The Aubrey — Restaurant in London

I went to The Aubrey to meet a long-time friend I hadn't seen for a while for my belated birthday. It was on her recommendation, and we didn't tell the restaurant about my birthday, so that was OK. But, honestly, while I had a nice time and enjoyed the food, service, drinks and music, I forgot I was in Knightsbridge! I could have been in any fairly nice restaurant in Islington, Charlotte Street, Camden or High Holborn.

We were sat opposite the bar for "the best seats in the house" for the live music set, and for how packed it was, the cocktail menu was surprisingly limited, particularly when compared with the encyclopaedic wine list. I chose this restaurant to experience the Omokase (leave it to the chef) selection, only to be disappointed for it to be nowhere to be seen. We chose the Izakaya Classic as the next best thing. The singer was beautiful and talented, but it was off-putting to see her socialising with friends right in front of my table at the bar for most of my evening. It felt like her performances were the after-thought, and they didn't start at 6:15pm as implied at booking, but much, much, much later!

The atmosphere was cosy to the point where I actually felt I was in a basement restaurant rather than the ground floor. Despite the comfortable booth seating, there was a cramped feeling and I did disturb the party next door when leaving! There were no windows to the Knightsbridge, which is the side we were seated on.

I have become a serious Japanophile over the last three years and am planning a trip there late next year. I have lived and breathed NHK World Japan programming daily since and hence, only dipping out occasionally. I live in fear of Virgin Media suddenly deciding to drop it, though at least I could still access it online... My point is that I chose The Aubrey as a birthday treat expecting a Japanese experience and got noren, chopsticks and a few dishes out of the many that i could genuinely recall as giving me any sense of this country I have come to love and admire. Only one or two dishes really stood out as excellent and one of those was the edamame dip that came with the lotus root crisps right off the bat! I got none of the sense of Japan from the restaurant itself. It was hugely disappointing. I've eaten in many restaurants over the years and I just felt that The Aubrey was pleasant enough, but confusing and over-priced. So, whilst I would recommend it to others, I wouldn't revisit myself, which is a real shame,...

The dining room at the Aubrey is beautifully decorated and the DJ's music selection was just right, creating a lovely chilled vibe.

Brunch was good - not as spectacular as I'd hoped based on recommendations, but the food was good quality and dishes tasty.

The Tokyo Royale looked particularly good.

Avocado on toast with smoked salmon and a poached egg was literally just those ingredients. poached egg served in a separate dish, which was a bit odd. All quite cold.

Fluffy souffle pancakes were delicious.

The thing that really wasn't good (especially considering the price and fanciness of the restaurant) was the service.

there wasn't a single non-alcoholic drink listed on the wine list or on either of the 2 menus we were given (both included cocktails and/or wine), which was odd, particularly as our party included 2 children. Getting information about soft drinks was a challenge. Our first request brought us a cocktail menu with 3 mocktails on it (none sounded child friendly, or particularly nice). Eventually, the sommelier appeared and was able to rattle off a long list of drinks (a menu would have been easier to understand, but we got there in the end

there were 2 waiters serving us, seemingly interchangeably, but without speaking to each other, so we were asked the same questions multiple times

it seemed as if the kitchen was cooking each meal one after the other. The first 4 of our 5 meals turned up at ~5 minute intervals. My husband's meal still hadn't arrived 10 mins after the last of the other 4 so we asked the waitress. She said it was on its way, but it seemed very much as if it had been forgotten - no apology. By the time it arrived, the rest of us had long since finished our meals.

all 5 of us wanted the pancakes for dessert, which were recommended by the waiter. We were at least warned this time that they were cooked individually, and it would take a while to bring out all 5 servings. They weren't lying...

at no point did anyone offer us additional drinks. With so much waiting, we definitely would have bought more, so this was a missed sales opportunity - as it was, I left the restaurant quite parched.

All in all, we enjoyed brunch, but for the price, I...

Update: Although the front desk and the reservation team didn't coordinate well, the manager, Gabriel, from the Aubery actually cares about customers' complaints. I received a call from Gabriel the second day after I left my review and was invited back to have dinner again. He offered complimentary Champaign and desserts for our visit and made sure we had a great time dining. He also came to us to apologize in person for what happened last Satuday. Most importantly, the food is still excellent ! Fresh uni and sashimi, delicious waygu uton noodles and grilled Iberian pork/duck/beef rib. We like the sesame cheese cake a lot. The yuzu jelly makes the whole cheese tart tastes amazingly refreshing. As for the miso souffle, it's more savory than a dessert for us. Glad we tried it but probably will not order again. Strongly recommend the Aubrey! Food was excellent, also the service was superb. But I encountered the worst experience ever tonight. The management appears to value only big events and normal customers are happily being sacrificed.

The reservation team got my email wrong twice, so I couldn't fill up my card info but I called back and told a lady we were on our way to the restaurant. She told me I could do a walkin because there seemed to have vacancy. 10 minutes later, we arrived at the restaurant to be informed there was a big event going on, therefore no room for us. Also they have a child policy so they couldn't accommodate us. Which was very shocking because we dined there twice before but we never knew. We always eat early at 5：30 and it seems that they don't host children after 7pm if I understand correctly.

I went there in September and one of the staff told me they just had a new manager and group . Maybe that's why they don't care about customers anymore.

They totally ruined our date and wasted our time.

If the chef is still the same, I still highly recommend to try the food but maybe just don't...