The Gay Hussar

Well it was with intrepidation 8 of us went for Sat lunch, after reading these reviews! Walked past this place for 30 + years and my first visit. Was it that bad? No, not really.

Staff were nice and there is enough of it's personality remaining to endear. A couple of Sohoistas of a certain age were lunching (alone) which was great.

The food is just school dinner, nothing more nor less. I played hyper safe and had mushrooms for starters and of which any Harvester would have been satisfied. Crispy roast duck was ok, the accompaniments of a huge pile of red cabbage and spuds that didn't know whether they were supposed to be mash or not, less so, but as I haven't been I must assume it's what they eat in Hungary.

Nobody had anything that was awful, nobody had anything that was particularly nice (venison goulash excepted). We stuck to House wine (rather a lot) and it was £32 each, so we didn't feel as if we'd paid for a gastronomic experience.

A jolly time, but I think once will prove to be enough.
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TrevGo
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Sunday, January 31, 2010

I had wanted to eat at this restaurant for a long time, and tried several times on the spur of the moment, only to find it closed (check it will be open when you plan to visit).

That said, having finally been there this week, I couldn't really recommend it to anyone.

There was a sign outside offering 20% off the bill for pre theatre diners between 5:30 - 7:30. We got there about 6:30. We hadn't booked but there was only one other table taken, even so the waiter made a bit of a fuss of checking if they could fit us in.

The prices are OK for central London, and the food sounds delicious. But the reality was poor, very poor. My starter (Asparagus and bacon salad) was ice cold, obviously prepared some time before and kept in the fridge. I was expecting freshly seared Asparagus and crispy bacon. It might have been nice in the summer, but on a cold November night it was jarring. My friends fish dumplings and rice was poorly cooked - the rice was in clumps and hard in parts. Main courses, goulash, were nice to look at, but tasted very bland, rather like a supermarket microwave meal.

We were both still hungry (these are said to be generous servings?!) and ordered desserts which were both very nice, to be fair. Poppy Seed strudel, lovely, and the house white was quite drinkable.

Fair enough not great, service was so-so (starters came out immediately, too fast, then there was an overly long wait for the desserts). The bill arrived - NO DISCOUNT!. We queried it and were told that it only applied if we left by 7:30. Well, thanks for making that clear when we arrived, and thanks for taking so long with the desserts - it was about 7:45 when we left.

Not happy we deducted the service charge from the bill and left, never to return again!
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James
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, November 04, 2009

A party of six of us ate at The Gay Hussar for the first time on Friday, the 9th October, four aged 60+ and two in their thirties. Three men and three women.

The restaurant made an effort to comply with our eating time, being ready for us at 5.30pm.

Service was prompt, efficient and friendly.

We began with champagne and had Hungarian Sauvignon Blanc and beers with our meal.

Starters were varied including wild cherry soup, asparagus salad, pate and dumplings.

Main courses included chicken with extra Hungarian potato, duck, schnitzel and pork. All were served hot with relevant veg and sauces.

We were too full for a sweet, but had coffees.

The quality of all the food and drinks was excellent and we shall certainly return.

The ambiance is good, with political cartoons on the walls. It is cosy rather than spacious, but an excellent experience. Nothing to 'moan' about and plenty to praise.

Bill, inc service about £225 and good value, we felt.
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Peter Greenwood - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, October 19, 2009

Bored with the norm around soho, we felt this homely restaurant could offer some authentic Hungarian comfort food and thus a visit last Friday. The restaurant was rather small and even though I'm a size zero, it was difficult to squeeze through the table. Nonetheless the atmosphere was good although serving by an Indian waitor was a bit bizzare.

The goulash soup was much better than the fish dumplings. Duck liver was average, veal goulash pancake was good, particularly the tomato sauce with a hint of yoghurt. The highlight was the traditional dessert wine. The apricot one was the winner of the night.

Comic sketches on the wall were interesting.

