Sophie's Steakhouse (Covent Garden)

Just got home from Sophie's in Covent Garden. If the manager will read this review he will know exactly who wrote it. Ordered a porterhouse medium rare. Got a dry piece of meat that was medium well done, completely with no flavor. I left 3 slices of meat on the plate just to show the waiter when he is taking my plate away that quite honestly this was not what I wanted. Waiter was very understanding, I was very polite and just said I think this is not exactly what I wanted. 5 minutes passed and the restaurant manager came up to us and proceeded to explain to me what a porterhouse is and why it was cooked this way. I was astounded when he tried to tell me that basically I don't know that this is the way it is supposed to be because of the thickness of the cut. I quite honestly did not know what to say to him because it was absurd, I live in New York and I have been to at least 30 world capitals from Latin America to Europe to Asia, This is quite honestly could have been the worst 40 quid steak I have ever had and this guy has the audacity to tell me that I don't know what this steak should taste and look like. Then he proceeds to look at the bottle of Malbec that we are drinking and in the most patronizing tone tell us "ohh what is it that you are drinking?.....ohh that .....its on me" I would have told him to go F himself if I was not there with my wife and her friend. Basically if you want to pay a normal steak house price and eat a garbage steak go there and you will be satisfied.
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4 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Monday, November 28, 2011

Ate here last night. blue cheese, bacon and spinach salad. A bit bland, strange considering two of the ingredients should have strong flavours.

Main of Ribeye steak (This is my cut of choice, so I like to think I am a connoiseur of it). This was a funny looking cut, never looks like that when my butcher cuts me one. It should be really full of flavour, this even when almost emptying the condiments on to could not be livened up. Sophies needs to get a better meat supplier, this was a poor effort for the money.

I visited Sophies in Chelsea about 6yrs ago and have not been back since, I think it'll be another 6yrs before I visit again.

Avoid. If you want a good steak, go to Goodman. Not cheap though.
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Richard Lewis
2 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Friday, November 11, 2011

Went there for lunch today, have been several times in the past for dinner and I have to say, I was less impressed today than previously. Had a good value lunch offer of about 12 for a 2 course lunch, the starter of fish pate was not bad, the steak was fine, asked for medium rare but it came rare/blue, and I've certainly had better in the past. My lunch companions all had the fish cake which tasted very, very average.

Having said that, the wine was good and fairly priced (their sophies reserve rouge went really well with the steak), tasty chips, great onion rings and previously when visiting the food has been a lot better (chateaubriand for 2 was delicious a few months ago). Nice complimentary salami on arrival. total of 80 for 4 of us, with wine was not too bad at all. Good atmosphere, nice friendly staff.

Will be back, but will probably pay a bit more and return to the a la carte menu next time.
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Ben H
8 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Saturday, June 25, 2011

Visited Sophie's on Saturday 19th March with my girlfriend. I should have known their would be problems when I was told you couldn't book, i've never known a restaurant that doesn't take bookings. Anyway, arrived and was told it would be a 30 minute wait, so already I was a little peeved, but we decided to stay and get a drink at the bar. The bar area was rammed, no seating at all and we waited 10 minutes to be served!! Had a cocktail each, both were bloody awful and massively overpriced, I am convinced there was no alcohol in them at all, all you could taste was fruit juice, but how do you prove it? Took it on the chin for the sake of not having a row with the missus in front of everybody, which is probably exactly what these con artists are hoping for. Finally, our number came up to be seated and we were then led to the most distant part of the restaurant imaginable, completely cut off from any atmosphere there may have been elsewhere, nightmare!! The lighting was so poor, I could have done with a torch to see my girlfriend on the other side of the table and knowing what I know now, I suspect that this was done on purpose so you couldn't see your food. When we looked at the menu, the food was even more overpriced than the drinks, £30 plus for a steak?, are you having a laugh? Lastminute were offering 3 course meals in a michelin starred restaurant for £30, within 200 yards of this place and they want £30 for a steak, in a jazzed up burger bar!!!! We both opted for a burger, which to be fair, was ok, but there was definitely not enough of it and too few chips. I couldn't believe they didn't do coleslaw........but were happy to charge me a fiver for a salad that was "a lot like coleslaw" LOL, what a con. However, I made a mistake by ordering another cocktail, again, no alcohol in it at all, bloody awful. Bottom line, this place is a joke and i'm not exaggerating when I say, I would have rather gone to Mcdonalds. If you enjoy waiting a long time, with poor service, to pay massively inflated prices for well below average food and drink, then this is your place. If not, go anywhere else.
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T Moon
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, March 22, 2011

I went in Sophie's on Saturday 18th Februrary 2011 with my partner and two friends visiting. We had been looking forward to a nice meal and night out and it took us some time (and some walking) to decide on where to eat.

Walking in the restaurant we were quite surprised by the loud music and a sense of confusion flooded over me.

We were told we had to wait 30 minutes before being seated. The receptionist added this was quite a short time to wait considering they don't take bookings and on a busy evening you can wait sometimes an 1h30! I never, ever, in my whole life had to wait to be seated at a table in a restaurant. Maybe they should start taking on bookings!

We found a table near the bar and sat down to order drinks. Table was not arranged properly, napkins laying about, several menus chucked on the table, salami in a tray (could have been left sitting there for an undefinite amount of time).

