The Plimsoll — Restaurant in London

Walking in, first impressions of The Plimsoll, it’s a regulars pub. Punters happily squeeze together, sharing tables and standing in clusters by the bar. Inviting yet just the right amount of exclusive, you feel like you have be in the know, or know someone, to find the place.

Servers are attentive without being smothering. Although busy for a Wednesday night, we were accommodated as a table of two with ease. The dining feels considerate, tables close enough to maintain the pubby atmosphere, but with enough space to enjoy the company you’re with.

Basing it off one experience, the menu is varied, intriguing and alluring; you’d want to order it all. We had: Pork Pie with Cornichon, Scallop, Winter Tomato with Tuna and Capers, Langoustines with Blood Orange, Dexter Burger, Gurnard with Salsas and Chocolate Tart with Creme Fraiche to finish off.

Flavours in the first few dishes were comforting and well thought out, just what you’d want. The langoustines fell short, perhaps to our own taste, but the aim was appreciated. The burger was phenomenal, as mentioned by countless reviewers already. Unfortunately the Gurnard was a real disappointment. The two salsa’s just didn’t work for us. The green salsa had a flavour that we could not appreciate, although the other saved it significantly. Once we had mixed them together they seemed to cancel eachother out, and we were able to finish the dish. Perhaps this was the intention? The fish itself was cooked perfectly, its only let down was the accompaniments. The chocolate tart to end was gorgeous, however, we were not quite sold by the creme fraiche, which was more akin to sour cream. Ultimately the two flavours clash, which distracted from the enjoyableness of the dessert. We also had a couple of cocktails: the negroni was classic and faultless, while the blood orange margarita had flavour motifs that paired well throughout our meal and was very enjoyable as a stand-alone.

Overall we loved the vibe and service, would definitely come back again. Our only issues are those that understandably come with such a frequently changing menu. Definitely worth coming back to try more, and we plan to soon. A great spot in London for food or just a drink. Worth the...

A friend of mine recommended The Plimsoll for its relaxed atmosphere and delicious food.

Great first impression. The place had buzzing Sunday lunch atmosphere, at full capacity, and you could feel the good mood.

I like the simplicity of the concept. Short A5 menu with pub classics. We enjoyed delicious bread and butter with tomato salad as starter and ordered the burger this place seems to be famous for. Burger comes on its own, which I appreciated because I don't like to be forced to have it with chips like most places do. The burger was mouthwatering, charred on the outside, bursting with flavours.

Then we had the best chocolate mousse I've ever tasted and an amazing homemade cherry sorbet. We wanted to accompany our desserts with something sweet. The fact that pub doesn't do cocktails is understandable, the fact that pub doesn't offer at least a simple filter coffee on Sunday to go with a dessert, not as much.

So we asked what the 25ml drink that's listed along with desserts was, asking if it's something like a liquer or dessert wine and the waitress said 'something like that'. So we ordered it. What arrived was a clear very strong spirit that I could only describe as some sort of Palenka (fruit distilled spirit with 45% of alcohol so clearly not at all something we wanted, unfortunately instead of googling it I was counting on the staff's knowledge. You have an A5 menu, train your staff.

Then mother nature called, and I'm sorry, if a first thing customer thinks to themselves when opening the door to the bathroom is a loud OH NO, that's really sad. The sink and toilet seemed samewhat clean, but the state of the room was absolutely horrifying. I have seen nicer public toilets. What a shame.

For this reason, I would never invite any of my friends or family even though the food was delicious. Clearly, the owner does not care enough of the customers'...

I don’t know, everything is subjective so obviously lots of people do like this place and will continue to. PR has a big influence on that too, in cities like london.

All I can say was that I was excited to try a hyped up place in my neighbourhood but left more than disappointed. Yes the burger is great, but the rest of the food is below average and way overpriced. Most of it under seasoned. The lack of vegetarian options is just strange (and I’m a meat eater). £16 for two langoustines is why the rest of the UK parodies Londoners.

But most importantly, it was one of the wait staff that really inspired me to write this review. The young man who served us was grand after the initial desertion for first 5-10mins, a friendly guy who turned out to know what he was doing. The other young waitress with fair hair was just inexperienced, so no real blame there. But the other N American waitress with 2-tone hair was just plain rude to us on a few occasions. And having observed her most of the evening, pretty lazy too. She basically pretended to be busy for most of the night and made it feel like anyone asking her for anything was some great insult to her bloodline. She’s the one who ignored me twice when asking if I could order a drink after being seated - hearing me and looking me in eye as I said “excuse me” and walking on by.

If you want to jump on the bandwagon and tell people you ate at the plimsoll then don’t let me stop you. Whatever kudos that brings to you may be worth paying over the odds for sub-par food. If you want a good meal at worthy prices, with a good atmosphere and good service; there are 100s of other options in London. And a good few within walking distance from this place. Would be happy to...