Portland — Restaurant in London

Unfortunately, it was a disappointing meal. I had expectations as Portland was recommended by a friend and I heard great things. However, I think the service was a bit funny the day we visited and the food was just not at a one starred level.

My friend was running 30 min late while I got there on time. After my friend arrived I felt like they wanted us out ASAP. The entire meal was not enjoyable and it fely very pressured, i thought I was sitting in an exam!

I ordered the beef tartare and my friend ordered the trout as starters. The tartare was good, but my friend said the trout was tastless inside.

I ordered the venison wellington as the main. The venison was well cooked, but the bone marrow sauace was very over seasoned.

The only two things we loved were the desserts. One cheese cake, and the other was the apple and pear pie.

One other thing I have to comment on after visiting Clipstone (their sister restaurant) back in September is that they share the commonality of placing knives on phones. I understand if the phone is in the way of placing cutlery on a small table it must be annoying for the server. However, as a one starred resturant I think it you should have good service and hygiene in mind. Not passive aggressively placing cutlery on a phone. This was very disappointing.

As I paid for the bill and went to the toilet, I tried to pick up my coat downstairs as the server had placed my jacket downstairs. I was looking for it so I don't need the server to go down stairs, and another staff came to me asking what I was doing - thinking that I was asking suspicious? She sounded inpatient and pretty rude although I did tell her that my server told me that she put my coat downstairs. She said to go up and check with ther server. Please keep in mind that I don't think anyone who comes here, ready to pay £100+ has the intention to pick pocket. The tone was just not welcoming to me.

My coat ended up being brought up during the time I was in the toilet. My friend said both long coats were being place on my seat and one was sliding towards the floor. After she picked up hers, mine was hung on a short hanger next to our seat touching the ground (it was white).

These are just service details that made me not want to come back. The vibe was very rushed and the service didn't feel welcoming/genuine. I understand they want as many customers in as they are located in a very central area in London, however there are many other one starred restaurant that are...

I am astonished at the laudatory nature of the reviews I have seen, as I can say with confidence that my lunch there today is among the three worst dining experiences which I have had in the last thirty years. The room is unimpressive, the chairs are uncomfortable, the general appearance is that of a middle-management works canteen, the menu is pretentious and exorbitantly priced, and the only mitigation of the poor quality of the food, apart from the bread and butter and the cheese from La Fromagerie, is that there wasn't much of it. The smoked cod's roe tartlets in the 'snacks' section of the menu had little taste and when my friend and I ordered them the waiter told us that 'they were only one bite'. Had we been children cutting our first milk teeth, that might have been accurate. In quantum terms, they were sub-atomic particles. We skipped the starters and went for the partridge as our main course. Although the knives provided were sharp, they made little impression on the outer surface of the bird, which had the consistency of industrial plastic, while the inner part was bland to the point of tastelessness. The half-bottle of Beaune was worthy of accompanying a better dish , as it ought to have been at the price of £41. But even more infuriating than the distance by which the food fell short of being value for money was to be told, when we had been there for nearly two hours, that we would have to move to another table because the table at which we were sitting could only be reserved for a limited time. Had this been mentioned in the description of the restaurant on the Internet, I would, as I told the manageress, never have made the booking in the first place. I feel a deep sense of astonishment, given the awfulness of every conceivable feature of the establishment, that tables are in such demand as to necessitate such a limitation. I have rated it as one star because there is no lower-grade option. If one had (say) bin symbols to indicate negative ratings, it would easily qualify...

We'd heard good things about Portland and decided to celebrate a couple of recent professional milestones with a dinner there. From the a la carte menu, we opted for the raviolo and the trout for starters, the duck and the rabbit for the mains, and the strawberries and the walnut tart for dessert. The trout was excellent, perfectly cooked and the smokey miso-y stock was delicious. Better still was the raviolo, which combined creamy spinach with asparagus in a sweet wine (?) and stock reduction. Onto the mains, the duck was perfectly cooked and the accompaniments complemented it well, but the flavour profile was comfortably the least interesting one out of all the dishes we ate. The rabbit millefeuille, on the other hand, was fantastic and easily surpassed any other rabbit dish I've ever had. The meat was impossibly tender and sweet, and the sauce was a delightful combination of mustard and dairy, which contrasted beautifully with the satisfying snap of the pastry. Cliché as it may sound, it was as perfect a deconstruction of what a "braised rabbit in mustard and cream" as you could hope for. Best still was reserved for last. The walnut in the tart could have easily been pecan, which is testament to how well the pie balanced out the bitterness of the nut, and the coffee ice-cream matched the flavour profile well. That said, the strawberry dessert was absolutely phenomenal. The camomile sorbet was very pleasant on its own, but when combined with the absolutely genius sorrel granita it elevated the dessert to a higher level. It was a perfect dessert and could find nothing to fault it. Overall, it was a highly enjoyable meal and I am looking forward to...