The Pantechnicon Public House & Dining Room

After running the Royal Parks half marathon yesterday, my girlfriend, a friend and I had lunch at The Pantechnicon. It was one of the most perfect lunch experiences we have ever had. Everything from the online booking to the final bill was excellent; prompt, friendly and accurate. The staff on the phone were extremely efficient and courteous, even when we called to reduce our table size from 8 people to 3, just an hour before the booking.

The food is delicious and well presented. My girlfriend declared her beef roast to be the best she’d ever had! Top of the bill though were Rob and Greiti (so much so that I asked for their names), who served us. Nothing was too much trouble and they gave their recommendations for the food with sincerity and passion. They made an already good experience great.
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Sean McKnight
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, October 10, 2011

We'd had a few glasses of fizzy stuff at a gallery opening (one of the artists disappointingly turned out to be more of an illustrator) and headed down Motcomb Street in search of sustenance. Certain well-known places were suffering from the disease that afflicts so many places to eat in the well-healed SW London strip that runs from Belgravia to Fulham. They have an almost mythical reputation (long since undeserved) and a regular clientele who are not really that interested in the food (locals with more money than taste love it because everyone recognises them). Such places are also often ludicrously priced and unwelcoming to strangers.

So it was that we continued along Motcomb Street and found The Pantechnicon. We asked two girls topping up their nicotine outside if it were a good place to eat. Fantastic, they assured us. In we went, and because it was early, were found a table straight away. Three of us opted for burgers, with a 'what's not to like' bloody mary sauce and beetroot relish, as well as skinny chips far superior to McDonald's. If I've had a better burger in London, I've forgotten it. So I probably haven't. Our fourth chose a rabbit dish which turned up like a mini haggis. Inside were various bits of the bunny cooked separately and reuinited. 0/10 for taxidermy but it got 10 for what matters. I imagine that at times downstairs at The Pantechnicon could be unbearably busy. But this evening it was a delight - utterly charming service, OK wine, really good food that was everything it should be and even a two-year old child eating with her dad at the next table who was so well behaved, she gave us all a lesson in manners. As we left, we said goodbye to the pair who'd encouraged us to eat there. They hadn't troubled the kitchen that evening; we unreservedly recommended the food to them.
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Jon Allen
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Sunday, October 17, 2010

Wonderful lunch venue, very relaxed but elegant, perfect for a business lunch, a romantic encounter or a group of girls having a catch up!

The menu is perfect, the food is delicious and I can't recommend it enough, you can even sit outside and catch some rays....

The Pantechnicon truely has everything you could want in an up market gastro dining room.....

Can't wait to go back soon.....
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Lady Kate
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Had lunch here yesterday. The very open and airy restaurant is very well laid out and smartly decorated, the overall effect being enhanced by the fact that it was a very sunny day. Unlike the sister pub, the Thomas Cubitt, the tables in here are not too close together and there is a real feeling of space.

The menu is extensive though the choice of starters is very heavily biased towards seafood, which is clearly not to everyone's taste. I had the seared cured salmon with hen's egg and hollandaise which was excellent, though not sure that the hollandaise is really needed.

The main event is clearly the Sunday Roast to share. We had the roast beef which is brought on a small pallette with roast potatoes, Yorkshires and marrowfat peas (which went oddly well). You carve it yourself at the table. I have to say that this rib of beef was amongst the finest I have ever had. Perfectly cooked, very tender, oozing with flavour. Simply sensational.

I then broke with habit and had a pudding of blood orange meringue pie with sorbet. Really really good combination, especially with a small glass of Sauternes.

The wine is good value - we had the house white (Hungarian Pinot Grigio - not bad) with the starters and a Californian zinfandel with the beef. It was so good that we had another bottle downstairs afterwards!

Service was unobtrusive and highly efficient. I was particularly impressed that the courses weren't served too quickly and I felt that I actually had a chance to digest my food - this is a rare feeling when so many restaurants are just trying to hurry you through by dumping food on the table as quickly as possible.

Overall, an excellent meal, albeit edging towards the expensive. I will definitely be going back.
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Craig Barrett
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, March 22, 2010

We had dinner in the private room upstairs, and frankly it was a disgrace.

The salmon starter was salted beyond recognition - it was completely inedible and tasted of nothing but rock salt.

The rib eye was also salted in the extreme. All the bearnaise tasted of was vinegar.

The puddings were disgusting - creme brulee was the worst offender.

The waitress was pleasant but ineffective. They refused to refund anything from the bill.

Avoid this dire establishment at all costs!
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rebecca
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, March 01, 2010

The Pantechnicon Rooms is the kind of restaurant I would normally hurry straight past, without a even a glance at the menu. From the outside it looks like somewhere I wouldn't feel welcome or comfortable, with heavy furniture and dark decor, and the genetically blessed ordering lobster and guffawing over their champagne... However I went there one evening with a group of friends after a concert at nearby St. Paul's, and was very pleasantly surprised.

Despite it being nearly 10 o'clock on a Monday evening, with the kitchen on the point of closing, the waitress could not have been more smiley and accommodating, even when we wanted to rearrange the tables to be able to sit together, and ask lots of questions about the food and wine

The menu is British brasserie-type fare, with a very 'classic' wine list of mostly Old World bottles, and it's all done very well. We ordered a range of dishes depending on our levels of hunger, everything from chilli squid to sticky toffee pudding (and again, the waitress didn't even blink when we asked for this deranged selection of food to be served all at once). The squid was crisp and light with a delicately hot dip; the fish and chips was cooked perfectly and well proportioned, and served on delicious pea puree. A companion had a good fish pie full of tender fish and tasty potato, and my boyfriend had sirloin steak which was cooked just as he asked, tasted of beef, and came with a wonderful bearnaise sauce. Others in the group reported their puddings were also excellent.

Most of our party were drinking beer - there is a fantastic selection of good ale on draught - and the bottle of Chilean Carmenere that was recommended by the still smiling waitress was also good: juicy, well-balanced, elegant and only £24.

But by far the most pleasant surprise of the evening was that our bill came to around £20 a head for one course each and drinks. You can spend the same in a very average pizza place, so all I can say is, don't be put off by the posh! Pantechnicon is excellent value food and service.
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crutherford
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Monday, December 28, 2009

The upstairs restaurant is beautifully decked out - fabulously subdued and especially good if you can get a window table. The menu is creative, although on my last visit there was something of a salt infestation with some of the dishes - especially the risotto, which so salty as to be borderline inedible, and the samphire, which surely doesn't need extra salt thrown in. Quite liberal use of butter too. Four or five wines by the glass. Service is friendly and extremely attentive.
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Neil
7 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Saturday, August 08, 2009

This restaurant has mastered the Sunday roast! My partner and I recently decided to try out the Sunday roast at The Pantechnicon Rooms. When our roast arrived, we were absolutely delighted when we received the most wonderful cut off beef on a chopping board accompanied by delicious roast potatoes, tomatoes, broad-beans and gravy. The beef was tender and beautifully presented. The Bloody Mary was a delicious concoction. They must have a secret recipe! As for the desserts, they were to die for. I highly recommend the creamy cheesecake. The service was fab, but we ended up waiting for our drinks for ten minutes, as the place was so busy. The interior just beautiful!
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Jessica Myers
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Saturday, April 04, 2009