Smollensky's Metro Bar and Grill (Richmond)

Myself and a group of 12 spent a Saturday night at the Richmond Smollensky's Metro celebrating my wife's birthday.

I have no complaints about the staff and the assistance and service they offered throughout the night. They were great.

The food however does require comment.

We have eaten at various other Smollensky's branches and therefore have a benchmark from which to base expectations.

In comparison to other branches and other competitors, the food was simply not good enough.

The burgers were acceptable but the side-order of fries was the smallest helping I have ever encountered. Unfairly small. This was the same for everybody who ordered fries.

For a burger and side order of fries exceeding £10, one should not walk away from the table peckish as was the case.

One of our party ordered the minute steak burger with caramelised onions only to discover the chef had decided to just put standard raw onions on instead!!

Another person ordered the cannelloni that arrived 10 minutes after everyone else's meal and was very very spicy. Not what you would expect from cannelloni.

The salads whilst not cheap were the biggest let down. The smallest portions of meat on top of limp basic lettuce and not much else, which left all those who ordered them unsatisfied and disappointed.

To many wrongs on one night to really consider going back for a second chance, especially in cut-throat London where there are so many other options available.
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Graeme
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Friday, September 29, 2006

My husband and I were visiting for the weekend, and went to Smollenskys on the Saturday night. We didn't have reservations, but were seated after approximately 20 minutes (not a problem, as we had drinks while we waited). The evening was going well (good food and service) right up until a large group of young men came and sat in the booth next to us, proceeding to be loud and raucous, and ordering just 2 bowls of fries between them. This in itself wouldn't have been a problem, if we hadn't completely lost the attention of our waitress, who proceeded to ignore us for the rest of the evening, as she seemed to be more interested in chatting to her friends, rather than serving us. What a shame, they were doing so well up until that point. A complaint to the manager did not help, he seemed intent on blaming the failure of the tills (complete nonsense - this does not have a bearing on a waitresses attitude) rather than listening to our reservations with a fair ear. Needless to say, we didn't leave a tip, and will not be visiting again.
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Katie & Phil
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, July 12, 2006