The Libertine Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in London

My partner and I chose The Libertine for a date night on a Wednesday evening. We had high hopes given the reviews but we had a dreadful evening. If it weren’t for our lovely waitress, Cara, I would be giving 1 star.

The problems started at the door. The doorman opened with ‘good evening sir’ to my partner despite me walking through the door first and completely ignored me. When I spoke to him (my partner didn’t acknowledge the doorman as he noticed this poor behaviour) and asked him if the restaurant was down the stairs he turned to my partner and answered him instead with ‘yes sir, please let the staff know you have a booking’, as though I were invisible. For context, I had booked the table and would be paying for the meal - I was extremely disappointed to see old fashioned misogyny like this.

The food was a huge let down, my partner’s salmon starter was ok but my chicken lollipops were lukewarm on the outside and stone cold in the middle. My gnocchi main was terrible - I don’t know what they did to the croutons in it but they were so salty and the dish had a very bitter taste.

A big regret we had was not asking the price of the butchers block - they don’t tell you the price when they mention it as a special. My partner’s beef wellington was £50 for one, small, very salty slice with a small pot of chips. This is far more expensive than everything on the menu that has an advertised price and we were shocked when we saw the bill.

My basque cheesecake to finish was nice, which was a relief after such a poor meal.

I wouldn’t recommend ordering cocktails with dinner here. My negroni was ok (if tiny) but my partner ordered the champagne sorbet float and when it arrived, the sorbet had almost entirely melted into the drink. I have a feeling the drinks were sitting around for a long time before they were brought over as we waited nearly 30 mins for them.

In terms of atmosphere, the place was very pretty but we were sat in the back corner, unable to see much of the place, and had to shout to hear each other as we were right by the partition between the tables and the kitchen.

Also, if you’re female and tall, you’re going to have issues in the bathroom. I’m 5ft 10 and the female cubicles are so tiny that anyone 5ft 7 and over will need to crouch (that sounds like an exaggeration but I promise it’s not - I felt like Alice in Wonderland). Of the three female cubicles, only one was suitable for someone above average height and unfortunately it was occupied when I went in.

If you’ve read this far, you’ll not be surprised that after being billed £190 for our meal, we definitely won’t be back and will be warning our friends to steer clear too.

Thank you again to Cara for being so friendly and cheering us up on a very...

I visited The Libertine Restaurant & Bar in London to celebrate my birthday and ordered the Share Chateaubriand 600g. Although the menu didn’t specify doneness options, our waiter kindly asked how we’d like it cooked, and I clearly requested medium rare.

Unfortunately, what arrived was noticeably overcooked and dry — entirely lacking the tenderness and juiciness one expects from a proper medium rare steak. It wasn’t simply a case of resting too long; the steak had quite clearly been poorly cooked.

What made it more frustrating was that we were a party of seven, and the others’ steaks were done properly. The kitchen is clearly capable — mine was simply mishandled.

When I raised this with the staff, the explanation given was that “the steak is too large and thick to control the doneness precisely.” Frankly, that’s not acceptable. If you’re offering a premium cut and accepting doneness requests, then you should be confident in cooking it correctly. Worse still, I was told the head chef had decided there would be no refund, no replacement, and no option to change to something else.

As it was my birthday, I didn’t want to cause a scene. I quietly ate what I could — just the slightly rarer parts — and tried to make the most of the evening. But what happened next was baffling.

Once my plate was cleared, they brought out another entirely new Chateaubriand — this time cooked absolutely perfectly, exactly how it should have been the first time. When we asked if we’d be charged again, they said yes. I reiterated that I wasn’t prepared to pay for a second steak, having already eaten what was meant to be my portion. They eventually took it away. It wasn’t about the money — the pricing here is reasonable — but the way the situation was handled felt awkward and unprofessional.

To be fair, most of the other dishes our group ordered were decent and fairly priced. But it’s when things go wrong that you truly see the character of a restaurant. In this case, the unwillingness to acknowledge a clear kitchen error, the lack of flexibility, and the rigid “chef’s final decision” attitude made the experience unnecessarily unpleasant.

I’m leaving this review not out of spite, but in the hope that future diners are aware, and that the management reflect on what customer service really means — particularly on a special occasion...

Incredibly disappointing experience. Made a drinks booking for 22:00-23:30 on a Saturday. We arrived and they didn't care about our booking because the bar area was empty. They cleaned off a dirty table for us and we sat for a bit without menus. My husband motioned to the server and the server came over with a "sup?" We were taken aback by the clearly apathetic attitude, but we asked for some drinks menus and were given them. While we were perusing (we were at a round booth beside the bar), we could hear the server ask the bartender what time they should close and she said "10:10." Clearly they didn't want to work and our presence there was undesirable. I was excited to try to some of their signature cocktails, but once we heard their exchange we decided to get a round of easy drinks (wine, whiskey) and leave (I did not want to pay £15 for a half-assed cocktail made by an apathetic bartender). After we got our drinks the server came back over and said it was last call at 22:30. I was under the impression my booking was until 23:30 and that the bar closed at midnight, so we were very confused. After hearing the way the staff was speaking to each other, clearly not wanting to work that night, it made sense they would try to usher their only bar table out so they could close early. We did not order another round but stayed a bit longer. More patrons showed up much later, so clearly the last call was only for our table, and they ended up serving drinks well after the "last call" they communicated to us. Two stars for the location and decor; I'd give zero stars for service and...