Sortie Grill & Bar — Restaurant in London

Came because of the high rating and the positive feedback from some colleagues.

Good was not amazing, barely passable. We had the three course meal for £45. For appetizer, we had the calamari, it was great! But the mains: chicken a la crème and the desert: strawberry cheesecake was barely passable. The chicken was dry despite being in a cheese sauce. The cheese sauce was too heavy with no hint of freshness as in sumac or lemon. And the cheesecake was unusual? The texture was akin to a defrosted meringue. The strawberry jam on top was nice and provided a nice contrast but could barely taste the expected cream cheese texture. Very off putting.

The staff were also very rude and did not appreciated being asked for an extra spoon or fork for. We never asked for our cutlery to be dished out but they took it when they took the appetizer plates and then mains plates. And then verbally complained when we asked for a fresh set.

They politely reminded us that our reservation was for a limited time, but then it took too long between drinks and the appetisers starting. And barely any time between mains and deserts. They were also very eager to give us takeaway boxes for the food we had left on our plates, not a bad thing but we definitely felt like we were being kicked out.

We were here a total of 2 hours, 2 of us were 30 minutes late.

When they gave us the bill, the Eastern European lady was hovering over us despite my saying we would pay the bill under on card.

She was also very sarcastic and very impolite with jokes, 6 out of 8 of us felt very unhappy with her service and the other 2 felt very unhappy with the other servers. They felt the food was being smashed on the table and that there was no patience when they asked those group who asked who when they brought dishes around.

Overall, there’s a lot of hype for this restaurant but we won’t be coming back. Hopefully others will have a nicer experience.

There was also a “compulsory” service charge of 12.5%. Considering the poor service, we’d have chosen not to pay this. But this didn’t seem up...

As a frequent diner of all restaurants in my local town, thought it would be a nice idea to try the newest venue that has been given good publicity on local radio stations and word of mouth from friends.

Big mistake!!!!!!

I called on Friday night to make a reservation for my family, including my 9 year old son and the person who made the booking made various mistakes due to loudness at their end which I later had to reiterate to confirm the booking. I even called again the hour before arriving to add one more person to our booking!!

When arriving with my son earlier than my family, I was greeted by the most rudest of Managers at the front of house who couldn’t find the booking, who stood and called me a “liar” in front of other diners and then told me that children under 12 were not welcome!!!!!!!

I have never ever been treated so poorly by any restaurant Manager and to have to plead my case when other diners were standing behind me listening and shaking their heads at how rude he was being.

Suffice to say, we eventually sat to eat as my Family arrived, but by that time, I was too angry to even look at the menu or be in the right frame of mind to speak or start any conversation.

Thank you to that Manager who now has lost my custom going forward and will CERTAINLY have no local recommendations from me, only a bad experience with an exceptionally rude man who should NOT be standing at the front of house.

As a closing statement - why provide a children’s menu when 12 year olds usually have an adult meal? As for the service, it was “ok” but four things were forgotten when the order was made, albeit, nice food but very slow.

Sorry to those who are yet to experience this venue, I hope you don’t get the treatment I was given by the most obnoxious Manager I’ve ever met.

At least I can return to a far superior and stylish venue going forward which is only half a mile away - Shish Meze - maybe they will teach you how to treat your customers going forward to make your establishment as successful as they are, and will always be...

Will...

Overall, not a bad experience. I'm using Shish Meze as my benchmark for my review as it's very comparable both terms of decor/ambience and menu. The waiting staff were lovely, efficient and friendly; faultless. The menu was a little hard to read because of the font. Manager was a bit grumpy but it was a busy Saturday night service so I'll forgive that. I was also a little annoyed that my attempt to book online was ignored (no response) and so I popped in earlier in the day to make an "actual" reservation since my online clearly got nowhere.

We ordered: Sarma (stuff vine leaves which were pretty good) Hummus Kavurma with fried lamb and pine nuts (also pretty good) We were also provided with bread, olives and some dips. The bread was warm and quite good but nowhere near as good as the well seasoned bread from Shish Meze

For mains: Karisik Sis (mixed grill, chicken and lamb, tasty and well cooked but portion size disappointing relative to Shish Meze and rice was a little bland) Etli Musakka (aubergines with fried minced lamb, massive portion, pretty tasty) Dessert: Creme Brulee which was light and well made. Drinks: Old Fashioned (massive bowl glass, long straw(!) and too much sugar syrup), Amaretto Sour (tasty) and a bottle of Malbec which was good.

Total cost was £96 which is almost exactly the same as what we paid at Shish Meze recently for a comparable meal albeit with smaller portions at Sortie. Service wasn't included, which I appreciate, but I did tip because the service deserved it.

Overall, a good, safe bet but slightly lacking in the WOW factor that merits 5-stars. We will probably go back if we don't want to trek as far as Shish Meze. Little nice things like staff saying "goodbye" when you leave would also be appreciated but are obviously not essential. Those who have read my other reviews know I'm a former restaurateur so feel like I've got a little qualified...