Comptoir Cafe & Wine — Restaurant in London

I wanted to share some feedback regarding my visit to Comptoir last night, as it left me feeling frustrated and disappointed despite your otherwise pleasant atmosphere and service. I’ve been a regular customer of Comptoir over the last couple of years, and have always had a good experience - unfortunately last night was a big exception, which is why I want to pass on my feedback. I was the booking for a table for 2 under Will at 1900.

First a minor grievance, which I hope will help you to improve your service. I was pretty disappointed to be sat at the counter in the window. I asked the waiter (younger guy with a bit of a beard, not the guy with a shaven head who I think is bar manager, or the sommelier) for a proper table but was told my options were either to sit downstairs or the counter. When you select ‘table in main restaurant’ on the online booking system, I think it’s fair to expect an actual table rather than a counter.

A much more significant grievance, though, was when I came to order.

I ordered the 2022 Malbec, Cahors, Chateau du Cedre at £68 a bottle from your menu. The waiter came back after 5 mins to explain the last bottle had just been sold and was very apologetic. He offered to send over the sommelier to recommend something similar.

There was a long wait for the sommelier - it’s Christmas and you were fully booked, so I understand this is sometimes unavoidable. He brought over another bottle, gave very brief tasting notes, then said ‘it’s similar to the Malbec, slightly more expensive’.

As I said, I’ve always had a good experience at Comptoir and therefore didn’t double check how much it cost. I was pretty shocked, to say the least, when the bill came and saw that the 'slightly more expensive’ bottle was actually a staggering £120, compared to the original one I’d chosen at £68. I don’t think that a bottle 176% the price of the one I originally picked is even close to ’slightly more expensive’.

While I understand substitutions are sometimes necessary, I can’t think of any other way to interpret this than a brazen attempt to take advantage of the situation. It’s very disappointing that instead of prioritising transparency and customer satisfaction the focus seems to have been on squeezing extra profit from me. I strongly suggest you review your approach to substitutions and train your sommelier to be upfront about cost when offering...

One star because I can't put any less! We went there today with my friend and my 2 year old son. My friend has bought a sandwich from Pret a Manger, because she was very hungry and we weren't sure whether we would be able to sit anywhere for me to be able to feed my son. We sat outside, she begins eating, I sit my son and a lovely waitress comes and I say I'm going to order food and she brings me a menu. I get my boy's lunch and he starts eating, he is very hungry. I'm looking through the menu but my baby's hands start freezing and I go inside to see whether we can move inside. A lady behind the bar says to me that it's not allowed to bring food from outside (meaning Pret) and since we have sat outside it's fine, but we can't sit inside. I say OK, I understand this policy, it makes sense and I go back outside. 5 min later, my son has a piece of his lunch in his mouth and that same last lady comes to our table outside and says that we have to put away the sandwich, as it's not allowed and that's the policy. I say but we have already been here 20 min and you told us earlier it's fine? She says yes, but now I can't tell other people that it's not allowed to bring food from outside. I say well I'm not going to eat here then, we are going and I have to literally, take the food off my son's mouth and go and look for places to sit somewhere in the cold. The lady "nicely" points somewhere, in her words to a park, where "people take their Macdonalds to eat. To which I say fine, we are going, thank you for wasting my time and interrupting a 2-year old's lunch. We go in the direction of the park and guess what, there are at least 30 steps to that" Macdonalds' park.. No thanks. We went to the cafe at Debenhams, no one told us anything about any food although the place was packed unlike the posh French bistro and we were there for about an hour ,ordering drinks for everyone, lunch for me and deserts .To reiterate - I don't mind the policy about no outside food, I understand it. What wasn't OK was the lady telling us its OK at first and then coming out to tell us it's not OK 20 minutes after we have sat down. I think if such policy is strict, the first waitress should have told us it's not OK and we wouldn't have stayed in a...

I used to come to Comptoir Cafe and Wine weekly. It is a wonderful hidden spot behind the hustle and bustle of Oxford Street and Bond Street, with a beautiful wine selection and light bites, however, since the team have changed, the service does not make me want to come back, even more so, after my latest experience. We sat outside and had to work really hard to get the waiters attention. Please note, they weren't extremely busy, they didn't have every table filled. Once we managed to order, the waiter returned to the table after 10 plus minutes and asked for our order again. We simply ordered for two glasses of red. Our friend later came to join us and again had to work really hard to grasp anyone's attention. We weren't checked on, nor asked if we would like anything else to drink or a bite to eat.

We then also had to get up to settle our bill. So, I reasonably asked for service charge to be removed to the shock of the team member. When asked why, I simply stated there was no service; instead of apologising for the bad experience, I got given a dirty look. I bade the waiter farewell and wished them a good night. He didn't speak to me or even look at me. It is sad and safe to say I will not be returning here. A place I used to love visiting, has lost its luxury by a poor team and...