Steak and Company - Covent Garden — Restaurant in London

On Friday night a few weeks ago, my girlfriend and I finished work and were excited to find a nice romantic steak restaurant near Covent Garden, as this was our date night.

We Stumbled upon the ‘Steak and restaurant’ in Covent Garden and it was really full. We didn’t have a reservation but were kindly seen to by the professional manager on duty, who had to shuffle things around and quickly found us a table. After seating us, she took our drinks order and left us feeling relieved - that we had found a nice-looking steak restaurant, and excited about the evening ahead - with great food and service that we thought we would receive.

The very next thing that happened and completely shocked my girlfriend and I, was that a waitress called TJ brought our ordered drinks over to the table and then went on to try and compliment/flirt with my girlfriend by telling her that she looked like a barbie doll, before mentioning how she loved so many of the features that my girlfriend had. She then suggested that they would be great friends and said that they should exchange numbers, all while my girlfriend and I were holding hands and looking forward our date night.

My girlfriend just smiled politely and did nothing in this awkward situation, waiting and hoping that TJ would go away.

My girlfriend and I were both flabbergasted and appalled by this behaviour and lack of professionalism. After TJ had left the table, we were considering leaving the restaurant as my beautiful and intelligent girlfriend took big offence by being compared to a barbie doll. And she did not like the awkwardness of being flirted with openly and suggested to exchange numbers with a waitress that she had just met 2 minutes ago, all while on a date night with me, her boyfriend.

After this, we decided to stay and enjoy a delicious steak and good service by Beata who was attentive, polite and a pleasure to deal with.

And just before leaving and paying the bill, we had the unfortunate experience of having to deal with TJ again who brought our coffees over and then immediately starting mentioning all the reasons why her and my girlfriend would be best friends and that they should go out sometime, to which my girlfriend said nothing again and immediately asked for the bill.

As a person who has worked in 5-star hospitality for about 20 years, and dined plus worked at some of the best restaurants & hotels in the world, I have never experienced such an unprofessional, uncomfortable experience and it marred our whole dining experience at the ‘Steak and Company’ restaurant. It’s astonishing to think that restaurants do not value the customer experience anymore and how someone like TJ was able to get a job with her ‘do as I want’ attitude.

We will steer clear of the ‘Steak and company’ restaurant in Covent Garden and may dine at other branches, if their service standards improve. We felt uncomfortable and this affected our whole...

Visited for a dinner, ordered a pasta, a sirloin MEDIUM, and a ribeye MEDIUM RARE. I got the ribeye, and first slice was grey and rubbery. When I asked our server, that I asked for medium rare, he said that’s how they cook ribeye’s medium rare, didn’t even think of to offer a new one. He walked away and I cut in the middle as well, and it was medium at best but more like Medium well. I decided not to finish it and I asked him to look at it again, he kept saying it’s medium rare. I asked for the manager to sort the issue out, but he was just standing behind the our server, observing the debate. When I pointed out that my friend’s sirloin was Medium Rare, not medium as he asked for, he kept on going on about “That’s how ribeye’s cooked to medium rare”. It was clear that they mixed the two meats’ temperatures. Eventually they offered to change it, but I decided not to eat here. My friends said what they received was tasty (even though the steak wasn’t cooked to the requested temperature) so i give another star. I do think everyone makes and can make mistakes, but not owning up for it, and not trying to resolve it is unacceptable. Why do you have to ask for a supervisor to resolve something simple and why do you have to deny something obvious is beyond me. For me it was the first and last time...

Summary: Overall a good experience, I would come back again at a quieter time or if there was a little more space between tables. Being that close together is fine in a normal pub, but when cooking on the tables the hot meat juices and butter splatters around.

Our meal: •8oz sirloin steak with garlic butter, mushroom sauce, sea salt and fries. [Image attached]. •8oz fillet steak with garlic butter, mushroom sauce, sea salt and "rustic chips".

Pros: +Good quality meat. +Friendly and quick waitress. +Loudish but we were still able to talk at a normal volume. +Table, glasses and cutlery were clean. +The other customers seemed happy and the restaurant was very popular.

Cons: -Extremely cramped. -Serrated knifes are not suitable for cutting raw meat. -Mould on the board under the one of the sauce pots [Image attached]. -The "Rustic Chips" didnt arrive until after I finished my steak (although I assume this was a mistake rather than the norm). -The fries tasted like reheated McDonalds. -Adjacent surfaces are in dire need of a wipe down. Wood around the mirror next to me had all the paint coming off and was covered in a layer of oil. [Image attached]. -A £2 "cover charge" was added to the bill. No warning beforehand, no idea...