Le Cercle

What has happened to Le Cercle? What used to be one of my favourite restaurants with a wonderful appetising menu has turned into a run-of-the-mill bistrot with very indifferent service. What has happened to the wonderful range of French tapas that gave the client the opportunity to taste a variety of simply delicious dishes? The comprehensive menu has been replaced by a frankly boring mix of small taster dishes, average starters with nothing special to follow.

The music was so loud we could barely hear ourselves, let alone the waitress. Placed by the bar we were so close that I felt uncomfortable with a series of mens' behinds six inches from my face. Despite the loud music the Maitre d'Hotel suddenly appeared to serve just one group of French diners. Perhaps because of the loud music he felt it necessary to flamboyantly shout out the details of the menu to this group.. Amusingly despite his over the top attention they all chose the same dish - steak and chips! A pity that nobody was as attentive to us as we waited for long periods with no attention at all.

There was nothing actually wrong with the food, but quite frankly I can go anywhere and eat salmon mousse, steak and chips and creme brulée. I cannot emphasize enough how disappointed I was, particularly as I had chosen this restaurant to take my husband for a birthday meal.

To top it all when we had just got a cab outside I discovered I had left my spectacles at the table. I rang the restaurant immediately and the girl begrudgingly went to look and said they were not there. It was only when I told her I was returning and rang again that she finally admitted that she had not looked properly and that they had found them

On the whole a very disappointing evening and frankly not worth it!
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3 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Sunday, December 04, 2011

food and service were great. nice atmosphere too.

however, portions were quite small and in the end it is quite expensive.

nothing against this place, but i dont think it s for me.
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Yevgeniy - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Thursday, December 02, 2010

I used to live in Chelsea and Le Cercle's bar was my favourite destination for Friday night cocktail with the girls. Then I moved away and haven't been to Le Cercle for the past two years. And then on Saturday night when my friend called me and said that he got a table I couldn't resist to go back.

It was so nice to have an apperitif at the bar next to the mini library and fire place, to see this high seelings an elegant white curtains again, beautiful wine cellar stayed as good as it was, but addition of fine service, more creative dishes and an amazing wine waiter, made it even better then I remembered.

You have to try the foie gras which is presented to you as a chocolate bar (!), wild mushroom fricasse which is very simple but very good, rabbit and fillet mignon of pork with black mustard. It was four of us, we went for 10 dishes to share followed by cheese and puddings and the bill was still very reasonable.

I am definately going back and would higly recommend the restaurant to all of you.
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sarah sutton
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Went to le Cercle on Wednesday night.

As we walked in there was a piano in the middle of the reaturant and the most charming pianist was playing soft jazz melodies. We stopped at the bar for a cocktail and then sat down for a five course degustation menu with the matching wines at £55.00 only!

The Sommelier was very good and the rest of the staff were friendly and helpfull. After dinner we had a chance to talk to the piano player and guess what?.. all the music requests we had where more than welcomed!

Absolutely fantastic evening and we are deffinately going back very soon. Well done!
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French foodie
10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, November 11, 2010

Service was poor, food was good--but nothing special. Decor was great but in London there are many more restaurants that can offer better service and food so I would suggest trying those first. I will not be going back. here or recommending to anyone in the near future.
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Joe
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Friday, September 24, 2010

Went to Le Cercle last night.

The place has great ambiance, is very stylish, and overall is very comfortable.

The service was awkward at times; the waiters seemed to rush us a little bit and they--obviously I am generalizing here--were not particularly personable.

The food was delicious for the most part--we had the seasonal menu so I cannot speak for the tapas menu. However, as several reviews have pointed out, the portions are quite too small. Even a multi-course meal left us feeling a bit empty.

I would suggest some reworking of the pricing here; I can definitely allocate 40 pounds to a better restaurant.
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Arturo G. Aguirre
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 5
Thursday, August 05, 2010

Our first visit on a very quiet Saturday lunchtime, and our first thoughts as we climbed down the staircase to the deep basement was how this restaurant got customers, for although only steps from Sloane Street its on a road with little passing trade and it has not much presence at street level. it opens up into a high and spacious room that is comfortable enough even if it does have nothing to distinguish it from countless others.

The food at Le Cercle is modern french, which means echoes of "nouvelle cuisine" and foams, capuccinos and so on. So not a place for your aunt who only likes plain food or indeed your uncle who likes man-sized portions and nothing fancy. Portions are indeed small, though I have to say that after my 4 course set lunch for £19.50 I left feeling if not full then at least satisfied. But in general we enjoy the "small courses but more of them" phoilosophy.

Food quality and ingredient quality is where the relatively low prices bite. Everything I ate was decent. Nothing I ate was wonderful or stopped the conversation. Its kind of like going to somewhere like The Square only to be told that they've got the second team out today- so whilst everything was cooked pleasantly enough the food lacks flavour and intensity. The best courses we had were my wife's dessert and my cheeses. The muted flavours and intensity extended to the wine, and my white Luberon at £23 I think and certainly from the cheaper end of the wine list, was forgettable.

On value, you can't really knock 4 courses albeit small for £19.50 when someone is clearly taking more than cursory care over the food. To be frank i'd rather have paid another £5 and had that put into a little more quantity and a lot more quality- it still would't have been expensive and it might have created a meal I'd want to eat again I've pulled them down a point on the wine prices though, with nothing below £20 and mark-ups looked high to me.

After some of the reviews here and elsewhere, we were primed for possible poor service and checked the bill carefully, but just speaking as we found the service was fine, swift-ish without being rushed . One thing that did kind of amuse us though is that the waiter seemed reluctant to walk round to my side of the table so my cutlery etc tended to be dumped in the centre of the table for me to grab and arrange as I saw fit. Odd.

Would we go back? Possibly not. The combination of food quality and wine values means that there's a lot of places we'd want to try before this came to the top of the list again. But if we did happen to find our way back there it would be no disaster.
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David Henderson
6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Saturday, July 24, 2010

I was there last night with my girlfriend and I was extremely disappointed. I’m Italian and I love France food and wine especially.

Food was dreadful and the service, unbelievably unprofessional.

Without any doubts the worst restaurant I ever been in London.
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Federico
2 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Thursday, July 15, 2010

I've been at Le Cercle already few times and the food experience has always been really good. I like the idea of the small portions and the variety of dishes you can order.

Everything is perfectly cooked and the combination of each ingredient is sometimes original, but always excellent.

Unfortunately though, last time I went there I had a really bad experience with a waitress.

We asked for the bill, once on the table we just put our credit card without looking at it. Then the waitress came back asking if the bill was fine, we replied that we were ready to pay and she told us she would have come back. At that point my instinct suggested me to have a look at the bill and...surprise surprise....two glasses of wine never ordered had been added to the bill.

When the waitress came back we gently told her that there was a mistake in the bill....she replied with a simple "yes" and produced a correct bill.

I should have talked to the manager, but in the end I've decided to share my experience with you.
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Silvia
6 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, April 14, 2010

I am a frequent client of Le Cercle and at all times have enjoyed the good mix of fine cuisine and friendly service.

The portions are small, truly, but it does allow to sample more dishes.

My last visit I have to admit though wasn't as good as the past ones, even though the food was on par with the usual quality.

What hindered it to be a good evening was the spacing between courses. We had to wait 30 minutes for our 3rd course to be served and this is unacceptable in my books.

The gentleman in charge was kind enough to offer us a complimentary glass of bubbly to keep us waiting, kept us updated and managed to ease us off.

Even though the food was faultless I still consider that on this occasion Le Cercle has let me down.
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Robert M.
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, January 13, 2010