All reader reviews by Anonymous

Gordon Ramsay at 68 Royal Hospital Road

Everything we thought it would be and more! After a couple of bad restaurant experiences recently, we were looking forward to this with some trepidation, but we were not to be disappointed.

The service was impeccable, just the right level of helpfulness. They knew when they were needed and when to stand back. The waiter who we had for the meal was friendly and gave excellent descriptions of the food.

The food was out of this world, from the amuse bouche of pumpkin ravioli through to the mango and passionfruit fizzing 'cocktail' before the dessert to the chocolates which had a Willy Wonka feel about them!

The three courses were all a delight to eat, with each mouthful being something to savour. We were originallly going to go on the set lunch menu but were swayed (by ourselves!) to go on the main a la carte menu.

I would definitely recommend this restaurant, for a special occasion if you need the excuse! As another reviewer wrote on here though, it will make every other restaurant pale in comparison!!

Thursday, February 19, 2009
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8

Luciano by Marco Pierre White

We were looking forward to a good evening of fine wine, food and service. We went for a friend's birthday. Unfortunately, our evening was a disappointment.

On arrival, we were met by the person on the door who had obviously left her sense of humour at home, we were all wet and had brollies and were joking about it, she didn't smile at all. We then went to the bar, where the two staff were in their own little world. Drinks took ages to be served and made and when the bills for drinks were given, they were inaccurate.

During our time in the bar, we were asked if we wanted to order wine for the table. We did this but when arriving at the table, we had to ask for it and there seemed to be no recognition that we had already ordered it.

Our friend who had booked the table had mixed conversations with different people when he had made the reservation. At first he was told we could eat off the normal menu, but then when he rung to confirm, he was then told we would have to eat off the set menu. (We were a large table of 13 but they need to be consistent with what they tell people when they are booking a table)

We waited nearly half an hour before they took our order (apart from us, there were a few tables of 2-4 people, but nothing very busy, surprising for a Saturday night)

The food itself was nicely presented and on the whole was nice enough, but nothing breathtaking or fantastic, not what I expected from a top London restaurant, I could have done it at home!

The service continued to be fairly dismal. The wine waiter didn't seem to know how to serve it-he spilt it all over someone's camera and seemed to think it was acceptable to pour three people's wine over 1 person's shoulder.

The mirrors around the restaurant were filthy and in desperate need of a clean. The toilet area was unclear and confusing and not helped by the fact that most of the light bulbs seemed to need replacing! The atmosphere was also quite staid and improved slightly when they played some background music.

When it came to the bill, we had to send it back 3 times before it was correct! After querying it the first time, the waiter took it away and then brought it back, allegdly with the amendments, which put the total up by £150!!!

On attempting to leave the restaurant, we gave the girl the coat ticket and waited and waited and waited. She returned with no coats or explaination. By this point, I had had enough and just wanted to leave and get the last train home (which we nearly missed due to the slow service!) So I had words with another person who also seemed to be doing the coats and basically had to escort him to the cloakroom to get our coats. We were then not even helped on with them, they were just dumped on us!

I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone! Next time I would rather stay in and cook for myself, at least I know the service will be good!

Sunday, December 14, 2008
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2