The Griffin — Restaurant in England

I wanted to love The Griffin. But, I’m not quite sure the venue knows yet what it’s trying to be. What is certain is the building and spaces are beautifully renovated and tastefully designed. Interiors and exteriors a delight. Front of house wonderful and 100% dedicated to the customer experience. The wine and cocktail choices are also superb with great effort clearly put into creating an excellent range of options. However, something odd is happening here with the food. I wouldn’t describe what the kitchen are doing here as “modern twists on European classics” - more bizarre combinations that didn’t sadly do it for me or my guest. Grilled sardines had been brined first before grilling, leaving them oddly tight, wet, and tasting like tinned. Not fresh and flaky with crisped skin as you want with a good sardine. Flopped sweet potato fries smothered in a very fine, but very pungent, French brie that car crashed the flavours. Ribeye served as a ‘medallion’ - as in, a beautiful cut of well-aged tasty beef but with much of that unctuous fat & flavour removed! My hake was treated with love but again missing that texture of a well-cooked piece of fish: too ‘sous vide’ and therefore too soft / mushy. It seems like it wants to be the “Crazy Bear” of Amersham and to attract a sort of wealthy Instagram class of posers, focusing on an experience rather than centring the focus on exceptional dining. The high prices - akin to a one-star London restaurant - certainly reflect a confidence and professional swagger but I just personally feel that the direction and identity of the food seems just a little too confused for my liking. I adore The Artichoke opposite and would always recommend them for the joy of the food but if you’re looking for more of a London ‘club’ experience (like a Soho House or Dean Street etc) then The Griffin is perfect. I really do wish them well as they’re giving great service and a certain type of quality experience in a wonderful building, located in one of the most beautiful high...

Great place for a special dinner. We went for my husband's birthday. The building and furnishings are beautiful. Only downside is most of the seating includes a sofa on one side of the table - this may not be comfortable for those who need more back support. We were initially seated at the back of the restaurant, near the doors to the courtyard garden. Whilst this was fine, there was a rather lively table of young women next to us, and we could hardly hear each other and had to repeat everything we said, so asked to be moved. They positioned us on the other side of the bar, at a large table with comfortable dining chairs, which was better. Finally we could have a proper conversation over dinner! The menu choice was limited but as a vegetarian who eats fish (but not shellfish or monkfish) there were still a couple of nice options for me to choose between. For starters there was nothing that appealed to me but I had some sourdough bread which was delicious. My husband enjoyed some sticky korean barbecue sauce smothered chicken wings, ending up with a big red ring around his mouth but luckily was supplied with a finger bowl and plenty of fresh napkins! For mains, I opted for a dish featuring Jerusalem artichoke gnocchi which was divine, if a little on the salty side. No need for additional sides - the main course was plenty. My husband had a tomahawk steak which came with crispy onions, shoestring fries and a mushroom ketchup, and was beautifully cooked. He really enjoyed it. We shared a lemon meringue pie dessert, which was deconstructed and only slightly disappointing in that there wasn't enough of the lemon sharpness to contrast the very sweet meringue, sweet crumb, and sweet raspberry sorbet. We still polished it off though! They also kindly brought us a spoon of elderflower sorbet and a chocolate 'Happy Birthday'. Service was excellent, the wine was delicious and although on the pricey side, I think it was well worth it for a...

Went for Sunday roast. Very warm greeting from staff, they’re attentive and lovely and they can answer all questions about food.

Sourdough with jalepeno and dill butter was amazing! As was the sticky toffee pudding.

Unfortunately I was not happy with my vegan roast, as there was no actual roast there, it was simply 3 sticks of tenderstem broccoli and a few tablespoons of peppers and sweetcorn as the main dish, for £20+. This is absolutely not substantial enough and not okay! I’m not vegan, i ordered this because I normally prefer the vegan alternative for personal reasons. So I tried the vegetarian roast as the menu said Brie pie, and it did not lie. It was a whole baked Brie in pastry, I thought it would perhaps a vegetable pie with a touch of Brie, it was foul to say the least, far too rich and sickly. It smelt bad, and it was a poor substitute to serve your paying customers.

There are so many brands out there with new innovative flavours to prevent vegans and vegetarians from feeling like they’re missing out. Many pubs offer nut roasts and mushroom wellingtons, and this is what I usually look forward to. Even some members of my family who eat meat, prefer veggie options as they have more flavour.

It’s very difficult to be positive when I wanted to gag at the Brie pie, and only good part of the roast were the caraway carrots.

I will not be returning until there are better option for non meat eaters. We at least deserve some sort of nut roast, as you’d get at a typical...