All reader reviews by Foodie

Launceston Place

Went to Launceston Place in May 2011 and left thoroughly disappointed. We booked two months ahead of time but were put on a tiny table (2 ft square) in the front corner despite there being other, more spacious tables available. It was our wedding anniversary and we chose the restaurant as we had three wonderful meals cooked by Tristan Welch seven years earlier at Glenapp Castle in Ayrshire, Scotland.

We had the tasting menu. Asparagus, scallop and egg courses were nice but unspectacular. The sole was completely over cooked to the point it had gone to mush. The venison course took the art of small portions to a whole new level. It consisted of three thumb-sized slivers of venison with a smear of beetroot and blobs of artichoke. Seriously, it was, in total, no more than one small mouthful! We were still seriously hungry after 5 courses of food! The cheese course had only 6 choices and was also disappointing given that this is supposed to be Michelin-star dining.

With a bottle of Montrachet and a bottle of Rioja the bill came to £139pp. Then they added 12.5% service charge to the whole bill – an extra £35 that the ‘service’ certainly did not warrant.

When asked we did complain about the whole experience only to be told ‘Well done for complaining, it is not something we British do, so good on you’. Not that she did anything at all to actually address our complaint, just congratulated us on making the complaint! Bizarre!

We left disappointed.

We asked the staff to order a taxi since the restaurant is way off the beaten track and hailing a taxi is not an option. They directed us to the cars waiting outside. Having paid £6.60 to get there in a metered London black cab, we were shocked to be asked for £14 for the 4-minute return trip! Needless to say, we refused to pay it!

I have read many of the reviews online and many are very complimentary though some did have the same issue with portion sizes but I did get the impression of culinary ‘emperor’s new clothes’ about many of the reviews.

I did write to Tristan directly to give him the chance to respond but after three weeks, I have received no response whatsoever.

Thursday, June 09, 2011
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0