The Narrow by Gordon Ramsay

Fancy dining out in your coat and scarf, being ignored all evening, and shivering amongst your dirty dishes half an hour after you’ve finished eating? Fancy being surrounded by diners who are equally depressed, fed up, and cold – coats on, gloves on, hats on, scarves on? Fancy rushing your way through what is actually pretty decent pub grub, shovelling it down because it is getting colder by the minute? Smoked haddock with a side of icy air and a feeling of utter invisibility anyone?

What an absolute farce, made even worse by the fact that behind this restaurant is, supposedly, the man who has a hissy fit on TV if someone over-sears a scallop! I visited The Narrow on Friday evening in early February for a celebration meal – a special treat to celebrate some good news. I cannot describe how thoroughly disappointing the experience was, an evening truly ruined by sub-zero temperatures inside and the most shockingly bad service I have EVER encountered. Almost all seating is in a conservatory area outside the pub, which is heated by one tiny little gas fire, a relic from 1970. It is HOPELESS. Every time someone complains of the cold (which is approx. every five seconds), the feckless waiters move it closer to the source of the latest complaint. I’m not joking, they spent the whole evening moving this pathetic little fire a few inches to the right, to the left, forwards, backwards….. I asked to move inside and was placed at an even colder table by an Arctic draft.

We moved back. We ate – barely tasting the food because somehow it’s not quite the same when you have to negotiate your thick woolly scarf and coat sleeves, and hold the knife and fork while they slip through your mittens. It may have been pleasant if I’d been able to eat at my own pace, unrestricted by winter woollens, but it wasn’t just me, and it was awful. Once we were done with our smoked haddock, we sat in front of our empty plates and empty pint glasses for over half an hour, until my boyfriend was forced to go and ask the waiter if he would please remove them (if it was up to me, I would have left the restaurant and walked out without paying – I honestly don’t think they would even have noticed us slip outside into the warmer air – but he’s a little more polite than I am…)

To make matters worse, each waiter told a slightly different lie about them being understaffed, ranging from a colleague’s wife suddenly going into labour, to sickness. I couldn’t care less, I really couldn’t. If a staff member calls in sick, you get another one in – simples. You have more than three staff looking after a busy restaurant to start with. When they aimlessly walk up and down, the ones that are actually there keep an eye on people they served A WHOLE HOUR EARLIER.

I genuinely believe that if Gordon is unable to fork out for a decent heating system, some more waiters, and decent training (or installation of basic common sense) for those who are already present, this place should be CLOSED DOWN. It is daylight robbery to expect payment for the service we received on Friday night.

PLEASE AVOID THIS RESTAURANT, unless it is thirty degrees outside and you have all day (and your own supply of booze)!!!!
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Cerys
2 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Monday, February 06, 2012

Have been disapointed here before but hey ho ... one always hopes for the best...

Attended a dinner in the private dining area yesterday.

After the waiters lengthy introduction to the pub's history and the kitchen etc I was expecting something special. Unfortunately, this was not to be.

The beetroot cured salmon starter didn't taste of beetroot or salmon, in fact it didn't taste of anything at all. The Endive & blue cheese tart on the other hand had a very strong taste, mainly of onion and / or old fat. It was also stone cold. I could not bring myself to eat more than two bites. Did not want to risk the dessert so went straight to coffee ... maybe somebody would tell the barrista that nobody likes coffee that has stewed for hours?

I don't think I'll be going here again anytime soon.
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Claudia
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Monday, February 06, 2012

Cold food and Lack of service. Gordon! Where are you ?! Aren't you ashamed ?!

I was expecting a nice experience what i got instead was straight from one of the program: 'kitchen nightmares'. First time in my life I had to send food away as it was cold. When it arrived back it was cold again! I would not recommended unless you just go there for a drink, nice selection of beers.
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AB
1 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Saturday, December 24, 2011

We went to The Narrow on Saturday eagerly anticipating our meal. It was a fairly long journey but it would be all worth it, right? Wrong! It was a complete disappointment. We waited nearly 40 minutes for our meal to arrive. The conservatory where we sat was chilly. The chairs were really uncomfortable. Eventually our steak and ale pie arrived with two tiny tiny (about 10cm in diameter) plates containing cold lumpy mashed potato with swede and cabbage with two thin slithers of carrot. This was to share between two people. Unbelievable. The pie lid came right off cleanly from the dish. The pie crust was weak and flimsy and dry. It was not actually attached to the pie in anyway - more of an after thought. The pie filling was weird. It was red and had a strange tomato flavour. Very acidic. Not what you would imagine a pie should taste like.

I tried to imagine all the expletives that Mr Ramsay would have used had I served him up this meal. We complained to the waiter who candidly told us that because we had a voucher through Travelzoo which we had paid £35.00 for we basically were "tasters" for certain new meals that they would be putting on the menu.

I really think that Mr Ramsay should get his recipes right before he launches them on to the public. Beware all. I now equate Gordon Ramsay with awful food. How sad! We shall not be returning.
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Mrs Jane Loizos
1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Good food, bad service.

