Medlar — Restaurant in London

We were a group of 4 adults and 2 young kids that visited Medlar for lunch on a Sunday. The décor did feel a bit formal but the friendly staff helped to create a relaxed atmosphere. They offer a price fixe menu of between 1 and 3 courses (with an optional extra cheese course), which felt refreshingly old school in this era of sharing plates that we all live in. Between the 4 adults, we tried out the crab raviolo and slow cooked rabbit starters, followed by the roast quail, calf’s liver and roast guinea fowl mains. For dessert we shared the tart tatin, crème brulee and warm chocolate mousse. The food was beautifully presented and quite flavourful as well. From the starters we tried the crab raviolo was the clear winner, all the mains seemed similarly good, while the tart tatin was an excellent finisher to the meal.

I must give special mention to the kid friendliness of the place, as this is not what I expected after reviewing the published menu online which wouldn’t appeal to younger kids. They were very accommodating to our children and offered to tailor make a dish using any mix of items on the menu at a reasonable price of £20. On that note the service was a real highlight of our meal, all the staff we interacted with seemed so genuine and friendly. The bill for the 6 of us came to £414 of which £92 was spent on drinks. The set price per adult of £58 for 3 courses is a relative bargain in this part of town (note that the price does vary based on time of the week, even though very similar menus are on offer), even more so once you consider their very generous servings of complementary bread as well as the chocolate truffles after our meal. On the whole an excellent meal in a place with old worldly charm and with so many tempting items on the menu yet to be tried, I will certainly be...

Unfortunately our first experience visiting this restuarant will be our last. We booked a lunchtime table today at midday after reading so called 5 star reviews.

When we arrived the restuarants looked closed and was empty.

The front door was unlocked, so we entered and no reception staff were at the front desk. We walked around and found that the staff were having a meeting. Not impressed so far.

No music was playing and when the reception did notice we had arrived didn't seem friendly at all, even to the point of getting our booking wrong.

Once they did find our booking we were escorted to a very unwelcoming table around a corner of the restaurant that wasn't very inspiring, even though the restaurant was empty we got the worse table it seemed.

Our visit was to celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary and the impression of the restuarants online compared to the actual visit was not accurate.

So we were given the menu which were not straightforward and overly priced. After 10 minutes of trying to work out what exactly was on offer to eat we asked for help. The waitress arrived and spike over us, immediately pushing for us to order drinks and she didn't take the food order, that wasn't her job apparently from what she said.

Unimpressed with the warehouse style restuarant, unfriendly staff, confusing overly priced menu and the shear lack of customer service we decided to leave and not eat at this restuarant. Even when we left no attempt was made to ask us why we were leaving. Staff pretty much ignored us.

Thankfully we walked down the road and found another restuarant called 28-50 wine workshop and kitchen who not only welcomed us but really made it a lovely experience. Avoid Medler, its not...

Looking back on my previous review from 2021 (see below) alas a lot has changed for the worse. Found the food a disappointment to be honest, the coquelet portions were tiny and the stuffed leg simply not very tasty and accompanied by too much, rather wet and bland leek - the riccota gnocchi did not seem to taste of anything much . The same criticism pretty much applied to the starter of asparagus and beef croquettes which had too much "damp" white onion. On the positive side, the crab ravioli was still very good, as was the creme brulle and my wife enjoyed her rump of Belted Galloway. The wine list is extensive, and mainly expensive but there are a few more reasonably priced wines. Service was pretty good and started very attentive but lost focus a bit when it got a busier. They did however bring a nice dessert of honeycomb ice cream for my wife's birthday - on the house. Overall, I regret to say, a disappointment and to my mind at £170 per head, albeit with wine and one cocktail each, well overpriced for what we got .. ------ 2021 review---

Very good food and friendly attentive service. For London and the quality and sophistication of the cuisine, it was reasonably priced. Crab raviolo was very tasty with a well-balanced bisque and the chicken and duck breast dishes perfectly cooked and seasoned with well chosen and executed vegetable accompaniments. The raspberry cheesecake is excellent, but a wee bit stingy on the lemon curd and cake elements. Extensive wine list. Overall highly recommended if your budget covers this type of dining.Note unless you are really very hungry you only need one side of excellent triple cooked...