The Square

What a difference

Back in May I visited this restaurant and wrote a review on the site saying how disappointed I was, I was contacted by the restaurant and invited back, living in Torquay it has taken a while to accept the offer but the wait was very worthwhile.

Offered a glass of champagne on arrival and shown to our table a lovely one in the centre of the restaurant.

The staff were attentive but not intrusive, asked if we needed any help with the menu, gave excellent advise with the wine choice.

The food was lovely, the langoustine with gnocchi a particular delight.

We had a visit from the Head chef who knew exactly who we were and asked how our evening had been.

We had a wonderful evening with delicious food very much a 2 star time. Thank you.
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Penny Goldman
10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, December 08, 2011

We went for lunch yesterday, following my sisters wedding and was massively impressed. The service was incredible and we were even greeted with a bottle of Bollinger on arrival, (they were aware of the marriage).

We all had the set menu, which was delicious and only £35 for three courses.

My brother in law had items off the A La Carte menu, but was still charged the set menu rate. They brought along their 2.5 year old and she was treated brilliantly by the staff.

Phil Howard, the head chef, even came out to meet and chat with us and grated my nieces lunch with Parmesan himself!

All in all, we had a fantastic meal and experience, hugely recommend!!!
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10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, August 17, 2011

A disappointment.

My friend and I ate here on Tuesday evening, we had been looking forward to it as we live in Torquay and good restaurants are at a premium.

We were shown to our table and then waited 10 minutes before anyone came to give us a menu or ask if we wanted a drink, the restaurant was full so we put it down to that. We decided not to go for the tasting menu as I find it a bit too much, our starters were good, my main course however was over salty and the pork was tough, I left half of it and was asked why and was told nobody else had complained. The dessert was good. The staff all looked miserable not a smile to be seen, they all looked as if they wanted to be somewhere else.

Whilst some of the food was good nothing was excellent it was not what I would expect from a 2 star Michelin restaurant, all in all a disappointment, they however didn't charge me for my main course which was one consolation I suppose. I would not dine there again or recommend it to a friend.
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Penny Goldman
5 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Thursday, May 26, 2011

I am fortunate to not only have visited this restaurant on several occasions, but other top restaurants, such as Le Gavroche, The Waterside Inn, etc. Last night, for Valentines I visited the Square again & the whole experience was amazing. Its just gets better. What upsets me with other reviews on this restaurant is that they fluctuate between being the best & the worst restaurant. I cannot fathom the negative reviews, either they are people who have a vested interest in bad mouthing this restaurant or it simply isnt their cup of tea, I can only assume that the food is too sophisticated for their palate. Having been to the 3 Michelin star Waterside Inn on two enjoyable occasions, I can only say that The Square is on par with it. & deserves a third star. For the record, I have no vested interest in this restaurant, other than it being one of my favourites.
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Alex
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Funny thing about this restaurant reviews here. Some are not up to par with the food and service offered there.

We've been to famous places around London, UK, & Dubai. It is our favorite.

This was the third time we visited in early October 2010 it was a bit disappointing compared to the last two visits.

For one, we chose the tasting menu. It was too much for the time of day, we started 8:30 and we were not hungry enough. They also had to replace dishes for our diet (No Pork, No Alcohol)

The highlights were the John dory dish, excellent. The Chicken dish was tasty. The adjusted Souffle was nice.

The low lights were :

-Most of the replacement dishes were not up to par with the rest of the menu.

-The same tasty Chicken dish was over/double-salted. We did not return it; it was too good to return even with this flaw.

-The menu was too much for us that day. Bad planning from us. Should have gone for A La Carte.

This is a restaurant that only needs more consistency to be 3 michelin star.

Can't wait to go back.
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Fawaz
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Thursday, December 30, 2010

AWFUL. I won't write a bite-by-bite analyis of the meal, as it wasn't memorable enough. All I will say is that my husband and I have eaten in many two michelin star restaurants and neither of us can understand why/how this restaurant achieved the accolade. If you compare The Square to places such as Le Gavroche and Gidleigh Park it is amazing that they are supposedly of the same standard: they're not. The ambience at The Square is bright and noisy, like a Pizza Express. The food was worse than many restaurants without Michelin stars we've been to, and the service was terrible. It took two of us four hours to get through a three course meal on a Friday night, the service was that slow. In the end we went to the desk to pay the bill because we were so bored of waiting to pay. They didn't even ask us if everything had been alright; I guess they were scared of the answer! So, if you're looking for somewhere dark and romantic with impeccable food and flawless service, then please, please go to Le Gavroche instead.
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1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, December 29, 2010

I wrote a negative review of this restaurant in July and has since been back and had a superb meal, I also recommended the Square to some Arab friends of mine who had the tasting menu in early August, They are used to good restaurants but thought this was possibly the best meal they had ever had. This time every dish was perfect, the staff very helpful and i can see why the Square is so highly rated by food critics.
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Einar Jenssen
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Saturday, September 04, 2010

I have taken a while to write this review as my husband and I visited on Sunday 28th March. I sort of thought dont bother now as it has been so long but when I think of our experience it still makes me angry. We had flown ffrom the Isle of Man and this is not cheap to spend the weekend enjoying fantastic cuisine. we arrived on time and we both ordered the tasting menu, me the vegetarian one. The restaurant was freezing cold and after I had asked about 4 times to have the heating turned up the waiter wheeled over a plug in heater and set it up next to me. It was no use as the cold air was coming from the celiing... looking around other ladies were shivering also. We eventually got moved to a slightly warmer area. Our courses started to arrive, very fast, one after the other, as though this was some kind of race. We asked for the speed of service to slow down but this offended the staff who seemed very haughty. One of the worse points of the evening was when my husband finished his glass of wine and thus the end of a first bottle and the waiter just took his glass and the empty bottle away, not asking if we wanted any more drinks. We hadnt even had our main course at this point! We asked for the Maitre'D to come over but he didnt, and strutted around with a ridiculous air of arrogance about him.

Eventually the restaurant manager came to see us and explained that diners like to hurry on a Sunday night... to me it seemed more like the staff couldnt wait to get rid of the diners and close up. The Manager eventually gave us some discount off the food. A gesture, yes, but a birthday trip spoilt by the terrible service and pretty mediocre food. I wouldnt waste my money here again and we will stick with Marcus at the Berkeley! Be warned....
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Sue Blythe
1 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Simply one of my favourite restaurants....
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Robbie G
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, July 28, 2010

We went to The Square with great expectation having read great reviews of this restaurant. Unfortunately it was one of the most disappointing restaurant

experiences I have had. We had the tasting menu and although some dishes were very good, the crab lasagne came with big pieces of crab shell in them (in 3 out of 6 of the dishes) Big enough to be a real danger. This should not happen in a 2 star restaurant . The halibut was overcooked and dry and the lamb was chewy and tasteless. There are much better restaurants in London at this price so do not waste your money going to the square. To top it off they charged for water that we had not had.
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2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Sunday, July 18, 2010