The food was good but not as amazing as you'd expect from a Ramsay institution. My potted pork starter was cold and a bit gungy, the apple crumble dessert was more like burnt crumbs spooned onto some cooked fruit than the baked sticky and delicious goeyness I was expecting. Mains were good though.

Perhaps we went in expecting too much but waiting 45 minutes for a cup of tea which we had to make ourselves (tea bag in a saucer) was really pushing it! Plus the waiter managed to forget to take half our orders and we had an incorrect bill!

The saving grace was an excellent wine, good views of the river and the great company of our friends. Thank goodness we all have a sense of humor and managed to laugh it off as a 'Gorden Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmare's experience'. If you are looking for some fine dining gastropub style this certainly isn't it, the waiters have misplaced all the michelin stars...
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TA
3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Saturday, November 12, 2011

Ate in the Narrow this week, the service was ok, wine served but the bread served late. The scotch egg was delicious with the white set and the yolk still runny.

Glad to see they have introduced a children's menu the mains were good too. Wish they would do something about the way they serve the desserts in those glasses which do the food no service. The desserts were good but presentation lacking.
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7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, October 25, 2011

We came here after a recommendation and it sorely disappointed us. Looking for a really good Sunday Roast Dinner with an amazing view, lots of people said we should try Gordon Ramsay's The Narrow, so I booked it up.

GREAT location, and a fab day to have lunch out, we thought we were onto a winner, until we entered and face a surly barman who grunted that we needed to go to reception to inform we had arrived. Turns out reception is a mini counter smack in the middle of the pub with no real staff letting you know this. The front of house employee tasked a waiting member of staff to show us to our dirty, sticky, table. Which he managed to do, although when we asked if it could be cleaned he looked at us though we were crazy.

He just about managed to ask us if we wanted a drink so we ordered a bottle of prosecco which was just dumped on the table, looking at each other we wondered if he was coming back to pour out into the glasses but after 5 mins we concluded perhaps not.

After waiting ages to give our orders, we collared our (in)efficient waiter and asked if we could order our food. Placing orders for roast dinners, he tottered off and disappeared. 30 mins later a waitress came out and walked over the entire restaurant asking people if 2 of the roasts were theirs. Turned out they were ours, she just had no idea.

We were still without cutlery or condiments at this point, and it is not a collect your own cutlery kind of pub. This is a Gordon Ramsay gastropub with a chicken roast coming in at £14.50 whilst a beef roast is a whopping £16.50pp.

We tried to catch the attention of any staff at this point to see if the cutlery and other meals were coming out but were ignored until literally grabbing the tail end of one of the staff's shirts and again got that "Confused" look as though we were speaking in Mandarin.

Then one of my party got up to speak to the front of house desk and got the look yet again. At this point we were sorely tempted to leave except given the time it was at afternoon, we knew we would be unable to get a decent roast or table within a 3mile radius and I didn't really want to go to Maccy D's. So our cold roasts were taken away and "fresh" dinners were supposedly cooked. The main maitre d was most apologetic and if it wasn't for her running around trying to mop up the mess of her waiting staff, we'd have probably left the place. She at least attempted some modicom of customer service and apologised profusely about the lack of service to us.

Then the remaining meals came, again out of sync with the originals. It was starting to feel like a carry on film. They were sent back and the maitre d returned with cutlery and a bread basket which apparently we should have had anyway. At about 3:40 (an hour after we'd sat down) all 3 meals arrived, warm, not piping hot and we ate our food.

Despite speaking to the management, the experience was really disappointing, and an expensive waste of time. The staff, with the exception of the maitre d, are ineffectual, inexperienced, and unable to offer basic customer service, nor take any accountability. The best thing about the Narrow, is the outside seating area. Definitely would advise against going to this if you want a decent meal and enjoyable restaurant experience.
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Alex Day
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Sunday, October 23, 2011

Visited last night - a Tuesday - and consequently very easy to book a table. Its a lovely location and the food was generally good and not expensive at all. However with the Gordon Ramsay tag I'd expected something so much more. Good pub food and we might well go back becasue it is conveniently near work, but I would struggle to call it a gastropub or to rave about it.

Service was a bit hit and miss, the first wine we ordered was out of stock and the duck leg we'd ordered was warm not hot. Nothing on the menu really lept out, but the Watermelon and Feta salad was a pleasant suprise.
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- View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, October 12, 2011

My girlfriend and I popped into The Narrow for lunch on Saturday and left very disappointed and a little on edge.

The staff gave off an air of panic as they literally ran around trying to work out which table had ordered what (we saw a burger being offered up to several people unsuccessfully before being taken back to the kitchen.)

They audibly squabbled in front of us, forgot our drinks and we were seated 30 mins later than our reservation and had to remind the staff we were still waiting for our table. It was certainly not the relaxing dining experience we were hoping for!

The food is okay, no better than your average gastropub. All in all I would say give it a miss.
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dan
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Went to the Narrow to celebrate my wife's Birthday and have nothing but praise about the quality of service, food and drinks on offer. Clearly the management have read the bad reviews and sorted their act out.

To put it into context, this is just a pub with GR's name behind it so dont expect a michelin star venue but it is above average for gastropub food/experience etc.
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Djuro
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Monday, September 05, 2011