Boisdale of Belgravia

As always, I had a great meal the other night. Best steak in London with perfect chips. Service more of a club than a slick characterless restaurant, which I like. And of course a cigar on the terrace, which was convivial with enegetic waiters running up and own stairs to keep us all happy, followed by live jazz back at our table. A welcome change from the boring normal. Another fun evening.
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Andrew Hayes
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Went here for my birthday last night; - arrived and no booking. - unhelpful women asked if i was sure i had booked - i mentioned my husband had booked as it was my birthday - she couldn't speak English very well so couldn't understand me or our surname ...and said she could fit us in rather than apologise for not having a booking

- the drinks are over priced

- nice but stressed out waitress. - nice bar staff

- had fish of the day for main course which was apparently seared tuna - tuna came and had been done to death hard and chewy - usually I would have sent it back but the waitress looked so stressed I didn't want to cause any trouble

- verdict over priced and poor food -
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4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Went here for lunch on Friday; it was my first visit to this old school "Scottish" themed classic in over 6 years and not much appeared to have changed other than the introduction of the cigar terrace upstairs.

After leaving my coat with the charming lady at the entrance I made my way through to the main room and joined the "legal eagle" at the lovely zinc bar where we had a cold glass of Morretti before being shown to our table. There was some confusion as we thought we had reserved a table in the more casual bar out back but we were given a great table for two in the main restaurant. After a bit of debate with our helpful waitress it was agreed that we could keep our table and still order from the bar menu (confusing I know but at the Boisdale they have a different bar and restaurant menu and never the twain will normally meet).

Continuing our quest for the best burger in town we both went for the "dangerously hot" offering; a medium rare Aberdeen Angus rib steak pattie topped with chipotle chilli ketchup, red onion and jalapeños. It came in a seeded bun with a bowl of thick cut chips on the side. All in all it was pretty tasty, the burger had nice char and a good meaty flavour. The down side was that it could have been a little more moist and it was certainly not "dangerously hot" as advertised. However, I would say that most of the boys, and the smaller number of girls, in the Boisdale this Friday lunchtime did not appear to be the types who would be well acquainted with the delights of the chilli so it may well be that the regular punters would have found this pretty hot.

Service was quick and we found our waitress attentive without being overbearing. I was deep in conversation with the "legal eagle" during our lunch but this can be a good spot for a bit of people watching if you are in the mood to observe the old school approach to afternoon indulgence.

The menu here is big on meat and comfort food with a healthy nod to its "Scottish" branding. It has a very good wine list and a great selection of whiskey but beware the prices are all a bit eye watering!! This is not a place to come if you are looking to bag a bargain or you want something to write home about in the way of your lunch or dinner. However, if you fancy a bit of a posh school food blow out, followed by a nice cigar and a dram or two, this is as good a spot as any in town.

I will not be rushing back here in a hurry but I do look forward to a return visit in another 5 years or so. The quest continues!!
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NunheadNeil - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Sunday, March 13, 2011

Appalling service. Waited 45min and spoke to 4 different waiters before we managing to get menus. Waiters had a don't give a damn attitude, very sour which is such a shame as the food was good (my steak was delicious though my haggis as a starter was over cooked) and the atmosphere fun with the band playing.
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6 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Thursday, February 17, 2011

Probably a bit expensive for what it is. The cheapest burger was £8, with another £4.50 on top if you want chips. It was good, but that's a lot of money for a burger. That's also off the bar menu, which we had to ask for specially. I had a couple of nice cocktails, but as usual you're looking at about £10 each. Wine ranged from £5 to £10 a glass. Service was a bit slow to start with because our side of the restaurant was empty, but once someone was over our way, they were friendly and eager to help. Drinks in the bar after dinner were enjoyable, particularly being able to have a cigar on the terrace and live jazz downstairs. Verdict? Be prepared to pay above odds if you want to eat; however, it's a great place for a huge selection of whiskeys and cigars and the right atmosphere to enjoy them in.
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Dan - View all reviews by this user
6 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Monday, August 16, 2010

This is an overpriced restaurant drinks-wise, but the Jacobite menu offers 2 courses for under £20, with plenty to choose from. I ate delicious steak tartare, and stole some of my partner's haggis and burger, and all were tasty, juicy and moreish. The atmosphere (it was a Saturday night with live music) kept us there for over 4 hours, and the staff were more than happy to accommodate us between the bar and the restaurant, delivering the most delicious cocktails (we drank Mojitos and Rusty Nails all night) and happily letting us sniff the measure for a £270 shot of whiskey ordered by another customer. A superb venue for people-watching and whilst some might find the waiting staff efficient to the point of haughtiness, I enjoyed the brisk service and stoicism!
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knotofpeace
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 4
Monday, August 16, 2010

