The Black Lamb — Restaurant in London

I wanted to share my honest feedback about my recent visit to The Black Lamb. Unfortunately, my experience was disappointing and did not meet my expectations, especially considering the prices. I came with my family — five adults and two children. Our waitress brought us two menus: the £45 set menu and the regular à la carte menu. We decided to order 4 set menus, one normal meal from the regular menu and two children’s meals. However, the waitress told us that everyone at the table had to order the set menu if we wanted it at all as he spoke with the manager . I found this confusing — if that policy applies, I don’t understand why both menus were presented to us in the first place.So we had to order everyone from the regular menu because the manager decided for us,very unprofessional. The portion sizes were also quite small for the prices charged. For example, the Sunday roast (£29) included only two thin slices of beef and a single small bowl of vegetables for five people, with just five potatoes and five carrots. The quality and quantity were not what I expected and the chicken for the kids it was uncooked. Additionally, the service felt unfriendly, and I couldn’t help but feel we were treated differently because we were speaking another language. This left a poor impression on our family. Finally, I was surprised to see a 13.5% service charge automatically added to the bill. Given the quality of service, I don’t feel this was justified — and as you know, this isn’t standard practice in the UK is not US here. Overall, we were very disappointed with the experience and unfortunately won’t be returning or recommending The Black Lamb to others. I hope you’ll take this feedback on board to improve the experience for future guests.

This how is what a Sunday Roast beef looks like for £29 with 5 potatoes and 5 carrots sharing to 5 persons,well done The Black Lamb keep going and robbing...

Arrived on time for booking but sat at the bar waiting for the table to be ready (along with several others). Ordered water, but had to ask 3 separate times to 3 separate people that came to the table.

Ordered a vodka drink, but no vodka was included (or the “Black Cow” vodka is shorthand for water).

Burrata was tasty as a starter.

Had an order of Hake but although it was tasty it was presented with the skin all torn up - i.e., not very well prepared. It also had a sweet sauce with it that wasn’t needed and made it almost returnable.

Had an order of John Dory - I would avoid this completely. It had a fish smell and was more bone than fish. And drowning in sauce.

The tables were very close and neighbours on both sides were shouting. Fine to have close tables but the guests don’t seem to have any consideration for other people. Very off-putting.

Dessert (chocolate tart) was tasty.

The bill arrived but the prices were different than on the printed menu that we ordered from (bill was higher). When I asked, the manager said something like “oh, our menu does change often” - apparently even while you are eating. It was corrected but I can only guess how many they have fleeced.

Finally, the decor needs to be addressed. It’s 2024 and the wall paper has carrots that are dressed as naked women. There’s a picture by the women’s bathroom that is a woman playing tennis pulling her skirt up to show a naked bum. And the wallpaper in the bathrooms have naked people all over them. This needs to be changed immediately.

I preferred when it was The Lawn Bistro or even The White Onion. The Black Lamb is a hard pass. Will not be returning and will not...

We went for lunch on 21 December which was probably an unfortunate timing with the restaurant being geared for Christmas lunches. It is a beautiful restaurant which prouds itself for using produce from their farm. Drinks lovely and their own sparkling wine and white wine both top quality. Starters were a mix bag of goods, oysters excellent quality, leak beautiful but cold which I didn’t realise, chorizo was like baby food, not good. Two of us had the pork and two had the steak. The steaks were delicious but unfortunately not cooked to order. My daughter doesn’t like it rare and hers was the same as my husband’s, medium rare to rare. Based on the menu I was expecting roast vegetables with my pork and they were more like what we used to get for school lunch. The pork was dry and the spinach was just sad. I ordered Brussels sprouts too but it was raw shredded cabbage. The potatoes would have been delicious but they probably came from an earlier batch and were dry and a bit cold. When we ordered our mains we only ordered one portion of potatoes and they didn’t ask if we would like any other sides. We realised this after a few minutes and called one of the waitresses over. She said I needed to speak to my server. She was foreign and I first thought I misheard or misunderstood but she repeatedly answered the same. Our waitress was off her feet, very lovely and this other girl was obviously not busy, just standing around. Disappointing attitude to say the least and not what one would expect here. I don’t think I would go back. The price doesn’t reflect the quality. More pretence...