Cloth — Restaurant in London

This restaurant’s food is extraordinary, and it is a pity because the terrible and, much worse, discriminatory service will simply make me not eat there ever again. We got a reservation a week before and, when we booked, there were plenty of time slots available. Still, we got the worst possible table. We ordered appetizers, 2 starters, 2 mains and a bottle of white wine. All at the very beginning. Our mains were pasta and a risotto, and we were asked if we wanted chips or salad as a side. When I said no to such a culinary atrocity (pasta or risotto with chips?!!!), the waitress looked at me like she was bothered about my answer. We know that every country has different culinary traditions, but I have never heard that pasta or risotto could be something that one eats with chips or salad as a side!!! Maybe the fact that I didn’t want to eat lamb or fish -the other mains- disappointed her. Who knows and I don’t care. One shouldn’t be pushed to order more. Or even more, I should say, given that we had ordered a LOT of food. When the bottle of wine arrived, I was surprised that we were not offered a cooler. I mentioned this to my partner and decided not to ask for one because I thought “maybe they don’t have them, super weird, but ok”. I found to my disappointment later in the evening that another table had a cooler. Ok, maybe they asked for it. Let’s move on. After the appetizers and starters, the waitress comes laughing and says that she has bad news, “no more pasta main” (which was the only vegetarian option) and that she was leaving us the menu to choose another thing. This place has 4 mains in total, at that time only 3. They should have told us this from the start but, somehow, they only let us know when the mains were supposed to arrive… And there was no single gesture to try to solve it, like offering an alternative vegetarian main that was not on the menu. We ordered a 2nd crab risotto. And, AGAIN, she asked me if we wanted CHIPS!!! I could picture my Italian ancestors turning in their graves. And I couldn’t help but thinking that she couldn’t simply not know. It was her way of expressing how uncomfortable she was with our presence there. Ordering also took time because, even if we were sitting just next to the (all Brit and white) staff counter, they were never looking at us… even if they knew that we had to choose another main.  Anticipating that the new main was going to take some time, when we finally got the waitress attention, I told her that the first risotto could come to the table as soon as it was ready because we were sharing all the dishes. It didn’t happen. We had to wait until the two risottos were served together. This, of course, took time because, remember, we were told quite late that they had run out of pasta. And I kept thinking, really? Why didn’t they forecast better? With 4 mains and only one veggie option you cannot afford to run out of one. And, if you do, you apologize sincerely and try to solve it. We were never offered any alternative; we were just pushed to choose something else from the short menu. Finally, we had our mains, though we couldn’t finish them, it was just too much food, tasty but too much -no chips needed clearly, lol- and we wanted to try a dessert.

Overall, all the food was delicious, and I am sure that a Brit would have a completely different experience in this place. So just go and enjoy the food if you are one. Refrain from going otherwise or check if they...

I’m not usually one to leave behind negative reviews but given that I dined at cloth for my anniversary with my boyfriend, I felt compelled to do so.

First and foremost, I’d like to stay overall, I rate the experience 7 out of 10. This is not a bad restaurant in fact, it’s pretty good. But it didn’t live up to the hype or the price.

When I made the booking, there was an option to specify the occasion and the box to leave a request. Given that it was our anniversary, I asked that there be a handwritten card on our table, when we arrived, that said happy anniversary not a very big ass, but it would’ve been a nice touch when we arrived, our table was inconveniently located right next to a doorway, with people coming and going the entire time and no card was left on the table.

While the waiters were attentive and friendly, they seemed to lack the experience of working in a more upmarket restaurant. Many were wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. we had more than one person delivering our food, refilling our glasses, and clearing away plates. There seem to be no apparent sections or continuity with who you spoke to. This resulted, in one way her taking our order for bread and butter, forgetting about it and having to ask a separate waiter for the same. The bread and butter however were very good.

Similarly, when it came to the pudding course, we decided to share one dessert, followed by a cheese platter, followed by two cognacs. we asked that the cognac be served after we had finished the cheese plate. However, they were delivered at the same time as the pudding.

There also seems to be a certain lack of expertise. we both had a fish dish as our main, but we were not given the correct fish knives. Knives and forks were not set out properly on the table. Regarding the food this is overall pretty good. But still, a few small comments. we shared the Cornish crab and the raw beef as a starter. The former was 80% a potato croquette, with a very small portion of crab, and the beef, although very tender and well prepared, was too salty.

For the mains, we both had the sole Meunier. This was excellent, no notes. However, the buttermilk bitter leaf salad which we asked for as an accompaniment was equally far too salty. The gratin potatoes were lovely.

The pudding was very nice, the cheese plate was also quite nice. However, the thick biscuits which they serve the cheese, was not suited to a cheese plate, and would’ve been more a propos a cup of tea.

The wine list was very good, with an extensive selection of both European and New World wines. And the cognacs were nice, despite arriving too early.

Again, please do not misunderstand what I’m saying. It was largely a good meal.

My complaint is that the overall quality of the food, the atmosphere, and the service did not reflect the price. Almost £400 for two, I feel that cloth missed the mark in terms of what it was aiming for, versus what it delivered. For that price we could’ve gone to noble rot or Andrew Edmund’s and had a better and more enjoyable meal (as we’ve done in...

Wow! It has been a very long time since I was so impressed by EVERYTHING! I arrived slightly late, and the guy who greeted me was so nice and kind, he immediately reassured me all was ok, and my table was ready. Once I settled in, another very caring and competent girl took care of my order and provided very good suggestions on the wine pairing ( I tend to order many dishes, so wine by the glass was the only way to go). I ordered the oysters with grapefruit and fennel, the sobrasada croquettes with aioli, and the beef carpaccio to start with, and matched it with a very nice Pet-Nat; this was followed by the turbot with clams, romanesco and beurre blanc sauce, matched with a great Bourgogne wine. I ordered chips as well( yes I am greedy) and these were probably the best chips I have ever tasted. The desserts I chose were the peach sorbet, matched with champagne, and the chocolate ganache with milk ice cream and crumbly bits, both delicious. I must stress that everything was perfect, every staff member is courteous, kind, smiley, and they always come when you are about to ask them something. Having such a fantastic staff team is really rare nowadays and I am extremely impressed by all of them. The food was also perfect, there wasn’t any fault in all of the dishes I ordered. Each ingredient was part of an harmonic dish that was exquisitely presented and treated with care and respect. This resulted in a perfect meal experience, and I am already planning my next visit. If I could give more than 5 stars for the food, atmosphere, and service, I definitely would! Lastly, I recommend this for any couple, as the setting is perfect, romantic, candle lit, and the atmosphere will pamper your mood and your senses ! Thank you guys, you are...