The Gilbert Scott

Had a decent business lunch here a week or so ago. The restaurant was half-full so there was plenty of space between diners (meaning we could talk business for a couple of hours without boring the pants off our ‘couple on a special anniversary’ neighbours). The food was very good. My only modest criticism was that the snails to start were rather over-cooked and not particularly tasty; they were, though, presented very well, as indeed was everything else. Apart from my disappointing starter, the rest of the food for both of us was excellent. The flank steak in particular was really well executed. Service was friendly and attentive without being overbearing and we certainly weren't rushed. The room is lovely and, for what it is, I didn't think the prices too unreasonable either, particularly the wine list which contained some very drinkable bottles at austerity era prices.
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NT - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, February 13, 2013

I've got to say that I'm not sure if the some of the other reviewers went to the same restaurant as me...

A group of 7 of us were out for a few drinks and wanted to try the Gilbert Scott - we didn't have a booking, and bearing in mind that it was early evening in the penultimate week before Christmas, we weren't holding our breath about getting a table. Had a quick chat with the two ladies at the front desk, and were told that they would be able to squeeze us in with a 2 & 1/2 hour slot, and even had a brief chat with Marcus Wareing while they were checking that they could accommodate us.

We were seated promptly in the stunning surroundings with plenty of room. Granted we were a fairly large party, but did not see anyone else in the restaurant who seemed to be 'squeezed in' at uncomfortably close tables.

Between the group we had a wide variety of dishes throughout the meal (personally I had the Lincolnshire Haslet, Fillet of Hake, and Mrs. Beeton's Snow Egg). Out of the 7 people within the group none of us could not fault either the food or the service. Every plate of food that was brought to the table was as near as faultless as you can imagine, and the service was the right mixture of attentiveness and discreet.

Bearing in mind that we had not pre-booked our table and the staff had gone out of their way to get us seated and served, all I had a was a very quiet and polite reminder 10 mins before the next customers were due to be seated saying that the next customers had arrived. By that time we had finished our food and were drinking coffees and were ready to retreat to the bar.

The evening was finished off with a night cap in the bar, and to be honest this is the only thing I feel could have need improved on. As much as it is a stunning, historical, grand old building, the bar just seemed to be a little bit claustrophobic, and the service could have been a little bit quicker. Maybe this wouldn't have been a problem at anything other than a 'peak-time', but overall was a minor let-down on an otherwise flawless, enjoyable and memorable evening.
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Luke B
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Sunday, December 16, 2012

Great and opulent interior, fabulous surroundings. 5 of us selected the lunch menu. My pea soup starter was very good, wine choice excellent... however, my main course (pork belly) was flawed. Baked potatoes were as hard as rocks! I even struggled to put my fork into it & ended up using my fingers instead. How embarrassing. Pork crackling also was too thick & slightly too hard to eat. Dessert (Eton Mess) was good & well presented, though.

Other thing that bothered us the most was the long & slow service. Our waiter also did not seem to be too knowledgeable when it comes to wines. No explanation, not much of recommendation... just a simple smile & a little question whether we enjoyed our meal or not. Well, I kind of expected a little more professionalism than this. Certainly at a restaurant which has used Marcus Wareing's name to promote the food!
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MH - View all reviews by this user
6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Sunday, July 15, 2012

Party of 10 for a celebration. Service in the bar was dreadful, poor attitude, poor atmosphere, poor english. No one wanted to assist which then led to two members of staff (both foreign) turn their back on me when i was talking to them. Service in the restaurant was ok, food was merely ok.

Recieved a vile email which informed me that a member of our party had ripped a tablecloth. We were then informed that we were to pay for it and that we were not welcome to return. She then suggested that it was ripped due to our disatisfaction with the service! All untrue. However, I tried to call her and left a message and two emails to ring me but she never bothered. A rude place that cannot continue in its current guise!
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Michael Barnes
1 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Sunday, July 08, 2012

Not bad, but not great for the price.

We deliberately arrived 30 minutes before our 8pm reservation to allow time for a drink in the bar (when booking you are advised the table is for 2 hours). It was therefore disappointing that it took the bar staff half an hour to produce our two cocktails. Not a great start on the service front.

In the restaurant service was much more attentive, no complaints there. It should be good if they want you in and out in two hours. Food was good, but not exceptional. Starters expensive at around £10 for mainly cold ones. Mains – I had cod & chips – good but not exceptional for £18. My partner had Pollock, similarly ok for £18 but she wasn’t raving about it. I’m not sure what to make of Baked Beans and Paxo on the sides at £3 each, we didn’t order either. Shared pudding of warm chocolate pot was average, shouldn’t have bothered. The tables are very close together as others have said, the bathrooms are very small (gents anyway) and up a long winding staircase – the age of the building shows here.

