The River Cafe

Not very welcoming........is it that one feels one is not a favoured client...not one of their 'in-crowd'?

Having booked weeks in advance for a special birthday lunch, and having been promised an especially nice table, we ended up at a table for 2 in the corridor-like space opposite the bar. We felt cut off from the main room of faces ...presumably either on expense accounts or else already known to the establishment. Perhaps that was really a blessing in disguise....for all of us.

Service? Perfunctory. It worked. A bit like ordering over the internet. Cold but efficient. Lacking any human warmth or charm, in what is essentially an informal environment. Grade 5.

Food? 6. Despite what are reasonably well-executed (at best) dishes, there's something a bit passe about them. Squid with chilli? Not cutting edge anymore, nor even difficult to reproduce in your own kitchen - and I use this as a basic standard to to judge - but especially when paying high prices.

Good quality ingredients? Yes. But please do something interesting and creative with them; something I can't do. Heating up olives doesn't count! If you're using great ingredients and intend to do little in the way of actually cooking with them, in the sense of using professional cooking processes, then you have to get balance and flavour exactly right.

The word perfunctory comes to mind again when considering the execution. Good, but basically somewhat amateur cooking, at this level of expense. Grade 5.

Atmos? Apart from previous comments above; a hushed buzz preceded the appearance of a white-haired deity from the kitchen. From behind the bar she swept by within inches from us, not a nod in our direction, and proceeeded to conduct warm audiences with favoured tables..presumably still-employed captains of industry, media-types and restaurant reviewers etc....Grade 1.

Our sense of being somewhat isolated, ostracised even, complete, we made our escape in the suspension-less mini-cab ordered for us.

Perhaps the River Cafe is a victim of its own success in the past. It does not lead to a better dining experience, on many levels, so many years down the line, for ordinary un-named people who don't fit the mould.

Probably still great for restaurant reviewers, media types, minor celebs and known regulars on stll-fat expense accounts. Overall value? 3.
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4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 3
Saturday, March 07, 2009

We visited the River Cafe on the day of 'The Big Snow' (Feb 2nd 09) having booked the set lunch in support of the Altzheimer's Society. We arrived at 2pm and were placed at a window table that looked out over the forecourt/garden which was magically transformed by its white snowy blanket.: an experience that can rarely be repeated.

The set menu had a surprising number of choices for each course. We started with smoked eel with celery salad and creamed horseradish: refreshing and rich. Then we had a pasta roulade of ricotta, spinnach and fungi: creamy and full of flavours. Our main course was the char-grilled lamb with potato, fenel and fresh chopped basil: satisfying and well prepared. I finished with caramel Ice-cream whilst my fellow diner had lemon tart: both suitable ends to a delicious selection. Together with half a bottle of Valpolicella and fizzy water, with service, the set lunch cost us £86 in total.

The service was attentive but not intrusive.

We thought it the bargain of the year so far and would happily go back again at those prices.

A magic delight.
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martin monk
10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, February 02, 2009

After many years of planning to eat at the River Cafe, we finally got the opportunity at a friend's birthday lunch. All I can say is that the whole experience was of disappointingly variable quality, save the price, which was excessive in the extreme.

A set four course lunch (being a large group) set us back £80 per head. A mixed antipasti was comprised of excellent individual components, with undoubtably high quality produce, notably two different bruschetta, one with a tasty chicken liver concoction, and the other with a spinach, anchovy and mushroom combination that worked really well. However there is not much else to say about great parma ham. mazzarella and olive oil, none of which require culinary skill, and the calamari and scallop offerings were only average. Nonetheless, there was little to complain about here.

Where things took a turn for the worse was with the mains, which (outside the set menu) would have set us back £30 each. I chose the turbot, which was an extremely disappointing chunk of unfortunately overcooked fish rendered tough and almost tasteless, despite the efforts of the lemon and rosemary with which it was served. I am at a loss to know how this can be done to such an expensive piece of fish. A slightly random, but acceptable bean salad accompanied. I split this with my other half, who had made the (as it turned out) woeful choice of brisket, which somehow the kitchen had managed to turn into the toughest, rather than the most tender cut of meat following what they assured us was slow cooking, but turned out several thin slices of overcooked, tough meat in an admittedly tasty tarragon scented lentil broth. The appearance of the negetable unfortunately looked like the remnants left when stock is drained. Admittedly, I think we chose poorly, as the other diners' lamb and pigeon choices looked better, and seemed to be well received. Had we been dining alone, we would have sent at least the brisket, and probably the turbot back.

