Gordon Ramsay's Boxwood Cafe

An enjoyable return to the Boxwood Café, although I wasn't blown away like last time. The amuse bouche of artichoke and shallot soup was delicious. This was followed by a ham hock and pistachio terrine, which was decent. My bream, chorizo and mash was the best course of all - well-prepared and well-balanced. Chocolate marquis for pudding - very nice. Service was very friendly, although a little hard to summon at times.
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dawnage - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Saturday, May 10, 2008

Sunday early evening meal, very pleasant and professional staff, excellent starters all round and fine main courses. good relaxed classy experience.
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michael
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Where: Boxwood Cafe

When: 18/04/2008

Looking at the below reviews.....maybe my partner and I arrived on a bad night when we went! Or maybe Stuart Gillies has spent too much time away from Boxwood to open "Plane Food". Don't get me wrong, I'm no food critic but I do enjoy good food. This is just my personal opinion and experience.

Where do I start? I was quite excited to be dining at one of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants, since I follow his TV shows and read his autobiography. I like his style and standards that he sets in his kitchens. Unfortunately Boxwood Cafe didn't have these standards that Gordon proclaims he has in his restaurants.

When making the reservation, my girlfriend noted to the staff that we were celebrating my birthday. We were seated at what could quite possibly be the worst table in the entire restaurant- literally against a big pillar, leaving us wondering what the restaurant looked like exactly, becuase our view was of chipped paint and bread boxes. Our waiter (who didn't even introduce himself) was very blunt and seemed to be in a rush every time he spoke to us. Instead of asking what we would like to drink, he simply barked at us- "Drinks?!?".... We felt rushed from the moment we sat down, as if he was trying to get us in and out so he could have another table, despite there being 3 other vacant tables directly surrounding us. The food was mediocre at best; my first dish was the Tagliolini with langoustine. As you may know, Gordon isn't one for mountains of parsley but this dish had just that. So much in fact that I scooped a pile to the side after my dish was almost finished. Our other starter was the beetroot salad- nothing spectacular, with so many different variations of ingredients, that the best description of this dish would be confused? The suckling pig was next on the table......this was what I was really looking forward too. You see, I live in Italy and "Porchetta" happens to be one of my favourites. I was impressed by the size of the portion but it lacked flavour and wasn't very tender (considering it's a young piglet). The other mains was the Halibut- again, decent portion, but completely lack luster and tasteless. Our local trattoria could teach Boxwood a thing or two about simple fish dishes, nothing fancy, but overflowing with flavour! Because we were celebrating my birthday, and to this point were completely astonished at the quality of food (and lack of service), we decided to give the benefit of the doubt to 1 dessert, the caramel apple tart. After 1 bite, the plate was pushed aside in sheer disgust. The caramel had been overcooked and lent a bitter, burnt taste to the entire tart. The waiter after about 20 minutes came over after just noticing the dessert virtually untouched and told us he would "check" to see if it was indeed unsuitable. The manager returned a few minutes later, agreeing that it was burnt and took it off the bill- never mind that all along, a special birthday plate was sitting on a tray never being delivered to me until we were ready to leave with a marshmallow and a candle. All in all, what we thought what would be an unforgettable evening, and an experience we could revel in and look back on- was the absolute worst meal we had our entire holiday weekend!

I'm sure that Gordon's "baby"......Claridges, never suffers this sort of standards of service so why should his other restaurants? Maybe with all the US shows, chocolate line and computer games that he's involded with, he has no time to get back to basics.

All in all....If you want a Gordon Ramsay experience, avoid Boxwood and wait the six months to be seated at Claridges or Petrius.
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Wayne
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Just got back from my first Gordon Ramsay experience, and I'm impressed. Go in, looks the part with classy decor and a generally nice feel. Staff were attentive and professional, alywyas around but not over bearing, and even joined in a bit of banter.

For a starter I had ham and poached egg, which was very tasty. Warmth of the egg really offset everything else, and it was cooked perfectly. For a main I had a whopping great ribeye steak, which was very nearly as good as Gaucho Grill, which is saying something. Cooked well, juicy and just fatty enough. Also got some parmesan mash to go with it, which was pretty good.

The dessert however was amazing. Had warm chocolate fondant and ice cream, which was, I'm pretty sure, the best dessert I've ever had. Oozing chocolate at just the right temperature, we were making satisfied eating noises for about 10minutes. All the courses were perfectly presented as well, you could see how expert the chefs are.

Only slight thing was that they asked us to move to the bar to have our coffees so they could set the table for dinner, but the place was empty and no-one had turned up by the time we had finished. However, easily compensating for this was when they brought out a dessert for my mum who's birthday it was with "Happy Birthday" written on it. Lots of brownie points for that.

Worked out at £80 each, for 3 a la carte courses each and coffee, but only one bottle of wine between six. Overall this place is great. Exactly what you expect: brilliant food at a bit of a price. Recommended.
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Stephen H - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Sunday, April 20, 2008

My husband and I visited Boxwood Cafe for our 10 year wedding anniversary recently. We were coming from Australia and had difficulty gaining a reservation to Petrus but the staff actually called us in Australia to advise they had a spot at Boxwood - very good service indeed. Service was impeccable from the moment we walked in we were wished a happy anniversary by the friendly staff. We were a bit concerned at only having the table booked for 2 hours but in the end were not rushed at all. Our starters and mains came quite quickly and then we were given ample time to consider desert/coffees. Our meals were delicious - I had beetroot/feta salad, my husband the yellow fin tuna. While I had the lobster risotto and he the angus beef for mains. We then shared the caramel apple pie for desert. Always lovely to receive the complimentary bread and chocolates. Only slight disappointment was the size of the vegetable side serve consisting only of spinach and the waitress who could have been a little warmer. We were treated to a tour of the kitchen and met with the Aussie head chef who was very warm and welcoming. All in all the best dining experience we've had and we await the arrival of a Ramsay restaurant in Australia!!
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Sacha
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, April 06, 2008

During Easter weekend, I fancied eating English vegetarian food (being Indian). I wanted a change from eating spicy food so I thought of going to Maana, but than my son suggested "Boxwood Cafe".

