Côte York — Restaurant in England

My father and I met for a few drinks in the afternoon and headed to Côte for an early dinner. Dad had selected the venue as he got an offer for a free bottle of wine. And whom can say fairer than that!

We both started with the charcuterie board that, while pleasant enough, was a little bit confused in its makeup. Smoked duck breast, saussicon, prosciutto or parma ham and a mackerel pate, the latter of which I'd have rather just had a larger portion of! This was followed by steak frittes which, as it was advertised as one of the 'value options' (not necessary for the wine deal, I just measure a French restaurant by its steak frittes the first time around) came with a steak beaten quite thin and flash grilled. I had asked for it to be done rare, as places usually muck very thin steak up and overdo it which was the case this time.

To their credit, our waiter knew it was overdone as he set my plate down and offered me a fresh one which I accepted after trying it. My Dad had the lamb cooked medium which was served with roast vegetables and he helped me with my second portion of frittes which they were kind enough to leave with us!

Our waiter was great fun, as we'd already had three pints, we were well on our way and credit to the man, he had a good laugh with us. My father and I had read through the tips/gratuity policy of the company, they levy a 12.5% gratuity on all bills (handy for paying by card) and then for each shift a person works, £3 is extracted from their tips and goes towards: a staff meal each shift, soft drinks during a shift and one alcoholic drink at the end of an evening shift, if I understand this correctly. The tips are then shared equally with all staff, front of house and kitchen which, having worked in a less than equitable tipping regime before, sounds...

Not the usual Côte service but one server tried.

We went for brunch and was disappointed with the service and generally the meal.

The restaurant had several tables not cleared for entirety of our visit and the bathroom was not clean. There was 3 women mostly just standing chatting and gossiping whilst one young guy tried to clear tables and help people. The women did not attempt to clear any tables. It was not busy at all and only around 5 tables seated.

We ordered x2 pots of tea but was presented with a cup and wasn’t even given an explanation as to why. When we asked it was because they had no clean teapots! The women who brought them over didn’t care and wasn’t even apologetic. I saw 3-4 sitting on dirty tables for whole time, if they where cleaned they’d have tea pots.

The food turned up after a bit of wait. The eggs Royale was cold, the eggs had gone cold, the plate was a pasta bowl and cold, the hollandaise sauce was cold and served from fridge and a lump on the side. The hollandaise was not it’s normal runny consistency. The French breakfast was missing butter from the brioche, we had to ask for it. Then when the brioche was turned over it was black and burnt and not edible. We had to ask for it to be changed. Again this was served in a pasta bowl.

The guy did apologise at the end and took the two teas off the bill but it’s not a nice service and what you’d expected. It felt like the young women were there for socialising/gossipings and having customers there was an inconvenience for them!

Having visited multiple cotes across NW, SE and london I found York to be the...

We visited York for a day trip as a family and, just like in other cities we’ve been to, we decided to go with Côte — and once again, it did not disappoint.

If you ask me, the starters might be the weakest part of the meal — and I say that only because the mains and especially the desserts are so good that they outshine the rest. Still, everything we had was enjoyable.

We had noted during our reservation that one of us has coeliac disease, and without even having to mention it when we sat down, they brought over a gluten-free menu. Huge thanks to the team for being so considerate and attentive.

For starters, we went with the Camembert Brûlée and Calamari. As mains, we had the Confit Duck à l’Orange and Poulet Breton (corn-fed roasted half chicken) — both of which you can see in the photos. The gratin dauphinois served with the duck takes the whole dish to another level, and the duck itself was cooked to absolute perfection.

On the side, I opted for the Green Salad, which might sound simple, but it’s incredibly tasty — the mustard vinaigrette deserves its own shoutout. Highly recommend trying it.

For dessert, we chose the Lemongrass & Lime Leaf Crème Brûlée, Crème Caramel Classique, and Chocolate Mousse. Everything except the Crème Brûlée was an instant hit with us. While it was beautifully made in theory, the flavor combination just wasn’t to our taste.

Côte once again nailed it. Fingers crossed the Manchester branch reopens soon so we don’t have to travel cities just to enjoy these...