J. Sheekey

A follow up to my below email, in the interests of fairness: I called up and spoke to the manager, who took my disappointment very seriously and investigated it fully and offered to make amends. At least it shows they take their customers' complaints seriously (proves that it's always worth taking the matter up with the manager, especially if you don't get a reply to emails: that way you know how seriously they take it, and ti gives them a chance to put things right)
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Nick
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, January 23, 2008

I went here recently. First, the waiter brought us the wrong orders (when I helpfully pointed this out, there wasn't even an apology). When my bream came, I pointed out that it was patently undercooked, as there was a big blob of blood in the middle (nice..). This was taken away, again, without apology.

When it came, it was tepid (odd, if they reheated it)..We both agreed that both our meals were bland (there was not a single "herb" on my fish, contrary to the description on the menu..), and both fish dishes were bland and underwhelming.

A great disappointment, especially at the prices they charge (I wrote to the restaurant too but no acknowledgment). Save your money and go elsewhere, is my advice.
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Nick
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

My Mother is over from New Zealand, and so I decided to take her to what has been described as a very good seafood restaurant. There were four of us booked in for dinner.

Having been seated at our table, the waiter asked straight away what we would like to drink, not having shown us a drinks menu or anything of the like. We asked if we could have a few minutes to decide and finally after 10 minutes had to call the waiter back to take our order.

We ordered Starter and Mains, and also a £45 bottle of wine. Our starters were so so, rubbery shellfish for me, and the other 3 not so bad overall.

Our Mains arrived, with both myself and my Mother having the Brill. Having never had Brill before, and not wanting to make a fool of myself, I didn't say anything regarding the texture of my fish. Subsequently, I have now confirmed that both of our fish were well over cooked, hence the tasteless food I ate.

After seeing the waiter top up our glasses from the second bottle of wine, we all noted that there was at least 3 inches of wine left. When I finally asked again for our waiter to top up our glasses with the remaining wine, we were informed that it was finished. This was blatant robbery, obviously seeking for us to purchase a third bottle.

The waiter cleared all four of our plates from the same place at the table, reaching across both of our guests as they cleared the far side of the table.

When laying down our individual courses, the cutlery was laid back to front, Fork on the right and so on, and finally our coffee was cold.

Having spent over £400.00 on what should have been a more than memorable experience, I have to say that I was very dissapointed with both the food and the service. There is no way I would recommend J Sheekey to anyone, even if it was going to be free!!
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Warren Roodt
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

I have been to J Sheekey’s on a few occasions with business and have always found the food and table service to be excellent. That being the case, I decided to take my girlfriend to the restaurant one evening after work and can honestly say I won’t bother going again!

Why the change of heart, food not good, service not good?

The reason was down to none of the above but the snobbery and pretentious manner of the desk staff on the reception.

I had booked a table for 17.30 on a Monday evening and arrived at the restaurant at 17.15. The door was locked and it wasn’t until five minutes of knocking even got the girl on reception to lift her head and acknowledge that people, by now around six, were waiting outside. Eventually one of the waitresses answered the door and explained that they were still clearing up from the previous sitting and that we could not come in. As it was December and -3’c I asked if we could have a drink at the bar. When, after shouting three or four times, the waitress got a reaction from the front desk, the answer was ‘no’ and with that the door was shut in our faces.

Given that my meal for two would probably have netted the restaurant about £120, I walked off in disgust.

J Sheekey’s is nice but at the end of the day it lives of its reputation and that means that they don’t have to bother too much about customer satisfaction. If you don’t book to go again, they won’t worry as someone else will.

One day that chain of people will run out!

I did write a letter of complaint to the restaurant and low and behold I never even had an acknowledgment. It was probably read by the same pretentious, snotty girl on the front desk!
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James Petty
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Friday, January 18, 2008

I am very surprised by the negative reviews. I took my girlfriend for her birthday. Classy restaurants are not something I can usually afford but it was a special occasion. As it was a restaurant not of my usual standard I was feeling slightly out of place at first but the waitress who was serving my table was very nice and easy to talk to ans she made us both feel very comfortable. We ordered griddled tiger prawns as a starter and they were absolutely magnificent. Then for the main courses my girlfriend oredered salmon with creamed spinach and i ordered grilled lobster. The salmon was a very large piece and was very tender. The lobster was equally tasty, it had been seasoned with garlic and butter and after a while that did get quite overwhelming. Apart from that i was very pleased with the food. Albeit its very pricey but you have to expect that when you go to a restaurant like that. One other thing I wanted to add that may not be that significant to many, but the orange juice is the best orange juice iv ever had, it tastes so fresh almost as if you were drinking out of an orange with a straw.
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Mamota
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Monday, January 07, 2008

Ate here post opera and on the occasion of my wife's birthday. While the food was fine, we were placed at a table next to two diners one of who was clearly a former member of staff - possibly the head pastry chef - and both being 'in the industry' as it were.

