Rivington Bar & Grill

Having read a very favourable review of this restaurant by Jay Rayner I had been intending to try this place for quite some time, so when a friend said that he had booked a table here for his birthday, I was very much looking forward to it. Unfortunately i was a little disappointed to honest. First of all although the general decor of the place was very nice, our party of nine was put in some corner of the restaurant away from all the other diners. This caused two problems, firstly that we were away from any general atmosphere that the restaurant may have had and secondly that we were very cramped, particularly the unlucky person who ended up in corner! Moving onto the menu, I don't like fish or seafood at all so I found the starters menu to be particularly limited (most dishes fell into that category). That said I ordered Lamb sweetbreads and they were very tasty. For mains there was more choice, the food being a twist on "British classics". I ended up ordering Steak & Mushroom pie. I was rather annoyed to find that chips or veg were extra (although this now seems to be par for the course in many restaurants) and ordered chips to go with it. The pie was ok but the pastry was rather suet-y and the chips were ok. That said my local pub does a nicer pie (with chips and veg) for half the price. We didn't order dessert. The house white was pleasant and reasonably priced at around £15 a bottle, service was ok but no more than that. The bill ended up being around £40 per head including service, which I personally thought was a little on the pricey side for the food offered. Overall then it wasn't bad, and if it was local I might even give it another Try but as it's in Hoxton and I live in Ealing I won't be making a return visit.
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Mike
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Monday, March 23, 2009

I stopped by last night for a glass of wine and a snack with a good friend of mine. The atmosphere was cold to say the least and the service snooty.

The bar was empty and there was merely 2 people dining.

In these tough times, you would have thought the staff would have welcomed you with open arms.

Instead the head waiter was mincing around the room looking down his nose at us.

Shame, could be so nice, but the atmosphere so cold I did not even take my coat off.

Could do MUCH better!
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Emma
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The meal we had at the Rivington was fine, although you would have to be mad to pay £14 for fish and chips in the current climate. However, this was totally undermined by inept service. Our bill was incorrect, although less assiduous diners may not have noticed that the full 50% had not been deducted from the total bill. However, although we left a generous 10% tip considering the bill was wrong and we were left waiting for our mains to be cleared for 10 minutes, the staff had the cheek to claim that we had not paid the full (optional) service charge. They allowed us to leave without saying farewell.

I will be spending my well-earned money elsewhere in future. This venture deserves to fail with indifferent staff like that - go to the far superior Inside up the road instead.
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Matt - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, November 26, 2008

We just had dinner at the Rivington Grill. The service was very good with attentive waiters/waitresses. Food was good (I had fantastic oysters and salmon/scrambled egg main) and my partner had a chicken/bacon/blue cheese salad (he liked but thought there could be more cheese) and a steak. However, it came to GBP 95 (including a half bottle of wine and two separate glasses). I do think this is expensive (the steak was GBP 25 which I don't mind paying in a central London restaurant but found a bit OTT for Greenwich) however we did enjoy the experience and the ambience was just right.
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JO A
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Sunday, August 03, 2008

had sunday lunch. never been before but really impressed. didn't expect too much to be honest so what i got really pleased me. billecart-salmon rose by the galss. Yes please!

a cracking bloody mary, fresh oysters and a good sunday roast beef. Lemon tart could have been better but nothing to complain about. I really enjoyed it. will be back to see if it is consistent, but on the basis of this visit i would recommend to everyone
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shrimpy
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Friday, June 13, 2008

Our family of 5 went to this restaurant Monday 26th May - and it was absolutely fantasic! The food was amazing - really really good... we had food from the bad menu which is cheaper than the dinner menu and it was gorgeous.

The puddings were beautiful as well.

Service was fantastic - we hardly waited for anything and the waitress was so lovely - not one bad vibe in there. We didnt want for anything.

We will return!! Fantastic.
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Yvonne Fowler
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Five of us went to The Rivington Grill for Mothers' Day and had a reasonably good meal. The standard of the food was deemed as good overall, balancing a poor starter of Welsh Rarebit - which was overpriced and unimpressive - with main courses such as the scallops (not great value, but really delicious). The service and the ambience at The Rivington were also pleasing, but I'd probably wait for a meal deal before returning.
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dawnage - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Myself and some friends visited the Rivington Grill last night on one of the 50% off offers, this was its saving grace.

