Quince

We went to Quince yesterday for afternoon tea for my friends 30th birthday and left feeling extremely disapointed.

Despite having booked a long time in advance, when we arrived the table was not ready and they refused to put enough tables together for our party and wanted two of us to sit on a separate table - not good enough.

All this is despite the restaurant being over half empty.

The inital impression of the staff was moody and very much felt they thought they were a cut above the rest, overall service was unfriendly at best and at worst we felt like hinderance and almost wanted to apologise for our presence.

It took them 20 minutes to approach us for service and we had to ask twice before they did actually come over, the first girl I asked held a finger up which i considered extremely rude and then went to talk to her colleague and we carried on waiting to be served.

After ordering we waiting another 20 minutes before any food or drinks arrived, 3 teas and both the soft drinks were forgotten. The food came shortly after and this was underwhelming at best, for the amount they charge (£29.50 for a sober lunch and £41.50 with a glass of champagne) you expect better and also more quantity i left feeling very hungry.

Halfway through the meal some guests ordered a glass of prosecco each, having had to attract the waiters attention to order this, this then took a long time to arrive.

We asked for the bill, this was slow to be brought to us and included an overcharge on drinks and a huge service charge.

When you pay so much for a meal at a restaurant in this market exceptional service is expected as standard, to receive such poor service is really disapointing. We therefore asked for the service charge to be taken off and to the waiters credit he agreed with no arguement but didnt ask why we felt we the service was so bad.

Overall a poor experience, very disapointed. Would not recomend.
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Rachael
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Sunday, September 16, 2012

Went there for dinner on a saturday night. First it was hard to find a table then you arrive there and of course it's half empty...

Service all along has been extremely good. Absolutely no hick up and they made sure we spent a good evening.

The place is hype, but looks more like a cocktail bar than a restaurant and the food shows. None of what we had was bad. Everything was ok. But with all the press about that chef launching a mediterranean restaurant, I was expecting something special..

All in all a good evening, very nice service, good cocktail, food is fine but won't blow your socks off.
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La nantaise
8 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Monday, February 27, 2012

We ate lunch at Quince at the Mayfair Hotel yesterday.

The food was excellent the flavours exceptional and the staff were very helpful on advising us which dishes to select.

We wanted to experience traditional Ottoman flavours which turned out to be a such an experience and refreshing change. All our courses were delivered promptly and were well presented I would strongly recommend the Beef Rib for two.

We could view the kitchen from our table which added to the theatre.

The only down side was the building work in the hotel which echoed in to the restaurant but this is only a short-tem inconvenience.

All in all a great experience!
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7 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, December 20, 2011

It was during one of Silvena Rowe’s television appearances that we learnt of the opening of her new Quince Restaurant.

We therefore decided to book in for a meal as part of an already arranged weekend break in London. We arrived with high expectations and were not disappointed.

The staff were pleasant, our waitress helpfully suggesting starter dishes to compliment our main courses.

Each course was served in good time and brought new textures and flavours, all of which were excellent. I can definitely recommend the Tiger Prawn main course and Orange Baklava dessert. We also enjoyed two or three glasses from the extensive wine menu.

From our table we had a good view of the open kitchen and the chefs at work, which was interesting. Silvena herself was in attendance on the day, directing the kitchen staff. After our meal, she even came over to our table to check everything had been to our satisfaction, which was a final highlight to a memorable day.

In all, we would highly recommend Quince Restaurant; we are already planning another visit the next time we’re in London.
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rcoton - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, August 14, 2011

I am from Beverley Hills, staying at The MayFair. Decided to try Quince, having had food at Amba before...

Quince was amazing, loved the flavours and particularly the small dishes, which are so vibrant and delicious!

The restaurant was busy and had a nice feel , something Amba never had!

