Pearl Restaurant & Bar

my wife and i visited pearl on tuesday for lunch for our anniversary a long awaited visit. i must add to which we were very disappointed, restaurant itself plush but not modern 7/10 whilst the food well being a big fan of japanese food was expecting a bit of japanese influence in jun's modern french cuisine but none what so ever which probably let us down for a start. no excuse for the bland food that we were served, we've had a lot better meals at AA rosette restaurants, to top it off the dessert was a grapefruit and ginger trifle which was the worst part of the meal 4/10
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julian
5 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Sunday, July 24, 2011

I went here on Friday night in a group of 17 for our annual party. The restaurant is well-decorated and well-lit. The food was fantastic (including a venison dish to die for) and the service was excellent. With one of our party stuck in traffic the manager was helpful in smoothing this problem over, even offering local parking advice! The sommelier was friendly and gave us great advice on wines. I would happily return here again.
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Andy Bolton
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, December 06, 2010

I went for lunch with my boyfriend for my birthday, having chosen it because we both work in the area and liked the look of the place. The food was elaborately presented, and technically impressive but the taste wasn't anything special. I had cod risotto. The fish was well cooked, but the spinach risotto was bland.

As for the experience, the decor is lovely, but the waiters are ridiculously snooty. My experience of most expensive restaurants is that the staff are keen to make you feel at home (whoever you might be). Not at Pearl, where they were patronising and slightly unpleasant. I wonder whether they feel they need to intimidate customers into believing the place is special, since the food really isn't.
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Lynn Roberts
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Saturday, December 04, 2010

Came here dinner here a few weeks back with 3 friends and it was without doubt one of the best meals I've had this year. We started with a cocktail each in the bar then moved into the restaurant. Tables are well spaced and we were given the menu and some nice little canapes.

Now onto the food, we were on the 3 course and a cocktail for £39 menu, and there was 3 choices for each course. Between the 4 of us we tried all 9 dishes, and with the exception of the lamb starter we were impressed with everything. The pre starter and pre dessert were also of a very high standard, and overall the food was stunning value for £39.

The wine list is as expected, long, covering all areas and expensive. We had a nice bottle of sauvignon/semillion from Australia then tried a few different reds by the glass. On a bad note our first 2 choices of white were out of stock, as was our first choice dessert wine.

Service was good, and the manager had just the right balance of knowing when to chat with us and when not to.

I will be back for sure
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Chris - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Saturday, June 19, 2010

Gorgeous restaurant, polite attentive staff, beautiful food.

Service was quite slow but that wasn't an issue, we weren't starving and it was nice to have a glass of wine, some bread and a chat.

Brown bread was delicious, amuse bouche an unexpected treat. quail starter was the highlight. Rabbit was innovative, soft and juicy, no room for dessert, great coffee.

Lunch menu good value, wine expensive but worth it. Enjoy!!
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hj - View all reviews by this user
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, May 05, 2010

The service was haphazard, food was served up when one of us had popped to the loo, my beef was overcooked - I did call the waiter over to tell her but she just shrugged and walked off. It was a pricey dinner which didn't meet expectations.
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- View all reviews by this user
6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Sunday, May 02, 2010

We were fortunate enough to enjoy a very special dinner celebration at this beautiful restaurant on Thursday night, and would absolutely recommend it to anyone who is looking for exceptional meals, brilliant service, and a stunning restaurant.

Each of our three course meals were beautifully presented and absolutely delicious, and we were treated to amazing appetisers between each meal as well. The staff were very friendly and yet polite and gracious enough to leave us to enjoy our meal and drinks for as long as we liked. My boyfriend, Mum and I were the last to leave the restaurant, and we all left saying that would have to be the most special dinner we've ever had.
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Kaitlin
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Saturday, April 17, 2010

Have wanted to eat here for a long time and finally got round to going with 3 friends on Friday night.

Had a round of cocktails in the bar to start with before moving into the main restaurant. The bar was sleek and stylish with some great booths and the main dinning room was calmer with well spaced out tables.

We choose from the 3 course menu at £37.50 (which had 3 choices for each course), and tried all 9 dishes that were on offer. With the exception of the lamb carpaccio starter all the dishes were top notch, with the sea bream & pearl barley starter and rabbit stuffed with paella main very very good. The pre starter and pre dessert were also of a very high standard.

Service was friendly and knowledgeable and the Maitre d was also very good.

If I have to find fault it would be with one of the reasons why we visited in the first place - the wine - a beautiful wine list with the wines stored in the center of the dinning room. However 2 of our wine choices were out of stock, the white we ordered was far to cold and the red not warm enough.

Overall though a very good meal, maybe the best I have had this year, with very good food in beautiful surroudings.

Will be back for sure !
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Chris
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, March 22, 2010

Finally had dinner at Pearl after months of postponing, and the long awaited dinner was a little bit of a disappointment.

The setting of the restaurant is nice, quite modern, but with soft lights; the space is vast but not noisy, with a slightly 90's American feel to it (piano bar, marble walls, rows of beads every which way you look).

The food was OK, but not to the standard I expected. The tortellinis served with my starter were undercooked, which I guess set the tone and didn't make a very good first impression. I had a lemon sole as a main - the fish was cooked to perfection and the razor clams gratin was delicious, unfortunately, the pool of lemon juice that accompanied the sauce took over and made the flavours feel rather disjointed.

My dessert on the other hand (caramelised apples with thyme ice cream and salted caramel mousse) was everything I expected and more - absolutely delicious. And the cheese board is the best I had seen in a very long time.

The pre-starter and pre-dessert were quite surprising and very, very good.

I would give Pearl another try, but would not recommend it for a special occasion - there are too many other options for a fantastic dinner in that price range and under. We did not drink wine, which kept the bill fairly reasonable all things considered, but I expect I would take a different stance had we ordered a bottle.

My overall feeling is that Pearl is a good restaurant, but which fails to deliver what it advertises.
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Emma M
8 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Thursday, February 11, 2010

I was disappointed by Pearl, mainly because the whole experience was so inconsistent.

Service was either attentive and thorough, or slapdash and lacking attention to detail.

The main course of wild duck for 2 stood out as a highlight. However, it was followed by a chocolate fondant served in a jar - pretty, but totally impractical.

My husband has a lot of food intolerances and we provided the complete list on booking. However, it was almost like the restaurant had only received half the list - on the amuse bouches tray, he could eat half of them but not the other half.

The atmosphere is a bit odd - the restaurant is next to the hotel's piano bar and the live singing accompanying my meal was personally not to my taste.

For another £20 a head, you could get an infinitely better experience elsewhere.
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JCA
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, December 22, 2009