Pollen Street Social

I went to Pollen st not long after it opened and the food was fantastic as well as the wine list ,so we forgave the glitches in service as they just opened,so decided to take my 12yr old son after Christmas for lunch.

We were "greeted" and gave our coats to a rather unhappy looking man who just waved his hand towards the bar to take a seat but no seats free.Even though i had booked a table 3 weeks earlier .we were shown to an alcove of the main dining area .facing a wall ,souless ,i guess we were on the naughty step! Mde worse by the couple sitting at the next table with the 6mths old baby.

Again the food is sublime ,i had the slow cooked egg with chorizo and my son loved the ox cheeks and tongue.Fantastic desserts and the waiters were great,but for a lunch thet cost £180.00 the attitude of the man at the front desk and the awful table i will not be returning.
Comment on this reader review

camilla george - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 7
Saturday, January 14, 2012

The reviews have not been outstanding. This must surely have been considered by the management team as when I visited the Pollen Street Social on Christmas Eve 2011 I had one the best dining experiences of my life.

From the front-of-house onwards the evening was perfect. Before being seated at our table we very courteously greeted by the front-of-house staff who were both relaxed and highly attentive. A member of the bar staff then popped from around the bar to ensure our aperitifs were palatable, which they were, very much so. From that point on we seemed to be treated like esteemed VIPs, a quality of service that I had not experienced beyond Maze and Red Square.

The food was again faultless, the canapés of crackling and an assortment of amuse-bouches were delicious. Should you proceed to the oysters I would recommend trying the full array of varieties on offer. I found the squid starter a somewhat chewy affair, however that was the only minor blemish on an extraordinary culinary experience. The main course of venison was not only cooked to absolute excellence it was also noticeable that Jason Atherton does not believe in denying his guests healthy platefuls of sumptuous grub.

This will no doubt be a contender for a Michelin star in the coming years. To those who were disappointed in their first experience of the Pollen Street Social visit again and be satisfied that your comments were duly noted.

Marvellous.
View/Add comments (1)

Syracuse Rising
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, January 06, 2012

Shockingly horrfic service! My friend booked this for a fabulous 40th birthday celebration, mine. The service was absolutely horrific! From the moment I walked in the door till I left. We started off in the bar to have tapas and a bottle champagne. Service was extremely slow and we had to chase them down to order anything despite a whole army of them running around. We ordered 3 tapas, 2 came and the 3rd took an hour! The waiter was extremely rude to us. I had asked for bread with the dips when they first came, he dismissed me. We repeatedly asked, they finally came with our tapas. Then we went into the restaurant to sit down for dinner. Again it took absolute ages for our waiter to take our order, we had to chase them down. I specifically asked for the veg that came with my rib-eye to be something else, he said yes no problem. Our food came and the veg was with it said on the menu and not my request! By this time I can only laugh at how horrible this whole 40th birthday experience has been. Only saving grace was my lovely girlfriends. Now my friend who booked, was irate. She demanded all of our food to be taken back and served together as we were there to eat together. They did, but only to bring it all back luke warm/cold! She spoke to the manager about our experience. I will NEVER go back here again. It is a shame as it has a lot of potential. The food, well it was decent but didn't get the full experience as it was cold and tainted by diabolic front house service. Jason, you need to replace your team so that they do your amazing culinary skill justice!
Comment on this reader review

Tiffany
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Friday, December 02, 2011

I only book a special restaurant once a year as a christmas treat for my family. Having read the reviews of the Pollen Street Social it sounded promising. At the end of the meal we were thoroughly disappointed. It seems a classic case of style over substance. The portions were so small, it was embarrasing. I struggled to find a dessert I really wanted, however, we were left feeling so hungry it was more out of necessity then desire. I could not possibly recommend this restaurant.
Comment on this reader review

4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Friday, November 25, 2011

As expected, the food here is good. Scallop ceviche was delicate but tasty, crab was a little lost with the other flavours. Roasted ox cheek was delicious and the roasted cod with cockles and squid was the stand-out dish of the meal.