Don’t misunderstand me here; the food was good but a little pricey for what you got. One of our group had the winter broth and there is no way that some root vegetables in a soup is worth £5.25 however at half that price it’s a good deal.

Value for money aside the food was mostly excellent. I had a scotch egg made with a duck egg for my starter which is a great idea for a foodie like me and was put together perfectly with the egg yoke still runny. Yummy!

I had their fish and chips for starter – my second choice after they had run out of Rabbit pie – which was well cooked with lovely chips and really crispy batter.

However, my only criticism is that chips and battered fish is naturally quite dry and in a standard chippy people tend to get round this with gravy, curry sauce, mushy peas or ketchup. On the menu they had stated that the dish came with mushy peas but actually it came with pea and mint puree. The puree was tasty but too cloying in this dish and to be honest I don’t think the mint really worked well with the whole dish. It would have been better if they had just done some high quality mushy peas and stuck the puree with the lamb chop which was on the menu.

The service was sloooow and they had run out of a couple of things. Normally I wouldn’t take being busy as an excuse but it was the day before Valentine’s Day so maybe they were expecting everyone to stay at home and come out for a meal today.

So my recommendation is go here on the 50% off offer. If they dropped the prices of all the dishes by £2-£4 then it would be worth going at any time.
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James Rose
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Thursday, February 14, 2008

went to rivington last sunday 27,1,2008 this was a birthday meal , but what a let down .

the menu wasent child friendly so my son had to have a burger ,at 10puonds def not worth it

my wife and myself opted for the sunday lunch , starters were poor ,mains passble , but my mothers salmon and mussels was poor ,

we choose desserts , but 6 puonds for ice cream? c,mon way over the top .

i know this is a negative review but this place is bad , never again . plus a 12.5 percent service charge?? what for poor service and bad food? lol a joke

kevin reilly .
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kevin reilly
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Saturday, February 02, 2008

I was surprised to read some of the negative reviews on this site, as I've been to Rivington Greenwich on numerous occasions and I'm going back again tonight.

The food has been uniformly excellent. The rabbit & crayfish stargazy pie is a treat; no wonder it won the accolade of being served to the French at the banquet at the British Embassy in Paris earlier this year. (The head chef at Rivington was awarded two of the four courses at that dinner, which was chronicled in the BBC's Great British Menu.)

The devilled kidneys are a rich, delicious starter, and the portion is big enough to be a main. Even the bread and butter, served as you peruse the menu (which remains helpfully in front of you all evening in its A3 glory as your placemat) are excellent.

If you expect complicated food, you'll be disappointed. If you order the suckling pig main, pork is what you'll get. And you'll never have tasted pork that meltingly tender and delicious. In fact you'll probably realise you've been unnecessarily overcooking pork to greyness all your life. This is pink, juicy and delicious. But you won't be faced with a plate of extras you didn't order. If you want chips or mash or greens, you do have to order them.

The food is simple, and yes, you may in some cases be able to do the same at home. The smoked anchovies on toast (starter) make no pretense about their source, and come very beautifully presented in the anchovy tin in which they were bought. But they are good, and I've never seen smoked anchovies in the supermarket anyway.

We've even been for the banquet menu, available for parties of 10 or more. This was perhaps the one time I'd have made a different choice at Rivington. We chose the suckling pig banquet, which was a visual feast. The whole pig was presented, head and all, but helpfully cut into manageable chunks. Certainly something you'd never have at home, but it didn't have the flavour to live up to all the fanfare. An unforgettable experience, but perhaps the whitebait supper would have been a better choice.

The service has been average, and if you're in a rush (for instance to go to the cinema next door as we once were), you may be frustrated. But Rivington is a place to linger, and if you have an afternoon or an evening to spend with a nice bottle of wine and some simple, quality food, then it's well worth a try.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Friday, October 26, 2007