Wildflowers Restaurant — Restaurant in London

Bad cooking, bad service especially for the price.

We were attracted to the beautiful setting of this restaurant back off Sloane Square. Staff initially were friendly and helpful in finding us a table. We ordered some small bites - gnoccho fritto and croquetta - which were perfectly nice. We got served some focaccia we hadn’t ordered but that was lovely. Scallop starter was pretty overpriced at £19 for what was basically one single raw scallop sliced up with some oil, lemon and a dill, but, hey, it's Belgravia and that's not wild.

Unfortunately the rest of the meal was profoundly disappointing. We ordered the signature dish- steak with bone marrow rice to share- for £100 we were told would take a while. In the mean time we were basically forgotten about and despite chasing our drinks order three times and did not receive it until about 15 minutes after the steak came. The steak itself was disastrous. It was so tough and oversalted that we didn't get through it. I don’t mean saltier than our taste; i mean saltier than a salted salt flat served on a bed of salt. About halfway through I started to feel like my mouth was beginning to dessicate. Combined with the 9 or 10 chews it took to get through a single forkful it was genuinely unpleasant to eat (like trying to chew a walrus to death). We would probably have stopped a few bites in if we hadn’t spent so much on it. As it as, we didn't finish. The rice that came with it was not enough for two to share (about one large desert spoonful each). It tasted of burned tomato paste but the predominant taste was, again, salt. The bone marrow served on the side was not smoked and was a little underdone. We were served about a teaspoon of aioli in a pot as a condiment and asked for more - twice. This never arrived. Potatoes we ordered on the side to supplement the rice also only arrived after chasing repeatedly and were (shockingly) oversalted.

When the waiter arrived to clear we politely explained that while the starters had been fine and we didn't want to complain we thought the main dish was wrong. The waiter (a tall bearded chap who I think was manager) just said “fantastic” several times and looked profoundly annoyed and awkward his before seeming to roll eyes, taking the plate and walking off. We were left for another ten minutes before we managed to flag someone down to get the bill. It was £188 for two, without alcohol. We were at this point not just disappointed in the food but frustrated at the poor service and rude response from the manager. We (politely) declined to pay the service charge on the basis that we had been continuously misserved. The Maitre D’, when we asked for this to be removed, again stormed off without replying, printed a new bill which she slapped down onto the table with stony silence. We got up to leave and my partner had to go look for her own coat at the door because the Maitre D’ now standing at the door seemed to have decided to pointedly ignore us.

The silly thing about this is that all the manager needed to do was say "I'm sorry you did not like your dinner, we will pass your comments back to the chef" and maybe throw in the side of potatoes for free and we would have paid and possibly come back to give their menu another chance. As it is, the petulant response threw a pall over what we had hoped would be a nice evening out. Astonishingly poor at this price point.

You can get a much better steak at Côte on Sloane Square for a third of the price and you will find the staff there are both efficient and pleasant. If you want something fancy, Enoteca Turi is also excellent for about the same...

There are precious few truly great restautants around Victoria and Sloane Square but it looks like Wildflowers has bolstered those numbers. I was looking for somewhere to eat in the area, and booked this new opening after reading about it online.

Nestled away in a courtyard amongst all the high end design stores, first impressions were good. The interior design blended in seemlessy with the neighbours. You can see and feel the attention to detail everywhere, with good lighting and a calm approachable look and feel. The seating was comfy and tables have not been packed in too tightly which is a welcome change from many places I've been to recently.

The welcome was warm and effortless with enough care and attention to make you feel looked after but not so much so, that it felt stuffy and overly formal. Not an easy trick to pull off. Everyone who looked after us was charming and friendly. The whole experience felt unrushed. The reason for leaving the review is the food. The 'nearly dirty martini' set the tone and what followed was a pretty much perfect set of dishes. You could see it was going to be good as the open kitchen allowed you to see the way everything was being assembled with balletic precision.

The gnocco fritto were single bites of perfection, using a simple combination of ingredients to amazing mouth watering effect. They set the tone for a series of super tasty, perfectly seasoned and garnsihed plates which offered interestig twists along the way. Star of the show was a plate of scallops and pear - they were the best preparation of scallops I've ever eaten and I would go back again just for that dish - a must order. Sardine bruscetta came with an endlessly deep tomato sauce and beautifully cooked and buttterflied fish. The mains combined a lightness of touch with a beautiful sea bass and bean combination with the deepest, silkiest sauce I have ever had to accompany the duck breast. The lemon tart was the perfect way to finish, a series of pretty perfect dishes.

The added bonus was lovely bar area upstairs which opens up onto the courtyard - it was really nicely lit and felt line it would be a great place to grab a quiet drink.

I'm seldom moved to write reviews, but, in a climate where it's hard for new businesses to survive it's worth the effort to support the good ones and spread the word. I would 100% recommend a visit given the space, service and food were all pretty...

i would have my last meal on earth here.

my friend and i literally basked in the gloriousness of this meal for 15 minutes after our lunch. genuinely one of the best meals i’ve had!!!

loved the creativity of the menu and everything was executed so well. none of the dishes lacked and i wish i could eat everything again.

we ordered:

focaccia - INSANE, so fluffy with the perfect amount of chewiness

ham and cheese croquettas - perfectly crispy and crunchy exterior, filled with delicious chunks of ham and liquid gold cheese

asparagus and taramasalta toast - LOVE the asparagus paired with the saltiness umami flavour

scallop crudo with blood orange - first of all, this dish looked too pretty to eat, secondly of all, it was incredibly fresh and just the right amount of creaminess, topped with the slight crunch of flaked almonds

mushroom morels baked rice with asparagus - OMG. blew my mind and my mouth. deep, umami flavours. i need more!!

pork chop - okayyyyy i loved this. so tender, with the perfect amount of fattiness. so easy to eat and didn’t feel heavy at all. loved the grilled apricot that it came with, and this gremolata sauce?

olive oil gelato - yes i know this is now overdone but it’s overdone for a reason, because the pairing of creamy gelato, olive oil, balsamic and flakes of sea salt literally create magic in your mouth.

rhubarb sorbet with basque cheesecake - the best of both worlds 🥹 creamy cheesecake with that sweet tangy flavour of rhubarb.

overall 10/10 - such a delicious wonderful experience wish i could do it all over again (and thank you to the amazing @alinaribena for the company and the...