Martin's Place — Restaurant in London

Initially enjoyable, our visit ended surreally.

Firstly, Martin's Place is a bit of an Uxbridge institution. It's one of a handful of independent restaurants in town, and it's one that's been going for many years.

It's an idiosyncratic spot with a small dining room only big enough to get around 15 people in, and loos you access through the kitchen. The menu hasn't changed much since it's opening and so is an eccentric and potentially charming spot.

My friend had booked, and when we arrived we were told to pick a table. We joined 2 other tables who were clearly regulars or friends of the owner, Martin, and so it was a jolly atmosphere. We picked some retro favourites, like Chicken Cordon Bleu, and settled in.

Food took a long time to arrive and by the time it did the other 2 tables had gone and so we were the only ones left. We were a bit self conscious, but it wasn't so bad with the music playing. The food, while freshly prepared, was pretty basic for the cost. We were left for quite long periods and had no water for quite a long time. But again, we were enjoying each others company and the atmosphere was good. That is until the music stopped.

The music that had been playing stopped, and we could hear the staff had started to watch loud game shows in the kitchen. It was as if they had forgotten we were there. Feeling like we were intruding, we had to poke our heads into the kitchen to get water and ask for the bill. All in all it was a really strange way to end the evening and, while objectively funny, it soured the...

We booked for 6pm and were the second table to arrive. We waited a while to have our order taken and made it clear we only wanted mains. We then sat and waited for over an hour for our food, while every other table was served starters, then their mains while we were still sat waiting. We asked the server how long our food would be about 30 mins in and she apologised and said it would be out in five minutes. We then waited another 30 mins before our food finally arrived. Waiting an hour for two steaks is pretty rubbish. What was worse was that the steak was the smallest i’ve ever seen in my life, this filet must have been less than two inches in diameter. A real shame as it was cooked perfectly and the sauce was amazing. What was less amazing was the clearly microwaved frozen from a bag veg served with it.

Overall we were left quite disappointed, I really wanted to like the bistro as it’s a small local business, but after this experience I can say we won’t...

Attended a family meal here and was excited to try the woodland mushroom and pea risotto however I was very disappointed when the dish came out. The dish had no mushrooms and no truffle oil despite the menu stating this. Also, it was not a risotto consistency it was more just a standard rice dish with various bits of veg in it. We had to request mushrooms, which by the time these were cooked my meal was going cold. Adding them after meant the mushroom flavours were missed. All other people in my party enjoyed their meals so perhaps the veggie/vegan option is not given the same attention. Another thing to note is that the sides we received were only veg and chips which was a shame we weren't offered new potatoes as an option as offered on the menu. Hopefully this was just a one off...