Rosemary Wimborne — Restaurant in England

ok, where to start. first visit, had heard good reviews. went on a very busy saturday night, but they have 2 pre-booked sittings, so the numbers cant have come as a shock to them. took a long time to be offered drinks. took a long time for drinks to arrive. one drink was wrong, that happens - took a long time for replacement drink to arrive. food arrived, my friend and I had the same starter - mine was served on a dish twice as big as his.... fine for me, not so for him! my partners meal was luke warm when it arrived (and no, it wasnt supposed to be). it took so long to return, we had all finished our meals. we had to ask where it was several times - a waitress asked if she'd enjoyed her meal, when she was still waiting for its return. the amount of bread that was served with the starters was miniscule, it took many attempts to summon someone up to ask for more - obviously, that took ages to arrive as well (theres a theme here). we were determined to enjoy ourselves and had a good time anyway, we'd renamed it the turkish fawlty towers. on the plus side - the meat dishes were gorgeous, really flavourful, tender & delicious. everyone from our sitting had left while my partner was still eating her reheated dish - we were in with the second sitting. when the bill came, it was unfortunately incorrect, the drinks were wrong. I'm disappointed to say it wasnt a great experience - the staff (and there were plenty of them) were very hard to get hold of - they seemed very stressed & all over the place. we were in there for 2.5 hours, for 2 courses. to be fair to the manager, he dealt with our complaint very well, was incredibly apologetic, offered us a bottle of wine, and amended the bill errors & removed the service charge, as requested. I was surprised & disappointed with the evening to be honest, and...

I totally understand why many people will rate this restaurant as 5 stars. The restaurant has always had a great sense of theatre and luxury with its very high ceilings aesthetics. The staff are very pleasant, professional and offer good service and make you're evening go well. And the food is good... it's just not something to write home about. Before I visited I checked out the professionally taken pictures of the dishes on their menu and at the point of ordering I asked what the waiter would recommend out of a few different dishes and the lamb shank was what they suggested, so I went for it. Whilst well presented it was lacking flavour, the mash was watery and the tomato sauce was more juice than sauce, further watering down the mash. The vegetables weren't particularly flavoursome either and the dish wasn't properly seasoned. We also shared the hot meze and again good, but I won't remember it for any particular reason.

If you're a foodie and great food ranks way higher on the scale of importance than the atmosphere and aesthetics in your book, then you might be disappointed. A lovely evening on the whole but room for improvement on the flavours being offered.

Oh and I know I'm getting picky now but when you're restocking the cutlery draw, place the cutlery in the draw, don't throw it in. There's nothing that grates more than that clatter and clanging of mass cutlery when you're enjoying a meal. That was the one thing that let the staff down as otherwise they were perfect....

Absolutely amazing. Lovely food, such friendly helpful staff and a lovely atmosphere. Went Friday night with my parents for their anniversary and we just turned up without a booking and they got us a table. We didn't realise they do 2 dinner seatings. 6-8 and 8-10. Absolutely brilliant idea and means that you are not rushed at all. We turned up just before 7 so completely out of their normal schedule but they still sat us and looked after us wonderfully. We weren't rushed out even tho they did explain their normal schedule when we came in and we were prepared to be scooted out but no they worked around us. My brother is coeliac and as with most places they can't 100% guarantee no cross contamination in the kitchen as they do handle gluten in the kitchen but they were open and honest about this and the waiter was able to let us know what dishes were suitable and which weren't. Excellent knowledge of the menu and it's ingredients to the point he even let us know what part of the meal wasn't gluten free. First time experiencing Turkish coffee too and it was all explained to us. Staff were amazing. Food was amazing. Definitely going again even if it's for a takeaway and not a sit down dinner. More expensive than a greasy kebab but well worth it for the real deal and an all round...