Well, there is nothing quite like being subjected to the bitchy behind-the-scenes politics of a restaurant to put you off a place: various member of staff came to pay their respects to our distinguished neighbor and would each, in-turn rubbish one or more of their colleagues. Unprofessional you might think. When added to the clearly absent-minded waitress who decided to dilute our rather expensive wine with the water - no apology or recompense offered - we left with the impression of an establishment taking at least these paying customers, for granted.

We will not return.
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Pete Heller
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 4
Thursday, January 03, 2008

I have to agree with many of the negative reviews below. I ate there with three friends after the theatre on a Friday night. The food was nothing special, but the service was terrible.

When we arrived, the maitre d' made a comment about our being late (we weren't), but we still had to wait 20 minutes for our table in a very small and over-crowded bar. The service, although never actually rude, was hurried and unprofessional (side dishes forgotten, wine/water glasses not topped up) and we had such difficulty attracting the staff's attention that we we weren't able to order wine until our starters had arrived. Insult was added to injury when the bill came and included a bottle of champagne that we had not ordered. The waiter did not apologise for the error (in fact, he treated us with suspicion) until he had consulted with a colleague and found someone else to charge it to.

I feel that Sheekey's is a restaurant trading on its reputation. I wouldn't recommend it and, as there are far better places to eat in London, I won't be returning.
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Monday, December 17, 2007

I come here a lot (well, as much as my bank manager will let me) and having read some of the comments below, thought that I might chip in with a review of my own.

I am particularly surprised at the comments about attitide and service, although I do understand the points being made. It's true that this place is always rammed and so the waiter to punter ratio is not quite as good as it could be. However, I don't believe that it's through lack of desire to please or be professional.

Most recently, I took a late table for six last week to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday. We were made to wait for 40 minutes before the management were forced to ask the people currently entrenched at our table to leave. They were extremely apologetic when we did finally sit down and in addition to making a special dessert for the birthday girl, gave us one of our bottles of wine for free. This is consistent with the good service I have received on previous visits.

The food is always very good, provided you stick to what you like and we have always been well advised about specials and wine. It's not cheap, but then again few places in London of any standard are cheap nowadays.

You clearly pay for the warm and clubby atmosphere which is probably the strongest selling point - the nice feel punctured only occasionally by the bray of an inebriated trustafarian with pater's black Amex. I would still recommend this place.
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James - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, December 12, 2007

I'm stunned at some of the reviews below... My wife took me to J. Sheekey's for my birthday last night, and the whole experience was totally superb - I would go so far as to call it almost fautless.

From the sommelier recommending wines that were reasonably priced, to the pacing of the meal (starter served really quickly, but then a wonderfully judged interval between subsequent courses so as to leave sufficient time to enjoy them and to allow our food to digest), to the attentive but not overbearing waitress who looked after our section - everything was truly first rate.

The food itself was sublime. The dressed crab to start was sumptuous and yet light, the mains were delicious (although, if I am to mark down ever so slightly, I'd say my sole was a little buttery while my wife's cod was ever so slightly underdone... but I'm really picking here), and the signature dessert - honeycomb ice-cream and chocolate sauce... well, it has claimed 1st equal spot in my permanent contest of "the best dessert I've ever eaten".

Even the atmosphere was warm and relaxed and, despite the fact that we knew that our table had a time-limit on it (8pm - 10.30 pm), we never once felt that we were being rushed. The only irritation was a rude man on the next table who thought it was appropriate to answer his mobile phone during his meal. What an oaf - but hardly J. Sheekey's fault!

It's not the cheapest (I don't know exactly what my wife paid, but I'm guessing at around £70-80 per person including wine & service), but my goodness, you get what you pay for.

I wouldn't hesitate to return, or to recommend it to others.
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Matt
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Thursday, December 06, 2007

Recommended by our hotel concierge, 5 of us went for a pre-show dinner. Great meal with good service in a nice ambience. Despite the restaurant being full, the food was served piping hot by friendly and swift waiting staff. The wine list provided a good choice to suit most palates and budgets. We each thoroughly enjoyed our meal and came away saying we would return. Appx £300 for 5 people: 3 courses, 4 bottles of water, 1 bottle mid-range wine.
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David
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, December 05, 2007