Dans le Noir

Great concept and experience but service here from the "seeing" front of house staff was terrible. Our blind waiter was lovely once we actually got to our table at 9:45 (45 minutes past our booking time of 9pm). Our 3 course meal was however rushed through in an hour (food was average). It was so noisy we couldn't really hold a conversation and other people were sitting far too close next to us. I doubt people would accept the seating proximity in a normal restaurant but we accept it because we can't actually see how crammed in we are!

When we left the dark room it then took 30 minutes to pay the bill. When we complained about the 45 minute wait to get to our table the girl processing our payment had the audacity to say, quote "because the waiters and waitresses are blind, it takes them a long time to clear and re-set the tables so if we are running late it is their fault". Well surely if that is the case, this should be factored in and they shouldn't be accepting bookings for timeslots that are simply unachievable!

This restaurant seems only concerned about making money from one off visitors as it does not care about it's customers and the "seeing" staff have a lot to learn about service, surprising considering all the front of house staff were French.

Get yourself some blackout blinds and have your friends around for dinner in the dark in your own home, it will be much more enjoyable!!
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Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Thursday, July 03, 2008

my friends and i went there for the concept, even though i did expect the food to be good due to the photos on the website (gorgeously styled fusion cuisine). the price on the french website fools you (it says you pay 31 but in fact you end up putting down an extra 8,50 for two courses and water) the water came from the tap too.. superiority complex?

it was very scary in the beginning because youre trying to make eye contact with anything and you cant. so i suggest if youre scared blindfold yourself with..anything( my friend had nothing but her bra) this will help you psychologically. in the middle it got fun as we chatted to the people next to us. i dont see why the other reviews see this as a problem, though it wasnt what i had imagined. i imagined a snug romantic and above all chic place.individual tables and such. this was more like a mass canteen.

peas in the main course?? and i thought the other thing was carrots. luckily they didnt go so far. heh. the guy opposite of me spilt the water jug onto my plate. but i agree with the rest that the food was bad. and you really are fooled by your senses. i thought i ate a coquille st jacques but it turned out to be a massive shrimp. haha how could i have been so mistaken, i usually fancy myself as quite a fish connaisseur : )
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 2
Monday, June 23, 2008

We went to Dans Le Noir in a fairly big group- 15 people. Unfortunately I didnt actually get into the restaurant as I was too angry with the incompetence and rudeness of the staff. It seems that as you have the 'privilege' of eating in the dark the staff feel that they are doing you a favour by being there. Firstly, our table was booked for 9pm but it was 10.15pm before we were called to sit down- plenty of time for us to buy the over-priced drinks in the bar.

We were told that we would be sitting on two tables and the Maitre'D went on to call out a list that he'd created, which dictated who we sat next to. As someone who was a bit daunted about going into the pitch black I was placed between two people I didnt know- you'd have thought I'd have asked him to kill someone when I asked to be moved. After much tutting and sighing he finally allowed me to sit where I wanted to. We then were given a slightly embarrassing and highly patronising lecture about keeping the noise down whilst we were in there.

Unfortunately, by this point I'd had enough and decided to leave - I won't accept that level of customer service at ANY restaurant, whether I eat in the light or the dark! Those that decided to carry on enjoyed the experience and said the food was ok, it was just a shame that the customer service let this restaurant down so much.
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kylie
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Thursday, May 29, 2008

Fantastic! Unbelievably fantastic! The best food ever. Wine to die for. Everyone in the dark and no predujiced thoughts. it was John Lennons "Imagine" come to life. I almost wept for joy over the amazing delicious food and the people nearby had obviously been many times too. I want to move in. My friends cant wait to go.
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codie bill
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, May 21, 2008

This is the most overpriced restaurant I have ever been to. the food is quite unbelievably mediocre. It is not disimilar to school canteen food only luckily you can't see what you're eating. I would not recommend this mainly because it will set you back more than £40 per person for very little. There are several GREAT restaurants in London where this amount of money will get you a lot more. The restaurant is a gimmick - not the assault on the taste senses we were expecting.
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Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Definately a cool experience - you can't believe that your eyes never become accustomed to the dark - but definately don't go expecting good food or a chance for a private chat. It is really really loud - people seem to overcompensate and you can really only hear the person beside you. Food is pretty bad - one of the meats was so fatty you ended up pulling it out of your mouth (luckily no one can see such yucky behaviour) and trying to avoid eating any more. Jelly for dessert? Fine if you are not paying £30 for the priviledge. Wine terribly overpriced and not that great (£22 for house wine?) Also, atmosphere in the 'lit' bar is non-existent and we were told we would need to wait 15 minutes to be seated but ordering drinks in the interim seemed to be an issue. We had to stand outside the lockers as there was only a few seats and apparently we couldn't take our glasses outside and stand in the sun.

Waiters great, different experience - but only go for the novelty , prepare for bad food and large prices, and you should avoid disappointment.
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Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Thursday, May 08, 2008

Great experience and very good service - if you want to do something different then this is it - food was dreadful though (mashed potato and fried peppers/mushrooms for the main course) and the bill was over £100 for two. Go along for the fun if you don't mind paying over the odds for the food!
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Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 2
Sunday, April 20, 2008

Considering everyone eats in the dark and the focus is therefore on the taste/texture/smell of the food; I have no idea why the stuff they serve up is such a pile of c r * p. The night I went, one amusing fellow diner whom I spoke with outside once the meal was over and I'd decided that i needed to start smoking again after 5 years of quitting in order to get rid of the bed taste it left in my mouth, described it as a birds eye take away dinner. I couldn't agree more. I loved the concept, but the food is disappointingly bad.
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Chez - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Monday, April 14, 2008

Wonderful concept enacted with distain for the customer.

I should have seen the problems coming when I approached the bar to find a display of dead flowers, a weird bar man who served me a "surprise" glass of undrinkable red wine. After complaining he acknowledged that wine was very dry (I would have said vinegary) and replaced it with a slightly less awful wine that I couldn't finish. The comments in the customer book were another warning!

The blind waiter was fantastic and the sensory deprivation was very interesting BUT the eating experience was awful. We were too close to our neighbours and the food was disgusting! I had the fish menu but as I asked for no shell fish I was basically served the same starter and main course. At the time I thought it was my imagination and I must be mistaken but the details afterwards confirmed it. My partner hardly ate any of her meal.

You must pay a premium for the experience but never the less you do not get what you pay for. They are obviously assuming people will come for the novelty value and would never come back even if the food and drink were excellent. The individual staff are pleasant enough but it seems to be run as though they couldn't be bothered to please the customer.

Shame!
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Ian R
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Don't expect a quiet or romantic dinner at this place.... You seat on a long table next to people that you don't know and you barely have space to open your arms.

The worst about this place is the noise.... you can't hear the person in front of you and if you are unlucky you sit next to a big group that will ruin your dinner... The food is ok. Clearly overated and too expensive for what it is.
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Rui
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 2
Sunday, March 02, 2008