German Gymnasium — Restaurant in London

We actually went to the German Gymnasium by chance because we were looking for Redefine Meats New Meat Vegan Beef Flank which they didn’t have at the first restaurant we went to. Therefore we walked the 45min from Soho to Kings Cross and boy was it worth it!!! First of all we were joking since my girlfriend and I are German it was kind of funny to come to this place but already when we entered we were impressed by the location. Way back when… the building was originally built for the German Gymnastics society and the venue even hosted part of the first Olympic Games in London. They seemingly gave it a modern touch in the not too far past as the building seemed very modern to us. We were shown to our table on the top level, overseeing the entire restaurant which looked very impressive and to me we could not have had a better table. Our waiter introduced himself and was extremely polite, friendly, yet professional. As we already knew what we wanted. We ordered a bottle of water (no wine due to DryJanuary), some sweet potatoe fries and twice the Redefine Vegan Beef Flank. It took probably 15-20min for the order to arrive and we were simply blown away, not only by the “Beef” itself but also the entire dish was just perfect, besides maybe being a bit small. As this felt like a high class dining experience and the Redefine Meat is sadly still a rare ingredient, I guess the price was acceptable. The combination of the “meat” the broccoli and the balsamic sauce was very well done and supported the star of the dish perfectly. The Sweet potatoe fries were good too though there too the amount could have been bigger and we usually prefer a bit more salt. We actually had to ask our waiter for salt and pepper shakers because there were none on the table. We would definitely eat there again since, the meal itself and the location impressed us...

I booked here for valentine's day on account of the mostly good reviews. On the positive side, the ambience is nice, the food options are good and it's in a convenient location.

Unfortunately, however, my review is quite the opposite. Whilst the service was ok (not amazing), and whilst the food was reasonable, I was violently ill after eating here within the hour of leaving the restaurant. I emailed the restaurant the next day and my partner called at least twice, and they performed a review and concluded they did nothing wrong. I'm afraid, as I didn't eat anything beforehand since lunch and nothing afterwards I'm completely sure there was an issue with what I ate here. (I also know my body and know that being sick directly after eating for an hour and then suddenly feeling fine is on account of eating something bad).

I mentioned I had a shellfish allergy and their review focused on this element and concluded it was not in relation to my shellfish allergy, however, I'm afraid it was obviously a bacterial reaction to something. Unfortunately, the response was defensive and in the spirit of covering their own backs. On this basis I'm afraid I cannot recommend this restaurant (unusual for my Google local guides reviews as I almost always only leave positive reviews of the places that I try). I found the response to throwing up violently for an hour tremendously corporate and procedural. Whilst I don't expect the bill for the night being refunded (though I do expect my food being refunded for obvious reasons, though this request was declined) there is certainly better customer care out there.

On account of this experience I'm afraid my opinion is to avoid this restaurant and go somewhere else. Because if you are ill after eating here the result will be a defensive and procedural piece of paper work to...

Food - food was good (Duck amazing, Schnitzel very good, wurst in currywurst was a bit cold.

Service - very poor 1)Wine service - We had to wait ages for it double chasing for it during the dinner and then finally cancel it when the meals were already eaten. Funny thing a complete stranger waitress approached us with the wine suddenly while we were already waiting for the bill. She was completely surprised when we told her we had already cancelled it a while ago. 2)We ordered 3 main meals and 2 kid menu meals for our two little children and surprisingly the adults got their meals first… you can only imagine the kids 3)That dinner was a birthday present for me and my mum (they both have dinner the same week) from my husband so My husband went to the reception desk (while waiting for already ordered food) to organize a small pieces of cake served for both of them for when the main meals are done. Didn’t happen even though we spent some time in there. 4)Don’t know if that’s normal but we had no idea who was a waitress of our table… there was a different person each approach.

And finally the mood - terrible! We got a table next to the waitresses stand/table which we asked to change if possible. Not possible… Unfortunately most of the time there was a stressful situation with few waitresses arguing over different things. Situation got worse and worse and people sitting at the tables around were confused too ( i could only see their impressions as the waitress stand was just behind my back). We had to stop even talking to each other during family birthday dinner because of what was going next to our table with different staff joining and leaving the argument across the time …

For the first time in long time I just wanted to get the bill and leave as...