Village East

Amongst the nicest venues out there.

Excellent decor, both airy and intimate at the same time, and also nicely lit.

The staff are superb too. Polite, friendly and very trendy (beautiful person place - but nice with it)

Now the food was a bit schizophrenic. i loved the fact that they had a set Valentines vegetarian menu, and this helped with the speedy efficient service.

The truffle mousse was delightful - the sort of stuff one wants at a restaurant, but he aubergine tart was awful. The main of roasted vegetables and corn meal (forgot the fancy name for it) was more-ish but not really exceptional. The dessert was also pretty average.

I must say that the effort to make an interesting vegetarian menu has to be commended, especially over 5 courses.

I will return to Village East, because I'm certain they will have more hits than misses. in any event it is a lovely place to go and eat.
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Loheswaran Amirthananthar - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Thursday, February 14, 2008

This place is doing a good job. It is not trying too hard to be a restaurant and that is a plus. Gastropubs need to recognise their strengths and this place does, it makes good use of the bars up front and the eating areas are funky and earthy in equal measure.

The food is good, if not over complex. We had steaks and fish, both cooked really well and the portions are ample. If it has a failing, it is that perhaps it is a couple of quid too expensive, and like most other places these days the desserts are too expensive at £6, for quite small desserts.

However, on balance, this place is a good little find and they deserve their success, we had a nice meal, good service and the atmosphere was pleasent too.

Get yourself down to the neighbourhood, it is a good place to hang out and there are some good bars up the road.
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Karl
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 6
Sunday, February 03, 2008

One of my favourite resturants in London.

Resonable well priced with an excellant vibrant atmosphere and very trendy feel. We found the service to be excellant. This resturant is very trendy and chic without trying to hard. Perfect place to take girl for dinner and drinks.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Friday, January 18, 2008

Loved this place. Took my parents here for dinner and after a very satisfactory meal of the freshest of oysters and perfectly-cooked chateaubriand, we shared a delicious lemon tart. They were so impressed that they requested we return for dinner again before they left. We returned a week later and indulged in a cocktail or two before some more of those gorgeous oysters and a selection of the other menu items. I very much enjoyed the "house" salad with fillet steak and my father loved his calamari and chorizo salad. My boyfriend was a big fan of the foie gras burger and my mum enjoyed her fish. Another successful meal! Don't remember the service as being fabulous nor terrible - but that's good enough for me given the quality of the food and the reasonable prices. It's become a convenient favourite!
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AP
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Saturday, November 24, 2007

Being a resident in London's finest postcode I had high hopes for Village East when it opened because the area beyond the market suffers for quality places to eat. For the short term it delivered and boxes were ticked.

The menu changed on a regular basis, the front house staff were pleasant and the whole experience was tinged with an element quality.

Recently though, the last few times I have visted the place was slipping in terms of quality.

However after visiting last Sunday I can confirm that this place has well and truly fallen of my map. The place was a shambles. Some of the waiting staff didn't understand english, they clearly struggled to take our order accurately and were very rude. I was in a party of 6 and we all opted for the roast lamb option at £12 a go. The food was awful, the tiny piece of lamb were undercooked and caked in fat, the two tiny roast potatoes and a the sprig of spinach were stone cold.

When we complained, it was met with an argument from our waiter. A major row ensued between two other waiters at another table and then it kicked off in the kitchen. Our waiter dissapeared and we saw her moments later walk out crying.

Shame because this place has the potential be great and it's in freefall at the moment.

Not planning to go back anytime soon.
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Ollie Watson
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, November 07, 2007

I've been twice at Villageast and it is a very nice place.

The first time I just had a couple of drinks in the bar area; the second time I also had dinner with five friends.

The atmosphere, in my opinion, is at least wonderful.

The service was pretty good even if it was a busy Saturday night, the waitress was really professional and friendly.

What about the food? You won't believe if you don't go there...

It's definitely one of the finest restaurant I've ever been to in all London!

Actually the price wasn't so affordable, but you have to decide if: you are ready to spend for a good service, nice atmosphere and wonderful cuisine.

