The Comptoir Gascon

I ate at Le Comptoir Gascon yesterday evening. After all they hype, the food was extremely disappointing. My cassolet seemed to have been re-heated so many times it had dried out - the ring of burn where the food met the dish was not attractive. The frankfurter which seemed to have been added as an afterthought failed to save it. My partner had to send back her salmon because part of it was not cooked at all. The chips were passable but no more than that. All this in a gloomy atmosphere where it was difficult to see what you are eating.
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Peter Bamford
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Thursday, November 15, 2007

Booked a table at the Comptoir Gascon after reading about it on this web site and all expectations were fulfilled - and more! After holidaying in south France the last couple of years, I wanted to have some of that "French feeling" for my boyfriends 30th birthday.

The food was excellent:

The Potted Duck rillets for starter - yum! A large portion (enough to share alright) and lots of bread on the side.

The day special with BBQ Duck Mallard + french fries to share for main. Very, very good!

Chose the Choc Trio cake for dessert along with a caffe latte and it was the perfect ending.

I wasn't expecting much of the service as I'd read some of the previous reviews, but was plesantly surprised by the friendly and serviceminded french waitress who served us!

Nothing bad to say about this place really, even the loo was out of the ordinary, and I bet I'll be back next time I'm in London!
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Jeanette
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, November 06, 2007

The dynamics of dinner in Londontown couldn't be more ready for a clever and delicious revisit to a genuinely kinder and comforting ambiance for feasting sans protocol. The finger licking goodness of le Comptoir Gascon beckons one and all who are sick and tired of dressing up, digging deep and dropping dead at the finale, filled with guilty angst for having dined on the "written word!" To hell with what the critics espouse as brilliant and visionary! Those vendor of words haven't a damn clue as to what delights the palate and fills the heart in the simplest and most sumptuous of ways...a visit to le Comptoir Gascon, however, will do more. It may well feed your soul! For this is a quixotic pilgrimage to an era long past. Gone are the ridiculous attempts at fusion ergo confusion, or the hallucinating cognitive exercises in intellectual culinology...I'll take duck fat fried potatoes please with a snappy knob of moutarde de Dijon!

One doesn't dine at le Comptoir Gascon. It is rather like supper in its wholesomeness and rustic gentility. The setting is Familiarity of a kind that massages one's spirit far away to the pastoral images of a youth vacationing in France long ago, where the aromas, sounds and tastes are all intensely real and wondorously integrated into ones daily meals. How else does one celebrate creation in a more responsible and responsive way? Keep it simple, keep it fresh, keep it real.... the craft, technique and hospitality found at le Comptoir Gascon is refreshingly joyous!!!

PS: the Foie Gras is outrageous as are the frites!
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Philippe GARMY
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, August 28, 2007

I've been here on several occasions and it's always been excellent. Personally I'm not too bothered about the manner in which a bottle of wine is put down on my table, so long as it's decent wine. I also tend to think that people only leave 'reviews' such as this one when they're feeling peeved, and even if they have some rightful grievance, they tend to lay it on a bit thick for effect. Whereas if you have had a merely good, or even great meal then you're unlikely to rush to the web to tell all and sundry.

So, to redress the balance - the food here is a fine take on traditional French, I've never noted the service being anything less than competent and the pricing is more than reasonable for central London. All of the above also applies to the Cafe du Marche just up the road, bar the prices - you'll pay at least a third more there, for which you get more pomp and ceremony, a more formal dining room but no better food.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, August 15, 2007

On the whole, this is a great place.

If you live food from the south-west of France then it is a real treat and reasonably priced. The venue is intimate, yet relaxed with very agreable decor.

Unfortunately, as is apparent from some of the other reviews, it lets itself down with poor service. Why is it that waiters always have to be reminded several times before they bring tap water to the table? How difficult is it to remember 6 main courses and bring them to the table at the same time?

The food was all good, apart from one dish that had clearly been prepared to soon and was lukewarm and tough. The waiter, however, has having none of it. Apparently rabbit is supposed to be tough and that was the end of that - despite the fact that another version of the same dish bought to the table was not tough.

