Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill

i finally got the chance to lunch here.

i found the house champagne not very good but did not comment on that as the waiters were already not so friendly. not even an olive or a salted nut with the drink

the appetiser of smoked salmon was good but not excellent and i found the steak tartare heavily overseasoned with a very sour touch

coffee arrived without any single sweet
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londonfreak
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Thursday, November 26, 2009

Lunch for 3 - the food was OK but out of our 9 dishes nothing really had a wow factor just competently cooked fish ,we were also told that several of the mains had already finished thus limiting our options ,given that the room was only two thirds full at most it was a bit poor..The main problem being the service - after being hustled a couple of times into ordering food I was told to wait for the sommelier to order the wine,this took quite a while and our pre starter of mixed oysters turned up before he did-once ordered the wine then took an age to arrive,water glasses were filled spasmodically by waiters various and when we asked for another bottle the order was forgotten twice.A few other things grated on us such as the lights being dimmed when there were only 3 tables left in an attempt to get us out and the bill arriving without being asked for,at almost £100 per head for a not too boozy lunch we probably won't be returning or recommending.
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mal - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Thursday, November 12, 2009

One of the best places I can think of for solo dining or if you are with a friend who just wants a drink but you fancy a quick bite.

Grab a seat at the bar, order a nice carafe of something cold and white (we had a nice picpoul de pinet) and order a couple of dishes to snack on. The home smoked salmon with blinis was great as were the simply poached langoustines with the best mayo i've had in a lond time.

Service was smart and quick and at £70 for a couple of starters, some good bread and butter, and 2 carafes of wine not bad value at all.
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Chris - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Saturday, November 07, 2009

just have been to bentley's and we're not very happy at all.

food is good but expensive (small sized dover sole at £40) apart from mediocre chips.

service is abysmal, starting with poor receptionist, a sommelier who can not recommend wines and admits to not having tasted some of them, waiters who neglect to keep pouring wine or water, far too many different waiters through the evening to keep track of your needs and so on.

what really disturbed us was a £8 cover charge per person on top of the 12.5% service charge. we left £65 for a service we considered all in all quite mediocre.

clearly the restaurant is aimed for people who do not care about overall quality or about value
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Wednesday, September 16, 2009

We ate at this restaurant on a Wednesday night. The waiters were very snooty. We asked to sit outside - although one table was made up for dinner and one waiter said it was ok, the others seemed quite put out by it.

The food was ok but we felt it was overpriced.

The wine was very good.

we would not visit this restaurant again.
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Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, August 04, 2009

This was a disappointment. The service was snooty, the food was seriously mediocre and very over-priced. We had booked a table at the oyster bar and we moved to the restaurant with no notice; the night we went there was a special menu that we had not been told about when we booked. It was so disappointing we left before coffee or desert and went somewhere else.

We had 6 oysters to share which were the best thing, but took about 30 minutes to arrive.

I had the monkfish en croute - the fish was fairly tough and the sides - broccoli, creamed poatoes - were unimaginative and entirely bog-standard.

My wife had the lobster fish pie - although the lobster was tasty the whole thing in general was bog-standard.

I would like to go to the oyster bar ( which is where we'd wanted to go in the first place) but based on my experience in the restaurant would not go there again.
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Friday, February 20, 2009

The atmosphere is awful! No music at all. So quiet in fact that you felt the need to whisper and so it seemed did everyone else. The seating arrangements are also awful, the seats were so close to others that you felt you was eating with them.

My starter was very bland, salmon and shrimp although my partner said his mussels were fine. My main meal however was lovely, goose leg, which I would recomend although my partner had a mixed grill which he did not like much. We had clafoutis for desert with coffees which was okay. Wine was ok but very, VERY overpriced. Total cost £145 which included 2 starters, 2 main with 2 sides each, one desert, 2 coffees and a bottle of wine with water. 'Service' from miserable waiters was also included in bill.

Would NOT go again or recomend.
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P
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Oh dear. Relies on the quality of the ingredients which is good but the dishes offered absolutely NO surprises. If you want a restaurant for a special occasion, this is not the place...and it's not cheap either.

An average home cook could produce the same dishes. Sorry but it's true. General service was ok but the wine waiter walks around with his eyes closed.

Not planning to ever go again and would advise others to do the same. Decor is nice but toilets not maintained and even....dusty!
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Adrian May
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 2
Sunday, December 21, 2008

booked for the cheap 3 course set meal, but the menu was so dull (smoked salmon & cream cheese or potato soup for starter) we went a la carte. Very expensive. Food was good, but nothing to write home about.. Restuarant decor quite dull, and we were sat by a window which had a cold draught. Full of american businessmen, it was a Tuesday night, and rather business like atmoshpere.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Went on a Saturday for a late lunch and managed to get seats at the bar.

Excellent menu but prices a bit steep.

Service was a bit slow and inattentive especially as we were seated at the bar.

Wine was good but overpriced.

Food good but not excellent and eating a la carte was not good value.

£100 for a quick lunch - 2 courses with a cheap bottle of wine and no coffees.

I think the set menu would probably represent better value so I would only go there again if I was taking the set menu otherwise I think there is better value to be had elsewhere.
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BL
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Thursday, October 23, 2008