with a £41 discount for three of us.
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Kentishwanderer - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, August 05, 2008

I dined at fino last week for lunch and was really impressed with the quality of food served. The restaurant was surprisingly busy for a wednesday and i was glad we had booked and not just turned up on spec. Crab croquetas were delicately flavoured but tasty all the same, spring lamb was mouthwateringly good and incredibly tender as was the pork chop.Pimientos de padron were not as hot as normal but as anyone who has had the "russian roulette" approach with them before will atest is not such a bad thing. Morcilla and fried egg is something i have always been a bit afraid to try in the past but i cannot believe what i have been missing out on - apparently you are supposed to mash it all together so it doesn't look great but boy is it tatsy! The chipperone baby squid were perfectly seasoned and cooked and i will be returning for those alone. I was persuaded to try a glass of dry fino as opposed to a glass of wine and this too was very good - hardly surprising as this is what they are named afterall. As for one of the comments below from a lady saying she wasn't their type of clientele" I must have been in a different restaurant as me and my girlfriends were very well looked after indeed.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, April 18, 2008

I personaly love Fino, and its scenario. I had one time bad experience only, but that can happen in any place. Reading some reviews on this site it looks like some people have no idea what it is suppose to be about. Its not what you want, its what they offer. If you dont like it, go somewhere else.

To the rest of the less educated: 12.5% service charge is normal in many places, discretionary means it can be removed and you should always leave a tip if you enjoyed the night. Where you shouldn't expect service charge: MC Donald, Burger King etc...
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Hannah
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Saturday, April 05, 2008

I went to Fino last week with some friends and we had a lovely evening. We arrived early and so it was not that busy yet but were made to feel very welcome by all the staff and the bar soon became busy and had a lot of atmosphere. We had some delicious cocktails in the bar and then moved down to the restaurant which was very spacious and pleasant. We ordered lots of food as we wanted to try everything and on the whole everything was excellent, we loved the squid and the padron peppers!! however, everything was very good and we left feeling very full !! We were served by a lovely waitress who really knew the menu/wines etc and was more than happy to help and advise us on the dishes and help us with the ordering which is very rare in London!! I would recomend Fino to anyone!! That is anyone who knows good food which judging from other reviews on this site many people don't!! Also, anyone who eats out in London would know 12.5% service is standard, even in cheap cafes let alones one of Londons finest restaurants!!!
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sophia taylor-smith
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Thursday, March 20, 2008

I went to Fino on Saturday and found the experience to be a huge disppointment. It seems that the restaurant may have fallen into that age old trap that many in London seem to. They work hard to establish a good reputation then trade of former glories rather than current excellence. Fino has let it slip. Every sinlge course was poor quality. Even the fries were overcooked and dry. Fries! I've had better in McDonalds. The chorizo was bland and oily. The jerusalem artichokes were burned and for a while we couldn't work out what they were. The tortilla was doughy and unappealing and the scallops flavourless. The crab croquettes only tasted of black pepper, nothing else. The squid was chewy and the batter dry and over crisp. In summary, extremely poor food if you were paying £10 a head. Daylight robbery when payingFino's prices.
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Stuart
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Sunday, February 17, 2008