The Bull

My husband and i took our daughter to the bull this weekend. Outside was a board proclaiming the 2 and 3 course offers, when we asked we were told it was the weekday menu. Why still have it up?

Asking about a child's menu the waitress said she would find out, she didnt. Asked another waitress and she asked the kitchen "whats the easiest to make for a kid", charming.

We ordered the meze for 2, £12 grossly overpriced for unidentifiable dips, im sure the stuffed peppers were from aldi.

My husband had sea bream, very good, i had rib eye, very fatty, more than normal, daughter had a tiny piece of greasy chicken with chips, £7.50!!!

The bill came with a bottle of wine added for £32 that we hadn't ordered, the final bill was £104 with £11 service. We could have eaten anywhere in the west end for those prices.

I am annoyed with myself for paying the service as we had to ask twice for everything and even the most simple questions couldn't be answered straight away.

The are trying to be top end "gastro pub" but are no way near, try St johns at Archway and you will do much better.
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Harry - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Sunday, June 08, 2008

I have used this gastropub on and off since it first opened. It has always been expensive for what it is and where it is, being out of the village and after all is said and done it is a restaurant and not really a pub at all. It has been worth the money in the summer because of the large open air eating at the front. But out of summer that is not a factor. Decided to give it a try Christmas day. Was told £100.00 per head excluding service and drinks. Also told they wanted the full £100.00 per head up front with a booking. For 11 that is a lot of up front money. Was chased up several times for payment and told was virtually fully booked.

Arrived Christmas Day on time. The table was too small for 11 but was moved as the ground floor even with our table was less than half full. First floor entirely empty. Service was very very slow notwithstanding. Food fine but very small portions of vouvelle cuisine type.

Went again in January with a local friend. Prices greatly increased for food and wine. Service almost non-existent. It took 20 minutes for a bottle of wine and 1 hour 10 minutes for one course each for the two of us. Hardly any staff and barman helping out. Price with bottle of the cheapest wine on the menu, bread and bottle of water £67.00. I really think I will not be bothering any more unless it is a super summer day!
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Michael
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, February 06, 2008

We live in Highgate and have been wanting to visit The Bull for far too long. The appearance from the outside is very warming and inviting particularly at Christmas. We had had a glance at the menu when passing one day and noticed the Sunday Beef for two and decided we would return to sample.

Oh how i wish we had not bothered.

Firstly we arrived to a completely empty restaurant at 6pm (we had called and booked a table for this time), we were not greeted by anyone because the kitchen didn't open until 6.30pm. The mistake made by the individual who took the reservation would have been forgotten if it didn't feel like we had walked into someone’s front room without an invitation.

We were finally met by a waiter stinking of his last cigarette and seated. The decor is warm and thoughtful and the paintings interesting. As the place wasn’t open yet we had to wait 30 minutes before we could even consider the menu. We ordered our drinks of which they had run out of two types of beer (pretty unheard of these days!!) and tap water took 20 mins.

The bread arrived which was delicious and we made our order. I must say that this is a restaurant and unfortunately the front of house was strangely ‘dressed down’ in torn jeans, grubby t-shirt.

Food- The starters were enjoyable although needed seasoning. Both of us ordered the saffron risotto and shank (the beef had run out and two other items off the menu- do they not order properly, other friends have mentioned this being common place at The Bull) and unfortunately seasoning is a real problem in this place, the risotto was like rice pudding and utterly bland and at £19.50 for this course totally over priced for the quality!

Anyway bill came and took off the service charge with a bit of struggle, we were also charged for the bread four times.

As you can tell sorely disappointed, I would suggest that everyone makes that trip further into town for quality and competitive food. I am also surprised by the other positive reviews as we were one of two tables occupied in a 2hour period!
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Lucy B
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Monday, December 31, 2007

We booked in advance a table for four for Sunday lunch - I know that The Bull can be a popular choice and did not want to be disappointed.

But disappointed we were.

We arrived to find that our name had already been crossed off the reservation list and that the only table for four available would be in the upstairs room - away from the warm open fire, the atmosphere of all the full tables and more importantly the waiting staff. There was one other table occupied upstairs. When I queried why our table had been given to someone else I was told that I had not requested to sit downstairs and I would have no way of knowing that the table I hed reserved was not upstairs! It was painfully obvious from the reaction of the staff that they had made a mistake with the tables. I was assured that other people would be seated upstairs during later on. So we took the "only" table they had to offer us.

Our coats were taken, we were offered bread (again, as previously commented on there were no plates on the table) offered water and given the menus. When the waiter returned to take the order he did not know which of the dishes were starters (so he disappeared again). The house wine we ordered took 20 mins to arrive.

