London Steakhouse — Restaurant in London

We had a virgin voucher for two, specifically the Champagne celebration experience three course meal with sides.

We could only book 48 hours in advance which meant it was hard to book around other experiences we had included in our voucher which was the Shard visit. This made it hard to organise our trips around this steakhouse meal, but luckily we got a table.

We accidentally found ourselves initially at the wrong steakhouse, note it is NOT the one in the Hilton hotel… On the voucher it said it was Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, but it is London Steakhouse for the meal.

We arrived 30 minutes late which they accommodated as we rang up, and they sat us at the bar whilst waiting to be seated.

The selection of drinks was somewhat eye-watering regarding the cost, especially for a 3-Star rated steakhouse - appreciate this is London however.

After deciding not to have a drink, we were sat at our table along the back wall which was quite crammed and very close to other people. We had to move the table out to fit in, and the waiters kept knocking into the people next to us.

Thankfully our champagne arrived promptly, and we picked our food from the set menu which was very limited in terms of not adding additional supplement charges, but the waiter explained the menu well. Our lamp on the table also did not work which ruined some of the ambience.

We received our starters after ordering maybe 2 minutes before which was super speedy, this was the salmon with 2 mini pancakes and the soup of the day.

The portion of the salmon was similar to that of a kids meal, which was more of an appetiser than a starter. The soup was hot enough to eat right away, and did have good flavour and consistency.

The mains we ordered were the 7oz Rump with peppercorn sauce and the braised boeuf bourguignon. The rump was medium rare, however hard to cut into with the knives provided, leaving my wrists and the plate destroyed… It did taste OK however, and wasn’t chewy despite how hard it was to cut into. Would be good if they provided proper steak knives for a steakhouse.

The bourguignon seemed somewhat microwaved, composing of quite a few fatty lumps of grizzle - school dinner style stew and mash.

The desserts we had the chocolate mousse and the lemon posset - probably the highlight of the entire 3 course meal. They also asked if there was any special occasion for the meal which they then surprised my partner with a sparkler which was nice, along with “congratulations” written in chocolate sauce on both our plates which is a nice touch. These tasted amazing.

We also had the apron given to us, which was included as part of the experience.

I highly recommend if you eat here, buy the virgin voucher for more than 50% off the meal we had, as we certainly would not pay £200+ for this meal including the charges like 9.5% service charge and a charge of £1.50 each just to have a table.

If I am honest, I would prefer to eat at miller and carters for half the price, better quality food. The waiters were lovely, but the food we found let it down despite the venue being completely booked.

Would I go again, probably not? But it’s an experience for a London...

First up, we were probably the worst kind of customers, those dining on a 5 course dinner voucher gifted to us, and determined not to spend anything on top.

We were 'welcomed' in by a less than enthusiastic maitre d and were given the wrong menus (the 3 course set menu).

Our first waiter corrected this and gave us the right menu. One of us had dietary requirements and these were explained with the promise that they could be catered for. There was very little explanation of the menu. We later witnessed a different waiter giving a very clear explanation to other customers.

The menu included aperitifs, a selection of 4 cocktails. I ordered the cranberry crush and my wife ordered the Caribbean style drink. Neither of us were able to find the alcohol in them, if there was any.

The gluten free alternative to the salmon blini was a dry GF cracker with a tiny bit of salmon on top and a few capers.

Of the 5 courses the first two were delivered simultaneously, I think they wanted to get rid of us fast!

My wife was offered soup to replace the course she couldn't have as there was no GF alternative, it didn't come with any GF bread.

Given that the restaurant is a steakhouse, there wasn't a steak included in the set menu, unless you're prepared to pay a supplement of at least £12.50.

The options were boeuf bourguignon with mash or a fish cake with a poached egg and spinach.

My wife was offered fries to replace the mash without any quibbles.

The bourguignon was tasty.

I had the sticky toffee pudding for dessert, which was fine, my wife was offered sorbet as the only option that would accommodate her dietary requirements. She declined she was offered coffee instead.

Once finished we were given the bill which included a 12.5% service charge on a £0 expenditure at £7.13 and a £1 per head 'cover charge'. Total bill £9.13.

That was the first time I'd seen a cover charge on a restaurant bill. I didn't feel it was justified as, having done some research, it's typically there to cover bread and water on the table, neither of which we were given, or live music, which wasn't there either. We ate at 4pm, and there were very few people there. Music was Adele on loop (a short loop).

I wasn't impressed with the service or the food, so told the waiter we wouldn't be paying anything, we were quickly ushered to the reception desk where the manager questioned us as to why. We explained that the initial welcome was desultory, if not grumpy, the food was nothing to write home about and emphasised the lack of effort with regard to dietary requirements. They told us that the dry cracker was all they had that was GF. Not good enough in 2024.

I wasn't sure about my consumer rights with regard to the cover charge so paid the £2.

All in all, this experience felt like an exercise in profit maximisation whilst providing the minimum that can be provided without causing total outrage amongst the clientele.

We won't be returning. But we were grateful to our daughter for the thoughtfulness of...

Visit to The View from the Shard and Three Course Champagne Celebration Dining with Sides at Marco Pierre White's London Steakhouse Co for Two.

This visit was part of a Virgin Experience Days Voucher I booked to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. Make a note that to use the voucher, you must book both experiences separately, and if you live far from London, you might have to do two visits depending on availability. Always check and understand that spaces are all subject to availability.

We got to the Steakhouse a little bit early. The hosts at the desk were very welcoming, and they took our jackets then asked us to wait a few minutes for the table. Within minutes we were sat and Martha, our host for the evening, introduced herself and double checked the deal that we had booked. Bubbly was delivered promptly and then she took our food order, which was selected from the deals menu. We ordered Classic Prawn Cocktail A La Russe and Beetroot & Goats Cheese Salad for the wife. Both not worth the price, the prawn cocktail is not the finest, and it was bland, nothing special. The Beetroot was layered all around the plate, had a bit of goats cheese, and a small amount of chopped walnuts. It must be a goldmine selling two beetroots with bits on top at that price!. Onto the main, wife ordered the Braised Boeuf Bourguignon, and I ordered the 8oz Rump. My wife enjoyed her dish, my meat was burnt, I ask for a Medium term and was served a piece of burnt meat. Surely the chef would have shouted in the kitchen if this was being served elsewhere. I wish I could upload a photograph for all to see. Our deal included sides and they were normal. Our dessert was Sticky Toffee Pudding, and Martha had asked the kitchen staff to add "Happy Anniversary" around the plates. This was a lovely gesture by her, and was very tasty. This was soon followed by a nice white box that had the apron inside. We ordered a bottle of red wine to go with the meal. Everyone complains that the service is slow, however most restaurants use this tactic to get you ordering more drinks, that's where the real profit is. The service charge is optional, we left it on, as Martha was very good at making us feel welcomed. The additional money spent was about £50.00 pounds, on top of the deal that was already paid for. We got our jackets, thanked the hosts for their service and left. I think that if you are nice to waiting staff, they are likely to take care of you a little bit better. They are pressured by management to sell more, and running on their feet all night is stressful. I would happily return, and order a bigger piece of meat, and if turns out the same, I will ask for it to be changed. I didn't do this, as I wanted to have the main course...