$ Grills and Martinis

Discovered this area only recently and it is brilliant for going out at any time of the day. Found Dollar the most funky and vibrant of all the restuarants there and had a great evening with 4 friends of mine. Was quite full when we got there but the charming receptionist took good care of us and got us a nice round table. We had to wait for it around 20 mins though, but didn't complain as we were seated in the downstairs bar and had really good gin martinis. As for dinner we went for goat's cheese salads, prawn tempura and scallops which were all the right size and taste and for mains most of us had burgers with different toppings and my boyfriend had a huge and very satysfying fillet mignon. Personally, I loved the dim lights of candelabras and crystal chandeliers, red wallpapers and interesting music too. The only trouble we had was with the toilets that were downstairs and you had to queue for a while. The staff was friendly and helpful though, and our waitress didn't stop smiling!

On the whole, really cool place with personal touch. Be sure to book to have the table ready.
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Milla - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Quite surprised while reading all that nasty comments. i found this place quite impressive..i love the decor,especially the restaurant..The food is lovely everytime and i come there for lunch or dinner quite often.Starters are quite interesting, mains are great and the desserts are really tempting.not to mention It is also a very good value for money. they have great choice of wine and the cocktails in the bar are just perfect.

staff and the manager are always very friendly and helpful, they all seem to enjoy what they are doing very much.

it is a great choice for lunch, sunday brunch (kid friendly), night out with friends..
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gb
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

I went to $ Grills and Martinis recently only to discover what an excellent place it is! Food is delicious, cocktails are faboulous, small mistakes are rewarded with champagne (it didn`t happen to me, but my friends told me so, and I have also read about it in other posts). What do you want more? Maybe it is a bit expensive, but you get value for the money you pay. I will definitelly go there again!
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Mathilda - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Astounding décor, great music and vibe, chatty and good-looking staff and that’s all on top of great food and drinks, that’s Dollar Grills and Martini’s for me. I’ve been there three times now and it never fails to impress. My last visit was Sunday afternoon, when I was happy to discover their cheap brunch menu with perfect hangover cures ... The other time me and bunch of friends booked a big party, the managers were incredibly patient and respected all our wishes beforehand and on the big day we were looked after really well. The seafood is great there and so are steaks and when it comes to cocktails, they will do anything to please you! Don’t miss the downstairs bar with DJ’s and cozy alcoves. It’s definitely the gem of my favourite Exmouth Market.
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Bella von Wengen - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Decided to bring my date down to Dollar after one particularly amazing night me and my friends had at their cool martini bar. Didn’t know about the food, but it turned out to be nothing but great, we shared huge plate of the best oysters I’ve ever had and then had fillet mignon (my boyfriend, loved it) and lamb (me, very decent). The friendly manager came to the table to recommend wine and it was an excellent choice and nothing too expensive. The place was quite loud so if you’re after a romantic dinner you might be a bit disappointed, but we loved it as it was fun!
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Christina Hayes - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

I'm surprised about earlier poor reviews because I was very impressed when I went last Friday. The decor was lovely and the atmosphere as spot on - lively and fun but without being too loud to talk to dinner companions. We were a big group and only ordered cheap wine, but were impressed at the quality, particularly of the red.

We pretty much all ordered burgers of different varities which were cooked exactly how we asked for them despite their being 15 of us. They were proper meat and came with lovely chips. The puddings were also good, and extremely reasonable at less than £4.

Altogether with about half a bottle of wine each, burgers, some shared puds and service the bill came to less than £20 which we thought was extremely reasonable.

They also had reserved an area for us downstairs which was great. Would highly recommend it and am going back this week.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, March 15, 2007

i think dollar has an eccentric layout and decor. the food is staisfactory and above, depending on what you eat. the steaks are my favorite. the bar downstairs is wicked and is almost as if you are somewhere else. the price is quite good considering, for london, although can be hard to get to.

overall id give it a 7.5-8 out of 10
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james snepp
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, March 12, 2007

I was looking forward to visiting this place with a friend - and when we stepped inside, we were welcomed warmly - none of the shoddy service described in the other reviews.

My martini was perfection - and I haven't actually tasted a better one elsewhere, but the food, frankly was appalling. My lamb burger was charred, and my friend's dinner was worse. The only redemption were the fries and hey, I could've gone to my local pub for better ones.

This is a good place, but they need to improve the food - it's a rare event when I don't eat all my food, but this was one of them
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Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 5
Thursday, March 08, 2007

The only way I will be coming back here is if the owner of this restaurant sells it and turns it into a Beefeater. This restaurant masquerades as a trendy burger bar, but in reality (through fault of the waiter with the bleecehed hair-do) is a time-consuming, unfriendly, cold scurge upon the society of Farringdon Lane. This should be closed and levelled so we can have another trendy wine bar.
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Joseph Desire-Job
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, December 05, 2006

We went as a group and were denied their £7.95 express lunch. There weren’t any restrictions on the numbers on the advert for the express lunch.

The lunches we did order took an hour to arrive. We had to eat quickly and leave.

The Waiter was arrogant and rude and the burgers were not good value for money. Some of our guys even got charged for drinking tap water, even though most of us had a couple of (expensive) drinks each.

Save time and money by going to eat at one of the other excellent places in Exmouth Market.
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Gareth Evans
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, December 05, 2006