The Providores

Prior to my visit last night I had been the Providores several times and always felt it was a safe bet for great inventive and quality food with a superb wine list. However, I was somewhat disappointed last night by a recent menu change for small parties that I believe is somewhat naive and left me wondering if I will ever go back. When my friend and I sat down we were informed that as a small party we were limited to choosing off a new tapas style menu rather than the standard starter/main a la carte format. The price was £29 for 2 courses, £42 for 3 etc.

We didn't have an issue with the concept of the menu change and all the courses were well presented and tasty. But after a succession of canape size portions came and went we had quickly racked up £42 each on food feeling hungrier than when we had arrived. We eventually gave up and went elsewhere for a main.

We tried to provide some feedback to our waiter who was somewhat disinterested. As a proud Kiwi I have always been a great supporter of the Providores so would urge the owners to have a menu rethink or at least increase the size or its portions. Until then, if you want some delicious food and great wine but also to lose some inches of your waist line: the Providores is the place for you!
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Olly
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 1
Thursday, July 31, 2008

Reading some of these reviews I guess my colleague and I were lucky. Yes it was a tight fit downstairs, yes the service was just O.K. (except for great help in chosing brandy) but the food was very good (only my lamb was a little disappointing - but then we came down from Lancashire, gods' own country, where the local lamb is the world's best and a hard act to top). The starters were good, the pork belly very tasty, the desserts outrageously good. It was expensive and that will put lots of people off, but hey, we were on ex's so it didn't really matter to us (sorry).
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Sparky Mark
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Monday, June 09, 2008

My partner and I went to Providores last night for dinner. We had a great time. The food was excellent, especially the lamb which was mouthwatering! The combination of flavours in both of our mains were exhilerating and novel. We would highly recommend the mix of sorbets for dessert, the rhubarb one was out of this world, evoking desire for bags of sweets that you've never quite had.

The atmosphere was perfect for catching up, intimate and subtle. The service whilst not excellent, was pitched about right for our evening, lots of room, never intrusive, quietly attentive. Whilst the meal wasn't cheap, it was worth the money for the quality and ambience. Would highly recommend it for couples.
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Rebecca Burton
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I have been to this restaurant twice. The first time around, we didn't find the service particularly impressive, just cool and uninterested. The second time, it was full of incompetence, downright rudeness and very much lacking in penitence.

First, the person who took our coats did not utter a single welcome or smile (she later turned out to be the manager). Secondly, when we walked into the dining area, a waitress pointed us to a table right next to the door. Space was tight and there was a lot of traffic in the aisle, and spotting another table further in, we asked for that. She just said no. When we asked "why not", she said simply that it had not been set up. That was plain lazy and simply inexcusable. We asked her to set it up and said we would wait.

The manager came bustling in and said: "your table is here" (NB: no "madam" or "please have a seat"). We told her another table was being set up. The manager was clearly not pleased at being inconvenienced in this way and said in a huff: "then can you take a seat here until your table is ready because we have food passing through". Again, this was not the way to speak to customers. We didn't exactly walk into a hamburger place.

When our starters were served, one of our party did not receive his dish. I asked the waitress where it was. She went to the manager, whom we overheard saying: "shit! I took it to the wrong table!" Neither manager nor waitress apologised for this mistake. The waitress just came back and said: it'll be ten minutes. Although I knew what had happened, I asked what went wrong, and it was only then that she admitted they'd screwed up. Again, she did not say sorry.

When taking our main orders, the manager specifically asked if we would like any side dishes and we ordered a salad. Needless to say, this never turned up.

On the whole: huffy, incompetent, lazy, impolite service. If even the manager doesn't know how to treat guests, I'm not surprised the rest of the staff doesn't either. Change your manager, people. Because just good food doesn't cut it. London is full of good restaurants and you will get return customers only if you're nice to them.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Friday, February 29, 2008

The worse place I've ever eaten in London. 2 glasses of red wine, 4 tapas: 80 pounds. Tapas had bad taste, the ambiance was noisy. Definitely to avoid.
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François
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Great place to eat for dinner for two or groups. Me and my partner ate upstairs. The food isnt cheap but is definatly worth paying for. We had starters, main, desert, 1 cocktail each and a bottle of wine..total cost was £190. The food was VERY tasty and you could taste the quality with each forkfull!! A very varied wine list with lots of choice- the staff were extremely helpful- i am not clued up on my wines so the staff gave us a taste of 5 different types to make sure we had the best bottle to suit our tastes. Service was great and staff were very knowledgable about the food and wine. The restauraunt was nice but lacked a bit of atmosphere- if you want music and a fun atmosphere you can always go downstairs to the tapas area for a drink afterwards. All in all, a great place to eat and would go again if the funds allow!!
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Lisa Houghton
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Hi. Thought I'd try this place together with a hot chick. But, man I got disappointed on this one (the restaurant, not the girl if you know what I mean). We didn't have a booking for downstairs and happily agreed to wait 10-15 minutes having a Cocktail. Meanwhile more people turned up and the waiter forgot to seat some and arbitrarily picked others (mostly girls) and seated them. So I spoke to him and he said that he was trying to secure us a 'better' table. 10min later we were finale 'chosen' to be seated at a very mediocre table. Go figure! Anyway, the cocktails were small. We only had 2 small starters to share, 2 glasses of wine and the 2 cocktails. Total bill came to over £80. Mind you this is almost 200 Aussie Dollars for literally a few drinks and a snack. The atmosphere was OK for London but not worth the investment. Believe me, you should rather go and have a Burger with Extra-Rhubarb for £6 at the Walkabouts and then take the girl to The International for a cocktail.
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Shane Warne
Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Been there a few times, and although I see where the bad reviews could come from, I've always had a great time, although you need to be prepared to pay for the experience.

Skip the formal restaurant upstairs (it's definitely overpriced for the quality of the cooking and service) and stick with the relaxed, no-booking Tapa Room on the ground floor. There's always a buzzy atmosphere, a fantastic (although expensive) New Zealand wine list - possibly the best Kiwi choice in London - and an unusual menu of small, intricate tapa dishes in combinations that you simply won't find anywhere else.

Desserts and the coffee (flat white) highlights.
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Monday, October 22, 2007

I ate in Providores last Friday and had a very dissappointing (and expensive) experience. The initial service was good, but when the dishes started turning up we found them to be overcomplicated and the 'fusion' mix of flavours sometimes quite unpleasant. But as it approached 11 o'clock the experience turned into a nightmare - the staff literally couldn't wait to get rid of us (just after they'd prompted us to buy another bottle of wine). When I sent back a plate of totally dry and inedible pork belly, they said that because the kitchen was closing that the Chef hadn't had time to cook it properly. They offered us free desserts (which we didn't have time to eat as the restaurant was closed around us), but the rejected dish still appeared on the bill at the end.

So, after spending over £50 each on some very indifferent food, we were made to feel so unwelcome by the staff that we had no alternative but to leave. I would not recommend this place to anybody.
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Duncan Robert
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 1
Monday, June 04, 2007

Had a fantastic and very leisurely brunch there on Saturday. Yes, it's expensive but the food was extremely good, as were juices, coffees and a nice drop of fizz... Only let down was the unsmiling, inattentive waiter; the right service could have made this perhaps the best place to go for brunch in London.
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Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Monday, April 16, 2007