The Alma — Restaurant in London

I was really excited, as I had heard a lot of good things about The Alma, so had booked myself and two other people in for my birthday lunch on Sunday.

We sat upstairs, and the room, in my opinion, has no atmosphere at all. It seemed very loud in there too, for me anyway. The service was so-so. Not the worst I have ever had, but also didn't feel particularly special in any way. On arrival there were two tables available, and I asked if we could have the round one as it was a bit nicer and it was my birthday (plus, a round table is nicer for an uneven number of guests). The waiter sighed and seemed stressed at the thought. I would never make unreasonable requests, and I don't make demands, because I know what a thankless job they have (been in their shoes myself before). But it is always okay to ask, and if it had been a no (the table has already been requested etc.), that would have been fine.

We ordered the milk bread with chicken butter to start with. I asked for a side order of regular butter, because my partner is pescetarian. The plate came with the regular butter lodged in between the chicken butter. Thankfully my partner isn't fussy about things in that sense, so it didn't matter to us, but it still should have been separate. Another guest with a dietary requirement might not have been okay with it.

My friend and I both had the 35 Day Aged Roasted British Rump of Beef. Now, I have left beef behind on a plate before for being dry, but this time I left half of it because it was so incredibly salty. My friend did the same. It was a shame, because the meat was still quite juicy, but the saltiness was too much. And the carrots had so much clove in them that everything after a carrot just tasted like clove. The potatoes bore signs of having been crispy once, but everything was piled up, so by the time we got the food, they were soggy. There was some cabbage underneath that I did quite like, cooked just right, and still a nice bright green colour. And the yorkshire pudding was decent too.

I am not sure if the effort at The Alma is being placed on dishes such as the popular Thor's Hammer, as most people there seemed to be opting for the large sharing dishes. But the whole experience was definitely so far below what I had expected, and it was not a roast that I would...

The Alma, or as my wife and I renamed it ‘Emerald City’, what with its glorious and gleaming emerald tiles that greeted us upon our arrival a few Sundays ago. And what a bustling, but not overtly bustling that it overfilled with other patrons, enjoying their Sunday roast, conversations inside & outside where covered shaded seating was provided along the adjacent side walk pavement.

My wife and I had been gifted an overnight stay for two, where I’d applied through the wonderful charity for cancer patients, ‘Something to look forward to’, staying at the Alma, Wandsworth. And oh how it was well worth the wait: from my total ease of liaising with Tanisha who kindly organised our stay, to the moment we arrived and was greeted by their concierge and ushered upstairs to the dinning area as opposed to the one they had downstairs as you walk through the bar area. Sat down to a table already made ready for us and was promptly brought our Sunday roast along with a complimentary bottle of wine by Liga and Francesca - two of the most warm and friendly servers we’d ever came across. The meal was absolutely delicious and even included a sweet for afters.

After waddling downstairs full from our meal, to check-in, we were directed to our downstairs room which again, was of high quality with a fully stocked mini bar fridge and snacks available as and if we chose to indulge. All in all if it’s an extremely friendly bar and restaurant that offers a welcoming and warm service from staff, great food of exquisite taste, cosy and clean rooms for your convenient overnight stay, and a breakfast should you so wish to partake off and be lucky enough to have the delightful Jane serve you! Then try out The Alma, Wandsworth which is perfectly placed right opposite and a 20 second walk from Wandsworth Town station.

A huge thank you to ‘Something to look forward to’ as always, and of course to The Alma @ Wandsworth for gifting such an illustrious gift to the charity, as it was a place that’s well received by the surrounding community and indeed thoroughly enjoyed by us, too.

Best wishes,

Dr...

We'd heard so many lovely things about The Alma in Wandsworth, so we booked a Sunday lunch for today. Things got off to a bit of a bumpy start. We were seated upstairs and just left at our table for about 15 minutes. We then ordered our drinks, and that again took about 15 minutes to arrive – it was only a Diet Coke. We then received the drink and ordered a starter of pigs' cheek croquettes, followed by a pork roast and a beef roast with cauliflower cheese and pigs. The pork cheek croquettes arrived really quickly and were lovely. Our mains followed, and this is where we had such a bad experience. Our dinner was absolutely freezing – the lashings of gravy were a dribble, and there was no promised purée. As no one was around to check on us, I found someone to tell them that our food was cold, including the side of cauliflower cheese, which was basically raw. The plates were taken away, and about 10 minutes later another set of fresh plates arrived. Pigs missing but I just couldn't be bothered anymore. This time the food was warmer, but still not hot. We weren't offered sauces such as apple or horseradish. The beef was also smoked, which wasn't highlighted on the menu, and the porchetta was deep-fried. We had the grand total of two potatoes each, three pieces of broccoli, some shavings of cabbage, and about 10 carrots. Still no purée or lashings of gravy. We had to ask for more gravy, and I heard a few others doing the same and complaining as it took so long. We were never offered another drink either. The service was really poor today – not sure if you are short-staffed, but we had to do our own clearing up, basically, as no one took our plates away for ages. We got the bill and left without having pudding. We didn't even eat the cauliflower cheese. Such a shame – we both felt quite cheated out of...