The Giaconda Dining Room

Is there anything further that can be added to shining reviews that have occupied our papers? Probably not, but I will try...

Amongst a party of 3, I dined there this week and could not fault the service nor the food. We all had different starters mains and deserts. The Baked Eggs and Spinach starter was an absolute revelation (seriously!) whilst the Pigs Trotter and Liver Pate were both very good. With the exception of Fish Cake which was bulked out with a little too much Potato, everything else was spot on.

The wine list is more than fair and in my opinion one of the best value lists in town. The team at GDR should also be commended for ignoring the service charge culture that plagues most restaurants in London. No hidden costs when you are at GDR.

As the fittings and location suggest, this is not pretentious dining but it is good wholesome fair at a very reasonable price. It's only faults are that is not open on weekends and not on my doorstep.

Not groundbreaking but refreshingly great value.
Comment on this reader review

Gregory
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Just as well I booked for lunch, the dining room was already packed with business lunchers and arty luvvies by the time we turned up at 1pm. The service is akin to travelling First Class on Qantas (I’m only assuming please), efficient and to the point but boy did I start to wonder what it's going to be like during dinner instead.

My signature starter of Crisped Pigs Trotters and Eggs Mayonnaise was perfectly balanced and delicately unctuous; I might request this as a mains option on my next visit. My dining companion’s Shellfish Bisque was unfortunately a little under-salted, personally I think this could’ve been remedied with the addition of some grated Gruyère. For the main course I decided to go "off-piste", as everyone else in the room seemed to opt for either the Roast Salmon or Grilled Sirloin; my delicious Tripe Braised with Chorizo, Smoked Paprika & Butter Beans was basically grown up baked beans for the discerning palate. The companion’s Duck Confit and Roast Potatoes was pretty much epic in proportions, it took him forever to finish the plate up (obviously good enough as a dish as he has a habit of leaving most of his food half-finished). We ended up the meal with a shared pudding of Poached Peach and Eton Mess; this was the star dish of the meal for me at The GDR for it was so fruity, crunchy and sensibly creamy, it was the perfect end to a delicious and good value meal.

The location is great, one can now rid of the lunch excesses by window shopping around the guitar stores on the same street or admiring that fine carbuncle nearby otherwise known as the Centre Point tower.
Comment on this reader review

bellaphon
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Thursday, September 25, 2008

I've been dining here since it's first week: the food is honest, robust. The wine list is sound and very well priced. The French waitress is great...(she always recognises return diners, as the other reviewer noted). Overall, a great find and worth trying.

However, having booked a table for a Wednesday with a date, we found we had no table. And nowhere else to perch. So we duly trotted off to a local bar and awaiting our promised call to return to dine. Just after 9pm we called, still no table. We gave up and headed into Soho proper to find a table.

Not the best date ever! And not the best way for a new restaurant in the wrong part of town to treat customers during a credit crunch. Better customer service needed.
Comment on this reader review

Rob
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Thursday, September 18, 2008

Went to Giaconda last night on the back of some amazing reviews both here and in the papers. Hmmm ...Maybe we were unlucky but not having the foie gras or pate starters at 8 on Friday was not a great start . The tuna and beef carpaccio that we chose instead were bizarre, quality ingredients but smothered to death in oil ( the tuna ) and covered in mayo and cheese (the beef). Rump steak to follow was average and not a great cut ( grilled with a dull mushroom and tomato). Also worth a mention is the strange experience of the bathrooms, the decor in the restaurant is very nice and simple but leave it to go downstairs to these and you are in what seems like a surreal soho warehouse with no signs telling you where to go - quite disturbing after a few glasses of wine ! The wine list itself is very good and well priced and the service excellent and very friendly - shame about the food really...
Comment on this reader review

Sarah - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Saturday, September 13, 2008

Awesome food......some great ideas beautifully and generously executed.

The service was friendly and as professional as it could be in a confined space and the prices were very reasonable for the quality. I was packed but our food reached the table in a timely manner.

This is the best new restaurant I have been to for several years. It is small so don't just turn up on the off chance.
Comment on this reader review

James
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Been to Giaconda, good food, fresh ingredients, poor service. There were only 10 people in there and the food took far too long time to arrive. The lady who served us was frosty and made me feel rather unwelcome. No apology for late arrival of food and no interest in whether I enjoyed the food either.
Comment on this reader review

Daniel
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Monday, September 01, 2008

We visited early on a wednesday night before a concert. We were the only ones there at 6.30 but within in an hour it was full, with lots of people who seemed to have been a few times before (the waitress recognised them) coming in for dinner that night or to book a table for another meal. This was despite the restaurant having only recently opened too!

This place has a great menu and food was very good, we had pig's trotter and risotto, followed by the tuna and the crab omelette (with LOADS of fresh crab!), ridiculously good value, big portions cooked deliciously well!

We didn't have any wine (we had some interesting and tasty bottles of ale instead) but the wine list was reasonable.

Service was very good although there are only appeared to be one waitress when we were there who was lovely, attentive and very friendly. As the dining room got busier however, service got notably slower and we had to wait for the bill for a little bit, that could have been a one off though. Will definitely be back and looking forward to it!
Comment on this reader review

Annie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Friday, August 22, 2008