Been there...#12

Wetherby's
5-25 Harrington Gardens, Gloucester Road, London, SW7 4JB

I am always worried when I don’t see many reviews on a restaurant. Wetherby's has one at the moment and it is positive. I was looking for an English restaurant nearby Gloucester Road and I found Wetherby's. The restaurant is located inside the NH Harrington Hall hotel. When we arrived, the restaurant was empty and the lobby/bar a bit busy. After an hour at the bar, we decided to go the restaurant and got a great table in the middle of the room by this huge fake Christmas tree. The décor of the restaurant is very classic. We order main courses directly (Seabass with Asparagus and Ravioli, Rack of Lamb with Cabbage and…).and a bottle of some Spanish rosé. All courses were good with a large portion with different tastes on a plate. I wish that the sauce with my seabass had been less watery. We order also some good selection of cheese and a sticky toffee pudding. The staff was very nice and welcoming. We were served by a very amicable and smiley Dutch waitress who did the Netherlands Breda hotel school. Something that was missing was the atmosphere. There wasn’t any. In fact, we were the only customers the whole evening we were there. But we couldn’t complain. For a change, we didn’t have to shout at each other to follow a conversation. The service was spot on. And we were happy customers in the end. The bill was about £30 per head (with no starters and coffees). So if you are struggling with the organization of your Xmas party, go there…you would probably find some availability.

La Rueda (Wigmore Street)
102 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 3RL

Last Saturday, we spent our day on Christmas shopping on Oxford Street in London. There is nothing better than stopping by a tapas restaurant for an hour to relieve your legs and get some good food. La Rueda did definitely fulfil those needs. We ordered 6 tapas for 2 people and that was plenty of food. The tapas came up quite quickly and were delicious (Octopus, Jamon Serrano, Smoked Salmon Omelette, Sardines, Potato Salad). We had also a half bottle of white wine Marques de Caceres. The staff was very nice and efficient. After an hour we were out for another session of shopping with happy stomachs. The bill reached £40 for two, so very reasonable. La Rueda is simply worth the trip. Try it!

Tiles
36 Buckingham Palace Road, Victoria, London, SW1W 0RE

Well according to older reviews, that restaurant should have been a nice experience. Not for me. We were there mid week to celebrate a birthday. The place was full with some nice ambiance. Downstairs, the décor is quite warm. We were near a table of people drinking crazy and got very loud all evening. It was very annoying to understand the conversation at our table. About the food, the menu is dead simple. There are 5 starters, 5 main courses and one dish of the day. But courses are so uninspiring, so déjà vu. When we make the order, we were told that for starters they only have left 2 portions of this, 1 portion of that so basically every we wanted to order we would have to battle about who is getting what. In the end, I went for the smoked salmon rillette. My girlfriend went for the ridiculously small hallimi on a bed of salad. For the main course, I decided to be adventurous. I took the awful penne pasta with seafood marinara. I don’t know how you can mess this dish up. It is so simple to make (just read the recipe from Jamie Oliver). But no… the dish was terrible. There wasn’t simply enough seafood and too much of the so-called “marinara”. My other friends were satisfied with their steak though. The service was so amateurish, we must have waited 30 minutes to get our starter and another 45 minutes for our main courses. Terrible. Even though the staff is very nice, the quality of service is not very good. We even spotted them smoking behind the bar with their manager unable to manage this full restaurant. The bill came up for £25 per head (with one bottle of wine).

I don’t know for how long this restaurant has been running but it definitely needs some help. Gordon! Rescue them please!

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