Nessa Soho — Restaurant in London

Unprofessional and dishonest.

I booked a table for two, one and a half month in advance to be sure that we get a table during the Christmas week. I booked it there because the restaurant seemed nice but most of all, there was a Christmas Feasting Menu with a typical Christmas main dish « Grandma’s Chicken ».

So, I booked a table for dinner on the 27th of December. However, when booking, nothing mentioned the Feasting Menu. To be sure, I emailed the Nessa team a week after my booking and asked if it would in fact be, this special Menu on the 27th (I know that sometimes some dishes needs to be ordered days before). And well, at my surprise, the feasting menu was only available for 8+ tables (which wasn’t initially mentioned anywhere on the website). If I hadn’t messaged them I wouldn’t have known.

I then, let them know of my surprise but also disappointment because I was really looking forward to it. The lady I was talking to, Anuschka, told me that she (on her own) asked her manager if it was possible to, exceptionally, do the feasting menu for us. And apparently the manager accepted.

I was really happy and let the time pass. Until today, the 27th. I arranged my day to be sure that I could make it to dinner on time. And eventually got to the restaurant. I came up to a lady and told her about my reservation but I had a weird feeling about the menu. So I asked her if it was still okay. She (confused at first, but maybe because of my French accent) told me that it was okay. She also told us to wait at the bar while she was going to go get the menu. She then talked to some guy (most likely her manager). And they came up to us saying that there was a mistake and they didn’t do the feasting menu anymore.

I knew she was lying. I could tell. They told us that all the items on the Feasting menu were on the evening menu (which they weren’t). As much as there were resemblances, the one dish we wanted, Grandmas Chicken, wasn’t there, (and no dessert, as well as the Mince Pies, cheeses, etc.). All the dishes on their own were a lot more expensive than on the feasting menu.

So I told her that we would look into it and choose wether to stay or leave. I knew that something was up, so I looked on their website and there it was, the feasting menu, still there and up to the 31st of December. She came up again asking if we knew if we wanted to stay or not. So I asked her about the menu again and, as it was unexpected for me to ask again she stumble upon her word and only told me that she didn’t know. No explanation whatsoever. I’m sure if I had gone up to the dining floor I would’ve have seen the Feasting Menu on the tables. But because we were only two they wouldn’t serve it (even though they accepted it). Well we left.

I booked it a while ago, I made sure it was the right menu, I arrange my day around this specific moment and it was all ruined because they are unprofessional and they are dishonest.

We then went to the Ivy Brasserie in Soho that fortunately had still a table for us and it was perfect and cheaper. I recommend this one.

Nessa is a waste of time and money.

We are clearly...

Hate to say it but this was the worst meal I have ever been served in a London restaurant.

Before our visit we had already seen on Nessa's website that there are two menus: brunch (served until 3pm) and all day (served from 12pm onwards). We arrived just after 3pm but for some reason we were not allowed to order from the all day menu, and had to order from the brunch menu (which is so odd given that brunch stopped some minutes ago but the all-day menu had apparently started three hours ago and ran, as the name suggests, all day). No explanation for this was given.

I opted for the chopped salad and an additional £5 side order of chicken (as per the menu). The chef refused to do the side order of chicken as that was only really intended for the Caesar salad. Bit weird given that it's an optional item that can be added to your order and the waitress had no problem with my ordering it. The salad itself was perplexing: half of the bowl was chunks of stone cold, raw beetroot; the other half was slices of miscellaneous, pallid and tasteless vegetables served in so much oil that my mouth felt peculiar when I tried to eat them. Never before have I left so much food on my plate, ever, but this was truly inedible. Perhaps I just ordered the wrong thing but what I was served bore no resemblance to any chopped salad I have ever had before, and nor have I ever been given a plate comprising fifty percent cold, raw beetroot. My companion ordered the breakfast which was £18.00 for one egg ("overcooked and hard"), one hash brown, one sausage and one piece of bacon ("fatty"). He asked for toast and was charged £3.50 for one slice of toast, served cold and without butter (to be fair the butter was subsequently brought upon request).

I also ordered the croquettes which I have to say were very nice, but they were the only edible food I was served. When I left the restaurant all I could think about was how duped I felt and how hungry I was.

Overall we paid between us £81 for my croquettes, a glass of wine and a small bowl of unyielding, oily, uncooked vegetables and, in my companion's case, some components of an English breakfast and one alcoholic drink.

Have to say I can't see us going to back to Nessa's again,...

Visited Nessa in Soho for a birthday celebration. The location is convenient (close to pubs like the Glass Blower), but the ambience was not enjoyable if you want to have a conversation.

The dining room is split between a bar area and an open-plan kitchen with very low lighting. Once the room filled up, the noise level became overwhelming.

We were seated between a table of four and a table of eight and had to move because it was impossible to hear each other. Definitely not ideal for celebrating an occasion.

Drinks: Cocktails were average for the price — lots of ice, not much depth of flavour.

Food: • Rolled oat soda bread with cultured butter — excellent, the butter was creamy and rich. • Cheese & onion croquettes (£9) — portion of five, tasty with the mustard mayo. • Aged beef rump tartare (£12) — heavily bulked out with bread, so the actual beef portion felt small. • Chargrilled seabream (£28) — very disappointing: dry, skin inedible, sauce overly oily. • Roast rump of West Country lamb — deliciously cooked but the gravy was far too rich; left me feeling unwell. • Coal roasted cabbage (£13.5) — surprisingly excellent, nicely charred with a great dressing. • French fries (£5) — crisp and well done. • Jamaica ginger sticky pudding (£7.5) — enjoyable, not too sweet, but small portion (enough for 2–3 to share).

Overall: A mixed bag. Some dishes (bread, croquettes, cabbage) were very good, others (seabream, lamb) were disappointing. The cocktails were forgettable. Service was fine, but nothing special was done for the birthday we were celebrating beyond a candle in the dessert.

If you want lively Soho energy and don’t mind shouting across the table, you might enjoy it. But if you’re looking for somewhere to talk, celebrate, or enjoy consistently great food, this...