La Petite Auberge

My partner and I decided to try this restaurant for my 52nd birthday. We had been to it's sister restaurant 'Sacre Coeur' just up the road off Upper Street.

The waiting staff were very friendly and my starter 'French Onion Soup' was delicious. However I ordered the rack of lamb and when it arrived it wasn't cooked in the middle. I like my lamb quite pink but this was raw. I sent it back and it came back again uncooked in the middle. I was quite annoyed as cooking lamb is not that complicated. It ruined our meal as my partner had finished his meal and and I decided to cancel my main course.

Having eaten in the Sacre Coeur which has the exact same menu, I won't let this experience put me off returning but I would urge the management to get a chef who know how to cook lamb in the various different ways relevant to peoples taste. Our waitress, in particular, was very friendly and apologetic for which we were very grateful.
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Gerard
9 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Friday, April 19, 2013

This is a place to avoid at all costs, better to starve. Mistakenly selected this place to celebrate my 60th with a friend before going to the Almeida Theatre., 30th March 2013. On arrival we were initially offered a table so tight to the stairs as to be unsuitable, unless you wanted to be part of the staircase. The second offering had spilt drink all over it, and on the chairs - which was not dealt with 1 1/2 hours later. The third was marginally acceptable - to my friend at least, I was all for leaving to eat anything, anywhere else. A McDonald's would have rated a Michelin star in comparison. Leaving would definitely have been the right decision. In fairness, the starter was good, (we both had the same goats cheese dish) but the mains were poor in quality, taste, and quantity. A requested jug of iced water was denied because they had "run out of jugs". The wine was indifferent and over-priced. We skipped any sweet, unsurprisingly. And then the kick in the teeth. Presented with a bill that had nothing to do with what we had had - and some difficulty getting this resolved.

I would happily starve before going to this dismal location again. That said, every restaurant has its place - use this one if in a position where you have to take someone out whom you REALLY dislike. For this purpose, it is ideal.
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Ed Hughes
0 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, April 02, 2013

We came on last Saturday night and we are very Happy with our night in your restaurant, I came last years and I had a bad taste but this Saturday was excellent

I came with my boyfriend I tasted the snails they are tasted like in France the service was in our demand and the New Manager was present came our table ask us if we are regulars and he wanted to now his customer .

We pay £72 for our dinner and we recieve 2 limancelo on the house.

We passed a very good night with great food great wine great service and the price they are more than correct.
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Laura Gilles
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Ignore the amateur food critics, this is a fun restaurant with excellent food, good service and a great atmosphere. What's more it's excellent value. We try to visit each time we come to Highbury from Manchester and last time, for a pre wedding dinner was brilliant, at £21.50 for the better party menu this was more like Manchester prices
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Roger Norman
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Good, huge portions. Nice to be there. Away from all the yahoos on upper street
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geoff garside - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, April 10, 2012

I have to say, once i said no, i said no.

I've said in January that it would be the last time i would come to this horrible place.

Well, last week my friends booked their party at la petite auberge so i had to go....Scared and not really motivated to go i made the effort.

Well, having said that, i realized few changes in this tiny restaurant.

The place was packed, we waited 10 minutes to get seated but overall it was ok.

By my biggest surprise, things were a bit different. We didn t have to wait for our food, it was nicely presented and tasted good, yes it did. My rib-eye was amazing .( yes i know it is only a steak but the quality was there and the diane sauce fantastic).

On top of that, the new manager is finally a FRENCHMAN..... well sounds obvious but it makes the whole difference.

Well educated, interesting, passionate about his food and wine and also very professional, he totally made our night and birthday party a night to remember.

keep it that way and we may come back
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Jay Reeves
7 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Saturday, December 10, 2011

Don't often write reviews, but so saddened by the decline of this lovely little north London staple that I had to say something.

My husband and I have been eating here for nine years (he's been eating there for more like 17) and we were so hoping the reviews were wrong, but microwaved potatoes and frozen fish were just too sad. The wine is still great and the service was all good, but I really want to know where that chef has gone to, as we'll quite happily follow. Such a shame!
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Paula
6 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Dear, dear, dear, what good is there to say about this place. To celebrate my 37 birthday with 4 other friends I booked a table at le Petite Auberge, As I have a pallet that suits all tastes and types of cuisine I thought I'd try something a little different from the norm ( Indian/Chinese/Turkish/Thai).

The table booked for 7.30p.m - surroundings were nice and cosy, dime lights and candles on the tables, we were happy with our house Red which tasted more special than the cheapest bottle of red on the menu. Then time for the starters, asparagus with hollandaise sauce WHAT SAUCE - on a very large plate four fat asparagus tips with a tiny dollop of crust on the side with burnt bread crumbs on top to hide the crust. Camembert with raspberry sauce - the cheese was swimming in a plate of sweet sticky sauce that was far, far too much for the amount of cheese given. Onion soup - Like someone had flung a slice of Hovest white on top of a tasteless tiny bowl of pale soup which had gone soggy in the bowl of slop. Worst to come was my friends starters which was marinated veg with a cheese fondue,..... Fondue !!!!!! To my horror my friend was able to hold the cold sheet once hot cheese up to her face and swing it like a dusty old matt!!!!!

On telling the waitress of the dusty old matt that was served instead of the luscious soft gooey cheese that should have been received all she did was shrugged her shoulders then walked way. Starting to feel a little disheartened we ordered our mains - Steak came with frozen chips, no salad or veg those you have to pay for separately, Crepes it said on the menu, it was 'A' crepe with semi warm salmon and tomato sauce, mine was supposed to be a crepe with ham and mushrooms hoping it would be just as good as the ones I had in Kos (Greece) well I never did get my crepe , the waiter came with an asparagus crepe while breathing closely over it insisted that's what I ordered only for it to come back 5 minutes later with the original waitress doing just the same as him - I am certainly not a veggie so I know I would have never had ordered this. After much persuasion with them both off they went to get me my correct dish - Well I thought they did...... CHICKEN and Ham is what arrived after the 3rd time of trying to order my main, although I didn't mind this, it wasn't what I I ordered!!!!! At this point the manager came over noticing how upset I was at the table with eager customers waiting to try the food staring at me. He offered me another main but with caution with what could probably happen to my food at the back by this point I refused and asked for him to take it off the bill, the salad that we ordered to go with our mains which was actually lovely and fresh was whisked away also without anyone asking if we had finished . The manager apologised profusely but i didn't feel it was genuine, all he could offer was a free dessert next time i visited. I have eaten in many many restaurants of all sorts of price ranges but felt I really had to share how bad my experience was i have never had anything so bad and sooooo not worth the money- I urge anyone wanting to eat here to think seriously about the money they would be wasting. The biggest let down ever, please don't waste your time and money eating here upper street has plenty of other quality places for you to visit and enjoy.
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Simone Knight
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Sunday, October 02, 2011

very friendly service, and polite, but the food is rubbish. stale chips and cold mussels were too much to bear. i thought it was better before, but definitely not going back any more.
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tracey
5 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 1
Sunday, July 03, 2011

lovely and cozy place inspire me to go back on Valentine's day with my girlfriend, last tuesday we were looking for place to have a chat and dine. Meet up in Upper st we decided to walk in to this french place.Worderful atmosphere,lovely service,

tasty food,reasonable prices.Definately go back.

PS hope my girlfriend will like it
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Peter Bullock
10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Friday, February 11, 2011