Holy Carrot — Restaurant in London

The food is delicious, however, I had such a bad experience with the service (or lack there of!) today that I’m unlikely to return.

Tldr: waitress ignored my friend and I despite table reservation; was in the restaurant for over an hour and twenty minutes before we got so much as a glass of wine! Staff didn’t even apologise

We reserved a table for 8.15pm, my friend arrived at 8.16pm and told staff the table was reserved under my name, they then disappeared and fully ignored her leaving her awkwardly standing for 10 minutes. When I arrived at 8.25pm, we were again ignored and left standing for quite some time before the waitress came over and said they were behind and our table wasn’t ready so sat us in the bar. We asked how long our table would be, she said she would check and let us know. Well, 20 minutes go by and there was no update and no orders taken for drinks etc. Eventually we were taken to our table but then ignored for quite some time again! Eventually she came back to give us some water, we said we were ready to order she said she’d be right back to take our order. Lo and behold, she never came back! A table was then seated next to us and their food came immediately! Apparently they had been given the opportunity to order whilst waiting (soemthing we never got!). Eventually a new waitress comes and we can eventually order, but bear in mind this was an hour after our reservation time! A whole hourJUST to place an order! She heard our grumbling to each other and rather than apologise; she tried to say it was our fault for being late, obviously we corrected her, made it clear at least one of us was on time and made herself known to staff but was ignored and asked when we could expect our wine which still hadn’t arrived! Eventually our starters came and yet again we had to ask for our wine. At this stage, we’d been in the restaurant for an hour and twenty minutes! In most restaurants you’d have had an entire meal by that point, that’s how long it took for us just to get our starters and bottle of wine!

Our waitress (the second one, not the abysmal first one who will fully ignored us) was very nice and we appreciated her efforts. However, a proper apology and acknowledgment of the sub par experience would have been greatly appreciated. Whilst I understand that the restaurant was busy and the staff overwhelmed, they clearly were able to compensate for that and take care of other customers whilst we were literally just ignored. Additionally, being busy and overwhelmed doesn’t excuse the lack of humility, apology and care for good customer experience.

Very...

I was looking forward to my visit to this elegant restaurant. The bar and restaurant are beautiful and the staff is very attentive. The music is too loud. The table next to us was a group that was screaming to each other all night. Trying to have a conversation despite the loud music and all the other guests who are trying to do the same. It was annoying not to be able to talk to each other at a normal conversation level.

But the food was the biggest disappointment. The black garlic & truffle butter was amazing, truly amazing, but it was the only amazing taste that came to the table. I was studying the menu online and at the restaurant and it all sounded so mouthwateringly good. I'm sad to say that it did not live up to our expectations.

The purple potato croquettes with avocado filling were very dry. The filling was literally a speck of avocado and the home made basil mayo was just a drop on the plate and did not taste like basil at all.

The smoked aubergine carpaccio tasted okay. It's basically mashed aubergine but the smokey flavor, the black tahini sauce and the pomegranate made for a combination that worked. Unfortunately the taste of the mint and lime aioli was so subtle the flavors did not reach our tastebuds at all.

The holy maki did not make us scream, “holy!” Oh how I wished it would have. The flavors where just not there. If you promise me; tomato “tuna”, asparagus, heritage vegetable, cauliflower rice, oyster mushroom, smoked carrot & organic quinoa spiced “crab” heart of palm, purple carrot & organic red rice served with ponzu sauce, I expect a mouthful of flavor. Not a very dry and compact maki roll with a dull side of sauce.

The Vietnamese style green roll fell apart as soon as we touched it. It was basically some chopped up, dry vegetables with no flavor wrapped up in rice paper. Leaving me picking at crudités with a tiny bit of peanut sauce. Our waiter picked up on our disappointment and took the almost untouched green rolls back. Instead he offered us the charred tender stem broccoli. Which had more flavor but was still just charred broccoli and nothing special.

We did not have the confidence in the rest of the menu to order main and dessert and left early. Maybe it was just not our thing but I have cooked and tasted lovely vegan and vegetarian food before and I can’t shake the feeling that so much more could be done in the kitchen to bring out the flavors and offer...

The food at the Holy Carrot was amazing. Some of the best vegan food I’ve ever had in my life, and it certainly attracts a lot of customers. It would just be nice if the floor staff could handle it.

We arrived on time for our booking and was told by a waitress that our table wouldn’t be ready for around 10 minutes, so to go into the cocktail “lounge” to order a drink whilst we waited. It was a busy Friday night, so it was completely understandable to us and we were looking forward to enjoying a cocktail whilst we waited.

The cocktail area was okay. The theming was nice but it felt quite cramped and a bit of an afterthought. Also, half of the cocktails on the menu had a price and half didn’t which was quite confusing. After ten minutes of waiting to order a drink (with multiple waiters going back and forth in this time) we had to approach someone to ask if we could order. Her attitude wasn’t very friendly which was disappointing considering they were late with our table and now with taking our order too. Twenty more minutes past, and we were seated at our table STILL waiting for our cocktails to arrive, having spent half an hour in the “lounge” area with nothing to drink.

The decor in the restaurant was really nice but the place had too many tables (maximise profit) which left us feeling crammed in. It was also very noisy.

From this moment on, the experience was wonderful. We got a different waiter who was professional and helpful despite the extreme business of the restaurant. Our cocktails were amazing. Very flavourful and aesthetically pleasing. We ordered an Emperor, it was delicious and served in a vessel filled with smoke (mystical). The other cocktail, I can’t remember the name but it was a chocolatey espresso martini (also delicious and wonderful).

For our main meals we ordered the mushroom and truffle risotto and sexy tofu. My mouth is literally watering as I’m writing this. Truly delicious food, filled with flavour, served quickly and very beautifully presented. The food was also filling (I had to take some home as a midnight snack).

Overall I would definitely recommend this restaurant- both to vegans and meat lovers. We will definitely be coming back again, hopefully next time we will have a better experience in the lounge area, because this place really...