We moved to the dessert bar for the final course - do try to do this if you can [ask your waiter when you first sit down]! It was great to watch the team creating desserts and helped us choose what to have by seeing what went into each dish. We could also see into the main kitchen and watch Atherton building and checking the starters and main courses at the pass.

We opted for lemon meringue pie [with a twist] and apple puff with calvados. The lemon pie was excellent, the apple however was a too heavy-handed on the alcohol for me.

Service was a bit haphazard. We had drinks at the bar and then had to ask to be seated at our table - lucky we did as front of house hadn't told the waiting staff we'd arrived. We sat for a while before getting menus or the wine list and everything seemed a little stilted. Once we'd ordered, things ran fairly smoothly although our wine didn't manage to follow us to the dessert bar until the very end of the meal.

A nice evening and good food but we were surprised there were service hiccups in a restaurant of this calibre.
Comment on this reader review

cut2quick
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Thursday, November 03, 2011

Had lunch at a table in the bar area last week - 2 starters at £10-ish each which were not small (as a previous reviewer found) - the escabeche of quail had 2 elegantly deconstructed quail (compared to the half quail I was given for a starter on another occasion at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon) and an absolutely delectable crispy biscuit with a slice of melting fresh foie gras. My first starter was the scallop ceviche - beautiful mix of contrasting flavours and textures.

Classy stuff!
Comment on this reader review

david shamash - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Finally went to PSS today, and I must say, it was really good! My friend and I decided to construct our own tasting menu from the starters, and ended up having 5 dishes each in total, we both chose the same except I had the quail and she had the ceviche, more on that later.

I started with an excellent G&T, which arrived within a minute of the water, bread was excellent, warm, with butter of the correct temperature.

The service staff are really good, so in fact, that after we had ordered our food, then the wine,our first course arrived before the wine! Perhaps less haste and more observation of what the diners are up to?

The crab with San marzano soup was well flavoured and presented very nicely, unfortunately the mustard cream was straight out of the freezer and was solid, after a chat, allowing the cream to defrost, the dish was lovely. Maybe less garlic in the soup?

The 2nd course, full English breakfast, was a slow cooked egg with breakfast accoutrements, very nicely cooked and presented.

Third course was the much lauded squid risotto with roasted squid juice, this was the stand out dish of all those we tried, everything was fantastic about this.

Fourth course, me quail, her ceviche. Quail breast was a little over and dry, but the mushroom puree and pickled girolles were excellent, the ceviche was first rate, super fresh scallops, wasabi snow and yuzu dressing with compressed cucumber, all faultless!

Final course pig head terrine with piccalilli needed some seasoning, but otherwise was very good.

After all this we decided to share 3 desserts, PBJ, Strawberry shortcake and the beetroot with peach and tarragon. This last dish was odd, just get rid of the beetroot and it would have been fine.

An excellent meal with good service, prices are high considering the size of the starters, but in order to be fair, I will go back to have a more structured meal, but this place is fantastic and worth a trip.

Service just need to be more observant, that's my only gripe.
Comment on this reader review

Fu-Dog - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, August 22, 2011

We went to Pollen Street Social last night, what a fantastic evening. The staff were attentive without being too in your face. The food was inventive and extremely enjoyable, every plate cleared. The desserts are to die for. We are looking forward to our next visit, which will be very soon, 10 out of 10 for Pollen Street Social from us.
Comment on this reader review

Phil Gray
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, August 21, 2011

Good food, not great but good, spoilt by terrible service. For the price you pay Petrus and Marcus Wareing do it a lot better.
Comment on this reader review

Simon
6 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Sunday, August 14, 2011

My husband and I dined here a few weeks ago and can honestly say it was the worst dining experience we have ever had. The service was terrible and for the first time in our lives, we asked the waiter to remove the service from our bill. I would not recommend this place to anyone... other London restaurants have so much more to offer!!
View/Add comments (1)

Amanda
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Thursday, August 11, 2011