The other guests in the room left half way though our main course and of course no one else was seated upstairs for the rest of our meal. The food was tasty - that can't be faulted (it could have been slightly warmer though). It was the service and the treatment by the lady in charge that spoilt the lunch. We were brought the wrong bill, there was a fuss when we asked for one without the 12.5% (optional) service charge and we had to find our coats ourselves as there was no-one there to ask. Our waiter turned out not to be a waiter at all, he was the barman, which may go some way to explain things.

Don't think we'll be returning - which is a shame really.
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Emma P
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 5
Thursday, December 20, 2007

I ate here with my boyfriend the other week as was really really impressed. Our meals were wonderfull. The food was tasty and the portions were very decent. Even though we were sat by the door as we made the booking last minute, the vibe of the place was lovely and all in all we were very happy. Our 3 course meal with water and a bottle of wine was £125 but it was worth it.
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Sophie D
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Friday, November 09, 2007

I've just moved to Highgate, and whenever I've driven past this venue, I've always thought it was a gastropub. However, it just looks like a pub from the outside, but is, in fact, a restaurant. Not that that is relevant, it's just that I fancied a gastropub meal yesterday and perhaps that's why I was somewhat disappointed with The Bull.

We were offered bread while we were choosing our food - which in itself was good, and tasted freshly made - but there was no plate to eat it off of, so as a consequence there were crumbs all over the table for the whole meal. I'm not a hygiene freak, but I think at the very least they should have used tongs to serve the bread and given us some clean plates to eat it off of.

No mind, we ploughed on to choosing our dishes, all of which sounded very nice. Duck cooked 2 ways, Salmon with mushroom duxelle, Partridge with foie gras. In the end I plumped for a very tasty herring tartar and my husband chose a surprisingly light gnocchi to start. Unfortunately that was the best the meal got.

I ordered the pork cutlet with mustard sauce and colcannon, and he ordered the aforementioned partridge. Both dishes looked the same – mash with meat on top, surrounded by some gravy. The pork should have been served slightly pink but instead, was overcooked and really quite hard to cut through. The partridge was tasty, but again overcooked and contained a piece of shot. The foie gras just tasted like chicken livers, when it should have been melt in the mouth.

My overall feeling is that this restaurant has an interesting menu, but lacks the ability to pull it off. I think this is summed up by the wine list which includes a Petrus at £890 – the Bull aims high, but just ends up punching well above its weight.
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CNI - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, October 24, 2007

WOW! This place is amazing. I was there on Saturday , the food was fantastic and the service is very friendly and charming. It's definitely worth going all the way to Highgate. I had the Fish Stew and my friend had the Lamb and they were both cooked to perfection!!!

I can't wait to go back!
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P Logan - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, July 30, 2007

I eat here all the time but have a niggling feeling in the back of my mind each time I go there, The food is great , expensive but good, value for money ok , and now bread is 50p !!.

If you are going to charge for bread fine it fine, but if you offer it in a basket while some one is eating then dont charge for it . Thats just taking the michael.

I will keep coming here because they have a great concept, but the minute I find another place with better value for money, im afraid its bye by charlie.

george
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George Mix
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Last night I had the pleasure of dinning at The Bull. Having had it recomended to me by a few friends who live locally I made the treck from my place of work in the city, to Highgate with high expectations, and I was not let down.

Starting with a simple yet very well executed leek and potato soup, with truffle oil, which ok at 6 quid a pop is pricey for a soup, but in my opinion worth every penny, My girlfriend had a starter of tuna with black bean dressing, which despite my fears of just being raw fish, was actually quite tasty will try that on my next visit.

We ordered and shared the rib of beef, which had been recomended by both friends of ours and our waitress, and yes it does take a while, but that allowed me to sample the wares from their extensive and not pub like at all wine list and enjoy a relaxed conversation with the little missus, have to say, the wait was worth it, the meat melted in the mouth and given I had ordered medium rare (waitresses recomendation) while I normally prefere medium well I was actually wanting more by the end of the meal, and shall from now on be ordering medium rare for all my meat.

We passed on dessert, not that there was nothing there to excite us, just that we were both full from the generous portions and secondly time was running short and we had to get home.

On the whole I am totally overwhelmed with the eating experience I had at The Bull, and as someone who has been treated to meals at a number of london's top restaurants by clients from work, I doubt I have had better, I will be returning soon, with my boss and some work collegues and hope to impress with my discovery
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Phillip Aspell
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, March 07, 2007

I have been to the Bull on many ocassions and loved the food and service every time.

The Staff are always very friendly and very helpful.I have tried many dishes but i highly recommend the Aberdeen Angus,it takes quite a while to cook but its well worth the wait!,it just melts in your mouth!. They have a great selection of wines to go with any meal that you choose.

I highly recommend The Bull and will be eating there again very soon!.
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Chris
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, March 06, 2007