maze Grill

First class - the best steak.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Disappointed. After having read about The Grill I made a reservation for lunch. We arrived at the Grill smartly dressed, whereupon my mother was told that she could not wear her hat in the restaurant as it was the restaurant’s policy. She has never been told that she was not allowed to wear a hat in a restaurant. Call me old-fashioned, but it used to be the norm that ladies wore hats and gloves in a restaurant. A lady should be allowed what she wants to wear. We both thought it was a very strange policy. The woman who told us this was nearly holding the door closed so that we could not get in and she was bordering rude.

Anyway, we sat down and the two of us ordered 3 small plates each, one of which was crab soup which was too salty and rich and had to be sent back and we ordered another more expensive dish, the pigs on toast were bland and was too salty again and the octopus with sea salt and chilli was undercooked. The other three dishes that we ordered were indeed very nice.

I did not want to write a negative review, but when you are paying nearly £100 for lunch with a bottle of wine, I left a bit disappointed.
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CL
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, May 27, 2008

I chose this place partly on recommendation, partly on media hype, i have frequented 3 other G.Ramsay establishments and had an idea of the ethos from the website descript. Expect steak and chips in relaxed upper class cafe, a plain canvas struck with artistic swishes of bold colour creating a logical dining area.

We were introduced to the various meat cuts available and also given the days market price for the two top grades namely US Creekstone and Japanese Waygu. We opted for a shared starter small plate of confit tomato, chorizo, baby new potato, and bitter shallots. To follow, I chose the US Creekstone 10oz NY Strip sirloin with a market price of forty pounds, plus a side of garlic brava fries and onion rings, with a creamy horseradish sauce, my partner had the maze signature burger, which came with fries and mixed leaf salad at thirteen pounds. All dishes very tasty, and value for money, the US Creekstone beef is possibly the best cut i have ever tasted, rarely does a cut of sirloin have a melt in the mouth fat woven in that adds to the flavour such as this. The presentation of the steak on a wooden carving board with a baked garlic bulb and your own labelled steak knife is novel yet tidy and fresh.

We also recognised the smiling friendly waitress happened to be the same lovely lady that served us 11 months ago at the Boxwood Cafe. Service was attentive and unpretentious and we noticed that it is a child friendly environment also. The 'kitchen table' looks worth a try at the pinnacle of the restaurant. I would recommend that any 'true steak lover' tries either the Waygu or US Creekstone beef cuts and if you really savour a true seared steak flavour then forget adding a sauce as it only detracts from the masterpiece you chose for your palate.

All in all a lovely experience. Will be back soon.
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Lorraine Kouridis, Surrey
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Sunday, May 25, 2008

My husband treated me to lunch at Maze Grill for my birthday earlier this week and it couldn't have been better! Being a Ramsay restaurant virgin I was a little nervous of how we'd would be received, because neither of us are stuffy in the least, but the service couldn't have been more friendly and relaxed from the moment we walked in the door and were greeted by the hostess. We were a little early, so headed to the bar which is in Maze, where the bar steward was also really friendly. Just as our drinks arrived we were told our table was ready, so we went back through to the Grill and were seated at one of the circular booths. We were given plenty of time to choose from the menu, my husband had the Casterbridge rib-eye on the bone and I had the Angus rib eye, which were both delicious. We did agree the Angus had a little more flavour, but both steaks were cooked perfectly and melted in the mouth, we rarely order steak when eating out because they can be so hit and miss, but these were the best we've had by far, with only a restaurant in the Grand Hyatt hotel Dubai coming close. We chose a bottle of Reisling which is completely underated and it was fruity, crisp and perfect - who says you have to have red wine with steak!

I couldn't resist the Eton Mess for dessert, which was so good I ate it at a snails pace, just to savour every mouthful for as long as possible... heaven! My husband always opts for cheese over a sweet dessert, and although the cheeses he chose were extremely good, he was disappointed that there weren't more to choose from. Having recently been to 1901 (formerly the Aurora at The Great Eastern Hotel) where they have a full cheese trolley, he felt the six or seven on offer at Maze Grill was lacking. He was also horrified to see the cheese being served with raisin bread and nothing else. To a complete fruit phobic this was his worst nightmare, I did tell him to ask for something plain, but I think he was embarrased to ask and I was too busy in Eton Mess heaven to ask for him!

We finished with coffee, which was far too strong for me and totally destroyed the taste of Eton Mess, which I was clinging to desparately. A criminal offence in my opinion, but my husband loved it because strong coffee is his thing. You can't please all the people, all the time! All in all, we had a fantastic lunch with great service and felt it was worth every penny of the £160 bill. Thoroughly recommend it and will definitely be back to try Maze, lets hope it lives up to it's sister!
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Sharon Stephens
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, May 22, 2008

We ate here on Sunday night, and loved every minute of the experience, from the friendly welcome at the concierge desk right through to stumbling out of the doors!

Waiters were immediately welcoming and very patient despite the fact we took an age and a half to decide what to drink and then eat. We went for a relatively inexpensive Cotes du Rhone, and were waiting for the usual wine waiter sniffiness, but none of it... and the wine was fantastic.

To start we had the octopus (tasty, chunky although a slight bit oily), pigs on toast (stickily delicious!) and salt n pepper squid (fantastic!) and this proved just enough as a starter.

For mains, I had Aberdeen Angus sirloin, my husband had the Angus ribeye. We both asked for rare, although mine ended up a little less bloody than I normally like... that's English chefs for you, I guess. Presentation was fantastic... steaks come on a chunky wooden carving block, with your steak knife tucked in a cardboard sleeve with the word 'rare' or 'medium' printed on. By the side is your head of roasted garlic and a bouquet garni. Steaks were tasty, not oversized and have a lovely smoky flavour from being cooked over coals. We went for mashed potato (more of a creamy, sticky, yummy puree) and onion rings (crispy) as sides, and were disappointed to feel too stuffed to manage a dessert (I had my eye on the cider apple trifle!).

