Mercer Roof Terrace — Restaurant in London

We booked a table for 2 on NY eve, the late shift. First i'd like to start off with some things we did enjoy about this place. The staff was very friendly and nice, on the informal side but thats personally how we like it. The location is also very nice, even when you can only partially see the fireworks, the view is still stunning from the terrace. The restaurant itself is cosy aswell, the tables are not too closely packed together and the overall atmosphere is cosy. However, we felt the price for our evening was too high for the food and service we received. We paid 400+ pounds for two 5 course menu's, 1 bottle of wine, 1cocktail and a coffee.

Starting off with the menu, it is described as a 5 course menu, however, the first course consisted of 2 pieces of bread and goats cheese to share (much like the bread you get on the side at other restaurants). The next course was smoked salmon. There wasn't any bread served to accompany this course (aside from the left over bread from the first course) so we asked for some more bread. We received some bread but it was charged as extra. The bread, salmon, aswell as the main course tasted good but didn't feel as refined as we expected them to be in a rooftop restaurant on top of a luxury hotel. After the main course there was toast with fig and brie. The taste was fine, but the course consisted of a slice of roasted brioche with some fig confit and figs on top and a brick of brie. Barely any plating or work put into the dish. Aside from that the course was served on different plates for me and my partner and my partner also didn't get any fig pieces on his plate. The dessert after was nice. Overall the food was ok but not What you would expect of a 150P menu (excl. The service charge).

Then onto the service. The staff was friendly but didn't say what they were serving up when putting the plates on the table. They just put the plates down and went away. We heard a neighbouring table ask about what they were serving and the waiter couldnt even answer.. The plates also arrived really quick, we aswell as the neighbouring tables had to ask to slow down the courses so we didn't have to just sit and wait from 10.30 with no more courses to come. Then the doorknob to the terrace broke off and staff had to lodge something in between the doorframe so they could still go outside, leaving the door openend for the rest of the night. Safe to say even though it was warmer than other winters outside, the draught still wasn't really pleasant... Aside from the cold air the service got a lot more chaotic close to our table (as we were seated closely to the door) and some waiters were very visibly annoyed/irritated after this occurence, which is understandable but not really professional.

Then by the end of the night when we went up to pay the staff didn't give us the right bill. They noticed after we paid, and we eventually managed to pay the extra 15P difference.

After all this, the discretionary service fee was still added without mentioning. It would have been nice at this point if they had offered to waive the fee (we would have paid it anyhow as the staff was nice and we knew the evening was going to be a rather expensive one) due to the cold wind blowing in or the chaotic service.

So overall, the food and staff is nice, but rather overpriced (even when taking the location and the fact that it was New year's eve...

Vintry and Mercer is a luxury boutique hotel in the City of London, only moments away from Mansion House tube station and a few minutes from St Paul’s. You are spoilt for choice with two restaurants, a roof terrace and a speakeasy style bar.

Vintry Kitchen is an Asian tapas eatery on the ground floor, with a menu focusing on fresh, bold flavours. Wine takes centre stage served straight from large barrels. Make sure you check out Wagyu Wednesday where you can get an epic Wagyu sando and a beer for £25.

We love a rooftop restaurant in the City and we certainly were not disappointed with this one. The decor of the restaurant is bright, floral and beautiful so if the weather isn’t great, this is a perfect option for dining.

However, if the sun is out then make sure you dine on the terrace! With views of St Paul’s and the Shard, it is a gorgeous area to sip on cocktails or enjoy a slap up meal.

Cocktail wise we sipped on an English Spritz: Hendrick’s Gin, soda and English sparking wine (£19 – a little pricey!) and St Paul Hurricane: Plantation 3 white rum infused with passion fruit, sage and ginger, grand mariner and oregat + lime, pineapple and English verjuice (£12). The cocktails were beautifully presented and were crisp and light.

The menu is predominantly British using sustainably sourced meat and fish from the British Isles, in particular Scotland and Cornwall. We started off with some warm sourdough (huge chunks) and some sweeter Guinness bread.

For starters we absolutely loved the Pig’s Head Croquettes, fennel salad (£9.50). The croquette itself was huge and absolutely packed with filling. The English Asparagus with duck egg, wild garlic bearnaise (£10.50) was equally impressive. Make sure you order these soon as they aren’t in season for much longer! Lastly, we tried the Ewes Cheese, carrot, honey and lavender which was so colourful and we loved the combination of savoury and sweet.

We were so impressed with the Wild Garlic crusted cod fillet, beetroot risotto which was on the set lunch menu. The cod was flaky and soft with a nice crunch from the crust. We were also surprised at how much we loved the risotto.

There were so many delicious choices from the “Land” section including 35 day aged beef and pork cutlet. We opted for the Brook Street Farm Rack of Lamb served with celeriac gratin and artichoke (£60 to share). The lamb is carved in front of you which is a nice touch and it was certainly plentiful! While £60 isn’t cheap, it is easily enough for two people and was tender and flavoursome.

There are five desserts to choose from and three kinds of cheese. We had the Chocolate Mousse, Vanilla Ice Cream and Stout served in a mini tankard (£6). The stout flavour wasn’t to my taste but the mousse was light and not too rich.

We were so impressed with our meal at this beautiful rooftop restaurant in the City. The service was friendly and attentive (but not overbearing!) and the atmosphere was laid back but with a special feel to it. The weekday set lunch menu is good value at £29.50 for 2 courses and £33.50 for 3 courses. You must absolutely add this restaurant...

Booked for a special occasion with my boyfriend - thing that was specified in the booking and there was also an added note when I booked to kindly get a corner table on the terrace, if it was possible (note: terrace was empty, apart from one other table, when we arrived). I will say that the whole place is beautifully decorated and the reception people downstairs were really nice. The staff on the terrace, though, seemed quite oblivious to requests and inexperienced in general. Even though it was specified on the booking, when we got there we were asked if we wanted a table inside or on the terrace and then throughout the whole evening, although they had a total of about four tables, we were severely overlooked. The waiter we had at first seemed entirely unenthusiastic to be there, and he brought us lipstick marked glasses when serving our water; then, the other waiter who took over in his place seemed quite inexperienced with the drinks menu/knowledge in general when asked about a certain spirit; then, our drinks were served at different times, the “old-fashioned” which turned out to be the “boulevardier” was served to the wrong person and confused with the latter, and finally when the actual “old fashioned” actually came, it was first presented to the table next to us (which, by the way, arrived after us and was treated a lot better throughout the evening, and towards whom the staff were SO much more attentive) and we had to signal to the waitress that it was actually for us. In terms of food, I cannot really complain, it was good, my boyfriend said he had one of the best lambs there, and my vegetarian dish was good too. I will say, though, that there isn’t much choice for vegetarians/vegans, with like, one dish per course that you can “pick” from. All in all, looking at both food and service, the overall experience lacked a lot and I can’t say we’ll be back any time soon after that. For the price of everything, it was certainly not worth it. I do hope the staff will receive better training in the meantime so that no one else will have to experience...