All reader reviews by AV

Bloomsbury Street Bar and Restaurant

The restaurant is based in & is part of the Radisson Edwardian Hotel. I booked based on the all-round good reviews. Here and on other sites.

They were offering a 50% off the food via "London Eating" - but even at that price, it was a complete waste of money and I begrudge paying what we did. The only enjoyable thing was the wine.

Before I start writing this I'd like to state that my sense of taste is superb, I don't smoke and I didn't have a cold (thereby impairing my taste-buds). I'm also someone who uses extremely little salt or seasoning on my food - but that by no means should mean that food is devoid of any *taste* - as was the case with all our food this evening.

My starter was a fennel, bean & Jerusalem artichoke salad, sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts. The only thing with a hint of taste was the nuts.

My friend had a duck platter starter consisting of smoked duck (leathery), seared fois gras (edible) and duck terrine (more like a fluffy mouse that reeked of garlic! not edible). The "brioche" was a bit of white sandwich loaf toasted.

Mains: I had a chicken & fois gras pie with mash. The chicken bits were dry and there was no way of telling that there was any fois gras in the pie. Everything was totally overshadowed and enveloped in the mash.

My friend has grilled seabass with chopped tomatoes in some sort of jus. The seabass reeked of fish (not in a good way) and the tomatoes might as well have been sawdust. Totally devoid of taste. And frankly the presentation was awful.

Overall the menu had so much possibility and on paper it all seemed very appetising.

Reality is a different matter.

The decor was fine and the ambience OK. A bit dark for my liking to be honest.

Service by the staff was fine. Efficient but not friendly.

Won't recommend and won't go again.

Thursday, January 12, 2012
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0

Nobu

I'm afraid I have very mixed views and decided to wait a few days to write objectively. I went with with a close friend for a private celebration and just a good night out. We're not into celeb spotting to our choice of restaurant had nothing to do with this link.

I had an open minded expectation as I read the mixed reviews here before I went, yet still went to see for myself.

The good news is that the food in general was really lovely (though in my opinion there are better value for money to be had at for instance Soseki in the City). One of the dishes was incredibly salty (crab jalapeno) and strangely tasteless. We mentioned this to the waiter and he just laughed and shrugged it off with no concern whatsoever. So best avoid this dish.

In general, the pre dinner bar service was efficient and friendly and our waiter too.

The bad news is the vibe & atmosphere. On a Thursday night, 90% of the clientèle were men. This therefore completely changed the vibe and atmosphere. We (two women) felt completely out of place as they looked upon us with disdain. And the conversations at the tables around us were no less than downright rude and disrespectful.

In summary: I'm glad I went but will never go again. There is definitely better to be had in food, service & atmosphere in London.

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 2