Northbank Restaurant & Bar review by HP
Spurred on by great reviews in the press, 3 of us went for lunch at Northbank last Saturday.
It certainly has a great setting - just the other side of the river from the Tate Modern, the Globe, and Borough Market.
The menu looked promising, too. In fact everything did - until we ordered. From that point on, the waiting spoiled the whole experience. Admittedly, I sat out starters while my companions tucked in - but they waited about half an hour for their food. By the time our mains came along, I'd been waiting an hour and a half since ordering.... And it wasn't as if they were busy - there were about 30 people in there during the whole time we were there (about 3 hours). I dread to think what service is like when (if?) the place is full.
The food was competent, but not spectacular. It was all well cooked - including a very tasty piece of sea bream, which was beautifully moist - but lacked any real finesse or wow factor.
Between us, then we had mussels in cider and bacon, and devilled kidneys for starters; then pan-fried seabream with sauteed squid on a bed of braised fennel, lamb stew and dumplings, and roasted cod on creamed lentils for mains; followed by sticky toffee pudding, and date and custard tart for desserts.
All the dishes were, we agreed, variously 'fine', 'ok', or 'quite good', but none of us raved about any of them, either.
At £102 in all (including 2 glasses of wine, 2 bottles of water, and 2 coffees), it wasn't exactly cheap for a fairly unmemorable experience. Or rather, it was memorable, but for the wrong reasons - those hideous delays in getting the food out to us. Aside from the delays, service was nervy and sloppy - plates were cleared before we were finished, plates were mixed up, and the toffee pudding was put down so inexpertly that the ice cream on top fell off. No apology, no nothing. I know it's not a heinous crime, but it was just rather indicative of the whole experience.
Will we be back? I doubt it somehow. There are, quite simply, better places to go for the money.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Overall rating 
Food 6 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 5
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