The Palmerston — Restaurant in London

The service was terrible in the Palmerston on Saturday afternoon (10th Feb) . Having booked a table for 4 pm, I expected nice early dinner and drinks with some friends but we ended up walking out to go somewhere else.

Upon arrival, about 2 - 3 minutes past our reservation time, we were pointed to our table and just left there. No menus, no offer of water, we were just sat watching staff members wandering in and out of the back room, which had the rugby starting on the TV. With about five people on duty, you would expect a bit more attentiveness. The place was also not booked out there were plenty of empty tables.

After enduring about 5 minutes of looking over to the bar for someone to come over with menus, I took matters into my own hands and went up to the bar to retrieve a menu which was a flimsy, cheap-feeling, photocopied piece of paper – a wine list with half its letters missing, a testament to the lack of attention to detail that The Palmerston seems to have.

Despite numerous empty tables, the staff seemed blissfully unoccupied. Not a single member approached us to offer water, ask about drinks, or take our order...from the menus we had to get ourselves. We sat there until about quarter past 4 pm, but still no one bothered to acknowledge our presence and come over to our table.

Hungry, thirsty and deciding enough was enough, we decided to leave. Even as we gathered our belongings to exit, not a single staff member made an effort to check in on us. It was only when I approached the bar to express our dissatisfaction that a half-hearted "Are you okay?" was thrown our way. I explained why were were leaving and got a 'sorry' but too little too late really.

I'm asking in this review for the manager to look at the CCTV footage, specifically focusing on the tables against the wall opposite the bar, where three of us, including myself in a denim jacket, were sitting. This was Saturday 10th Feb, 4pm. Two guys and me...watch it from when we arrive to when we left to see the experience we had...

as many others know this place used to serve impressive and well-executed modern British cooking, and sadly that era of the Palmerston has passed. Despite that, we went with the hope that it could still serve up a decent and fairly priced pub meal and were looking forward to trying out the new incarnation of the pub. However the food and experience was bang average with premium prices. The beef burger was run of the mill, nearing on wetherspoons quality except for 3x the price. One member of our party ordered the salmon (£18) which was practically raw in the middle. We sent it back and our server was very apologetic. It was then brought back over by someone else who I presume was the manager who asked if it was ‘too rare’ for our liking. Seems a bit of a bold statement to expect your guests to want raw fish. The manager made a rather sarcastic comment that perhaps the ‘oven was faulty’ because they cook all their fish the same way for the same time. The salmon came back cooked but was still very bland and came on a bed of mushy peppers. Thankfully a our server (a very helpful young lady, didn’t catch her name) took it off the bill and offered a free drink. The problems with this pub clearly lie with the management and the executive ownership - charging those prices for mediocre food when you’ve a pub up the road like the Actress doing similar stuff except much better and for lower prices is a sure fire way to alienate your potential customers. Having worked in dire Mitchell and Butler pubs with similar low food standards and equally as extortionate prices, I’ve seen first hand how lacklustre pub grub can drive any returning customers away and leave you with few left to serve, at least for a meal. We probably won’t be returning, but I’ve written this review mainly because I assume some corporate person who oversees The Palmerston in its current form will read this and hopefully can take some constructive criticism as to how to better...

I never write reviews but the experience here forced me to.

I have to say the worst restaurant experience I have ever had was at this place. I went with my girlfriend for a special occasion for which she was treating me, my main was awful and subsequently made me really ill for about 4 days (I am also working at a GP surgery so couldn't even go in all week for fear of passing it to patients). I didn't complain at the time that it wasn't very nice as I didn't want my partner to think the treat had been ruined, but i did wrote to them afterwards (in hindsight I should have kicked up a fuss at the time and not paid). I then wrote again as I had heard nothing and wanted to check if others had reported being ill.

I eventually got a reply and was offered a voucher for the value £20. No stipulations on what I could or couldn't spend it on.

The worst bit was then when I went back and tried to use the £20 for some cocktails. I was told I was being "bang out of order" for not using it on food (I wasn't risking more time off work!) - presumably as they wanted me to burn over £100 again on a crap meal. I was then told not to "talk to me like that" by the manager when I asked what was going on. I was never rude and actually felt verbally abused by the manager on the phone. His staff indicated he was commonly as rude as this.

Don't go here and give jokers like this your money, also your digestive system will appreciate the favour. This is not a michelin star restaurant and the food (poisoning aside) isn't worth the money they...