Salut! Restaurant Islington — Restaurant in London

The Ambiance: Interesting, stripped back, very east end hipster. I enjoyed the theme as I walked in. I could see the kitchen and chefs preparing the food and there were less than 30 covers. My kind of place, a place dedicated to the food, not spending too much thought on unnecessary frills. The waitress was immediately attentive and happy. A good start.

The Food: The menu is simple, a handful of each course. A lack of description creates some mystery added by the unknown ingredients on the menu, overall intriguing.

Overall we are not huge eaters and noticed that mains portion sizes looked large so we opted for some starters to share before our main courses.

The Starters: We ordered a crab salad, a raw salmon and wood pigeon. The crab salad was the best of the three, overall a great dish which I'd order again. The other two were bland, misguided and really gave me no inspiration. Unfortunately at this point we noticed that the beautiful decoration that was provided along with the dish was consistent in each. By this i mean they used the same two sauces one each of the starters. To me it would be rare that the same combination of two sauces would work with raw salmon, wood pigeon and crab. Sadly, I was correct and it showed that the food presentation was thought about before flavour combinations. Nothing on each plate was terrible but at nearly £10 a starter I like to feel like I am paying for something clever or interesting, I wasn't.

The Mains: We ordered a vegetarian dish, two venison dishes, a lamb chop and a hake. Most of which were fine, again nothing interesting or inspiring. Nothing to talk about, nothing to evoke any emotion other than disappointment. I don't want to dwell too much on the mains because it was so underwhelming. The meats were cooked perfectly (Unlike described in the fabricated story above) and so were the accompaniments but nothing was flavoured sensationally. Maybe I am particular but if someone were to charge me £21.50 for a main I would expect more than just a well cooked piece of meat?

Now sadly we have to move onto the more distressing part of the meal (yes, I know..).

My venison was completely inedible! Sometimes mistakes happen, I am not one to forgo that. So I politely told my waiter that the meat was inedible. I tried my sisters and it was much better, however, sometimes when a main isn't served properly you lose your appetite. I am sure others can relate. Anyway, at this point my waiter offers me another portion at which I decline because the moment has passed and I know that by the time my food will arrive everyone would have finished. He pushes and pushes and promises that he'll get another out to me "in 2 minutes" at which point I accept. He did the right thing, he was forceful but in the right way he knew thats what he needed to do to save this meal! Sadly, the dish arrived 15 minutes later, after which everyone had finished. I politely ate my meal quickly (it was significantly better the second time) but couldn't enjoy as the rest of my family had already put their cutlery down.

The Dessert:

We ordered some desserts because they looked great. They tasted great, the poached pear was wonderfully light with fresh summer fruits, cream and crumb. Whats not to like!

Overall, the place deserves 1 star. It very much over promises and under delivers. There are some positive, like the dessert and the lovely bottle of South African White but sadly its price points opens it up to scrutiny in which it cannot handle. The service was very hit and miss, the waitress was great, the manager was terrible. The icing on the cake has to be the childish manner in which he handled himself below.

Recommendation: At £50 per person, I can think of many restaurants that are a stones throw away where you will be better treated and given some very well considered and interesting food!...

My partner and I went here for a dinner with 2 friends on a monday night. The menu looked great and the atmosphere was cozy and welcoming when we arrived. It was a set fee for 2 course for £35 or 3 course for £42. All of us 4 had the Mushroom Duxelles, Slow Cooked Egg for a starter. It arrived and the egg white was still clear and liquid, as well we almost cold, the parmesan foam was overpowering and you couldn't taste the mushrooms, kinda tasted like a cheesy soup instead of mushrooms. My partner and our mate only finished 1/3 of their starter which was quite small to begin with.

For the main my partner had duck which was very over cooked with rubbery skin and I had the Sirloin which was a bit chewy but not terrible. We had asked about ordering some sides as we weren't sure if the mains would be enough for 4 hungry boys so ordered the Duck Fat Roasted Potatoes & Herbs and Brussel Sprouts in Mustard Dressing. The sides arrived about 5 minutes after the mains had arrived which kind of defeated the point. When they did arrive the Brussel sprouts were undercooked and hard and looked as if they were boiled and quickly tossed in mustard. The roast potatoes were not crispy at all and instead looked like they had been boiled and tossed in a pan with duck fat and herbs before serving. Again half of the potatoes were undercooked and hard. The table finished less than 1/5 th of the sides, not because we werent hungry, just because they were terrible

At one point the waiter topped up our glasses and walked away with the bottle to service other tables, and the bottle still had almost a full glass of wine left in it. I had to watch him for about 2 minutes until I was able to catch his eye and gesture about returning the bottle to the table. Kinda felt like they were trying to make us finish the bottle quicker so we would order a second.

The deserts were decent and the wine was good.

overall the bill came to £248, which was 2 people having 2 courses, 2 others having 3 courses, 2 undercooked sides and bottle of wine ( £32 which was very good)

My biggest pet peeve about it though is that the wait staff, on clearing the plates didn't ask any of us about the starters or the sides which were clearly barely touched when they took them away. Good staff would have said " oh you barely touched your sides was there anything wrong with them?" or "oh two of you didnt finish your starters, what were your thoughts?" We wanted to request the sides be removed from the bill , but then we didnt want to make a scene in such a small place.

Overall I would not recommend this place. Left feeling hungry (we bought some yogurt and nuts on the way home) and a bit upset by the cost of such...

My husband and I have previously loved walking or cycling to this local French restaurant for a delicious meal in a pleasant, if cosy, corner restaurant, with great service. Salut! has since proved a godsend during lockdown with its home delivered meals.

Each time we booked a home delivered meal, availability was very promptly confirmed, we were emailed the menu, we made our selection and emailed that back, we received a confirmation with serving instructions and bank details to make pre-payment. In our most recent case, we ordered on 30 December in the afternoon, for delivery for New Year's Eve. Fantastically accommodating and efficient!

You select from a choice of up to four options within each of up to three courses (entree, main and dessert), with usually around four or five side dishes available. We have also ordered wine and, when the champagne or white wine was our choice, it was delivered appropriately chilled, with the relevant main courses correctly warm and snug in their foil. The emailed warming and serving instructions were easy to follow, clear and happily worked out so that all could go in the one oven for the same time period (usually).

Most importantly, the food not only survived the delivery process but worked well as an interesting and balanced three course meal, looked good on arrival or when plated up by us (as relevant) and tasted great. Yes, we had to serve it ourselves, but the flavours and presentation stood up well to the usual in-situ restaurant experience. I

t's been great to support a friendly local business and I have been delighted to be able to order from them for "special" yet very reasonable and economical meals at home. Well done, Salut! and we look forward to saying "hi" to you again, in person, as soon as possible. Meanwhile, there's a wedding anniversary meal to celebrate in lockdown, so we'll be in...