It's worth a try although I doubt I'll be back for a second time.
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bunni - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

I visited this place twice in two weeks, trying to introduce my friends to Hungarian cuisine. the place is not terrible, but probably too expensive for its quality. staff was nice and friendly. food - ok, but nothing spectacular.

i had my favorite - duck, which was quite good. my friends quite enjoyed their chicken in paprika, veal, and fish. desserts were quite good - pancakes with walnut and chocolate sause was awesome. somloi galuska - ok. i loved the Tokai wine.

the restaurant has a good choice of Hungarian wines, but i find them overpriced. for a bottle of Bikaver that you can get in Budapest for 500 Ft, here you pay 16 pounds.
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Yevgeniy
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Ok, I NEVER review restaurants. Who can usually be bothered? But I've got to speak out this time, for no other reason that to save a single night of your life. You'll thank me for it!

It's not that TGH is awful - the staff are okay, comprising a ludicrously smiley young man and a dour sour-faced woman. The decor is amusing if you like chowing down on goulash soup surrounded by the exagerated faces of the political great and good (although there was something a touch fake about that, seeing as all the drawings seemed to be done in the same year).

But the food is deeply, deeply average. Borderline poor. My hors d'oeuvres starter ranged from the bland (salami, pate) to the disgusting (salted herring), and for main my Weiner schnitzel was more breadcrumb than anything else. My brother's veal goulash was quite tasty, but comprised of 5 tiny pieces of meat and 2/3rds of a plate of chewy gnocchi

This would not be a problem if this was a *just* a normal restaurant, but it's not. It's an institution. A place that i've been planning to go to since I moved to London.

I could count the better meals i've had in London on a couple of thousand fingers.

You have been warned!
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Rupert M
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Friday, October 31, 2008

I went to the Gay Hussar with my partner. I was born in Hungary, and was expecting to find authentic Hungarian food.

I greeted the waitress in Hungarian - this proved to be a mistake. She was very rude, especially after I told her about being a vegetarian. There was only one vegetarian meal on the menu - and when I asked her if it was possible to bring out the food of my choice without meat, she said "that`s impossible".

We were the last ones to be served, and the food was neither "Hungarian" nor "authentic".

Definitely a "No" for vegetarians. Inflexible, rude staff.

I won`t go there again, and advised all my friends not to go there either.
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Monday, October 27, 2008

These guys are serving some sort of cultural crossroads food, halfway between Lapland and Budapest. It was definitely not Hungarian food by any means.

The four of us went there and I sampled every single item served. The traditional Hungarian spices were nowhere present, the house wine was some sort of cheap sugary water from Sicily and the desert was a mysterious, sticky substance, coloured pink.

The whole dinner reminded me of the food served on the second class trains, going from Budapest to Debrecen in Eastern Hungary in the 1970’s.

The people who frequent this place are surely not going there for the food, unless they are all masochists. God, please save me from one more experience like this one. Amen.
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Istvan Tamasi
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Thursday, September 18, 2008

Four of us went to the Gay Hussar yesterday evening just as they were opening at 6pm. The boss made a small amount of fuss when we said we hadn't booked but found us a table as long as we left by 8pm. Not a good start but we had two hours. The Beef Goulash starters was a bit thin but very tasty. The Venison Goulash main course was even better but in all honesty, something I could have cooked equally as well at home. We bought a couple of carafes of red and a couple of white and the wine was pretty good. Unfortunately no cheese board. The bill came to about £130 and we were surpised to find that the service charge had already been added. The numerous framed charicatures of politicians were interesting and the place seemed popular. I'm not sure I'd return though. There are better restaurants.
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Paul Narramore - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Saturday, July 26, 2008

My second visit to The Gay Hussar and I enjoyed myself once again. It's an unusual, interesting venue which offers something a little different from other restaurants in the area. The food is good, solid fare, which I found to be quite representative of the food I ate while travelling Eastern Europe last year. My starter of fish dumplings with a mushroom and dill sauce was notable, as well as the walnut pancakes for pudding. More vegetarian choice would be desirable, though.

Service was friendly and efficient and I like the restaurant's décor and ambience. Overall, I enjoyed my meal and wouldn't hesitate to return to The Gay Hussar - particularly with the 50% discount offered, which gave us excellent value.
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dawnage - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Friday, July 25, 2008