Wiltons Restaurant — Restaurant in London

As a regular visitor to Jermyn Street I had been keen to go to this very traditional and smart looking establishment for some time - having also read it is a favourite haunt of mens style writer James Sherwood. I was very pleased to find they had a vegetarian menu and was quite impressed for a very traditional restaurant like this (and moreover a place which specialises in seafood) that they had not just one but three choices of vegetarian main course - not just the usual risotto. Better still, it's one of increasingly few London restaurants which has a dress code - gentlemen are expected to wear jackets - I do like an excuse to wear a suit out to dinner.

The service was pleasingly formal from the outset - lots of "sir" and "madame" (yes, pronounced the French way), although we did later on have a slightly camp younger waiter who was characterful and entertaining without being unprofessional or intrusive. In between an ever so slightly stern matron-esque lady - perhaps a tad Teutonic. Lots of characters, but all very professional and dedicated.

As for the actual food - it was all of a decent standard, I started with the wild mushroom and potato galette (normally a main course), which contained girolles amongst some other mushrooms. For my main course I had the truffle macaroni - more of the same wild mushrooms (I assume they don't normally expect people to order both of these dishes!), but the truffle wasn't very evident. Both dishes were topped with rocket which seemed unnecessary and a tad naff, and both were a bit too salty for my tastes, but otherwise not bad. Slightly miffed that I was still charged the main course price for the galette, although it seemed like a fairly small portion. I suppose that'll teach me for trying to order against the flow of the menu.

One other small slip-up - they seemed to forget the sauce with my wife's venison - we might not have realised until we saw the table next to ours had ordered the same dish, which had sauce poured over it as it was served.

Despite a few niggles, overall I enjoyed the experience of dining here - I assume they have a lot of repeat customers, and I can understand how people might develop something of an affection for the place. There's no getting over the fact that it's really quite expensive though, and for the money I think the food could have...

We’ve been to Wilton a few times before and had always enjoyed the experience, but sadly, our most recent visit - last Saturday - left us disappointed, misled and frankly feeling scammed.

The issue centred around the sommelier and the way the wine service was handled, which felt careless at best and, at worst, deliberately misleading.

We asked for help selecting a Spanish red wine for the main course and discussed several options with the sommelier. All options were excellent, but we clearly chose the less expensive one. However, when the bill arrived, we were charged for the pricier one. When we pointed it out, the sommelier explained there were two wines with similar names and he simply assumed we meant the more expensive bottle. At no point did he confirm the choice with us.

On top of that, the bottle itself was never brought to our table. The wine was decanted elsewhere and served without showing us the label, which for a restaurant of this standing, is highly unusual. It also meant we had no opportunity to confirm what we were actually drinking.

Additionally, we asked for a light house wine by the glass to go with our first course. The sommelier offered a few options, and we selected one from his suggestions, assuming, quite reasonably, that it would fall in the £20–25 per glass range, as is typical for a house wine. We were stunned to later see we’d been charged £265 for just three glasses! It turned out he had served us the most expensive wine by the glass on the list without checking or informing us! The explanation of the sommelier when we asked about it was that “since you ordered that wine for your main, I assumed you’d want this to start.”

We dine out regularly and are familiar with fine dining. Never before have we encountered such a lack of transparency and elegance, nor left a restaurant of this calibre feeling so thoroughly misled.

This experience left a bad taste in our mouths, and not because of the wine. At these prices, and with a reputation such as Wilton’s, this level of service is simply not acceptable. We left feeling scammed, and will not be returning. Nor will we be recommending...

I have been to Wiltons a few times and have always enjoyed it, but this time, it was way below the minimum standard. We had a table in the back section, the ambience and cocktails were all good, but when we got to dinner, it all went downhill. We had to ask for our glasses of wine to be refilled a few times, the waiter was very sweet, but perhaps not enough for four big tables. We asked the Sommelier for a bottle of Port, but instead four glasses of port arrived, and we said to our waiter that we had ordered the bottle. Another rather surly waiter arrived, I think he was the assistant manager, told us very firmly in a stern voice that we ordered four glasses, and he pointed his finger at me and said in a loud voice, "he ordered it", as he was arguing back. Frankly, I never saw the port menu, didn't speak to him again after the food order, and didn't order the bottle. He was out of order, rude, the glasses were swiped away, and a bottle arrived with four glasses. The waiter was sweet and trying to overcompensate. My friend spoke to the Manager, as the attitude was not befitting the £700-800 bill for 4 people. He kindly took some stuff off the bill, but it was never about that. Food was disappointing; the use of butter to overcompensate for taste was unnecessary. The creamed spinach and dauphinoise were inedible due to ridiculous amounts of garlic. I know that both dishes contain garlic, but I can't believe that the chef never tasted the food. The chips were overcooked scraps and cold, like those burned ends. Again, I can't believe the kitchen sent this out. Clearly didn't care. We did not send it back, we wanted to have a nice evening, didn't want the hassle, happy to put it down to 'a single' bad experience, but this was before the port incident. Starters were lovely. We eat at high-end restaurants all the time. I have always loved Wiltons, but not again. The experience was just too bad. We should have gone to Scott's or Daphne's instead. We don't need people arguing with us when we are trying to spend more money....