Cabotte — Restaurant in London

I was a solo diner on a business trip. I booked - therefore no wait. The pluses: I liked the bread. Would have been nice to have salt and pepper at the table and olive oil (not just butter). The cheese "puffs" served before the meal were good. The quality-price ratio of the food was acceptable. The minuses: The two people next to me (the tables are very close) were complaining intensely about work-related things ("he would throw you out of the room if you have a typo," etc. etc.) the entire dinner. I get that younger people still trying to make it could do that, but these were people in their 50s. Incessant talk about deals and other things that I would have thought totally inappropriate for dinner conversation, and really disrespectful of other diners. It was absolutely impossible to disconnect and enjoy. No one else in the restaurant (including the larger group on my other side) was this obnoxious. I even put my ear plugs in, something I've never done while dining out, but the whining was still getting through. I couldn't wait to leave. It was the opposite of restful. On getting home, I noticed that my US credit card was charged in USD rather than GBP and a 4% markup was applied. The receipt stated that I agree to the exchange rate and the surcharge and was offered a choice. I most certainly wasn't and it's not professional to do this. I travel internationally often and always, always choose to pay in local currency. I get a better exchange rate from my bank and don't pay the surcharge. What kind of practice is that? Based on this experience, would not recommend or return.

And the reply is incorrect: the staff member never offered me a choice. He held the machine facing him and just let me touch the card to the side. I was so eager to get out of there that I didn’t check the receipt immediately. Why in the world would I waste time following up if I had agreed to the exchange rate plus a surcharge? And why would anyone agree to that unless they just don’t know, which I do, as frequent...

Nothing to write home about.

The restaurant is very small and verging om dingy/ dark. Most of the lights were flickering constantly. That's fine if you're going for a 'hole in the wall, off beaten track' vibe, but if you're markering for fine french dining in EC, maybe change a light bulb occasionally. The restrooms were pretty dirty and their decor unloved for that level of restaurant.

Food wise, the bread served with the meal was wholesale cheap stuff that you would expect to see at a Premier Inn, and the butter tasted weirdly off- ie like it had begun to ferment from being left unrefrigerated for too long. Serving salted butter might be a better choice for such instance. But again, for high- level French dining, fresh whipped butter and warm fresh bread is usually a nice addition to the meal.

The main meal was certainly pleasant, fresh and well balanced. Starter was trout ceviche followed by cod. It lacked any real depth of flavour and seasoning. I would expect to have just as pleasant a fish meal in any upscale seaside pub- ie tasty and fresh but not sophisticated (but probably at half the price paid here).

There was no wine pairing or recommendations by the waiters. The wine was again fairly underwhelming and the selection was rather limited (which is fine if curated well, but this wasn't the case).

Waiting staff were prompt, professional and friendly. The restaurant is so tiny that you find yourself bumping into them on entry and exit, however.

In summation, if you have plenty of disposable income and not much time to book a reservation in advance, then this will probably just about fit the bill, but it would be better value for money to get on the Eurostar and hit the nearest bistro when you get to...

We were excited to try Cabotte, and even more so when we managed to get a reserved bar space on a same day reso. The only possible seating as tables were all booked. When we arrived we were happy to sit at the bar, a very comfy velvet clad, seat backed stool, with a display of the restaurant. The Maitre'd seemed very intent on seating us at a table he managed to expertly maneuver for us, so we moved. We expressed if a reservation would need the table after all we were ok to move back to the bar. Food was not great, not magnifique, maybe just OK. The sweatbreads were cold, and I felt lacking in seasoning and depth of flavor. My pear cheese tartine, and salad were delicious. I had the hake for an entree, which was essentially a half of a fish fillet. While tasty, all portions at the table were very small. My colleague"s duck was also served barely warm and the portion size scant. We ordered a half bottle of white and a bottle of red. We had just finished our entrees, plates still in front of us, when the Maitre'd returned asking us if we can be moved to have our dessert. While that wasn't what we meant when we offered to move back to the bar, we agreed to move and it turns out, its by the cold front door. He did give us 20% off our meal for doing so, but he ruined our meal and dining experience. Desserts were good and we also ordered more after dinner wine. Overall, Cabotte is ok for a fairly expensive meal ($130 per person) with ok service and ok food. Our dinner out the night before, for half the price, was...