I give kudos to the waitress in the bar area: polite, friendly, quick. One of us wanted a normal beer: no mention of it on the menu, no pricing. Spoilt for choices with fancy named cocktails. We ordered 2 green fingers, a liver recovery, a beer.

Drinks are way too expensive (maybe they charge the fancy names they give) . I wanted to try a martini-based cocktail but at 10 pound a piece I went for a non-alcoholic cocktail for half the price. Cocktails were nice, refreshing, no to sweet or overpowering.

We got our table in due time. Restaurant was packed, noisy, music was way to loud. Lights were dim, too dim. I didn't find it contributed to give a nice cosy atmosphere whatsoever.

Bar forgot to give us a tab, the restaurant waitress made a snarky comment about it which I found extremely rude. She almost pointed that we sneaked out of the bar area with our drinks. We found her rather unpleasant, fake smile, over chatty. Made us feel uncomfortable.

We ordered: 7oz rump medium well with fries, leg of lamb steak medium and its red mskinned mash with a side of creamed spinach, a grilled goat's cheese salad, a spit roasted chicken sandwich.

Salad and lamb came first served by a second waitress. Sarnie and beef came second served by a third waitress who asked us if we there was more food to come.

A fourth waitress came apologetically 2 minutes later with my red skinned mash. No dressing on the salad, we had to ask for a waiter to bring some.

Food was tasty, I give them that. Meat cooked to order. Side portions are a bit small for the price though. The sandwich was huge! I On second thoughts, my partner and I regretted our meaty choice.

Toilet facilities were clean, bright (compared to the dim light in the restaurant).

Felt rushed to finish food and pay though, as it was not possible to have a decent conversation with the surrounding noise. Tables too close to each other. Feels crammed especially on a busy Saturday night. Feels like waiters are running around like headless chickens.

Would not come back to Sophie's. Not on a busy night anyway. Maybe the service is a lot better around lunch time. Not good value for money (apart from the sandwich I must say) as we had to go somewhere else, QUIET, for dessert (didn't fancy paying 6 pounds for a crème brûlée).

We didn't feel we were treated like valued customers, more like cows in a slaughterhouse: CHOP CHOP, next!
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Melanie D.
4 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Unfortunately I can't recommend this restaurant at all, on a night our with some work colleagues we decided to visit Sophie's Steak House in Covent Garden, not an experience I would wish to repeat.

Whilst we were seated relatively quickly the man who seated us had obviously had a personality bypass there was certainly no warmth or friendliness about him, then we had to ask twice for someone to get us drinks and take our order.

The order arrived in reasonable time but was more or less cold not helped by stone cold plates, then our dining partners had to wait a further 30 minutes for their deserts.

For the price this was not good value, the service was very poor the food was ok albeit cold and the music was too lound and boomy (you couldn't hold a conversation), we didn't complaint but neither did we leave a tip and shall definately not be returning!
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Richard Marler
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, December 16, 2010

Really not that enjoyable!

I was running late and my fellow diners were constantly harassed to order something until I arrived. The waitress then hovered constantly and couldn't bring our bill quick enough to get us to move on.

It was awfully noisy in there, and a waiter managed to drop a pot of mayonnaise from his tray without noticing and down my back. Fortunately it stayed in the pot, but no one came to see what I was doing checking my jacket etc.

Food not that great and terribly over priced for what it is. Won't be returning.
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Lee
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Really nice steaks, really tasty wine, good service. It can get expensive if you're not careful. Well worth a visit.
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Lottie - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Nice food, decent wine, good service. I like this place and will return.
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Lizzie - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Monday, November 22, 2010

My old friend Bruce was back in town so I decided to book an afternoon off so we could catch up and have a bit of a boys day out culminating in seeing Guns'n'Roses at O2. I've seen plenty of reviews on this site about the non delights of eating at the O2 so we opted for lunch in town followed by a few drinks at Canary Wharf. By the time I had got home, met Bruce and had a restorative pint it was after 3 so we needed somewhere that was open all day for food. I was struggling slightly to think of somewhere without going for a generic chain place when suddenly I remembered that my great favourite "Sophie's Steakhouse" had a branch in Covent Garden so off we went. I've been a big fan of Sophies on Fulham road for years. The food is great, the service really friendly and they are open all day.

We arrived about half 3 and were quickly shown to a nice big corner table. Being this time on a Wednesday it was very quiet inside though after we sat down a party of 20 came in for a post sales meeting meal. Bruce went for the very reasonable set menu and choose the sardines followed by steak and chips. Predictably I went for the black angus burger with the iceberg wedge as a starter. We were served by a very friendly waitress and it was good to see that the nice staff ethos of Fulham had been replicated at Covent Garden. the food was very good Bruce who being half Portuguese was very impressed with his grilled sardines and he said his steak was spot on. My choices were as usual spot on. We washed down lunch with the great Angus the Bull Cab Sav.

We skipped dessert for some restorative coffee to fire us up for our evening out. On balance I wished we had stayed at Sophie's for the evening. The gig was terrible, awful acoustics , bad set list and they came on very late. At least our day started well and I can heartliy recommend Sophies Covent Garden. It may lack a bit of the charm of the original as it is so much bigger but the food is just as good, nice service and the same good value. If you are in Covent Garden this is a no brainer. The no booking policy may mean you wait for a table but it's worth it. Lovely stuff.
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david ginsberg - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Thursday, October 21, 2010