Dire! The four of us ate there yesterday and disappointing doesn't come close to this experience. Perhaps we expected too much from the description of 'Scottish' but putting a tartan carpet on the floor and a kilt on an Eastern European waitress (who does not know the capital of Scotland btw!) does not make a Scottish experience. Having haggis on the menu does not constitute Scottish cuisine. Stocking the bar with a very extensive whisky choice and then charging extortionate prices (i.e. Talisker 10 year-old at £19 a dram! It’s currently £23.99 a bottle at Sainsbury’s) is a joke. My friend and I use Arran Aromatics products at home so why did they have Dove hand soap in their restrooms? Where was the Kintyre cheese, the Islay lamb (their beef is advertised as Aberdeenshire but then so is every steak in London steakhouses), the abundance of Scottish seafood, the Ayrshire potatoes, Scottish butter, vegetables, etc. etc. etc? Even the bottled water was French! My husband had an overpriced small piece of chicken breast with cold vegetables and the rest of us had bland haggis (as opposed to the delicious offering in The Albannach). We really wanted dessert but avoided it as the menu had no Scottish cuisine, not even Cranachan. Sorry, but tatty decor, inattentive staff hanging around the bar chatting and not even asking customers how they enjoyed their meal, poor food, expensive whisky (but not the Islay choice of my husband's) and an uninteresting wine list of bottles under £50 if that is the most you want to pay will never tempt us back. Woeful, I'm afraid.
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L Telfer
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Sunday, June 20, 2010

The Good: - On a Friday night the live music is exceptional, and the atmosphere generated by the band is superb. You can stay at your table all night (we usually stagger out around 1am) and it's genuinely a lot of fun.

- The steaks are good quality and well-cooked.

- The drinks list (wine and spirits) is extensive and there will always be something which will appeal.

The Bad: - Apart from the steaks, the rest of the food is very average (at best). Trying to find a starter or pudding which I actually want to eat is always a struggle.

- It's expensive - and given the poor quality of much of the food, you do feel a bit of a mug paying £17 for a 3rd rate prawn cocktail.

If you like drinking good wine and whisky whilst listening (or dancing) to excellent live music, then this is the only place in London to go. If, however, you simply want a good value, top-notch meal, then you would be well advised to avoid this place.
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Robert Dawes
6 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 2
Monday, December 07, 2009

I can't understand why there are so many negative reviews here. I ate here recently and had a perfectly lovely meal. Good food, good wine, and good service.

The decor was a little odd, granted, but I think that's a pretty minor concern compared with the food, wine, and service.

I don't think it was hideously overpriced. We paid about £500 for a 3-course dinner for 6, including a bottle of Champagne, a bottle of white wine, and 2 bottles of red wine. Hardly extortionate, especially by central London standards. That was with most of us going a la carte, as well. If you choose from the set menu, dinner would be considerably cheaper.

One surprising feature of the restaurant was the cigar terrace. It's partly outside, but I suspect not sufficiently outside that it's actually legal. Still, it's well away from the restaurant, so it's not a problem unless you choose to walk into it.
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NautiusMaximus
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, November 24, 2009

The food was excellent. We had the MacSween haggis to start and the Boisdale burger (cooked medium as I asked) for main course and both were delicious and presented very nicely. The Bloody Mary sauce was very tasty. The price of the food was very reasonable and we felt that we got good value for money.

The ambience was a little stuffy for my tastes I would have liked it to be a little more relaxed. I think this is the type of restaurant that doesn’t see many Scottish people through its door. In fact when I called to book a table I had to spell my name 4 times, despite the fact that a) it is an easy Scottish/Irish name, b) it was an English person on the phone who should have known how to spell the name and when he read it back to me he pronounced it completely incorrectly. I could have forgiven someone who was French or something but coming from someone who was English was ridiculous.

I was soooo disappointed that they didn’t sell any Scottish beer or larger and the waiter didn’t even know what Irn Bru is, never mind have any! Hardly Scottish!

The table service was OK, but when they were not at the table the service staff spent far too much time standing around chatting amongst themselves which would explain why they didn’t know our table number, and if I want to see a waiter juggling a tray whilst walking between tables and customers, I would have gone to the circus.
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Sharon McGuire - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 8
Sunday, July 19, 2009