The Greyhound At Battersea

Definitely not good value for money, starters were good, mains and puddings average. The owner and waiters are polite but not graceful nor charming. The mark up on wines is on the high side and the location rather dodgy. The worst part concerns the bill, £100 for two people for two glasses of wine, a starter and a main, frankly I pay less at Nobu, Hakkasan or Zuma. I would not advice this place which is very average in everyway except for prices.
Comment on this reader review

Krista
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Tuesday, March 20, 2007

I visited The Greyhound on Saturday evening and had an amazing time. The service was informal, professional and attentive and the food was divine. We also received excellent advice on wine - the wine list is incredibly long and detailed. This is far better than any gastro pub. The chef, Alessio, is talented and vastly experienced. I can throughly recommend it.
Comment on this reader review

Claire
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, March 12, 2007

Top marks all around. Great wine, Great food in a relaxed environment. I frequently eat out around the globe and find it refreshing to find a place with a fantastic product but with out the attitude and pretention that often goes with it.
Comment on this reader review

Cameron
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, March 07, 2007

I've been to this place 8 times now so I really do think that I'm now able to pass comment. The pattern seems to go; great meal followed by poor meal, good meal followed by poor meal. Why keep going I hear you ask. Well, firstly I can walk there from my place so I really WANT it to be good. I keep giving it a second chance. Last Sunday was a good example. My wife and I returned after a good meal two weeks earlier. This week the roast beef from whatever fancy named organic farm came in two forms. One attracted a £7.00 per person supplement to the £16.50 menu. How ridiculous! A near 50% increment. Needless to say we passed. But perhaps we were unwise to do so. As the Gallaway roast beef on the menu without supplement was very thinly cut and yet was still extremely chewy. Infact I managed to raise a slice up to the 12 arm candelabra and could actually see the lightbulbs through the beef. "See-through

beef!" What a contrast to our previous visit where the large whole roast poussin chicken was a delight.As was the thick cut smoked salmon and world class tiramisu. So the good bad cycle continues. My tip is to find something you like then order it again and again. Also the 200 bin wine list is great if you can afford it or tolerate the mark ups. Eg. Gigondas 2003 cost price £7.90-£9.00 max. Wine list price £60 This kind of mark-up persists throughout the list. Why not just ask for the cheapest wine on the list (a £13 Italian)and hope that their evident expertise will mean that this will be the best £13 wine you have ever tasted. I hope this is of help to any would-be diners. Me, I'll return again in a couple of weeks hoping for the best.
View/Add comments (3)

Raymond Keane
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, March 06, 2007

I like my food, my rotundness would be a give-away to this fact. Special occasions are always celebrated by a visit to a good restaurant. Given my locale (North London) I do most of my dining no further south than the West End. I'm not adverse to spending a bob or two and had prepared myself to do so on my trip to the Greyhound. So I Was pleasantly suprised £31 pound for 3 courses (I guess I should say that 2 courses is £27, but I don't do 2 Courses). I was even more pleasantly suprised by the quality of the food you get for your money. My Starter, Fois Gras with Baby Spinache and Celeriac was perfect. The Fois Gras melted in the mouth and was perfectly seasoned with just enough salt to enhance the rich buttery sweetness of the fois Gras. This was washed down with a superb Gruner Veltliner chosen by the sommelier. So on my table of 5 people the starters had a satisfied murmour rating of 5 out 5 with the odd 'That's amazing' and 'you gotta try this' thrown in for good measure.

On to my main course; Mutton loin, Dauphinoise potato, Broccoli and a cute little Mutton Pastie. Oh my god! I could smell the mutton being brought to the table and I may well have been drooling by the time it arrived. I have tended to stay away from mutton due to my sad experience with it in my school dinner days, and to be honest the contributing factor in choosing the dish was that I like Dauphinoise potatoes. But honestly I can't remember a more tasty and tender piece of meat. It was so good I considered having it again for dessert.(Nice cutsie pastie btw). More mutterings of satisfaction around the table and no conversation during courses! (I always see that as a good sign). Another fantastic choice of wine (a Red Corbierre) dotted the i's and crossed the t's on a superb main course. We were given the chance to digest and finish off the bottle before desserts arrived ( the service was very good. At no point did we think we were being hurried nor did we ever wonder what had happened to our order. All very professional). When the desserts arrived we all purred like cats with the proverbial cream. I had the Panettone & Butter Pudding. Simple but tasty. A rich creamy but not stodgy delight that capped a fantastic evening.

So what about value for money?

Yeah I spent a fair bit, but it was worth every penny. Well worth the journey south of the river, and compared to what I pay in the West end for Similar (and some times inferior) standards I think the Greyhound is great value. I'll be back.
Comment on this reader review

Paul Winfield
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Wow! What a night! These guys realy know there stuff.