Never heard of chef Silvana, we met her on the night when she came to the table and chatted to us. I was with my team colleagues and we all loved the evening. Finally the MayFair has a stunning restaurant!
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Alex Blockhurst - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Thursday, July 07, 2011

It was my 36th Wedding Anniversary on the 20th June my wife decided to treat me to a weekend of heaven in the Mayfair hotel. Why the Mayfair? Well apart from its great reputation it was the home of Silvena Rowe’s new restaurant Quince, we love Silvena and we love Turkish food mainly because my father Hussain was Turkish. On arrival at Heathrow my wife had an accident and broke a rib and suffered concussion. Our plan was to arrive in London early Friday 17th and go shopping but because of the accident we booked into our room and decided to stay in the Hotel for Lunch so we opened the door of Quince and found the decor to be truly spectacular and was greeted by a lovely young lady (your Restaurant Manager) and shown to a table, the service was amazing we ordered champagne and looked over the menu and was guided by our server who explained the menu in detail and gave personal recommendations, we had borek cigars, avocado hummus, squid and king prawns then had desert of lemon tart and rhubarb brulee.

This was a wonderful experience. We decided to buy Silvena’s books as I am a Chef and wanted to try out the recipes, at this time Silvena appeared at our table and signed the books for us, she had been busy talking to all the guest throughout our visit, we found this to be fantastic that she found the time to talk to everyone as this is the best way to get feedback fresh from the guests. We explained to Silvena that we had not intended to be there for lunch as we had booked Saturday night for our Anniversary treat, Silvena said that she was appearing on Saturday kitchen and was not intending to be there on Saturday night how lucky were we to see her on Friday lunch.

We then had a small walk around the streets close to Mayfair then retired to our room as my wife was now feeling worse from the effects of the accident, we ordered room service food for dinner and this was also beyond expectations. On Saturday after a great breakfast we did the tourist things, Harrods etc. In the evening we got dressed in our best bib and tucker and made our way to Quince we were again seated by you restaurant manager, had champagne and to our great surprise Silvena came up to our table and sat down beside us, as she had made a special effort to come and see us on our special night, she enquired of my wife’s health and complemented her by saying she looked lovely, we spoke about Saturday Kitchen and how Quince was booming because of this, Silvena then left to go home we proceeded to order borek bites, duck in fois gras and ottoman spiced lamb cutlets then sides of rice pilaf, lettuce heart salad, pomegranate salad followed by pork in blueberry molasses and lamb and beef skewers an absolutely wonderful experience, we had to have bitter orange baklava, I have had baklava all over the world and never has any come close to this and made even sweeter by the server announcing that Silvena had paid for the dessert, wow. We have since met up with Silvena at Taste of Edinburgh and were blown away with her friendliness and were granted front row seats to watch her demonstration at the AEG stand where we were asked by the AEG presenter to share our experience of Quince with the audience, which we did from our Hearts.

We would like to thank everybody at the Mayfair and Quince for making our Anniversary truly memorable.
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Howard Ruzgar - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, July 03, 2011

Not a big fan of Ms Rowe in general, but the place looked interesting online and we figured she probably wouldn't be doing the cooking anyway. Overall, we were disappointed. The menu read better than the dishes tasted and they were served in seriously small and ungenerous portions for the price. If you are spending that much, you do not expect to leave hungry. This was an expensive, joyless meal. Gutted.
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Rich
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Monday, June 27, 2011

Went last night, food was like nowhere else in London, special thank you to the amazing sommelier and staff! Made my special day thank you!
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Barbara
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Friday, June 24, 2011

The food is poor in quality, it lackes taste and is expensive. One of the worst Turkish/Middle Eastern restaurants I've been to.

For one of our dishes we had the 12 hour cooked lamb which was £18.50pp and it was slimy and bland.

Plus the nearest toilet is up 2 flights of stairs on the 2nd floor - not ideal when my wife is 8 months pregnant.
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Kevin Webb
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Friday, June 24, 2011

Sadly takes hotel dining back to the old days, when the restaurants were really only for those staying. Nothing would make me go back. There are far better stand alone restaurants within spitting distance.
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Sarah Mary
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Thursday, June 23, 2011