Metro Garden Restaurant

Metro: Clapham’s boutique restaurant

The Metro has shabby chic charm, reminiscent of Petersham Nursery. You get a choice of three very different quirky dining areas. My wife and I were seated in a pretty conservatory with whitewash brickwork and stained-glass feature windows; toasty warm in mid-January.

The concise menu, offered a selection including: veggie options, tempting fish, comfy winter warmers like lamb stew and my favourite, steak and chips.

We started with carpaccio tuna with beetroot relish - I’d highly recommend it if you want something sublime that goes perfectly with a glass of champagne. We raved about our mains of Seabass with garlic and crushed potatoes and melt in the mouth Argentinian Ribeye steak with chunky chips; all perfectly cooked and served.

Had a great night - it’s such a friendly place with really good food in a stylish setting.
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Sam Carpenter
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Saturday, January 28, 2012

I absolutely love this place! It is one of Clapham’s best kept secrets. The garden is lovely with twinkling lights and ever so comfortable couches to lounge on. The food is delicious and practically melts in your mouth. I adore the Sunday Roasts which are a terrific value for the money. The Supper Club menu is also very reasonably priced and always good. The Metro staff are very knowledgeable and attentive to every need. The ambiance is chic with flickering candles, beautiful garden scenery, exposed brick walls, and lovely stained glass windows. The Metro is one place I will keeping coming back for more! Go here it will be your new fav!
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Fab Foodie
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Saturday, December 10, 2011

I attended Metro Clapham recently on a Friday night in a large-ish group, and must say that I was incredibly disappointed.

The restaurant space - both in the front building and the back 'garden' restaurant - is lovely, but that's where the positives end.

My starter consisted of massively overcooked scallops and greasy noodles, with a no-more-than-average piece of duck to follow. One of our party ordered medium rare steak, which arrived ridiculously overcooked. When he pointed this out, the waiter looked at him like dirt, before returning and saying the chef had disagreed that it was overcooked. When sent back again, he then came back to say that it was the last bit of steak in the place, and so my friend had to grudgingly have it back, cooked even more to warm it up! Another member of the party then got a very snappy response from another member of staff when asking for a spoon, who then failed to deliver items we'd ordered. When the bill arrived, we were staggered by how much this place was charging for badly cooked food served by badly trained and moody staff.

There's a fair bit of choice round Clapham; avoid this restaurant if like anything approaching a half-decent dining experience.
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- View all reviews by this user
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Thursday, March 17, 2011

Over the last few years I've been to Metro quite a few times with friends and always eaten very well. Having not been for a year I thought I'd try it again with my Mum.

Initially we were oth very impressed - the outdoor surroundings are lovely, and very festive at this time of year. The menu is interesting - even slightly experimental in places. Mum had a very nice baked baby camembert, honey sourdough and shot of calvados starter. Plus, my garlic mushrooms on ciabatta with poached duck egg were lovely too.

But - could you tell there was a 'but' coming? - there were quite a few incidents that made the whole experience not quite right. For one thing, neither of the bottles of wine we wanted were on the menu - some problem with deliveries, which can be expected after the heavy snow we've been having. OK, but tell me, don't let me go through most of the wine list to find something that's on.

Since we're on the subject of wine, we now hit upon one of my pet peeves - overzealous filling of glasses. It's the scourge of modern dining, and it's spreading. Our waiter - as charming as he was - filled up our glasses at every available opportunity, even when we'd only taken a sip. I hate this, because cynically I see it as an attempt to make the diner buy more wine. And at £18 a bottle (for something quite basic) we wouldn't be doing that.

Now to the mains. First off, I must state that my salmon fillet with ginger and honey glaze was very tasty (if a bit overpriced at £15). Unfortunately my Mum wasn't so lucky. She chose chicken breast stuffed with spinach, tomatoes and mozarella - only to be served a dry piece of chicken, a tonne of mash and not much else. We both searched for the filling, to find...nothing. When Mum complained, the lady (who we identified as the head waitress, or possibly manager) said she'd tell the chef. No actual apology, and certainly no attempt to placate us.The price for this piece of dried up chicken breast? £17!

Our plates were cleared away, and we decided to have brandy coffees. A man (who we'd not seen all evening) brought them over. What did he say on delivering them? 'Enjoy'? 'Bon appetit'? No, he said 'I made them. If you don't like them, you can blame me.' SERIOUSLY. You can imagine why it took us a while to pluck up the courage to drink them.

Powered on by the brandy coffee, we asked for the bill and Mum decided to have another try at complaining about her main. The waitress (the fourth different person who'd served us that night - slightly confusing) was very accomodating (much more so than the previous lady) and knocked some money off the bill. Which was frankly all we'd wanted in the first place. Recognition that we hadn't received what we'd ordered, and that £17 for something you'd find better prepared in a Harvester, was a bit of a rip off.

I walked away a bit sad. Yes, my food had been tasty, but at a final bill of nearly £80, the experience as a whole just wasn't good enough. I'd taken Mum there in the hope that she'd love it, and really I could see (she's a very polite lady) that she hadn't had a great time.

Metro, nobody gives my Mum a mediocre time. Sorry, but it's going to be a while until I return, and I'll be letting my friends know too.
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Peterkin
6 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Sunday, December 05, 2010

I have had some lovely evenings at Metro in years gone by, but after my last two visits I won't be going back. The most recent was Friday night when two of us went and the restaurant was barely half-full - which was initially surprising as it is usually a great location in warmer weather. However, we found the food to be mediocre with little attention to detail (tasteless melon in the starter salad, overseasoned mains) and the service unbelievably slow despite a good number of waiting staff and few customers. While it is nice not to feel rushed in a restaurant, this was taken to the other extreme. On several occasions we had to ask (to order our food, for some tap water, and for the bill) two or three times before anything materialised. We heard other customers discussing similar issues so it wasn't just us. And the evening wasn't cheap - including service it was approaching £90 for two starters, two mains, one pudding, a cocktail and a bottle of wine. For that sum I expect really good food and smooth service and sadly Metro doesn't seem to offer this any more.
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RS - View all reviews by this user
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Lovely place, lighting in the garden is very atmospheric. Unfortunately the food disappoints, no plate for the bread at the start of the meal, I ordered steak and received old boot (medium rare so this wasn’t overcooked it was just inferior quality), my girlfriends meal was very dry, the accompanying wine failed to impress. At the end of the meal the waiter asked how we found the meal so we told him - no response he just brought us a dessert menu, obviously we declined the offer. However the sparking water was chilled to the correct temperature and was the best part of the meal. Will not be returning.
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BC2000 - View all reviews by this user
5 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 3
Saturday, May 08, 2010

Sorry to disagree with the review below, but I found this to be a disappointment -and overpriced. How can Metro justify charging £1 for bread per table (which you can't get out of, in case you don't want it), and then refuse to give its diners plates for that bread? Temperature control issues evident in the marquee at the back. Sparse menu, which tries to be too creative. Who really wants black cod and pak choi, anyway? The liqueur coffees, at £13.00 for the 2, were the final frustration. Oh well - at least it's near the tube so you can get home quickly when your'e fed up.
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Victor Meldrew
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Monday, May 18, 2009