Rochelle Canteen — Restaurant in London

I am starting with the service because it was really laughable. I try not to say bad things/ make comments about service and hospitality because I know how much work goes into it, but today it was too much. I had heard really good reviews of the food at Rochelle and thought it extended to the service as well, but I guess it doesn’t if you’re not white. I don’t like to accuse people of treating people differently based on race, but it really is a fair assumption. Maybe it was because we are American, or we weren’t speaking in english. We were the only group of Asian/ non-white people there besides the table behind us, but they seemed to have been treated better than us. Our server Tess looked really bothered from the moment I told her the reservation name, and only became “happier” when we asked for the check. Compared to her interactions with other tables she looked like she wanted to die when she took our order, and again was annoyed when we wanted to add a soup to our order before any food had even come, citing bluntly that it might be an inconvenience for the kitchen (we were one of the first tables there). Hope this problem gets fixed soon.

The food itself was good but not great, and the mains were lukewarm when brought out to us. We were also not asked how we wanted the onglet cooked, and based on the variation in pinkness of the other tables’ onglets, it seems like this exemption was just for us, too. The highlights were the desserts: all of them were delightful. The other servers who occasionally came over...

I was extremely disappointed with my recent visit to Rochelle Canteen, especially considering we had to book 1.5 months in advance, which naturally raised our expectations.

To start, we ordered the smoked aubergine focaccia for starters, but without any warning or explanation, they brought us toast instead. This simple lack of communication left us regretting our choice.

The disappointment continued when we arrived. The service was astonishingly inattentive, even though there were only a few occupied tables. We had to repeatedly ask the service staff about the status of our food, and they neglected to refill our water, leaving us waiting excessively to catch their attention.

The worst part was the delay in our mains, a staggering 45 minutes after we ordered. What made it even more frustrating was that a couple who arrived after us received their food before us. As our time was limited, we had to decline dessert when it was offered. The lack of an alternative solution, coupled with a manager who seemed insincere when apologising, left us feeling unheard and undervalued as customers.

To add insult to injury, the beef mince on toast was not only underwhelming but also outrageously overpriced at £24. It was far from being worth the cost.

In summary, our experience at Rochelle Canteen was marred by poor communication, inattentive service, lengthy delays, and disappointing food. I would strongly advise against dining here, given the high expectations we had and the unfortunate reality...

I had been trying to get a table here for months! Finally managed to get a reservation for lunch. It was well worth the wait!

We ordered four appetizers for the table to share. Of the lot, only one was a bit of a let down. Don't get me wrong, it was prepared beautifully but it was just a little boring especially compared to the others.

The menu changes regularly so I'm not sure if you're going to be able to get the lamb with the lentils that I got today but if you do, do not give it a mess! The herb sauce was incredibly fragrant and beautiful with the lentils over the lamb that had lots of crispy bits and tons of texture.

Highlight for me was dessert. The Eaton mess was light and crunchy from the meringue and the strawberries were a beautiful contrast to it all. The almond tart itself was quite delicious and reminded me of a Gateau Basque. It came with a creme fraiche of some kind that I just did not enjoy the taste of. It didn't seem to add to the flavor of the tartan anyway and it was a very off-putting sour flavor to the creme fraiche. Perhaps if they had added some vanilla bean or other flavoring to complement the tart it would have been better.

The venue itself was beautiful. It's in this little garden behind a very non-descript gated door that you have to be...