My Partner and I went to the Greyhound to Celebrate our Wedding anniversary. We had heard realy good things about the Restaurant and thought it would be a good place to celebrate. We were so right!

The staff realy know their stuff, able to answer any questions we had. the wine recomendation was fantastic as well. The food was cooked to perfection, the red leg partridge just melted in the mouth and paired with a black pudding that was out of this world! Dessert was the jewel in the crown. Vanilla panacotta and a backed cheese cake that took our breath away. Can't wait to go back!!!!!!
Comment on this reader review

Tim Edwards
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, November 24, 2006

Really buzzy and extremely busy on the night we went,which meant for a fantastic atmousphere

the food was great especially the home smoked salmon it was superb, Mains where also fabulous and my pork chop was out of this world

Most importantly to me however is always the wine list, and sesational probably puts it lightly, the greyhounds list has to be one of the most diverse I have seen, and by London standards is certainly is one of the best value, and staff really know their stuff

Would stongly recommend this place to anyone
Comment on this reader review

Josha Dirk
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Saturday, October 28, 2006

When I tell people I live in Battersea they often say 'ooh, have you been to The Greyhound? It's supposed to be brilliant'. And I never had. So, when the time came for the annual ritual of my birthday lunch with family, I thought I'd take the opportunity to try it out. My brother huffed and puffed a bit when I read him a review over the phone, as it said '£80 for two with wine and service', and he thought that was rather steep. I didn't, because I had noted that the reviewer seemed to have drunk his own body-weight in wine, and that always bumps the price up hugely. We are not big drinkers in my family (not en famille, anyway, because it always ends so badly) so I knew we'd be able to get away with much less; and if not, forty quid a head is not bad really for a nice meal in London.

The Greyhound is situated in a rather insalubrious part of Battersea, near the bottom end of Falcon Road, so it sticks out like a sore thumb, but in a good way. It is comfortable and well-decorated, and I found the staff extremely friendly and welcoming; I am therefore quite surprised to read that so many other contributors have found otherwise.

Starters were smoked salmon, which came in two large chunks rather than the usual slices; salt beef and rocket salad; salade nicoise and, for me, scrambled eggs with prawns and asparagus. This was rather salty, but I like salty so that was all to the good as far as I was concerned. Bit Chinese-y. The salade nicoise didn't look very nice I have to say, although Mum seemed to enjoy it - slightly dried-out tinned tuna and those kind of anchovies which look like brown earthworms rather than the nice white marinated ones.

Mains were grilled mackarel, something called 'feather steak' and a slightly outre collection of sausages: chicken, sundried tomato, that sort of thing. The steak was OK but not brilliant, served with rather boring mushrooms but some really delicious mash. My bro seemed to like his sausages, which judging by the expressions on his face at various junctures, packed some pretty intense flavours. The mackarel was delicious, herby and cooked to perfection.

Puddings were apple crumble with lemon curd ice-cream and mandarin sorbet. The apple crumble was really delicious; I thought I could detect star anise in the crumble, and it went beautifully with the lemon curd ice-cream which had a rather earthy, not over-sweet flavour. As for the mandarin sorbet, well I pinched a good proportion of it from my brother's plate and I don't even like mandarins. Deliciously refreshing.

We didn't have any wine in the end, but I think that was rather a shame, since each description on the menu comes with a suggested wine to accompany the dish which is a brilliant idea. Will definitely try that on a return visit. It did mean that we only paid £100 for a 3-course lunch for four people, which I think is very reasonable indeed.
Comment on this reader review

Rosie
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Saturday, October 21, 2006

The comments below by other reviewers regarding the food are correct, it really is excellent.

This is not gastro pub food, it compares well with some of the best restaurants in London. But then at £60 a head, including half a bottle of modestly priced wine, so it should. And that doesn't include the cost of the armed guards you will need to get you out of the area alive.

Where The Greyhound compares really badly is in the service. This was slow and grumpy to the point of rudeness. I fail to see why the staff seem to think this is acceptable. The food is great but service gave me indigestion.

I understand the owner was absent on the night we visited, visiting a new potential restaurant. Perhaps he should keep his eye on The Greyhound for a little longer.
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, October 18, 2006

RIP OFF!! I had a starter as a main course so was charged £17 and it was only scrambled eggs and prawns! My friend had two courses (now £28 for two) and we had 2 glasses of wine each and a glass each of champagne. The bill came to £97! I was amazed. The area is dodgy as hell so we were nervous leaving late too. It was a very average experience but without the average prices! I wouldn't bother going again and wouldn't recommend it.
Comment on this reader review

Arabella Brown
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, October 11, 2006