Rosemary Lane

On Friday night a group of around 20 of us had pre booked and pre ordered food at the Rosemary.We arrived at 8pm and not served a starter until 9.30, the mains turned up nearly 3 hours from when we arrived. Clearly this is totally unacceptable for pre ordered food and we noticed people turning up, being served, eating and leaving during this time. There was no attempt made to explain the exact situation and the staff just kept turning up with cold dishes we had not ordered, and topping up the wine glasses at every oportunity.

Disappointing
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Monday, December 11, 2006

The food at Rosemary Lane is absolutely amazing - certainly some of the best I've had anywhere in London. The Venezualan chocolate fondant with orange ice-cream has to be tried to be believed!

But... beware the high prices (e.g. £6 for a bottle of mineral water), the slightly slow service and, when we visited in November, the oppressively hot dining area.

On balance, it's worth going for the superb food but don't be suprised to come away feeling frustrated and a little short-changed!
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Nic
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Monday, November 27, 2006

Was slightly concerned, given the mixed (to say the least!) reviews, but went along on a Thursday lunchtime and it was pretty busy - many more tables occupied than empty.

An excellent lunch was had by all - we ate off the a la carte menu rather than the fixed price one. All the courses were first class - easily as good, if not better, than other city based restaurants in a similar price bracket. Service was good too.

I'll be back...
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neilpike
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Thursday, May 04, 2006

Still up to the usual excellent standards. I am really surprised by the reviews below. Clearly if you like your fish overcooked you should make sure your waiter knows this. To be apologised to and told that you don't have to pay doesn't sound too bad to me. (I have also only once not ended up paying in a restaurant when the meal had a load of grit in it, the grit was then conveniently dropped on to the floor and became indistinguishable from other dirt in the carpet, when I said that I would complain to environmental health the manager said that they were his friends and were eating here today, I replied that I was sure that they were professionals and to still bring them over, to which I was told to "get the **** out of my restaurant") Anyway that is by the by, Rosemary Lane is a fantastic restuarant and the chef is a real talent. The service has been very variable over the years but top notch on recent visits. Do not be put off, you will miss out.
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Derry
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, May 03, 2006

we had decided to go to Rosemary Lane with some friends last night and for some reason I decided to check the reviews. Wished I hadn't and thought about cancelling but am SO glad we didn't as we had an absolutely SUPERB meal with delightful service, as a result of which my partner has decided we must go there much more regularly. We loved the waitress with fairly limited command of English - she had a great sense of humour and thought it was hilarious when my partner set fire to his menu! - we have absolutely no complaints about the service she provided. Food was fantastic and Tempranillo at £12 a bottle is great value. If the surroundings worry you more than the quality of the food you may not enjoy this restaurant but we love it - I can only assume that something went badly wrong in the last couple of weeks to earn such bad reviews
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Lesley Millis
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Where do I start? It was my husband's birthday this week and we went to Rosemary Lane as it had been recommended as a fantastic place to go. We arrived and the waitress didn't even say hello or good evening, she just muttered 'Are you the ones that booked'? We sat down and ordered 2 glasses of bubbly which we enjoyed. When we came to order our wine we realised how little English the waitress could speak, an absolute pet hate, especially when you're celebrating a special occasion and want everything to be perfect. I wouldn't have cared so much if we were in Pizza Express. We eventually ordered our wine and were then told they didn’t have it. We ended up with a bottle that was nothing like we described and were very disappointed.

When we tried to order our meal the waitress couldn’t explain a particular ingredient that we weren’t familiar with and the best she could do was to say that it was ‘a herb and it was green’, not very helpful.

Our entrees arrived and they were enjoyable however they were dampened by the artic chill that kept blowing in through the front door that wouldn’t stay closed. We asked the waitress if she could do something about the temperature and she did turn the heater on but by this stage we were thoroughly chilled.

Next our mains arrived, and I should note now that there was only one other table of 2 in the restaurant. The outside of my husband’s duck was luke warm and my halibut was cooked on the outside and raw and slimy in the middle! I am very fond of sushi but I can’t stand the texture of half cooked fish, it’s revolting! At this point we had had enough and asked to see the chef. She eventually came down and said, ‘What’s the problem?’ Not a good start. We voiced our concerns about our mains and she said, ‘I’m sorry about that, you don’t have to pay for anything, and have a nice evening’, and with this promptly stormed off. We were so shocked by her appalling rudeness we didn’t even have time to say, ‘Excuse me, are you actually asking us to leave?’ With this we stood up and got ready to leave. As a last ditch attempt to regain some sort of respect my husband asked the waitress to speak to the chef again but the chef wouldn’t come and speak to us.

I have never left a restaurant without paying before nor have I been treated with so much petulant contempt! Everything about Rosemary Lane is a disaster, the location, the staff, the service and the food. It is absolutely disgraceful that the chef/owner of this restaurant would treat 2 of her only 4 paying customers so appallingly.

Avoid at all costs!
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Fleur Turner
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, March 17, 2006

I was not as impressed by this restaurant as other reviewers. The food was not up to scratch and at just over £100 for two with 1 bottle of wine, a shared desert and no coffee the bill was excessive.

My starter was tasteless (though the garnish was good - a plate of that would have been much better) and the main course duck was cloyingly sweet and uninspiring (though very well cooked).

There were only 2 other couples in the place on saturday night and I can understand why. They are not producing quality or value enough to be competitive.
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Sam Green
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Sunday, March 05, 2006

Oh dear, if you look at my earlier review you will see me singing the praises of this back street restaurant. However, I experienced how they can get it so wrong on Saturday evening.

We booked for a table for two at 8.30 and on Saturday evenings they have a tasting menu, inadvertently we were held up and arrived at 8.40pm only to be told that we could not be served. I thought this sort of petulance only manifested itself in 3 star Michelin establishments!!!

For the first time in my 43 years I was turned away and I would have to say needlessly, invariably you have to wait at least 15 minutes for a drink and to pore over the menu. I suspect it was because there were more than the customary 6 people in on a Saturday night and didn't need the business. The maitre'd didn't give a toss either.

We found ourselves on the street, in the City at 8.45pm Saturday night, no problem though, a couple of quick calls and we were safely in Eyre Brother being properly looked after with a degree of professionalism. Take note Rosemary Lane, restaurants like yours should trade on good serviecc and at the moment it is severely lacking....
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Tass Patsalides
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 6
Monday, February 27, 2006

Difficult to find, but wonderful once inside.

The food on Valentines day was different and very tasty (Roquefort terrine, heart of palm and lemon soup, game hen...). Prices are also good with the valentines tasting menu costing £90 per couple.

The exterior leaves a bit to be desired with the DLR train track opposite and the restaurant being inside a rather plain building. Once inside there is a relaxed and romantic atmosphere, with surprisingly no exterior noise coming in.

I would return for the tasty, good value food and polite, attentive service.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Thursday, February 16, 2006

Another exquisite tasting menu. Countless perfectly executed mini-courses all made from quality ingredients. This is the only restaurant where I have had consisitently good food. The service has gone from having a "special charm" that was perhaps not to everyone's taste, to being extremely professional yet very friendly.

My slight disappointments were that:

The fish theme meant that a raging carnivore such as myself left feeling slightly unsatisfied.

There should have been an extra pudding course or a slightly bigger final course to satisfy sweet toothed diners.
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Derry
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, February 15, 2006