Service overall was very competent, with the waiting staff pleasant and attentive, though none had a clue about any of the dishes on the menu (to the extent of asking my boyfriend how he would like his brisket cooked - he had to remind them what sort of meat they were talking about). The sommelier was fantastic, and gave comprehensive, enthusiastic advice on wine choices throughout the meal, all of which were excellent, and in the circumstances, not exorbitant.

Cheese was another very enjoyable selection, particularly one of the best gorgonzola I have ever tasted, and served with good bread, though getting enough bread for the number of people was a bit of a struggle. Desserts were the stand out for me, and none could be faulted. All were delighted by the chocolate nemesis, which has been a signature at the River Cafe for ever, and my pear and almond tart was a masterpiece of perfect pastry and almond meringue with the delicious pear. I am told the lemon tart was similarly excellent, and the panacotta served with rhubarb looked (and I am told tasted) sublime.

All up, a meal that ranged from superb to pretty poor, and hovered round the just above average. At £80 a head for food for lunch (£130 each including service, wine, coffee and pre-dinner drinks) this is right up there with some of the most expensive meals in London. Considering that the 7+ course tasting menu at Marcus Wareing, which we also had recently for a birthday, was only £90 a head for food, which was in a different universe to that at the River Cafe, I think the River Cafe is pitching itself way above its delivery, particularly in the current economic climate.

Judging by the pretty full restaurant (Saturday lunch), perhaps its clientele don't even know that a recession has hit, and are quite happy to pay above the odds for the chance to experience a very chic dining space and spot celebs. Nonetheless, it would be a brave restaurant that considered that this will continue indefinitely.
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Underwhelmed
6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, January 20, 2009

We went to River Cafe for Lunch early in Jan '09. Lunch was really looked forward to as meeting close well travelled "foodie"relatives who had read great things about River Cafe. Reception greeting was courteous, but cold.

Initially, I found lunch menu,hard to read with fussy, cramped typing. It is unusual for me to comment on something like this.

Although our waitress was lovely, no effort was made to explain the menu, which probably accounts for what follows. A pity as they were not particularly busy.

2 of us ordered Zuppa di Zucca, Faro e Castagne-pumpkin, farro & chestnut soup with pancetta and rosemary to start, expecting a traditional warming soup, as it was pretty cold outside...what we got was more like a lentil 'dhal' type dish. I eat mine, more out of courtesy to the company we were with, but relative left hers. Partner had Rotolo di Spinaci – fresh pasta roll stuffed with spinach, porcini & ricotta, with sage butter This was a winner and to be recommended. Other starter was Prosciutto di Parma... not bad, but nothing special. To their credit, they removed charge for Zuppa from bill, when they realised that they had not been enjoyed.

Mains were 3 x Sogliola al Forno – whole Dover Sole wood-roasted with marjoram & lemon, with Violetta artichoke ‘alla Romana’ and Italian spinach. Again, Fish was not bad, but not particularly good either. At best, very ordinary.

Other main was Polenta con Mazzancolle – soft polenta with Scottish langoustine, garlic, rocket and lemon...with brown shrimp replacing langoutine as they were out of them. Sorry to say....It looked pretty bad and elicited no positive comment on eating.

3 of us had desserts 2 x Blood Orange Sorbet, which looked great, taste was ok. The big winner though was the Caramel Ice Cream, which relative declared to be best she ever had. High praise from one well used to El Bulli, French Laundry type standard.

Coffee was simple and unremarkable, good coffee as expected ...service was really good, throughout but couldn't recover from most of us feeling that we had ordered the wrong meal whilst there.

Final disappointment was Reception offered to call Cab. We accepted expecting a Black Cab back to West End, but got a dodgy Minicab with broken seats etc.

Unfortunately, We all ended up feeling quite flat after our Lunch. Not on our recommended list.
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4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Thursday, January 08, 2009

Two of us had a fine meal and an excellent evening here recently, and the River Caff delivered the Christmas treat I'd hoped for. The place seems more attractive since the reopening, staff were pleasant and attentive, the food was to die for and the high price was worth it. I didn't sense the pretension described by other reviewers, and we were looked after very well despite our lack of media prominence.
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David
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Thursday, January 01, 2009

I went for lunch on 23rd December with my wife and our nearly one year old daughter.

