Lost Society

My review is a slightly unusual one - I'm reviewing from the point of view of our office party. About 20 odd of us rocked up for a sit down dinner and then some drinking.

Expectations are always a bit low with these mass catered jollies - usually it's chips on the way home after a choice of salmon or beef.

True, we did have to pre-order, but there was a decent selection to pick from.

...and when we turned up, WoW! I have never had a mass-catered party meal as good as this one - it was as good a meal as i've had when i've been dining with just a couple of people a la carte.

If you're thinking of having a lot of people for a meal, and you do care about the quality of what you'll get, based on my experience you should book Lost Society - I really enjoyed it!
Comment on this reader review

rob bassett - View all reviews by this user
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, January 11, 2012

We were invited here by a friend for her birthday and initial impressions were good, the decor is interesting and well presented. Unfortunately things fell apart fast, the server was barely able to understand our orders and it took 45 mins to get a glass of water. While the main meals were ok the portion sizes were tiny, and the deserts were a joke. Eton mess desserts came out in a glass so tiny that it was literally 2 spoonfuls and you were done, not even enough to satisfy the most anorexic of women. The final blow for the evening was when later arrivers who had been put on the guest list were turned away bu the bouncers saying they had to line up (45 minute wait). Apparently the guest list only operates until 9:00pm, but our dinner started at 9:30 and this was not explained beforehand. Management were not terribly helpful and resulted in some guests missing a large portion of the evening. To summarise, average food, poor management, difficult to get in.
Comment on this reader review

Simon - View all reviews by this user
4 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Sunday, August 07, 2011

Great time at the weekend, the food we had was superb and whilst it was busy the standard of service was very high. Can't wait to sample the Blind Tiger menu in the coming weeks.
Comment on this reader review

Brendan Hawkins
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, September 06, 2010

I booked a table at Lost Society in Clapham for a group of eight of us on 30 June.

I booked well in advance, at least two weeks. When we arrived and were shown to our table, I mentioned that I had booked through Taste London. The lady that seated us informed me that the booking was not through Taste London because the Taste London form had not been filled in!, I said I had definitely mentioned Taste London when I had booked and had even had a conversation about there being more than six of us, (I had asked how it would work with the deal and was told that the deal would be for 6 of us, and the others would pay full price!) The lady that seated us went off to check again and actually telephoned her colleague, with whom I had made the booking, she returned to say that she had checked again and her colleague had told her that there had been no Taste London booking made, and it was my word against hers! I couldn't believe it and asked to speak to the manager, she informed me that she was the manager! I said if she was the manager then she could surely see that a mistake had been made by the person that took the booking, as the main reason we had chosen Lost Society was because of The Taste London deal! She again repeated that it was my word against her colleagues and that she wasn’t able to change the booking as some form had not been filled out. I said I didn’t understand why she couldn’t just accept that I had booked under Taste London and accept that a mistake had been made, but she said if she did that for us she would have to do it for everyone that turned up with a Taste London card! I said we could go somewhere else, she replied, “go then” and went back downstairs.

By this stage we all had ordered cocktails and were mulling over what we should do, when she arrived back, she said she had decided that she would give us the half price off Taste London deal, we thanked her and accepted although we were still blown away by her confrontational behavior and the fact she was implying that I was a liar. As the evening went on, we were all enjoying the cocktails and had had our starters which were ok.

Our main course arrived, (I ordered the Sea Bream with truffle potatoes and broccoli) When it arrived, it had a strange aroma, like burnt cabbage, I tasted the fish, it was hard and very over cooked, the broccoli was mush and slightly grey, the potatoes were over cooked and shriveled and the sauce tasted like something out of a packet, yellowish and pasty, the whole dish was totally disgusting. I asked one of my friends to taste it, she did and agreed that it was inedible and another friend would only sniff it but refused to taste it but agreed that it smelt foul. I called the waiter over and explained that the food didn’t taste nice at all. He said he would go and see someone but left my plate on the table, it was left there for 10 minutes before the manager arrived back upstairs, but she didn’t come to see me straight away, instead one of my friends had to go and get her. I explained to her that the food wasn’t nice and everything on the plate had the same strange taste. She said that I was taking things personally and she believed that there was nothing wrong with the food, I was flabbergasted and told her that she was being completely unprofessional and I couldn’t believe what she was insinuating. She then went on to say, ‘well what would you like me to do’ I asked her to taste the food if she didn’t believe me but she refused to taste or smell it! She said, ‘what do you want” do you want another dish, do you want me to take this away. I asked her to take it away but didn’t accept another dish. When we got the bill the Sea Bream was on it so I had to ask her to take it off and she started arguing with me again, saying that I had asked her to leave it on the bill which would be ridiculous as I hadn’t eaten it. When we were leaving, I went to see her, and told her that she was the the most unprofessional, confrontational restaurant manager that I had ever met, she replied that she didn’t care what I thought and when I told her that she had ruined what was supposed to be a fantastic celebratory night out for us, she replied that she didn’t want us sort of people in there anyway. Is she then saying that people using ‘Taste London’ are under the heading ‘you sort of people’? When I asked her what kind of people she meant, she walked away. Obviously none of us will go back there again, a shame really as it is a nice place and the cocktails were good. But I do think this lady has chosen the wrong career and shouldn't be let loose on the general public.
Comment on this reader review

Geraldine Purcell-Lynch
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Monday, July 05, 2010

Had a lovely dinner on Wednesday night at Lost Society.. The menu was nice with a pretty good selection, but I think the highlight of the place is the decor. Exposed wooden beams merged with funky furniture: nice balance for a chilled evening. Will definitely be coming back again.
Comment on this reader review

Milly
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Had a lovely dinner on Wednesday night at Lost Society. The menu was nice with a pretty good selection, but I think the highlight of the place is the decor. Exposed wooden beams merged with funky furniture: nice balance for a chilled evening. Will definitely be coming back again.
Comment on this reader review

Milly
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Went with friends this weekend, had a lovely time. Had dinner on an early sitting, then moved downstairs to the bar where we drank and danced. All in all very, very good. Only fault would be the queue for the toilets, but thats always the way in a busy place!!!
Comment on this reader review

Leigh Brown
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, March 15, 2010

Disgusting. As a loyal customer of this bar for many years, I was shocked and appalled by the service offered on New Years Eve.

When I dared to question why the bar was closed from 11.40pm until 12.15am (defeating purpose of a NYE party), I was bluntly told to leave if I didn't like it, because ''us bar staff have to enjoy our night too''.

Enjoy it, sure. Take a ticket entry fee and then refuse to serve is unacceptable.

This bar has lost my, and many others custom as a result of this terrible experience.
Comment on this reader review

1 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Monday, January 04, 2010