The Melody Restaurant — Restaurant in London

My fourth visit in London was a business visit. I was there for a workshop so during lunch time I had to restrict myself to an area close to the office. On the last day of the workshop I chose to skip lunch at the office and headed to a place close, a place which I found lovely before going inside to eat. On that hot summer day I sat outside, on the terrace, and enjoyed the sun while watching people sitting and eating their lunch on the grass outside this place. The Melody, situated at 153 Hammersmith Rd, is a lovely traditional construction, its design and interior attracting me from the start. Stepping inside I studied the rooms a bit before moving out on the terrace and ordering the lunch fixed menu. Since I was in a bit of hurry I opted for the set menu and from the start I must tell you that what I had was really great. I didn’t have much expectations from a fixed menu but here at the Melody I got a pleasant surprise. Even the restaurant’s website states “Fine Dining in Hammersmith” and after my meal there I believe it to be true. Bellow I will review this place as I usually do so let us dive right in: Location: Hammersmith area. Business area. I set a set point as center at Marble Arch. From there to the restaurant there are 6.2 kilometers so even though the food is good it is hard for me to tell you this place deserves a detour from your time spent visiting London. But if you are in the area with business, since a lot of companies have offices there, you should visit this place. It is in walking distance from many offices and hotels so that is a bonus if you opt in, like me, for a quick lunch or for a meal after your work hours. Staff: Very good impression. After all since this place prides in fine dining it goes without saying that the staff should be top also. Helpful, providing me answers on the menu, time needed to cook a la carte the overall experience was very pleasant. Food: Frankly I did not expected that a fixed menu tasted this good. Everything from the soup, to the second course and the sweets tasted really great. An extra bonus for the sweets which were really, really good. I have eaten in many places both in my country and abroad testing different lunch menus across the places I visited and I can tell you one thing for sure. This is by far the best set lunch I ever tried. I will not take into consideration a la carte, special requests and traditional dishes from the various regions I visited. Only fixed menus and here this place has no competition until now. Prices: I don’t remember exactly the price but I think it is somewhere between 29-35 pounds per lunch and while this might seem expensive you need to take into consideration a few things. First this is London so everything is expensive. Second the area is business and caters to people inclined towards a higher price for a meal. Third the quality of the food. What really gave an extra boost to the meal was that day’s vibe. The terrace is surrounded by a tall wall, keeping the sounds from Hammersmith Rd to a minimum and I sat at the first table overlooking the patch of green outside where young people brought their lunches and they were laughing, joking and sharing a meal together. With such an atmosphere that hour flew by and besides the good meal I was able to sit outside, in the sun, and feel better for the rest of the day. That feeling of freedom, of watching trees and the green grass, of hearing birds not only cars and horns made me relax and unwind. All in all a very good option for a meal if you are close to the place. Since I will travel again during the next year with work I’m pretty sure I will...

Booked an early dinner for 5:15pm before a show at the Apollo that started at 7pm.

On arrival at reception there were 2 staff members fiddling about with the thermostat, they turned to see us then immediately turned back to what they were doing, without acknowledging us at all.

After standing around close to 5 minutes we just walked around ourselves until we found the restaurant. The restaurant manager then informed us that the restaurant wouldn't be open until 5:30pm (although it let us book online for 5:15pm specifically for dinner and time was obviously of the essence due to our plans later in the evening).

We were shown to a table in the bar to wait 10 minutes (which turned out to be 15) and neither the restaurant manager nor a single member of staff came over to offer us a drink whilst we waited.

Eventually we were taken through to the restaurant where we were handed menus which was not in line with the online menu, missing a lot of items and no replacement dishes. I asked to see the bar menu as due to dietary restrictions and the reduced menu there weren't any mains of my liking. The waitress brought over the bar menu happily.

When it came to ordering we were told that they couldn't serve anything from the bar menu in the restaurant, and they couldn't serve anything from the restaurant menu in the bar. They offered to seat us in a more private area - but when pressed as to whether we could order off different menus we were flatly told a firm no. Despite the fact we would not be eating in either the restaurant or the bar.

At this point we cut our losses and went to find something else to grab quickly before our show.

From start to finish, the issues with the booking, their service, the lack of accommodating to customers you have already disappointed and the pure, absolute pretentiousness of the chef to refuse to serve items from different menus in a private area of the venue made this a truly awful experience in every way from start to finish.

Afternoon tea may be nice, but I would steer well, well clear of having...

Very disappointing! 2 night stay over Christmas. Lunch on arrival @2pm (Only Bar menu available)Ordered Fish & Chips and Cesar Salad (no anchovies) & portion of chips. Food was luke warm, frozen fish, not at all crispy. Salad arrived with just chicken & lettuce, no bacon!. Extra portion of chips never arrived. Service was very poor and we were the only two diners in the restaurant! Had to ask for basic things like Salt & Pepper and the extra portion of chips which arrived when we had nearly finished our lunch. Bottle of white wine ordered "Riff' £36. Cheap plonk ! Lunch £97.50.... Needless to say we were now anxious about the pre ordered Christmas dinner £99 per head. Staff are very friendly but not very observant or efficient. Christmas dinner was also very disappointing. We ordered traditional Norfolk turkey with all the trimmings and fillet steak. Food arrived luke warm again and overcooked. One very small roast potato. No vegetables arrived with the fillet steak. Inclusive glass of champagne never arrived, had to ask the waitress for drinks, salt and pepper, & vegetables.Coffee & mince pies never arrived. Once again the service was very poor. Total bill £243.99 for dinner, certainly not worth the money. Service charge included on the bill £28 which in heinsight we probably should not have paid. "But it's Christmas " Overall the hotel is small. quaint and comfortable with friendly staff. The bedrooms are very nice and have everything required. Mini bar, iron & ironing board, hair dryer and a great shower. My advise " just don't eat...