I'll go there even this weekend I think.
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Raphael
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Thursday, September 13, 2007

I went there twice for breakfast/brunch on the week end with my boyfriend. the first time was on a sunday, it was fully packed so we had to sit at a big table in the bar area (which didn't seem to be in any waiter sections...) so the service was not that good and a mistake was made with one of our dishes (but was replaced) but the food was really good. I tried the eggs florentine (really good), the squid & chorizo salad (good although a bit greasy) and my boyfriend had a chicken sandwich. the second time we went was on a saturday and we actually were the only table in the restaurant so the service was much better, our waitress was lovely. We both had the eggs royal and it was really good as well. The prices are (for brunch) are really reasonable (eggs are around 5-6£). Will definitly go back.
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caroline - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Friday, September 07, 2007

We had a dismal time at Village East after having High expectations it was a let down.

While it did have a good atmosphere in the bar, when we moved to the resturant it was another matter - the service was inadequate we waited 45 mins for pudding when a) the resturant was not that full and b) the puddings chosen didn't require anything more than putting them on a plate??

The menu was interesting with a good variety, but the dishes themselves for the prices being charged - were very common I would rather spend that same money going to a resturant like the Ivy for quality. For most of the Mains extra dishes were required to supplement them.

I'm not sure that the impressive sounding Tiger Prawns with Chilli and Melon (which was an exciting taste combination) could be included in the Mains with only 3 Prawns.

The Duck was done very well medium rare and really very good, although again it was not in itself a complete course, nor the chicken.

The puddings were definitely lack luster in reality although as with the rest of the menu sounded good on paper. I had the Lemon Tart with Dragon Fruit puree and clotted cream, the lemon did not hit the right notes of sweetness and tartness, the pastry was bland and the dragon fruit puree tasted off and not as dragon fruit should.

A very underwhelming meal! With so many wonderful good value resturants this is not one I shall frequent again.
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sarah
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Friday, June 29, 2007

Went there last night -our 3rd visit. Took friends from Aus. Place very buzzy and fun. Atmosphere great. Had prior arranged the round table which is by far the best for a group as easier to talk [have to say the acoustics arn't great but you expect that from all the hard surfaces]. The food was as usual imaginative with a pretty good selection, although I've had better on the other occassions. My choice wasn't perfect as I had the brown prawn Caesar salad which was OKish -wouldn't have it again. Main was better and everyone else seemed to enjoy theirs. Nothing was left on the plates!

The table service though was dire -nothing short of plain rude. The first mistake was when the waiter served out pieces of French bread to us all but missed out one person. He'd randomly given either 1 or 2 pieces and so we imagined that he'd perhaps run out, but when he didn't return we just shared the pieces amongst us -no real problem.

The main courses arrived almost half an hour after the starters which seemed a long time but happily we were chatting so much no-one really noticed.I'd ordered Steak for my main which stated it came with Frites. At first I had just the steak sitting lonely on the plate so i asked for the fries which I was toold were coming. Literally 3 mins passed & when nothing appeared I started my now congelling steak. I asked again and was rebuffed. On the 3rd request I stated that I'd prefer them with the last mouthful rather than with the pudding, and they duly arrived.

It was our fault that we didn't remember vegetables were extra, but it would have been helpful if the waiter had reminded us when he took our order. After the frites fiasco I didn't really want to embark on a veg quest but one of our party was keen to have green beans. When they arrived we all rather felt that we'd have prefered not to have bothered as they were dry and not appetising.

I would go back, but not until I have word that the service has improved. It's not inexpensive but it's very handy and a good local place for us.
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, June 27, 2007

I have just arrived home after an amazing evening with 3 other friends of mine at Village east. We arrived just befor 8pm and got sitted by a rather attentive and proffesional waitress. To our amazement, we got offered a well presented and very tasty Amuse bouche by the new head chef . The scallop and pancetta salad with apsparagus and tomato fondu was out of this world and the duck with rosemary potato went down better than any duck dish iether of us have had anywhere in London...and we have been to a lot of top restaurants.

The entire evening was an experience and we can wait to go back and dine there again.

Top class food in a top class environment. Great design and a great pleasure !
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A Hewitt
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Thursday, April 19, 2007