Restaurant Andrew Fairlie — Restaurant in Great Britain

Pleasant.

But let me tell you when I pay this much for a meal I expect a great deal more than just pleasant.

Great food makes you sit up and pay attention. We nearly fell asleep.

We came here for a much anticipated belated birthday celebration. The venue is stunning and reviews are glowing, so we were prepared for something truly special, but left feeling truly underwhelmed. Granted, we were quite jet-lagged which ultimately led to us calling it quits before dessert - but staff of Andrew Fairlie, before you dismiss this poor review as no fault of your own, go browse my other reviews. I eat. It's what I do. If the food had been worth staying for, we would have.

The meal started well, with the amuse bouche providing all sorts of interesting flavours and served at a decent pace while we got settled in and decided on what to order.

We decided to order different things, so we'd get a wider choice of things to sample, as we like to share. Somehow this was a logistical nightmare for the serving staff, as the tasting menu has many more dishes than the a la carte and left me awkwardly eating several dishes alone while my wife had nothing. Not to mention as soon as it started getting busy it took so incredibly long between courses that we actually started to get bored.

The mushroom ravioli was rather average, and really tipped us off that the rest of the meal was going to be a disappointment. It was topped with truffles but the flavour and fragrance was distinctly lacklustre. 5/10.

The steak tartare was the highlight for me as it actually had good flavour, richness and I could taste the light charring on the outside of the tartare. 9/10

Special mention to the morel with white asparagus. The asparagus was gritty. Otherwise an OK dish. Morel was an interesting texture, and glad I tried it, but it really wasn't great. 6/10

The lobster was prepared in a style I haven't tried before, which was novel, but all I can really say is it was good, but not that good. 7/10

The lamb was so average that I can't actually remember eating it. 5/10

Don't let anyone gaslight you into thinking high cuisine is just too refined for your palette. I've eaten my share of delicate, genteel dishes. Tastebuds don't lie. This was just not the outstanding meal a 2 Michelin star rating...

I dined here last night with my partner. I have to say it was every bit as good as I expected. We arrived at 18:30, it was still a bit quiet at this point but was to pick up by 19:00. When we first arrived we were sat and ordered some drinks. Unfortunately I have a stomach complaint that had been aggravated the night before, so I could really only drink water. I had intended to have the wine flight that paired with the tasting menu but, it wasn't to be. I explained that to the waiter, who assured me that despite not being able to drink, they would provide me with a memorable experience, nonetheless. They did not disappoint!! Within minutes of sitting down we were brought complimentary canapés, which were exceptional, the arancini ball was my favourite, the gruère my partners favourite. We then ordered our food, my partner isn't much of a wine drinker so she stuck to Gin. We did opt for the degustation (tasting menu) 7 courses all in all. The food was immense. By the time the second course was out the atmosphere in the restaurant had really picked up. It was fantastic. The staff were very, very good and very friendly. Despite only being on water, my glass never got to 2 thirds empty before it was replenished. They quite simply never took their eye off the ball the whole night. As far as the food goes. Well it was out of this world. Each course better than the last. Although, it was impossible to beat the lobster. The best I've had and the first my partner has ever had (she'll never beat it). Before the dessert courses where served we were offered a cheese course, which we refused (my stomach). The deserts were lovely. Finally they brought and I quote "Unfortunately, this is your final treat of the night" petite fours, once again delicious!!

You really felt like everyone involved wanted you to have the best experience you've ever had. They all cared a lot about our experience and they delivered.

The menu advises that the gratuity is at your discretion, it's hard not to reward such service and quality.

Thank you to all at Andrew Fairlies.

We will be back, how could I not have that...

We used to be great fans of Andrew Farlie but this was one of the laziest meals we have had in a long time. Serving a tiny little turnip as an amuse Bouche is extremely lazy. There was nothing about any of these dishes that we had in the tasting menu that we could not have produced at home. The crab portions were pathetic. We told staff before hand that one of us did not eat cheese and when a cheese course was produced nothing was provided for a none cheese eater so I was expected to eat my course alone. When we complained something was produced but by this point the feeling was lost and we decided to call it a night. The staff were kind but the food was boring and we felt very taken advantage of. When we spoke to the manager he did waive the cost of the meal but that wasn’t actually the point. This was for us a very special evening - our anniversary, which we wanted to be special. What we really felt was that we as customers were being taken advantage of. Left an overall jaded feeling. Gone are the days of imaginative food but not the days of imaginative billing. Not a good reflection...