Restaurant Michael Nadra

Have now been back to Michael Nadra's 3 times now, this is a restaurant that just keeps getting better each time. It is rare indeed that every course on a 6 course taster menu is superb and faultless and without question this was in that category. Not only was the food superb but the service was excellent and the wine just as good, this was all topped off by Michael actually coming out of the kitchen to take the time to have a good chat with us. His passion is infectious and hes a really great bloke to match. I sincerely hope this deserved chef goes onto become one of the starring chefs currently in London...after his superb performance on "Britains Best Dish" .....new accolades will be on his way shortly !
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Julian Nagi
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Monday, December 05, 2011

Very good place to go but it will cost you. Rightly so as the food is delicious and very well executed.

The service was fine - no problems there. It was not that busy so if it was, you may feel a bit cramped.

Between the four of us we had tempura soft shell crab, carpaccio of beef and fois gras to start. We still cannot agree which was the best (though I say mine was).

For mains, we had rump of lamb, guinea fowl, and two had rare fillet steak. Again, all packed with flavour.

The chocolate fondant was the clear winner for the dessert. If that is the choice on the a la carte, I suggest you go for it.

The tasting menus look interesting too. One of them may be our choice on the next visit.

The wine list is varied in price. The drinks will determine what you ultimately pay and with the food this good, I would not scrimp. Difficult to say what to expect to pay as there were four of us and we do like our wine.

With a couple of drinks and a good bottle of wine, I think you should bank on £150 a couple.
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Patsy S - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Friday, August 26, 2011

I recently visited this little gem of a restauarnt with a friend of mine last week. The restaurant had been recommended to me by a number of clients who live in West London and it did not dissappoint. The food was absolutely superb, not only was it incredibly creative and delicious but it was also presented beautifully. The great food was also backed up by great service, Michael as Maitre D was not only very friendly but recommended some superb wine which matched the food beautifully. Oh and if you havent heard the lobster is to die for and the treacle tart with clotted cream will make you go weak at the knees ! Cant wait to go back.
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Julian
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Monday, March 28, 2011

Went to Michael Nadra's for a much anticipated first time last night (Valentines Day). It really was a restaurant of two experiences. On the one hand the food was some of the best we've had. The tasting menu was delicious and the wine excellent. The other side of the experience, the service, was some of the worst we've experienced. At this level you would expect even a full restaurant to cope. Despite booking 6 months in advance and calling into the restaurant the previous week to pay a deposit and discuss seating, our request was not accommodated. On top of that I received a phone call on the day to inform me for the first time that the table I booked for 7.30 was actually subject to two sittings and we would have to vacate the table by 9.15. There appeared to be plenty of waiting staff, yet service was slow and confused. We arrived a good 30 mins after the couple next to us, yet they ended up a course behind us by mid service and despite graciously complaining to the head waiter his come back was to be border line rude. To top it off, at the end of a slow and troubled service we were hurried out the door by said head waiter.

Like many reviews registered here the service seems to be main reason for complaint. This could so easily be resolved yet obviously speaks volumes to just how good the food is as people do return. Unfortunately, we will not until the reviews highlight an improved experience.
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Clif Arrow
7 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Came here for a birthday meal with my family and had a fantastic meal.

NONE of us had any complaints about our food, not even small niggling ones which is quite a feat bearing in mind that one of our party is a foodie.

The menu is fairly short but with no dud options. The wine list is more adventurous- we ventured a brazilian white wine and were not disappointed.

Service was attentive, in fact my only slight complaint was that at the beginning of the evening (when we were amongst the first to arrive) the service was perhaps too attentive but that was probably just because there was nobody else to lavish their attention on.

Overall v impressive
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Ruth Z-M - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Saturday, January 29, 2011

I ate here last night with some friends. I'd read some reviews and was expecting something really special but sadly it was a let down. All our table pre-ordered one of the tasting menus with wine. We waited 45 minutes before any food or wine arrived. One of the starters was delicious and the desserts were fantastic as well. But the food in between was bland and unexciting- which is astonishing when you think that restaurants usually use their tasting menus to showcase their best dishes. The wine was the other surprise, although well chosen and generally good, we got a teeny tiny amount in each glass.

Most astonishing was the service. As is standard with tasting menus, I thought our waiter would tell us a bit about each dish and the accompanying wine. Instead he plonked the plates in front of us without saying a word, he didn't even tell us what we were eating. Indeed, he got quite huffy when I asked him about the wine. The waiter in question was one of the rudest I've come across and acted like he was doing us a big favour by serving us, he was clearly having a very bad night. The meal was £75 each, and I felt that is was really poor value and the service was truly awful. Overall, a big let down.
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Elizabeth Bartle
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Sunday, November 07, 2010

The food was good. There is a tasting menu that seems expensive at £42.50 but the standard menu had a smallish number of choices but good variety and was cheaper. Both starter and main (fish) were well cooked and plentiful. An amuse bouche arrived and was tasty. The idea of a fixed price for each course i.e. all starters £8.50 is ok but in all sections there seemed more exceptions than dishes at the standard price and none of the deviations were downwards of course.

