Samphire — Restaurant in St. Helier

Had dinner in Samphire today. Wanted to experience it first hand having read good reviews and recommendations online. Also today being the last evening of my 4-week European tour, wanted to finish it off with a really good meal. I studied the menu online before going, so I was ready to fire away my order right on arrival. Since I really dislike foie gras, I had picked the fillet steak instead of the cote de boeuf as, according to the online menu, the first didn't have it, but the latter had. The price for the fillet steak in the online menu is stated to be 40 pounds sterling, which for a perfectly cooked quality steak is within - what I call - reasonable limits. For a starter I had chosen the yellowfin tuna, which was really nice, other than for the strange tasting rather thick sheet of gelatine(?) between the components of the dish. I also asked the chips to be replaced with Jersey Royals (fresh boiled potatoes) in the main course. When the main course arrived I was happy to see a perfectly cut, thick and beautiful piece of prime steak on my plate. Didn't see any pepper crust on it thou as the online menu stated. Instead of peppers, on the other hand, there was an odd piece of "something" on top of the steak. Sadly the thing turned out to be none other than foie gras - the one thing I had particularly wanted to avoid! So I pushed the "thing" aside and tried not to look at it. The steak anyhow was tender and precisely medium as I had wished for. The Jersey Royals unfortunately were also only medium, ie. "al dente", or undercooked as I would say as an amateur cook. I had heard that these potatoes are the pride and joy of Jersey cuisine and one of the most important export items and had been foretold to be sure to try them while on the island. When I told the apparent head waiter about this, the potatoes were swiftly taken back to kitchen - and returned in just a few minutes, reheated, but not any better cooked. Still al dente, ie. needing a bit of teeth work to grind them down instead of letting a well cooked potato just melt in your mouth with adequate amount of butter accompanying it. To top this at best mediocre dinner experience, the bill stated the price for the fillet steak to be 49 pounds sterling instead of the 40 that the online menu had read?! The explanation funnily was that since there now was the foie gras in the dish, the price had been adjusted upwards. So I was charged more than expected due to having been served the steak with the one thing I had wanted to avoid. In general, the happiness over a product or a service comes from it exceeding the expectations that the receiver of the product or the service had before experiencing it. Had I had lesser expectations and had I been charged less than 141 pounds for the 3 course meal plus 2 glasses of wine and 1 cocktail, my feelings might have been quite ok, but for this price level and for the apparent aim of the establishment to be a place of fine dining, my feelings are disappointed. Also this experience of mine emphasises that today's world is so very much on line. The businesses have to accept the fact that the online info must be kept up to date and be 100% what their products are. The online things: menus, prices, reviews are what the expectations of the clients are built on. And the expectations and their relation to the actual experiences are what define the level of happiness and satisfaction of the clients. And the satisfaction is where customer loyalty and the mouth to mouth recommendations breed from.

EDIT: having received the restaurant's reply below, I feel so very embarrassed now. Thank You for educating me that it was all my fault. I didn't read the offered paper menu. I only told the waiter that I had already read the online menu and so I knew what I wanted. Surely I should have asked whether I could trust the online menu. And it is not the waiters job to tell me that online is not valid anymore, I understand completely....

We started with a GnT outside, as the weather was dry... The menu looked fab, and through the windows the decor looked amazing... We were taken to our table and from then on we were treated to an amazing evening... Homemade bread, still warm was delicious... I had the Foie Gras, which we do t get very often nowadays.... Boom..!!! Amazing... My wife had the beetroot starter and it came out looking like a mini garden with White and Red beetroot.. simply amazing... My wife had the Filletto Rossini for mains, and I had the Sirloin in a green peppercorn sauce with white Asparagus... They were both fabulous... Beautifully cooked... And the Madeira sauce on the Rossini was beautiful... My wife was too full for desert, however I spied the Souffle, with salted caramel sauce... I was advised that this was the first one that they had served publicly... All I can say is that or certainly won't be the last... The whole experience was amazing... I was taken into the kitchen to express my gratitude and amazement at the food we had just been served, and to say thank you to the chefs. The waiters and waitresses were amazing, fab decor, lovely atmosphere, an amazing team and a true privilege to have experienced your food and cooking. Do not miss the opportunity... Just...

Just the best dining experience in Jersey. Went for a birthday celebration. Zack the friendly and very talented chef greeted us. Zack actually called us the week before when I explained my husband had difficulty chewing. They were so kind. Nothing was too much trouble. Lovely welcome and v attentive service by Peter and Andrea. We had the house champagne which was delicious. I had 6 Jersey Grouville Bay Pacific oysters. I like them Au nature with lemon. Very fresh. Amazing. We ship them to France apparently. My husband had Dover Sole pre-ordered. His favourite with mashed potato and a lovely caper sauce which I shared. We had no lunch so were hungry. . I had the Beef Rossini with Foie Gras and a delicious Madeira Sauce. Perfect with the medium rare fillet. Grass fed beef was superbly cooked. I do prefer Irish Slaney Valley beef but it was from the UK. Aberdeen Angus? I had a glass of the delicious Chilean Merlot 2017 recommended by Peter. Fab evening rounded off with a perfect Apricot Cheesecake. Just a perfect meal. We will be...