I booked for Easter Monday - 7.30p.m.

My husband and I got there a bit early, but that was no problem. The moment we walked through the doors, we were welcomed very warmly by the girls at the front desk.

I was bit apprehensive before going in, but we were very well looked after by all the staff.

Though being vegetarians, we had no problem, as there were quite a few vegetarian dishes on the menu.

For starters, we both had beetroot with feta cheese salad and for the main, I had ravioli with lentils and my husband had tagiatelli pasta. All the dishes were superb.

For dessert, we shared something made of choclate (I can't remember) which was to die for.

We had a bottle of red, costing £36.00, but it was worth it.

Lastly, we both had a machiato.
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sumarria
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Sunday lunch at the Bowwood cafe for seven people.

Nice bright airy room with a decent sized round table. Service was good, friendly and efficient.

Food tasted great and the portions were a good size.

We had a couple (3) bottles of Chablis for about £30 a bottle and all had 3 courses and the bill came in at around £450.

Water, sides,drinks in the bar and service pushed the bill up a bit but for this standard of cooking, value for money is not too bad.
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Chris - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Friday, March 28, 2008

We visited the Boxwood for sunday lunch on Valentines weekend.

I have to say that after visiting the Oxo Tower on the Friday night it really was a disappointing comparison.

We were seated next to one of the waiters desks which was annoying as we always seemed to be overlooked, if it wasn't by one of the waiters at their desk it was by one of the restaurant supervisors stood behind our table next to the kitchen.

The food was outstanding, especially considering that the sunday lunch menu is £25 per person. Value for money excelled.

We were recommended to try some cocktails from the bar which ranged from £9-£12 and I do have to recommend trying them if you go.
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Rebecca Taylor
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, February 26, 2008

My partner took me to the Boxwood Cafe for my 30th Birthday on 22.02.08. It was a complete surprise and I was so pleased as we went here for my birthday last year and I had been hankering to return.

The staff and management are excellent in their service and knowledge. As I suffer with a nut allergy it can be tiresome dining out but I relaxed as I was talked through the menu.

We experienced the amazing knowldge of Julian, the wine connoisseur and every glass of wine we had to accompany each course was perfect and blew your tastebuds out of the water.

The manager knew we had somewhere else to be so he made sure that our courses came out on time.

The chef Stuart Gillies is an absolute genius and no-one can compare to his cooking.

The ceviche of Irish Organic Salmon is amazing and have never tried Black Bream before I didn't know what to expect. I was not disappointed at all. It tasted divine.

Whoever dines at the Boxwood is in for a very special treat, the service, quality of food and knowledge of the staff make the whole experience perfect.
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Carolyne Such
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, February 25, 2008

I took my girlfriend here for the set Valentine's Menu. I booked it back in Januray and, being big Ramsay fans, had been looking forward to it since, needless to say it did not disappoint!!

The moment we arrived we were treated courteously and made to feel welcome (in fact this started the day before we arrived, they called me confirming my reservation and said they look forward to seeing me).

We started with a drink at the bar, which is small but nice and with a good menu, except for the choice of beers. The prices are also reasonable, £9-12 for a cocktail, £4 a beer.

At 7.30 we were asked if we would like to take our seats for our meal. The tables were quite close together, but this didn't really bother us. It was also not as busy as I expected, especially since when I booked in January they initially said it was booked up and I had to go in first place on the waiting list.

We then received a complementary glass of rose champagne each, and my girlfriend was given a tall single red rose.

The menu was a set six course meal at £80 per head. First up was a Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Shaved Black Truffle served in a small cup. This was beautiful - very light but tasty.

Next up was Fried Oyster in a Lemon sauce. Again, really good although the oysters were quite small and the lemon a little overpowering.

Then was a beef carpaccio with caviar cream and herbs - wonderful. Delicate and light but beautiful flavours.

The main course was monkfish in a lobster and tarragon dressing. This was stunning. The monkfish was perfectly cooked and the sauce a great accompaniment. My favourite course.

The dessert was a lime parfait with sorbet and fried (i think) pineapple. My girlfriend was not that keen on this as it was quite sweet (and she was a little full i think!), but I thought it was amazing! Very light, the biscuit base took the edge off for me and I love sorbet, so another winner.

Finally tea/coffee and a small box of chocolate truffles.

With the meal we chose a £28 bottle of Chablis white wine, which went well all along except with the dessert. This was kept on ice and topped up periodically.

The service throughout was exceptional, we hardly had to lift a finger all night! Some people have said that there are a lot of staff, and there are. But given that everyone is helpful, courteous and eager to ensure you are enjoying yourself, I don't see this as a problem.

The atmosphere/interior/decor are all excellent - modern, contemporary, uncluttered and suit the mood/vibe of the restaurant very well. Classy but not stuffy.

I cannot really think of any negatives about the restaurant itself. I did expect it to be busier given that I was told it was fully booked up initially, but I think they only wanted to serve a set number of tables (6/7) at a time. We were told once we arrived that we had the table until 10pm, but I knew this beforehand so it wasn't a problem and we were done well before anyway.

All in all £230 inc service charge. I have never paid this much for a meal before, but given the quality of the food and service I had no problems with it, and would certainly go back. The lunch menu in particular looks excellent value.

Next up Petrus!!!!
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Mark
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, February 20, 2008