Vins — Restaurant in London

I really wanted to love this place as I live just around the corner, unfortunately there were just too many problems to want to return.

First the positives - the location and setting is lovely and Vin is a passionate and talented restauranteur. The antipasti was excellent.

Now everything else: We were waited on by a young, brand new staff member. While he tried hard he was so shy, timid and awkward that the service really suffered. I would normally be happy to try and help a trainee but it was so jarring when we could hear neighbouring tables receiving excellent service from Vin while we could barely hear or understand a word our terrified waiter attempted to say.

There was only one chef in the kitchen despite 3 wait staff which struck me as an odd ratio. While the first two course came our quickly, we then waited well over an hour after that for our mains and the dishes were not worth the wait. The kitchen seemed completely overwhelmed with just one chef.

We asked for the bill and realized we had paid quite a lot of money for a fairly average meal. Vin seemed a bit defeated by this stage - he didn't ask how our meals were as I think he realised the night had got away from him with only one chef.

Vin, you had a great spot here but I think this would work better as a neighbourhood wine bar rather than trying to do five course menus with only one chef for 30+ seats at a time.

You could just have 10 wines by the glass and expand your excellent antipasti menu and add some cheese/charcuterie plates that any staff members can quickly and easily whip up. If you do proceed with the set menu please add another chef.

I really want...

My girlfriend booked a table for two at 6.30. We arrived a little early and were seated outside. We were told - in person and via email - that we only had the table until 7.55 which was fine. Unfortunately, our main meal took well over an hour and a quarter to arrive (we both ordered Tagliatelle - which we didn't think would take long to cook - at around 6.40).

We got to 'keep' the table, which wasn't a big deal, but we were more frustrated with the wait and the lack of explanation regarding the delay. Normally, if this happens in a restaurant, you are offered an explanation and/or a complimentary drink or snack while you wait. (For example, we recently dined in the Flying Frenchman, and their oven broke, but we were told what had happened and given a drink to apologise for the wait). We can only assume that the kitchen were short-staffed and/or overwhelmed at how busy it was.

There is an impressive wine list but the mark-up is quite excessive. Many wines on the list retail for £10-14 but were being sold for £30-40 for a carafe or £40-50 for the bottle. I know this is standard practice but it seemed a bit more than many other restaurants I've dined in in London. The sparkling wine we had was very nice though.

Despite this, the service was very friendly and the food was delicious. We had the fried potatoes (which were actually more like crisps) and aioli for a starter and a very fine chocolate torte for dessert as well as the...

5 stars for the ambience 4 stars for the service 3 stars for the food 2 stars for the price

Pretty disappointed by this restaurant. For 2 people, our bill was £121 = 2 3-course dinners, 4 glasses of wine + a mandatory 12.5% service fee. All of which I think is ludicrous for the quality of food that came out, and I'm a little sad as there was only 1 chef in the semi-open kitchen area (also the owner I was told) - & I really enjoy supporting small businesses.

Issues: for the 3 course meal, you can't choose the 1st course - it must be the antipasto unfortunately the antipasto was very basic crudite & over salted crisps. At £38 for 3 courses, I expected a bit more. the primi course came out luke-warm for both of us. my fettucini with salted ricotta was very bland (you'd make better at home), though the pasta clearly tasted homemade.

Pros: the fish cakes secondi were delicious unfortunately my partner found the skin on the porchetta too hard/over crisped, so he didn't eat it. And the potatoes it came with were just steamed/salted potatoes - no sauce, not much flavour. the chianti red wine was delicious at £8/glass

For the amount we paid and such a limited menu (only 2 choices per course, and 1 choice for desser), I'd expect pretty good execution. Unfortunately we felt like we wasted our money and appetite...