L'Escargot

We visited 30th July, it was an early Saturday booking and we were keen to enjoy the event; splashing out on a decent menu.

The first course was delicious, my wife had duck salad and i half a dozen oysters; both absolutely lovely.

The experience went down hill from then on. The atmosphere was pleasant, but waiter was terribly rude and arrogant. He served us our main without vegetables, even though we asked for them. He was irritated by our presence and made us most uncomfortable. We had asked the wine waiter to attract the attention of our waiter so we could explain what we wanted. "Don't ask me I'm the wine waiter"

Suffice to say a long awaited treat ended in our walking out of the restaurant between courses with a bitter taste in our mouths.

Sorry Marco, you've got lost in show business old chap. The service was amateurish and waiter incompetent. We left without paying and quite upset....a ruined evening.
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Stephen Fletcher
3 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 0
Sunday, July 31, 2011

Lunch yesterday for Sister in Law's Birthday

Wonderful Food, Good wine and excellent service at a very reasonable price

Will definitely go again

Many thanks to the Staff and Chef
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9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Saturday, June 11, 2011

stumbled across this restaurant having just come out of the matinee performance at the theatre. Just being nosy looked at the menu's outside and couldn't believe how affordable it was. We were welcomed and seated in the beautiful dining room, the waiters were attentive and although we bought wine by the glass and asked for tap water they continued to treat us like the best customers they had. We ate from the pre and post theatre menu and at £18 for 3 courses really good value, the only disappointment was the size of the dessert my friend had apple pie which was really only a slither with a tea spoon of cream, and the cheese - although very tasty was very small - but then maybe I was just being greedy. Would eat here again next time i go to the theatre and would certainly recommend to any one to give it a try.
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Christine Twemlow
10 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, February 25, 2011

I have never written a review before, and this one is not prompted by anger or disappointment, but just a desire to warn, as I have never been to a restaurant where the quality of the food fell so short of the price.

Admittedly, my wife and I were there on Valentine's Day for dinner, when you expect to be charged at least 50% more than usual. However, even with this mark-up, I expected a good standard of food for £75 for 3 courses.

Apart from the overall flavour of the food being poor, the most basic and essential cooking skills seemed to be lacking. The first sea bass fillet my wife ordered was dry and overcooked to the extent that the flesh itself was chewy, while the skin was oily and not even slightly crisp. Having sent this back (explaining why) the second attempt was exactly the same, and there were four fair-sized bones in the first two mouthfuls.

As the starter had been feeble and my lobster ravioli was fairly appalling (chunks of lobster, wads of salty spinach leaves and the odd piece of red pepper huddled together beneath a pasta disk), at this point we had an amicable discussion with the head waiter, asking him to charge us what he felt was fair. He charged us only for the wine (which was very good), and we left.

I should mention that, although not terrible, the decor is rather dated and the lighting fails to create an atmosphere.
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3 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Thursday, February 24, 2011

Turned up at L'Escargot last night without booking having just stumbled across it and we were immediately found a table for 2. Ambience good, welcome, assistance and presentation of table etc all good. A La Carte dishes were well presented and of a very good standard. Wine by the glass exceptionally good. Staff were attentive and seemed interested in our enjoyment of their dining experience. Not sure why so many other reviewers seemed to have struggled here. I thought it Michelin standard. Overall a very pleasing experience
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Mark James
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Saturday, February 05, 2011

I walked in to the restaurant with 7 colleagues and was a little surprised but delighted to get a table without prior booking. My high expectations of this restaurant where not met on arrival as the interior is dated and poorly lit but does have a certain charm about it and therefore my attention turned to the menu.

I decided to try something different from the menu rather than having the same old scallops and was not disappointed by my starter of beef - although the rocket was overpowering. However, I am afraid this is where the quality ended and the cracks appeared. My bottle of Merlot finally arrived as I finished my starter despite ordering prior to ordering my meal and in time for me to be able to use it wash down the rather disappointing black bass. The fish itself was beautifully cooked but sat on a bed of burnt potatoes which cracked upon my fork being pressed against them. Through pure embarrassment I left the food as my colleagues were too having limited success with their food only matched by the service which was getting increasingly more lax as the evening wore on. Serving wine across peoples bodies, removing cutlery for fish meals without replacing them, staff play-fighting within 4 metres of my meal and to top it all off a cracked tea-pot was brought to the table with dirt around the spout - these are just a few silly example of my experience of what Michelin star dining is like.

I would suggest this restaurant is no longer high on Monsieur White's agenda which is why things have clearly slipped here............ and why I'd imagine the official website still indicates that 2005 was the 15th consecutive year the restaurant has had a Michelin star! Things have moved on unlike this restaurant!

There was exception - a south American waiter whose standards never fell below perfect.
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Geoff
4 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Thursday, September 30, 2010

This restaurant is a throw back to the 90's ! The lighting and ambience is awful and the food pretty mediocre. I was served veal which was awful. I cannot believe that someone like Marco allows his name to be associated with it - what is going on here?
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4 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Saturday, September 18, 2010

I came last saturday in that beautifull place and all high my expectation was here. Welcome and Service Top Class, Food exellent, the venue beautifull. I will defently recommend that top class tesaturant to every one. Well done to the Manager of that beautifull place,
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Lisa Marley
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, June 18, 2010

I went to this restaurant to celebrate my 21st birthday with a friend. The restaurant were not made aware of the event but the service and standard of food was shocking.

I work for Premier Inn in Aberdeen and being completely honest, our brand standard service shot yours to the ground. Once the waiter realised we were not going to be buying an expensive bottle of wine we were treated like scum off the streets. Our starters were checked on but our mains were not. I ordered my steak Rare and it came Well Done. I could not believe this. At no point did the waiter ask how my main meal was, which was just shocking. Everytime I tried to catch his attention he seemed to dart off as if he knew my steak was overdone. You do not expect this from such a high class restaurant.

We had to wait 30 minutes for our desserts and when they arrived my friends dessert was the wrong one. We were given a free glass of port for the inconvenience and the wait. How about a discount for the overdone steak?

When you visit a restaurant of this caliber and spend a lot of money you do not expect the best thing you ate to be a garlic roasted vine tomato. That was seriously the most pleasant thing out of the entire meal.
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Laurie Savage
5 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Monday, June 14, 2010

We went with my family to eat on wenesday evening in the famous L Escargot restaurant venue and we enjoyed all our evening, smiling staff, food was very tasty, ambience, service excellent, everything was perfect, we will come back and recommend that restaurant to everyone. Thanks again and well done to the team.
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James Calnut
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Saturday, May 15, 2010