The Dovetail — Restaurant in London

I heard that this Belgian restaurant and beer-house strove for authenticity at every turn; naturally I was sceptical, I lived for years in Brussels, and since then many have promised a proper experience, yet much like Dominos after midnight, none have delivered.

You'll imagine my unabashed joy therefore when I walked through the door to find a little piece of la rue des bouchers right here in London! Great, simple, fresh looking menu? Check. Large range of beers upon which the barman was well versed? Check. Utterly disinterested staff who can't believe that I would dare speak in English? Check.

Authenticity! Finally! One usually has to travel to the continent to find such levels of disdain for the British accent, a trip made suitably harder for me given that the Eurostar has now decamped to North London, totally negating any temporal advantage in the journey by having a start point 30 minutes further away. Thank you Eurostar. But now, I can be ignored, have my decisions questioned, and take an accidental 3 hour working lunch, all in typical Belgian style, all on my own doorstep!

We ordered some classic dishes - cheese, moules, steak, croquettes, and foolishly didn't specify that the starters were to come first. Our mistake, I'll admit - they were listed under 'Starters', but the menu was in English, and thus only asking to be ignored.

I would say all the food came at once, but it didn't. What wasn't forgotten however, arrived in a mad hectic rush, like any queue for a bus in Belgium,(I'll hoping another nice and very subtle nod to motherland), and literally did not fit on the table. One suspects large plates mask small portions. A kilo of mussels only inches over that line if pots and plates are included. (Hang on, does Belgium use the metric system? If not, I'll allow more leniency. They probably just didn't know.)

The food that was forgotten was probably considered an error - after all, we Londoners probably don't even know what Moules Frites are, and only ordered it for a laugh. 40 minutes later, and we questioned the somewhat haphazard serving policy - the bill was checked, and rechecked, and then hoisted upon us. We clearly had not ordered! Except it was literally the first thing on the check. Foolish place to look really. Maybe it was to be a starter, that mythical course before the main, and given the tendency to cut portions down by 500 grams, they thought what's the point. That would make sense actually - logical reasoning Poirot would be proud of.

Never fear, they would be ready a short 30 minutes from the re-order, because that is exactly how long you should cook tiny shellfish for. Not to worry though, I had wobbled my way through several allegedly complimentary ciders, so the wolf was too pissed to get his foot in the door.

Ps, 'Complimentary' apparently means they'll sneak it on the bill and hope you won't notice. Lesson learnt.

By the time it was eaten, it was far too late to return to the office , which is a big plus, bumps it up several whole stars in fact, and the food, when it did arrive, was nearly all delicious. Especially the croquettes. And the steak. Maybe not the fondue! The cow that makes that cheese needs serious veterinary attention.

In short, a cracking lunch, made more delicious by the exceptional patience one must exhibit to actually see the food, in the flesh, in front of you, or indeed, to see any waiter, at any point. Will almost certainly amble back next time I have a deadline I...

A great little pub with an excellent selection of Belgian beer. I've never seen such a big selection, especially on tap, outside of Belgium. Not only is the selection great, with seasonal beers, but Paul, who runs the place, is very knowledgable. He is also very friendly and helpful, especially when it comes to trying to figure out what to have next.

The food is also good, and just what you need to go with this kind of beer. I've had the moules-frites on a couple of occasions. The mussle are cooked just right, very tender and flavorful. The fries the come with it are excellent as well.

The location itself is very nice and cosy, just the kind of place you want to sit down and relax with a delicious Belgian beer, especially in the colder months.

I don't live that close, but I make a point on going there whenever I'm feeling like having a Belgian beer, and it's definitely...

Same as the other 1 star reviews - lovely place, great beer selection but the owner makes the atmosphere hostile and we witnessed him snapping and shouting at a younger bartender in front of everyone. Not acceptable behaviour. He also turned away customers from 9.30pm onwards even though the opening times are stated as open until 11pm. As per the previous 1 star review I actually saw him rudely say to the customer who was sat outside quietly to go inside and gesture him to go inside rudely. Such a shame as it’s a great Belgian pub and so many beer options but I don’t understand how there aren’t so many low reviews. The owner is so rude and his behaviour is erratic. Just because he’s having a bad day he takes it out on anyone and everyone including paying customers and his own staff. Really...