Le Pont de la Tour — Restaurant in London

Pont De La Tour is based in Shad Thames, just moments away from Tower Bridge. Given one of my favourite parts of London is walking down by The River Thames via London Bridge and Tower Bridge (I feel like such a massive tourist each time when I remain wowed by the sites) I just loved the location of this restaurant. It has a gorgeous terrace area overlooking Tower Bridge with fairy lights and blankets – worth braving the cold for.

Julien Imbert has recently been appointed as Head Chef of Pont De La Tour and is aiming to combine traditional French cooking with a modern touch to this fantastic restaurant. The restaurant is in good hands with Julien who initially worked at Sketch followed by lead positions at both Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and Berners Tavern and Head Chef at Jason Atherton’s City Social.

The bar and grill offers more of a casual brassiere type dining with some classic dishes such as croque monsieur and rib eye steak. We dined in the restaurant in intimate surroundings and had a lovely table by the window overlooking the river. From the outset the staff were very friendly and knowledgeable and we had a sommelier offer us a wine pairing.

We began with a couple of glasses of champagne (it was my birthday!) and some warm freshly baked bread. On to the starters we had the Ham Hock terrine, pickled baby onion, truffle mayonnaise and capers and the Cured Salmon, miso mayonnaise, pickled cucumber, lemon gel which were so beautifully presented. The Ham Hock was served with warm toast and was one of the best I have ever had!

On to the mains we went for the chefs recommendation of Launceston fillet of lamb, braised shoulder, black garlic emulsion, lemon yoghurt and the Beef fillet, fondant potato, confit shallot, braised ox cheek. Both meats were perfectly cooked and well seasoned and the ratatouille with the lamb was a great touch, as was the braised ox cheek with the beef.

There was barely any room for dessert so we opted for the Lemon Curd, thyme shortbread, meringue, liquorice ice cream, which was unusual but complimented by the texture of the meringue and the lemon curd was offset by the white chocolate – it was melt in the mouth delicious!! I like to swap my desserts for a cocktail so chose one from the Luscious and Rich section of the menu – the Don Pasquale -spiced rum, Armagnac, rhubarb liquer, Pimm’s agave syrup, lemon and Peychauds bitters – served in a huge tumbler with one large cube of ice, this was exactly as the menu said – luscious and rich.

Pont Dr La Tour is an upmarket restaurant with fantastic food, staff and surroundings – definitely a place to impress clients, dine on a special occasion or on a...

Booked this place a week ago based on google reviews and recommendations, however, I was thoroughly disappointed. The service is appalling for an upscale restaurant charging the prices they do. When I made a reservation, I included a note asking for a table with a view as it was a birthday celebration of two people I was with, I also asked if we can get a small piece of cake for each one of them. I called the afternoon of the reservation (yesterday afternoon) to reconfirm my requests and was assured it’s noted. When we arrived at the restaurant, I reconfirmed it yet again with the two girls at the door and they confirmed it they have it all.

However, to my dismay and absolute disappointment, we were seated at the far end of the restaurant where no one else was sitting, it took forever for waiters to see us and come take our order. I requested to be moved to an empty table in the busy part of the restaurant and we did eventually move. The service however remained very disappointing, no one seemed to know what they were doing, they were all running around like headless chickens without really knowing who was doing what. The food was ok for the price you pay for it, however, the entire experience is ruined by the terrible service and just how slow they are. They apologized because they were short staffed, which is understandable during these times, however, don’t take that number of reservations in one night if you can’t manage them all. We had to ask 4 to 5 times for the waiter to take our order. At the end, no one brought any pieces of cake or sang happy birthday, although they did it to two other tables around us, despite numerous reminders.

I had a word with Luca the manager at the end to tell him about our experience and how terrible disappointed I was for the price I paid and the service I received, and he apologized several times and asked me to send him an email. I asked what will an email do, and he said we might ask you to come back and remedy it. Why would I want to come back? To receive horrible service again?

If you want average food with horrible service and sub par experience go there, otherwise, please save your money or spend it somewhere else where you will get much better service and at least above average food. Definitely will not recommend this place nor will ever...

I attended Le Pont de la Tour with my mum, her good friend and her friend's daughter. The venue is beautiful if you can fight through the crowds of tourists crossing the "under construction" bridge! I love the bistro decor and the seating is VERY comfortable. We opted for 2/3 course menus without bottomless prosecco as two of us were driving. My mother's friend had a glass of prosecco and wanted another. It seemed to work out better value to pay £17 for bottomless rather than £8.50 a glass. The problem is that our waiter was not attentive at all. He was more interested serving a nearby group who had got though a number of bottles. Great for them but my mum's friend kept having to ask to be topped up! I was very surprised as I've never experienced that before. Most bottomless brunches I've attended you can't get to the bottom of your glass before being topped up again. I felt like we were fighting for attention as there was also an occasion where I had to get someone's attention for water! I left brunch early as I had another engagement but I understand from my mother that they raised the concerns with another member of staff after I left and she was very apologetic offering glasses of champagne (which my mother and my friend declined but mother's friend accepted) and teas/coffees. It's a shame it had to get to that stage, but it's great that the issues were addressed. The food was nice but not blow me away outstanding. I had a starter of salmon, fennel and rye bread. Main of steak, chips and tomato salad (salad was delish!). I did not have dessert. Would I attend again? No. Because I've been to better brunches and its not worth coming out of the way for this restaurant IMO. I do think the waiter let the establishment down for an event which was a rare meet up of old school friends on a Saturday afternoon. There was service charge on the bill but the service was not deserving. I'm not one to pay service charge where it's not deserved but sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture and...