We had a lovely time and really enjoyed the food.

Good things: interesting and varied menu. Good selection on the wine list. Great, very fresh, produce. Lovely flavours - not too ponced about. Beautiful presentation. Lovely waiting staff - and lots of them. Service was brisk. Modern, sleek design in all things (except the carpet). Marvellous place for lunch and must be fantastic on a balmy summer's evening. Clearly the place is fabulously well run.

Bad things: it's overpriced, both food and wine - not horrendously but enough to matter. It's a bit cramped - lovely, light, airy room but too many tables. Reception by staff when we arrived was cool - anything to do with the one year old and pram perhaps? The blue carpet - nasty. Looks like it's from the same roll as the equally awful one at Bibendum.

It was packed - doing roaring trade. No sign of the expense accounts at the BBC or Sky suffering cutbacks yet.
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Kevin
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, December 31, 2008

The room is very light,albeit cramped.At lunch,it became obvious that the customers are BBC types,Labour Party apparatchiks,and "caviar socialists" as my French companion observed dryly.If you are part of that crowd,and these seemed to be repeat customers then the waitstaff make a fuss over you.For the rest of us who pay for the salaries of the other customers then,you are greeted and treated politely,but with little warmth.The menu is what a certain type of English person who has holidayed in Tuscany thinks of as Italian(think Maggie Smith).Prices are very high and others were clearly enjoying a very long and liquid lunch at the taxpayers/licence payers expense.Dover sole is not an Italian dish.There is no such fish in the Med.Thus to serve this in an "Italian" restaurant,and worse,write it in Italian on the menu,speaks volumes about the pretence of this place.It's an English dish,with an English fish,write it in English for goodness sake!Why write it in Italian and provide an English translation?And this for an eye-watering £30! I am afraid I did not like the "fakeness " of this place.It was a pseudo-Italian experience at enormous prices,for English people.The puntarelle salad at £13(for a dish sold in a good restaurant in rome at €7) was not right.This should be lemon juice,a bit of olive oil,and crushed preserved anchovy.Here it had vinegar and was swimming in dressing.

While these ladies are well-meaning,it was like watching Maggie Smith,acting in a movie, set in Italy.Sorry.
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M.R.Moss
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, December 02, 2008

I went to the River Cafe last night and it was amazing! Right down from the welcome we recieved and the food we had - amazing! We started with calamari and squid cooked to perfection - just how it should be not deep fried. My boyfriend had the clam risotto - divine - never tasted anything like it. But the best part of the meal was to come the sea bass. I can easily say it was the best fish i have ever eaten. It tasted like it had just been caught and baked. It was divine and i will rave on about it for a long time. We shared a dessert - an almond torte - again divine. We had the waiter recommend a bottle of wine which was perfect.

I give this ten out of ten - it was expensive but it was worth it!
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Liz
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Friday, November 21, 2008

With so many hyped and over-valued institutions facing post credit crunch Nemisis, perhaps this hubris-driven restaurant will finally run out of cash-rich, taste-poor punters to intimidate with snobbery and pretension. Yes, the food is delicate, fresh and fine. Yet the bill is a millia miglia from value. In some ways it is a sixties throw-back; imperious waiters remind you constantly how lucky you are to be here. At least the Ivy lets you know you aren't very welcome politely, and on the phone before you book. At the River Café, they like to snare the poor diner's feet under the table before revealing the haughty tone the customer is to endure. I wish the Dover Sole, at £30 a pop as I recall, had been as interesting the service. I wish the service had been as forgettable as the Dover Sole. A poor show at a rich price. The london-eating notes above suggest - fairly - severe dissatisfaction should be directed at the restaurant. However, this is also a forum for fellow London diners. My suggestion is to be obsequious to your waiting staff, and they may just raise their standards to treat you as a human being. I wouldn't know.
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Charles Kindlysides
5 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Went to The River cafe on saturday 15th of march with to friends and the food was absolutley outstanding along with great attentive service and carnt wait to go back!!!
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Andrew Markou
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, March 16, 2008