Restaurant Reviews: gourmet wine food delicacies

the UK Dining Guide

Reader's THUMBS DOWN! - adverse comments and emails!!

Please help
Dine Online
to pay the rent by clicking our sponsor's banner and requesting information!

The Oak Room comes in for more stick

I visited the Oak Room [at the Meridien Hotel, Piccadilly W1) on the occasion of my sons 21st birthday. That night I suffered a severe stomach upset I was not at all impressed with that for the amount of money I paid. I think that I should note that the wine I received was of a high quality, an excellent vintage(1983 Dom Pierrion) [sic].

This restaurant was not to the standards of the Michelin three star. My son was very excited to receive a gift of dinner for two in the Oak room as he is chef also but he was severely disappointed to hear of my upset.

yours disappointed, Cathal Prunty, Ireland Feb 2000

Ed: You have to be careful when attributing upset tummies to a particular meal as some gastro-intestinal bugs have quite a long incubation period. Also, people's expectations are often aroused to impossible heights by 3 Michelin star establishments, and the bill provides the final douche of ice cold water].

Titanic sinks again

I visited the Titanic on the 16th December 1999, and quite frankly the restaurant is dirty. The large glitter balls are dusty on the top, one of the up lighters had "fingerprints" blotches on it which showed how thick the dirt was on the rest.

The area behind bar was untidy, papers and various stuff had missed the bin, floor needed cleaning. The toilets (male) are cheaply decorated and on my visit dirty. I've used more accommodating service stations !

I thought it was awful.

John Cronjaeger Dec 1999

OXO Tower failures

On telling people that I had taken my boyfriend to the OXO tower I had a couple of "how was the service?" responses. Several people it seemed had formed the impression that the service was poor and, in truth, the only story I knew about the place was from someone at work who had complained vociferously about the service.

I responded that the service was very good; professional but friendly and that by way of apology for seating us late they had offered us a glass of champagne each. I thought that charming. Two days later I checked the bill and realised that the cost of the two glasses had been added to the bill. So maybe I'm not so charmed after all.

Suzanne Young Feb 2000

I went to the OXO TOWER last night (Saturday 02-May-99), My starter of Tomato terrine was odd, the tomato was chilled the Goat's cheese was cold and the olives were hot!

The main course was lamb which was for two people. It was supposed to be served medium, mine was not even cooked, I sent it back and after putting it in a frying pan it was returned, the vegetables had been been kept warm till they went hard. It was a low quality piece of meat that was all fat and skin.

The meal was inedible and we were still charged for my main course; when I made a comment the bill was amended without a word being said. It was a shame, as it was a special occasion and the service was otherwise excellent. At first I felt I had chosen the wrong items on the menu, but then I thought that a resturant of this quality should offer a menu with no weak dishes.

Regards, Paul Dowling

Oh Dear! But in our Thumbs UP! page, other readers say they loved it!

h3>New Pizza Organic is bland and tasteless, says Les Adams of new Malden in Surrey I have been searching to find a "Pizza Piazza" web site to place my comments direct to the company without success.

I live in New Malden, opposite a Pizza Piazza. I have been a frequent visitor and spent hundreds of pounds in there. It has always been a favourite place to go... till now.

It's pouring at the Rain Forest Cafe

I visited this site on Saturday with my family. The food was terrible, over cooked pasta, the kids' chicken was processed rubbish, the fries were full of fat and the bill was completely over the top. Having lived in California for a year, we were very disappointed with the service and the food. A big miss, the kids like the place, but didn't eat anything as the food was so bad. Please advise who to complain to Richard Griffiths

Editor: We've forwarded your email to the management of the Rain Forest Cafe. But see also a glowing report from another family.

Eco Pizzeria is too noisy!

Having been a regular customer (twice monthly or so) at ECO since it opened, some months ago I had to re-assess my pizza allegiance due to the increasing plague of loud (definitely not background) house music. ECO has become a restaurant where conversation is severely restricted by the excessive din. On my last visit I politely asked a waitress if the volume of the relentless pounding could be reduced to be met with patronising "Don't you understand - it's what it's all about". What what is all about? Obviously I was mistaken in thinking the excellent food, good prices and pleasing environment were what this restaurant was about. Fortunately ECO now has competition in the form of ALBA PIZZERIA opposite Clapham North tube station. Well worth a try - equally excellent pizzas, equally excellent environment, excellent service, no queues, no earplugs needed. Jeff Pickthall, Clapham, SW4 7ND

Earlier readers' comments

If you have visited any of the restaurants mentioned in our pages, please send your comments to: Dine-Online but we don't make reservations for you!!

Back to Dine Online Home Page