Côte Richmond — Restaurant in London

The new fast food version of French food.

Me and my boyfriend are huge fan of French food, however we could tell the management at Côte is more interested about profits than quality.

I went for the 2 course set menu and I wish I knew it had such tiny portions before ordering it, it could easily be a kids menu anywhere else!

The charcuterie board comes with very little meat…almost none…the two extremely thinly sliced pieces of meat were unnecessary all spread out on the board to clearly show customers they know they are taking the piss. Steak frites was even more disappointing, it arrived seconds after we finished our starters and even before the waiter could give us our cutlery… so we just sat there with our mains getting cold… I could immediately tell the steak was left to wait under the pass as it arrived with the butter already all melted. The rocket might’ve also been left under the pass’s heat as the top leaves turned dark. No real sauce to come with it, very different from the authentic French dish.

My boyfriend chose from à la carte menu and ordered French onion soup for starter. We told our server we wanted to share our starters upon ordering, yet she didn’t bother to bring us sharing plates nor an extra spoon.The bowl of soup arrived half empty, the croutons were soggy and it overall tasted vinegary/acidic rather than having a rich deep traditional broth flavour. Pictures online show a full bowl with nice melted cheese on top ( starter not main!)

For main, he went for beef bourguignon… which should’ve been called “mash bourguignon”… what he got was a huge portion of mash potatoes floating on salty gravy and four small pieces of cubed meat. The dish was overall too salty and unbalanced… paying almost £20 for mash and gravy is insulting.

We have then asked for some bread to eat with our main as we were honestly still very hungry, we’ve asked twice and it still took ages for it to arrive. Even the waitress noticed and had to remind the kitchen a third time.

Staff was overall inattentive and when we complained about our food, our waitress literally said “ yeah you are right” with a smile and left. We could see them looking at us all through with annoyed faces. That didn’t make us feel good at all about spending our money there.

We didn’t even want to order dessert and a glass of champagne after that underwhelming meal.

Advice to management, if you are offering a set menu, make it decent or don’t offer it all.

Advice to staff, if you agree the costumer’s complaints are valid, don’t then just act annoyed at the back.. we...

Probably the worst service and food that we’ve ever had the misfortune of experiencing, in lovely Richmond. A real let down to the area.

Service was extremely lacklustre throughout: No friendly greeting upon arrival. Staff seemed unenthusiastic. No tap water served despite ordering. Our second round of soft drinks (which we ordered upon arrival of the mains) were forgotten about. So we went throughout our entire starters and main meal on just one drink each. Very hard to get the staff’s attention. No one bothered asking us how our food was (it was terrible, read below).

Food was a disaster: My partner’s french onion soup was extremely average - not a patch on the real stuff. My mushrooms on toast were ok, but I’ve had much better in pubs.

We thought surely the mains would be better - but no. My coq au vin was lacking any depth of flavour and was simply an insult to French cooking. I only ate it as I was starving and frankly fed up at this point. You’d be better off eating a plain chicken leg at Nandos. My partner’s pork belly was so dry he took one mouthful and had to stop there.

When someone finally came to take away our plates we explained our disappointment at the food, poor service and the entire experience. To be fair to the waitress, she was very apologetic and wasn’t our main server - she explained they were very short staffed but didn’t make excuses. We kindly asked her to remove the uneaten pork belly from the bill and she also chose to remove my partner’s starter too - as a gesture of good will. The one star is for her.

We’ll never visit again - the management for this restaurant really need to get their...

My mum sister and I visited Cote in Richmond on Sunday and we did not have a good experience.

My sister is vegan and I am gluten, onion and garlic intolerant. I have been eating in Cote for several years as I usually find it’s good and helpful with intolerances but I was extremely disappointed to find out that you have stopped catering and no longer provide a gluten free menu. This was an excellent and inclusive thing you had and made us feel included the same as everyone else. Why are you no longer doing this? When asking for the gf menu on arrival the waitor I felt was very judgmental and even said can I come back after his shift. I didn’t appreciate this comment because it’s already hard enough enjoying a day out with family and friends and finding a place that can cater to allergens. He was not helpful or forthcoming in any way and neither was the chef. I asked about having chicken as this is usually what I have when I come to Cote but was advised this is no longer possible as they no longer keep any meats non marinated in garlic and onion. I think it’s very important that some meat be kept to one side for those who do have allergens. I ended up with no choices aside from steam and it was a very bland and tasteless dish. One which I didn’t want to pay for to be honest. Please note: people do not want to be given tablet devices so please refrain from doing this, we want to enjoy our dining experience the same way as everyone else. Not a good experience at all and I hope that Cote reconsiders bringing gluten free menu back, it’s...