Rotunda Bar and Restaurant — Restaurant in London

Do not be put off by the low number of stars! Visit this place if you are looking to book for a group in pretty surroundings over the summer months. I visited the Rotunda at Kings Place following my last visit to this arts venue at the London Pocast Festival when we visited the - then buzzy - bar and was slightly disappointed. We did book for an early Saturday dinner at 630pm. We arrived early and were able to be seated at circa 6pm. The waitress was lovely and courteous but the manager came and asked if we had finished eating yet when it was clear my companion had not yet finished and the restaurant was anyway pretty empty. My truffle fries barely had any truffle on (I almost always order these if available when I go out so I have a fair bit of experience of them) and the way the seating is constructed meant that every time the little girl in the family sitting behind me moved around, my seat was jolted. And, bless her, she moved around a lot. In an almost empty restaurant, you would have thought that the manager would have had the foresight to seat a family with a five year-old not right behind a pair of adults (it was in part a business meeting). The food was ok but I definitely felt that we were paying for the location rather than the meal. I am a carnivore and have eaten plenty of good beef around the world and I would not say I was blown away by my fatty, gristly and thinly cut ribeye steak. The radish salad was very pretty although dry (as though the radishes had been sitting out, cut, for sometime) and the choice of sauces for our meal (mustard, ketchup and mayo) bog standard with no extra effort made it seemed. The lamb croquettes we ordered to share as a starter felt sludgily underdone and perhaps were not fried at high enough a heat to crisp them up. That said, the surroundings are pretty but, having been so excited to try the food at this restaurant where the staff had been so helpful on my last visit when I had enquired, I felt the visit overall was a let down. Be warned that the loos are quite a long way from the restaurant and down many stairs although they must have an accessible toilet available somewhere in this arts venue. This could be an AMAZING restaurant with just a bit more attention to detail, but it's not there yet... For the moment, I'll keep it in mind as a special place to go for civilised summer drinks. I was lucky enough to be treated for dinner this time but I would not return to spend my money in the, (for me, given the above) over-priced restaurant (we had no alcobol - only tap water and one course plus sides and the bill was over £100). Kings Place itself is, however, worth a visit...

Lovely dinner setting by the canal but awful service for awful and overpriced food. Issue 1: Three different waiters came up to our table to take orders that had already been taken by someone else and this continued throughout our evening where different people served us were clueless about our requests that we put through someone else. Issue 2: Two different waiters came up to us twice to confirm what we had ordered again. We were a table of just 2! Issue 3: Our food arrived over 1 hour late. We asked where our food was, and 5 mins later we got asked AGAIN to confirm what we had ordered. And they blamed their system not working. Issue 4: My grilled chicken was super cold as if it’s been sat on the side for ages. I also suspected it being undercooked as I saw some pink parts but I disregarded it thinking it was just the salsa colours (which was just tiny chopped tomatoes) but then I felt very sick the following day. Issue 5: We specifically asked for starters and they brought the main directly on top of it. I also asked for a bread basket as I saw tables getting it and the waiter made a joke that “oh you just missed it it went to that table” I said what so are you out of bread? And he said no no. We never got the bread. Issue 6: we asked for the bill and got a receipt with completely wrong things on it. There was an additional £23 salad that we hadn’t ordered nor received, an order of chips was doubled, a random drink was on the receipt. I could see about 5 people huddling around the till to sort it out. Then one of them came out saying can we get the receipt, we said we’ve given it to someone already and he said “no it’s in there” pointing to the receipt leather folder, and we said NO it’s empty we gave it to someone. He insisted we open it so he could see it was empty. Issue 7: When we eventually got the right receipt we received the weakest apology EVER once again blaming the till system not putting the order through correctly, I highly doubt it was a computer issue adding random items to our bill when they had to confirm what we’d ordered several times, I almost offered to go up and put our order through the till myself. There was absolutely no one useful to speak to on the night and we didn’t want to ruin and delay our night further. So we decided not to pay the optional service...

I attended Rotunda for a group restaurant booking which I organised. To begin with i was put in touch with the Restaurant Manager who was very helpful and demonstrated excellent planning skills down to the very small details such as name cards with our menu choices on the reverse and a seating plan.

The restaurant itself sits inside Kings Place and alongside the famous Regents Canal offering seating both inside and outside for Alfresco dinners in the summer months. The restaurant is also Dog Friendly, offering complimentary dog biscuits perfect after a walk along the canal. Rotunda also offer a number of seasonal events, not to mention their famous dog beer.

We had a range of different food on the menu, and a popular choice was The Rotunda Burger and also the Ribeye Steak. They also offer a Market Fish and Tart of the day which changes daily.

To start, I had the Chesnut soup cooked fresh, piping hot with truffle oil and toasted bread. For mains, I had a juicy and tender Ribeye Steak with truffle parmesan skin on fries. The steak is sourced from their own farm in Northumberland along with the lamb and the meat is hung onsite in a custom built hanging room in the restaurant and smaller fridge near the bar for customers to see the beautiful cuts. The garlic butter was heavenly and presented melted in a small cup and clearly homemade. It is very hard to find a good sustainably sourced steak... Rotunda does it right.

Finally, for dessert, I had the Eton Mess, which offered delicate notes of winter berries, a beautiful sweet homemade meringue topped with cream. Others went for the Orange & Cardamon Creme Bruilee with homemade shortbread, which looked just as appealing.

Needless to say, whatever you decide to go for here at Rotunda, you will not be disappointed. The food is excellent, and the vast wine menu is impressive, not to mention 20+ different types of gin. It is clear that Rotunda strives for excellence and meets those standards every time. It's definitely a new favourite for me and many colleagues who shall return again soon, perhaps, for the Sunday roast, which is meant to be the best in Kings Cross, and no doubt, i am sure, is definitely true Top...