Primeur — Restaurant in London

Really disappointed with our experience here. Booked two months in advance, and made a note on the booking that my other half has an allergy to cow's dairy. We got a phone call from them on the morning of our reservation to confirm our booking and also to clarify the allergy. When we arrived we were told that of the 8 larger dishes, there were only 3 my wife could have. And none of the desserts. (It also just so happened that out of the three she could eat, one was lamb which she doesn't like - but I accept that is a personal preference). So our meal ended up being made up largely of starter dishes, like anchovies and cured meats. For a restaurant which is supposed to focus on sharing plates, I ordered dishes which I ended up eating on my own because I literally couldn't share them with my wife as she couldn't eat them. The food which we did eat was nice, it's just a shame it was so limited. The waiting staff were very pleasant and were as helpful as they could be - but they were also rushed off their feet. Perhaps they were a person down? Maybe someone had called in sick? I hope that's the case, because the restaurant was not full and they were really stretched and seemed very stressed. They apologised for the issue with the menu and brought us some complimentary drinks, which we appreciated. But ultimately we did end up leaving still hungry, and of course not having had any dessert. On the way back to the overground we popped in to nearby Perilla restaurant who were able to seat us and who told us we could have anything on their menu and it could be adjusted for allergies, and there were allergy-friendly desserts - so we ended up getting a table and finishing our meal there, but ultimately wishing we'd just gone there all along. Really wanted to like Primeur, but sadly felt like we were unable to. (Also: Small detail, but our booking note said it was a special occasion and nothing was done to acknowledge that. A very small thing but this might be important to some people and depending on...

I was really looking forward to eating here as it had come highly recommended, the interior design and ambience felt nice and unique, given it was an old garage.

The food was decent but nothing exceptional,

I found the staff really lacking in attention to detail and portraying quite a fake nice demeanour, I’ve noticed that across a few east london restaurants, it feels really inauthentic in particular when they are so inattentive

We had our table for a a few hours and lost track of time enjoying our meal and conversation, when I asked for dessert they said they can only serve if if there’s 30mins left on the booking, but that if I really wanted it I’d have to be moved to another table so they could prepare the table for the next reservations. There were 15mins to the next reservation and I thought this was plenty of time to enjoy a dessert and generally think it’s bad practice to rush someone off when you could ask the next table to wait a few minutes while we wrap up or even better be attentive and tell us ahead of time your rule on having to order dessert 30mins before - which seems abit crazy given all they had was posset, cheese and tiramisu none of which seemed like they need any particular prep.

Anyway this left a sour taste in our mouths and ultimately we ended up feeling that we’d had a really average experience with inattentive fake nice staff who just wanted to rush us out the door.

I get you need to prep the table for the next setting and it’s Friday and you’re busy but that’s no excuse for mediocre hospitality in a place that charges so much too. Wouldn’t go back...

I liked the communal space and general ambience but really, this is one of the most overhyped restaurants I’ve been to. I get simple cooking and I don’t expect or insist on intricate and skilfully executed food every time I eat out, but this was overpriced and the service was very slow.

The idea is right; you lay on a menu that is easy for a professional kitchen, which means food is turned out efficiently.

The waiter explained the style of eating and asked if we’d experienced the restaurant before, at the end of the day, dress it up as you wish, this is a tapas restaurant. We asked how many dishes were recommended and 4 was suggested. When we then ordered we were encouraged away from having 2 large plates and ended up ordering 3 small plates with one plate of Venison. We had no idea how small the plates were but this was not enough food when it arrived. It became clear that we were channelled towards this outcome because the kitchen had a problem with cooking. The Venison was the only cooked dish and arrived more than half after we had finished the other plates.

I liked the flavour combinations and the food was tasty however it was overpriced for simple cooking that can be executed at home. Curried shredded raw cauliflower £6? Carrot and Yogurt £6? These were delicate and simple dishes that cost less than 30p to produce and are worth no more than £4 on this type of menu.

Unfortunately due to the effects of the wine we decided to order cheese and when we were asked to leave a tip we did.

A restaurant like this does not deserve the many hysterically positive reviews...