In short, not good enough and this leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Such a shame when Comptoir gets some of the harder elements so right.
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NJH
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, July 16, 2007

Went here for lunch for the third and last time today. The ambience of the place is great, and the food is always interesting (if a little salty), but the service lets it down every time. Waiters are completely apathetic if not downright rude. Service is extremely slow and never entirely accurate (always something has been forgotten). The lack of passion or even vague interest in the food they serve is extremely disappointing. How hard is it to smile a little!
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VHT
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, May 08, 2007

It's strange to like a place so much and read such bad reviews. Am I missing the point, are they? how can one experience the same place in so many different ways? I went for dinner again last night and once again had a lovely meal. Landes asparagus to start with, delicious seasonal produce comes at a price and if we stop paying for it then we're opening the gates to even more fast food joints. My friend had the rabbit terrine which was equally delicious. Main courses were very good, my friend went for the cassoulet while i went for the salmon, luxurious comfort food at its best. We shared chips and a lovely bottle of Madiran, very smooth and round for a Madiran. Le Comptoir is one of my favorite places to eat, the staff are friendly and I think we are lucky there is such a place.
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David Jenkins
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, May 03, 2007

Friday lunch.Made us sit at the bar on very uncomfortable wooden stools,even though many tables for 2 stayed empty the whole time.Waitstaff was not French and knew very little about the dishes.When asked what the sauce basquaise(tomatoes,onions,red pepper) was,the response was a green herb sauce!!Even when prompted several times,instead of going to find out(I knew anyway,but it was a test) continued to insist.The barman had to intervene and correct the waiter.4 asparagus(with no adornment) were £8.50 as a starter-and this at the bar-no tablecloths on any tables and rudimentary glassware and cutlery.The bread was £2 extra.The small piece of poached fish(smoked even though no mention made on menu that it was smoked) £12.50 ,with veg extra.With a tiny dessert and coffee and a glass of wine(no water offered) it was £50 per person.The word RIP-OFF springs to mind and should be highlighted in neon over the entryway.

Indifferent service by unknowledgeable staff completed a very poor lunch experience.If you have way too much money and don't know what to do with it,by all means go to this place.
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C.Elder
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Friday, April 20, 2007

I stumbled across this at lunchtime with a colleague. Despite being vegetarian I was lured in by the lovely looking cheese counter. It's true it's not a place for someone who can't stand the sight of meat, but actually, given the size of the menu, there was quite a lot of choice for a veggie (about six dishes, which is more than I normally get!). Loved the truffle omelette and had a very generous beautifully dressed salad. My colleague said his beefy thing (I know nothing about meat!) with tagliatelle was good. And the place looks great.

But we didn't get any bread (odd for a french restaurant). When we came in as we hadn't booked we were told we couldn't sit by the window - but no-one came in to sit there. And we weren't told about dishes that were unavailable or that the kitchen closed at 2.30. So not the best service ever, but not as awful as some comments have been!
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Louise
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Thursday, April 05, 2007

What a fantastic restaurant! It is hard enough to find simple, well-sourced French cooking of this quality in central London - but the fact that these people manage to do it in a beautiful space at gastro-pub prices is really worth getting excited about. Everything we ate (bar the not-for-me-thanks pig's ears and rolled tripe on an otherwise impeccable charcuterie plate) set my food-obsessive paces racing. My perfectly cooked duck Magret with a creamy wild mushroom sauce was a complete bargain at £12 - generous extra orders of juicy greens and a

terrifically seasoned roast butternut squash with chestnuts made it a feast, made even better by reasonably priced and unusual red wine. An unctuous lemon tart, thankfully modest in size and price, and very good coffee ended the meal on a high note. Next time I will keep some room for the regional cheese plate.

I have read the other reviews on this site complaining about the service in this restaurant, which really surprised me. My husband and I like our service low-key, with the minimum fuss and servility - if the general style of the service here is what we received, then it suits us well. Waiters were there when we needed them, describing food and wine accurately and enthusiastically, avoiding reverential overtones. We were rightly discouraged from ordering too many side dishes, and pointed towards a cheaper wine on the basis that it would go better with the duck. This all added up to a brilliant meal, which left us remembering what is good about living in London, and going home clutching several bottles of the Comptoir's deli-priced red wine. We will definitely be going back to this restaurant, often.
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Michelle
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Saturday, March 17, 2007