maze

We had private dining, 7 course lunch for £100 a head. Overall I was very disappointed. We started with a seasonal veloute of cauliflower and jerusalem artichoke - this was fine (despite no amuse bouche) but it was downhill from there. Crab salad after that was fairly uninspiring with little of the grapefruit gel or mango that was meant to come with it. even the wasabi ice cream didn't really have any impact.

The roast bream was a fairly healthy dose of fish but didn't taste that fresh and was overcooked. There was also very little flavour from the squid bolognaise that was meant to accompany it and whilst I could see the chorizo the garlic puree was non existent.

The cannon of lamb was soft but without provenance. Given it was served with samphire I assume it was salt marsh lamb but quite frankly it was over seasoned and undistinguishable. The strips of fennel that it came with was more like sauerkraut - I took a poll round the table - not one labelled it fennel.

The farmhouse cheeses were just a choice of 3 and again uninspiring. THe only saving graces were the pre dessert and bitter chocolate delice.

Cannot recommend this place at all which is a shame as i had heard good things. Would instead recommend a more intimate tasting menu experience at Marcus Waring's or the Ledbury for about the same price.

Does not in my view deserve it's star or even consideration for a star!
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Stewart Hastie
4 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Monday, December 06, 2010

We went for my mothers birthday and have previously been twice before. Once to the chefs table. Previous experiences were very good. This time was incredibly disappointing.

The waiter was pushy, a tad unhelpful. As we chose from the main menu, he said to us you may want to order a couple of starters and mains as they are just taster sizes as well. Ok so you order a main at 28pnds, I think that should be sufficient as a main course. So we went for the tasting menu. We have all had many tasting menus over the years and been blown away (Petrus, Savoy - fab). This did nothing for the taste buds. The best bit was the company and wine.

The food was cold, from the very first dish, the cheese was a joke (it had probably been lying out all day, the dessert - a blackberry crumble was awful. When you think crumble and fruit... you don't get that - there was no crumble.

We have had many wonderful experiences at Ramsays other restaurants but this was poor. Better experiences can be found elsewhere. Over priced for poor quality food and service.
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3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Thursday, November 25, 2010

The food was very disappointing and the dessert disgusting. I expected small quantities but in the initial course of smoked haddock and cauliflower veloute the haddock was chopped so small you could not taste the half mouthful you were given. The dishes contained too many mixed flavours which detracted from each other. Especially noticed in the rice pudding which would have been delicious had it not been spoiled by over powering bitter chocolate. Very very disappointing.
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6 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Monday, November 08, 2010

We went to Maze as a treat and left feeling that was indeed what we received. We chose the tasting menu and it was difficult to decide on a favourite course as every dish was as delicious as the next and all had the most amazing flavours and beautifully presented. The sommelier is on hand to suggest the perfect wines to compliment each of your 6 courses. Staff are friendly and knowledgeable too so if you are looking for somewhere to experience delicious flavours good wine and a relaxed ambiance Maze might be for you. Its fair to say though if you are looking for a big hearty dinner you would be disappointed, as the old adage goes "quality not quantity" is what you receive at Maze!!
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Charlie Farley
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, October 26, 2010

I assume that Maze sees it's Continental competition as somewhere like L'Astrance. Sadly, it fails dismally on every comparison - including price.

I'll save the detailed litany of errors for my letter to GR - who I'm sure would be stunned by the number of hospitality and culinary blunders packed into a 3 hour lunch.

However, my simple advice to you, dear reader, is to take your £250 and find better fare elsewhere.
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JC
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Sunday, October 10, 2010

Having spent yesterday evening at the Maze Restaurant, I can only add to its praises. We had a wonderful evening ...... the food was absolutely delicious - despite the fact that I began by thinking the portions were tiny - I was completely repleat by the end of the meal - and almost had to force myself to eat the lovely sweets with my coffee! Every dish was both beautiful and tasty - I have to say 'delicious' again! The staff were wonderful and, of course, very knowledgeable about the menu.

As a birthday treat I was presented with a very pretty birthday cake, and had a tour of the kitchen. What more could you ask? I cannot recommend this restaurant enough.
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Shirley Isaacs
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, September 29, 2010

MAZE is a stylish restaurant with well prepared delicious food and good service. However the "tasting menu" approach might not be to everyones liking as portions are quite small and this makes the whole experience fairly expensive.
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John Ditchfield
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Sunday, August 15, 2010

actually the food is quite dissapointing, it gets very busy and as the menu is small it reflects in the style of service , it felt a bit like food by numbers, in its category the attention to detail was marred by the volume of covers they serve
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austie - View all reviews by this user
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Sunday, August 15, 2010

I took 5 clients to Maze and dined at the Chefs table in the kitchen area. We had the surprise menu and allowed the Sommelier to chose wine to accompany each course having pre agreed a top budget per bottle (all of which came in under the top end).

The experience in itself within the kitchen is unique and certainly delighted my clients. Sommelier had excellent knowledge, food was fantastic, wine was great and service was very good. I eat at a lot of top end restaurants regularly..... and this is certainly one I will be returning to. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants something a little different.
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Gary
10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, August 12, 2010

After 18 months of slogging out the recession I treated myself and my wife to our first high end night out in a long time and decided to go to Maze. This was also our first experience also of Michelin starred restaurant. Expectations were high.

The overall experience was however a quite major dissapointment. The problems boiled down to four issues.

We ordered direct from the a la carte looking forward to a leisurely 3 hour dinner. This was made impossible by the speed at which our courses came at us, the first two arriving virtually on top of one another, and likewise with the next two. Within less than two hours of arriving we were out the door!

The food was clearly made from top quality ingredients. However, there was no wow factor in any of the dishes we tried (maybe Jason Atherton's departure has affected the food?), something we had been told to expect at Maze. An incredibly tasty scallop was for example overburdened by a combination of cauliflower puree, truffle slices, truffle dressing and dill. The amazing scallop with the cauliflower with just a small squeeze of lemon would have been a far more complete dish!

The temperature in the dining room was so cold that my wife had to borrow my jumper, leaving me to shiver instead. We were relieved to walk out into the warmth of a summer's evening by the end.

Finally, although the service was very attentive and we felt perfectly looked after, I kept seeing Chefs coming out of the kitchen into the corridor between themselves and the dining room, lurching at us, the diners. A small imperfection to the evening perhaps but these things I feel really matter when I am spending upwards of £100/head and looking to feel like I've been treated like a prince by the end.

We will not be going back to Maze but won't let this experience put us off high end dining, the markets are only just starting to pick up and we have a long way to go yet!
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Foodstar
5 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Friday, August 06, 2010