St. John — Restaurant in London

My horrible experience at this restaurant has prompted to write my first google review. It baffles me that an establishment like this has a Michelin star as well as relatively good reviews. It’s made me question my sanity really. I was so excited to dine here because of its Michelin star rating, Anthony Bourdain’s high praise, and overall good reviews. However, I was severely disappointed. My review is due to the poor service and subpar food.

St. John has an almost all-white interior. The ambience (or lack of) feels like you're in a mental asylum and sterile.

Service: When we sat down, we were served bread and butter right away but were not provided bread plates. Our server knew of this as she saw that we had to rest our butter knives in the bread basket, yet she did nothing about it. Our server did not take the time to run us through a menu that, perhaps due to not being familiar with British cuisine, we did not know half of what was on there. Throughout the meal we were not asked if we were enjoying the meal once and it almost felt like our table was forgotten about. One experience that really tainted the experience was when one of the busy boys placed our appetizers on our table without saying a word, looked at us, and then walked away. This same bus boy was seen touching his phone and then touching the tops of the utensils he was supposed to clean. Ironically there are signs in the dining room that mention to not have your phones out.

Food: On top of the service, what truly made this experience horrible was having to pay for overpriced mediocre at best food. This part again really confuses me because everyone seems to like the food here but truly I would not pay for this food at all. We ordered the “famous” bone marrow and pig ear dish. The bone marrow was nothing special and the parsley “salad” was more like a garnish than a salad. Maybe we were served smaller bones or were just not competent in taking the bone marrow out of the bones but I don't think the bone marrow we got even amount to a tablespoon. The pig ear tasted like nothing and the salad was overdressed and way too oily.

For our entrees, we ordered the ox tail and the eel. While the oxtail was cooked nicely, you could find better mash at any non-michelin star restaurant. Overall the oxtail was not worth the price. The eel was way too salty, too small of a portion for the price, and its runner beans were watery and just basically steamed vegetables with horseradish thrown on top.

We were going to order their medeleines but the idea of waiting 15 more minutes for mediocre overpriced food at this restaurant was unbearable. Overall, the restaurant felt as if it was trying too hard and yet did not deliver on anything. Save your money and try all the other restaurants London...

I have heard so many good reviews about St Johns but it is one of those restaurants that you can't really dine alone. The only item I have tried from them was their doughnut from the Bakery however recently I got hyped on Calves liver because it was done right so found out that St Johns had it too hence went there to have a nosy at the menu. It turns out they also have a Wine bar which is casual featuring smaller plates tapas style which was perfect for me. They also had Ox liver which made my day so I dined there. As well as that, I had the Nettle and Ham soup and the Roasted Bone marrow with parsley Salad.

Roast Bone marrow and parsley salad. I ordered this by impulse and definitely do not regret it but looking around everyone else's bones were taller and bigger than mine! Anyway, it was probably for my own good as I wasn't sharing especially all that cholesterol. It is really good how they just baked it like that and did not cut the bone horizontally as you lose a lot of the good stuff like that. This was the best bone marrow experience I have ever had because it was not ruined by garlic or herbs. The parsley salad was a match made in heaven as it was literally soaked in lemon juice which makes it appetizing on the sourdough with the marrow and its grassiness. It would have been nice if the toast was not so burnt because the edges were not edible.

Ox Liver, Chicory and Anchovy. After tasting some amazing Calves liver that was done right, I have been trying to go somewhere that also delivers. Most restaurants that I wanted to go mainly do liver and onions or bacons using Calves Liver or Ox. I stumbled upon St Johns which serves this and found out that it was on the daily specials menu so how could I not try. I had the Ox Liver, Chicory and Anchovy which was from the wine bar. It really made my day as it was something different from liver and onions yet it was so tasty. The Ox liver was sliced and tossed with chicory in a creamy sauce flavoured by the anchovies and chopped parsley. It was simply delicious and the texture was beautiful a it was soft and velvety just like pigs liver when it is done right but it does not have that offal taste like pigs liver. I was expecting the Ox Liver to not be as good as Calves but it was just as good. Overall, I was really impressed to try another liver dish served so differently to liver and bacon.

Nettle and Ham soup! This was my second time having nettle and again it was blended. The first time was nettle pasta as a sauce and now soup with ham. Basically the nettle was blended. I kept finding white cubes which I thought was potato but it was the fat from the ham which was horrific. There were tiny pieces of ham here and...

Supposed to be one of the most well known and iconic restaurants on our Food Crawl dining venue list. This Michelin 1*,‘ nose-to-tail ‘ eatery, belonging to the legendary English chef Fergus Henderson, sadly turned out to be our trip’s only culinary disappointment!

Made famous and put on the foodie map by Anthony Bourdain. He called this institution his ‘dream restaurant‘ in one of his ‘No Reservation‘ episodes, praising the ‘complete package‘ the restaurant has to offer. At that time, Henderson’s emblematic, simple and yet utterly delicious ‘ Roasted Bone Marrow with sea salt and Parsley Salad ‘ dish was just being unearthed by the culinary world……resulting in chefs all over trying to emulate it and putting similar renditions on their menus.

We are by no means pointing fingers at our ordered food and giving them a ‘ thumbs-down ‘. Some of our choices, at least components of them, indeed tasted pretty good. However, based on the restaurant’s reputation and modus operandi of ‘less is more‘ and using a maximum of only 3 - 4 ingredients/components per dish. It is therefore expected that due to this simple and straightforward approach, the top-notched ingredients will be treated lovingly and prepared perfectly with skill and care. Sadly this was not the case. Our grilled Ox-Heart mains, for example, were over-cooked, dry and tough and accompanied by a bland, one dimensional, uninspirational sauce/jus.

Accompanying side dishes and salads followed a similarly sad pattern and result. Identical to some Indian restaurants’ approach of using a generic ‘mother sauce‘ eir curry base. St John's mirrors a similar mannerism with their dressing. During our visit, a monotonous Horseradish/Sour cream base concoction was broadly applied and used. Be it for our Veal tongue salad, the Ox-heart side dish or the side complement to our roasted Pheasant main! Where is the creativity usually found in Michelin star establishments?

However, there were certain stand-out dishes worthy of mentioning. The deeply flavourful Beef Broth, with ingredients similar to the traditional Scotch broth, but using beef instead of lamb, was a definite winner. The well seasoned, juicy and moist Pheasant dish is another thumbs-up dish…... .possibly one of the best tasting poultry dishes I have recently come across! Lastly, the Blood Orange Eton Mess dessert was absolutely out-of-this-world delectable! The Pear and Almond cake was pretty fine too.

Our lady server was most friendly, helpful and attentive, adding a crucial positive element to our dining experience!

In conclusion, a fine example of….” You win some, You...