I didn't much like the table (cramped) or the service (snooty head waiter, long gap between starter and main course). The wine was good but overpriced for what is was.
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Jeremy - View all reviews by this user
6 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Friday, May 07, 2010

I went here last night with an old mate who lives nearby. I hadn't heard of it, or the chef - a little surprising given that he seems to be a bit of a stealthy superstar.

They make the best of a small, rather low ceilinged room with good uplighting and a cool clubby fit out.

The menu is annoyingly typed in a block of text, but actually contains only dishes you'd like to try.

The food was excellent. I had the sweetbreads and pork three way: both first class, save that the reduction with the pork was a little bit over-strong, which is a tad dated.

The wine list is very good at the £30-40 bracket, though not so much below this.

The waiting staff were very good - except the wine waiter (perhaps the manager?), who was simply appalling. He seemed intent on demonstrating how aloof he was rather than helping with suggestions, and was anxious only to express his disdain at any wines we named ourselves. A complete nincompoop. I couldn't resist indulging in a bit of sommellier-baiting he was so bad. The wine list is very good - but not without absences and flaws which I decided I should point out as he was so darned keen to be so superior.

Overall: very good indeed. Not cheap, but not over-priced either.

This chef deserves a bigger and better room. Good luck to him.

However, not sure why you'd go here rather than to Trompette over the road, unless you live locally and fancy a change.
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Kwev
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Friday, May 07, 2010

We found this place a little bit in love with itself. Her and I arrived for our weeks old booking to be shown a weak, dark little table in an empty restaurant. that was draughty for her and had me unaware of approaches from the rear The lady was not happy, but the lady server did not want to allow us to move. Hey presto - Mexican standoff! But move we did, thanks to partner's determination and arrival of the suave male waiter.

This waiter then asked us if we wanted a drink (always they do this before giving you a list of what they serve and prices etc). And often if you ask for a dry madeira or a manzanilla it causes embarrassment. So No. Still or sparkling, Tap. Then as we were talking the irrepressible and very knowledgeable waiter (an impression that was to be reinforced throughout) boasted about, then handed us the Standard from a while back with Fay Macschlers 3* review of the place. (?) We felt like saying we had already decided to be there, but let it pass, read it, and chose from menu. At which point waiter suggested different options. But we had chosen Lasagnette with sweetbreads and ceps and the previously waiter recommended Pork three ways option. And a Blauburgunder, tyrolean pinot noir.

The first course was very pretty and quite moorish. The pork option comprised a cheek, atop some flavourless tagliolini spaghetti, one cube of belly atop mash potato, and three sliced tenderloin medallions atop some salty "choucroute". It was pretty, but bland. We were being sold desserts (not many) with their respective glasses of pudding wine and as they would have totted up to £25 before service we contemplated, then asked for, the bill instead. Checking the £105 bill against the menu and the waiter wanted to get involved but there really was no issue once we saw we the menu had had supplements on our starters. Meal was a little expensive and chef appeared to have some favourite customers, some of whom were being shown the outside menu for so long that we got up to shut the door during our mains. It was chilling our food (we were by the door). Our later suggestion that Tio Pepe did not belong on a list of dessert wines brought forth a lot of stuff about having 200 bins of wine and so on from the waiter, who couldnt bear to have any suggestion from this customer at all and had by this stage pointed out that it wasnt a new restaurant but had in fact been Fish Hook (we read that too in Fay Maschler), plus further info about how wonderful they were. We paid up and left feeling a little bit like we had been through something unrelaxing though there was nothing really wrong and the place will win over those who value decorativeness and attention to detail of food arrangement. Plus maybe younger than us, like the friends of the chef. But hey, for £105, they are competing in the big league
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williams
5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Michael Nadra is a shining star as far as chefs go......when he first moved to Chiswick almost four years ago I was very eager to try his new establishment, I wasn't disapointed...elated! We dined there three times a month...it is after all two minutes from my door. Fish (My favourite over carne!) was perfectly excecuted and with a wine list and informative staff to boot. I have taken everyone from my Mother, my accountant and many of my clients.....all were overwelmed by the food the attention to detail and the unfussy service. I did feel however that after three years the menu became stagnated and I grew tired of the same old same old, I visited in May 2009 (three times) and was very disappointed, sloppy service, mediocre food and lacking in that 'WOW' that always made the visit so special. I stayed away for almost a year, until I saw the sign 'Restuarant Michael Nadra' on the A board! I have eaten there twice since, this guy has taken a look at what's needed and shaken himself up and shook himself down with outstanding results, he's got his mojo back and I have to tell all you foodies out there that this is a young, very bright chef that has taken his cleaver in hand and sprinkled space dust on it....
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Chiquita Ockham
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Monday, April 19, 2010