A lovely experience, superb attentive staff, nice atmosphere, subtle music (cool jazz), reasonable timed service (not too slow, not too rushed), great wine selection, nice subtle decor and a recommended evening out.
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Lisa Coley
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, May 20, 2008

The food is generally very oily., especially the meat. The starters are OK, the meat poor (tastes weird like it has gone off!), I had the angus sirloin and my fiancee angus rib-eye). Meat portion quite small. The side orders are very greasy. Atmosphere - very small place. Desserts no big deal. Meat quality at the Rib room at carlton towers far better.
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, May 20, 2008

I had the pleasure of dining at Maze Grill on Thursday night, and after a considerable anticipation (having watched Jason Atherton thrill the celebrity reviewers in Great British Menu all week) I have to say that it completely lived up to expectation. A starter of 3 small plates, cooked to perfection, full of flavour and just about the right size starter for 2 people for dinner. Interestingly one of the small plates was Casterbridge beef with pimento peppers; Casterbridge being the cheapest of the 5 selections of steaks also available for the main course (Casterbridge, Hereford, Aberdeen Angus, Creekstone and Wagyu (at £110!)), and it was delicious. With both my girlfriend and I having chosen Aberdeen Angus (sirloin and rib eye), which were exceptionally good, I just couldn't help but think that the extra £10 to have Aberdeen Angus as opposed to Casterbridge was a bit of a waste. All cuts are finished on the broiler, and it's only the waiter coming around and tempting you with a board of multi-colour raw meat (wrapped in napkins?!) that urges you to take leave of your senses and opt for the more expensive cow! A minor quibble, however, as all in all we enjoyed a fabulous meal, finished off with cinnamon doughnuts and bitter chocolate brownie - both of which were very nice, if a little rich. We would have chosen chocolate praline coolant, only apparently the praline wasn't up to snuff - shame really. The final bill was expensive (but as expected for a meal of this calibre), service efficient and helpful (although I think we had the 'new boy' serving us at certain points, and his knowledge of the menu and what was in the dishes was very poor for a Ramsay restaurant) and personally, I really liked the decor, finding it to be both fresh and modern. All in all though, a great night out and highly recommended if you want to splash out on a meat feast!
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Willis Lee
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Monday, May 19, 2008

had dinner at maze grill last saturday and it was amazing. upon arrival we were greeted nicely by everyone and no fakeness about it. there was 4 of us and we all got different starters each and tasted each others. all 4 were amazing. we could smell the dinners going by and that just made us want it more. dinner came we got the anugs which was cooked to perfection and with side dishes. dessert again was fabulous. we stayed a total of over 3 hours eating and drinking. have to say a great experience and couldn't fault the staff or anything about it. the toilets had molton brown creams to top off.

the manager was over with us throughout the night and have to say very nice eye candy !

bill came and the value was exceptional.

next time i'm in london i'm definately making a date with maze grill.
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susan glennon
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, May 09, 2008

My Girlfriend and I woke up in the mood for steak – strange, I know - and decided to do something about it. So, for lunch we headed over to Mayfair to the latest restaurant in Gordon Ramsay’s empire – Maze Grill. As we arrived, we were shown to our table by nervous, smiling staff who look like they have been manufactured by Gordon Ramsay Holdings for the purpose. Décor in Maze Grill is typical of Ramsay’s more recent establishments – expensive fittings, bright lighting and soft colours. Bland, to be honest.

To start with, Kirsty and I shared 3 small plates, a bit like the ones they offer in Maze. We had Seared octopus, confit lemon, tarragon (not great, too salty and a little tough), Pigs on toast, parmesan and rocket (really good – finely chopped trotters on little sour-dough croutons) and Confit tomatoes, chorizo, potatoes, bitter shallots (fantastic, the best of the three).

For our main course, we both chose to have steak from the extensive selection on offer. Prices ranged from £15 right up to ‘market price’ for Wagyu ‘9th grade’ Gold style. Market price that day was £120. I had an Aberdeen Angus Sirloin, aged 28 days and Kirsty had Aberdeen Angus fillet. They were truly excellent – charred and crisp on the outside (from the broiler) and beautifully succulent and pink on the inside. The meat at Maze Grill is served in a rustic fashion on wooden boards with half a roasted garlic bulb, which I chose to eat. On the side, we ordered fries and French beans with shallots which were both fine. Disappointing was a peppercorn sauce which was slightly insipid and under seasoned in comparison to the rest of our meal. We also ordered a selection of three mustards – Dijon, parsley and olive. Naturally, Dijon was a perfect match for the steak but the other two were rather unpleasant and didn’t compliment the meat at all. To wash all of this down, I chose a 2007 Fleurie from the comprehensive wine list which was light and fruity and just what we were looking for in the middle of the day.

My desert of Eton Mess was excellent, the meringue was served intact and I was encouraged to break it into the cream and red fruit with my spoon which I did happily. Kirsty ordered cinnamon doughnuts with vanilla foam and a mini cup of hot chocolate. She told me it was OK. The bill was around £152 including sparkling water, coffee and service (which was slick). All in all, a nice lunch.
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AGR Banks
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Had a very pleasant evening there just after they had opened. Overall quality of food was very high, had a delicious fillet steak. Selection of wines was good.

Service was rapid and friendly - the tour of the kitchen was a particular treat. Bright airy atmosphere, very similar to its sister restaurant Maze next door. Best grill/steakhouse I've eaten at in London. Chef's table immediately beside the open kitchen looks like it could be interesting and a good bet for a work team night out or family celebration.
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, April 14, 2008