Our bill was nearly £170 which I felt was very expensive. (We had 2 starters, 2 mains, one desert, no sides, no coffee, drinks not excessive 2x cocktails, 2x glasses house (English) ‘champagne’ and 2x glasses of house white only, seemed a lot. £2 per person cover charge seems wholly unnecessary. At £120ish I would be back, not at that price. Good to see Marcus Wearing walking around the restaurant talking to diners though.
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Ian B
5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Monday, May 14, 2012

In summary: decent enough food but way over-priced, with absolutely no indication of the quality or flourishes you might expect from a big name chef like Marcus Wareing. If I were him I'd either improve the food drastically or remove my name from this place sharpish.

The room is impressive - though rather closely packed with tables. The service was good. The food...was fine...the menu read well, lots of slightly unusual touches made the longish menu sound very appetising. Unfortunately the interest didn't quite make it onto the plate - the dishes were all slightly less appealing than they sounded on the page. On the whole they were competently cooked, if not perfect - liver was a little over-done and (lightly smoked) pollock just a little under. There were some nice touches - I was brought a little cup of cauliflower soup while my partner ate his starter. Unfortunately the soup was just very hot and bland - I can knock up considerably better soup in my own kitchen, because it really isn't hard to make good soup. About the best dish was a 'Lord Mayor's trifle' with chocolate jelly and orange - chocolate and orange is a difficult combination to get wrong, but again it just lacked a little something, possibly a good slug of booze in the case of a trifle.

At the prices they're charging - which are not cheap, painfully so in the case of the wine list - the food really ought to be better than merely fine.
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RS - View all reviews by this user
6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Sunday, April 08, 2012

I am no food critic, but sending every course back speaks for itself. I started with the crab, which was tasteless and disappointing- the garnish of fennel was so overpowered by huge slices of pickled lemon, I had the bitter aftertaste for the whole meal. Although the menu does state bergamot, which was the maitre d's explanation for the overwhelming bitterness, it seems silly to put the dark meat of crab, and lemon with this. This was the start...

For main course I divulged in having fish and chips, which can only be described as poor. The chips were cooked in spent oil, which definitely took away the taste of the lemon, but left an even worse 'rancid' taste on the palette. The fish was cooked well, but the batter was under seasoned, and the pea puree left little to the imagination as it can only be described as grainy mayonnaise.

I sent the meal back, asking the maitre d to taste the chips and I asked what they were cooked in. He came back replying there was nothing wrong with them- he was sorry they were not to 'my taste' and brought some fir apple potatoes back with the reheated, over cooked same piece of fish, and told me he would not charge me for the chips I had eaten!!!!

that was just my meal....

The starter of welsh rarebit was just deep fried Austrian smoked cheese, not the classic take on the dish, certainly, but in fact, just a cheese fritter for £8.50..

The cockle a leek pie had a grilled crust which was actually raw underneath, and cardboard in consistency.. It resembled no other pastry to speak of...

The only success of the meal was the attentive service, and the overwhelming room in which it was held. Severely disappointed and will NOT be eating there again...
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Anna Rose
4 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, January 24, 2012

We had dinner on a fairly busy Tuesday evening at the restaurant.

Food was very good. Definitely above average as some comments has suggested on other reviews.

I would say there are too many seats in a small room... so, felt a bit over crowded.

However, very friendly, kind and professional service of the staff and the beautiful settings and the decor made up for it.

Overall I would say, the overall good dining experience I had justified the steep bill

With my (pleasant) experience, I would recommend it and would definitely visit there again.
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P. Hewage
6 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, January 11, 2012

What a disappointment considering how nice the food is.

The seating is far too close to other diners - tables being less than 4 inches apart.

More annoying than this perhaps was the (admittedly polite) way that the staff tried very hard to get diners out to make way for others. I accept that dining early means that you can't expect to have the table all night but we had been asked twice what our order was within a few minutes and ended up making our food order to get rid of the staff and then looking at the wine menu. This menu isn't very long but before we could order our starters had arrived!

As I say the food was lovely but overall there is no way we would return - there are too many other places in London with good menus that aren't as pushy or up-close-and-personal.
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Ashley
5 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Thursday, November 24, 2011

My wife and I booked here for tea on Sunday afternoon. We paid over £60 for what was essentially two drinks and a few bite sized mouthfuls of food. Having expected a traditional English tea with sandwiches and cakes and what have you this was most disappointing and exorbitantly priced.

If you are thinking of going here for tea then I would strongly suggest you go to the main hotel as we walked by people tucking into cakes and sandwiches and the things you would ordinarily expect when you go to a place for tea on the way to the Gilbert Scott restaurant. Thinking we would be given similar you can imagine the disappointment when all we got were five bite sized mouthfuls each. To then charge in excess of £60 for what we received was laughable.
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5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, November 08, 2011