Massimo Restaurant & Oyster Bar

Magnificent decor and friendly efficient, attentive service...unfortunately all let down by the food. Some nice crusty bread was served -olive, plain white and brown - along with some delicous olive oil; although from personal perference I would have liked some balsamic to go with the oil and at least the option of butter too.

A dozen oysters to start were fine - can't go too far wrong with Loch Fyne oysters - but the sizes were so inconsistent. Some were huge, but 3 of them were so small that I almost had to look twice to see if they were in fact empty shells. These really should have been spotted and replaced before serving.

So to the main courses. This was a lunchtime and there were only 5 dishes to choose from, which is fine - except that the one I choose (gnocci with oxtail ragu and 5-year aded parmesan cheese) was not available, which I was not told about until I ordered it. I was offered the ragu on rigatoncini instead, which I accepted. The pasta was well cooked, nicely al dente, but the ragu had a fair bit of gristle in amongst the meat, and the combination of oxtail and aged parmesan really did not work - the overall effect was quite sickly. It was a borderline decision as to whether to send it back and ask for something lese, or to just eat it. As I was very hungry and it was just on the right side of put-uppable-with, I decided to eat it. Thi was partially due to my taste of my wife's dish, which led me to think that nothing they replaced mine with was likely to be much better.

My wife's Roasted Monkfish wrapped in aubergine with lentils, pumpkin and orange sauce was nothing more than OK. The lentils were overcooked and the fish/aubergine was disappointingly bland with even the sauce adding nothing to the lack of flavour. Nothing more to say about it other than.....OK.

All in all, I guess £23.50 per head for 2 courses in a hotel of this class is reasonable given that on the a la carte menu they charge £18.50 just for the half dozen oysters. But there are so many places close by where a really good meal is to be had for that price. We won't be going back.
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Phil Russell
6 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, January 03, 2012

I tried only some of the small dishes at the bar not the mains at the restaurant (I was a guest at an event) but if the small dishes are anything to go by, I would not go back to eat at the restaurant. The mackerel ceviche was tasteless, of the cod tartare i could only taste the (very good) tomato and the basil, the calamari dish was the only dish that actually was enjoyable and very good. I also had a small dish of lamb which is off the menu, and did not think anything of it only tasting the bitterness of the jelly that went with it. Disappointing.
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4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Saturday, December 10, 2011

The entrance to this restaurant is best taken through the hotel....it is dramatic and has wow factor to it.

The high ceiling of this impressive room along with the columns adds to the sense of arriving in a most elegant hall.

The food is strongly biased towards fish and all courses three of us had were very good.

Service was excellent, seating comfortable in very comfy leather banquettes and there wasnt that dreadful din of too many voices trying to be heard that some restaurants seem to have.

Very pleasant.
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Adam
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Friday, June 17, 2011