Côte Henley-on-Thames — Restaurant in South Oxfordshire

We stopped at Côte in Henley-on-Thames for an early dinner with family. Once through the very stylish doors, we were met with a very friendly Maître d' who sat us and gave us the various menus. The restaurant is gorgeous, and had a very luxurious feel to it, with a welcoming ambience.

We perused the menu, and finally made our decisions - it took us a while as everything sounded tempting. As we were dining before 7pm on a Friday, some of us decided to take advantage of their Prix Fixe menu. I am always a little dubious of these set menus as sometimes you get a sub-standard portion or experience, but on this occasion I was happily proven wrong. I started with the Pork Rillets which were very tasty, and then had the Hachis Parmentier, which was their take on a Cottage Pie. I was very impressed with the Hachis Parmentier, as it was very flavoursome and was also an ample portion. I finished with the Pear Clafoutis with Vanilla Ice Cream - another fantastic quality dish and the perfect end to the meal.

Overall, I was very pleased with every aspect of the meal, and considering it came in at just under £21.00 for three delicious courses, it was fantastic value. The service from Simon was wonderful too, he was attentive and friendly and nothing was too much trouble. I’d highly recommend a visit to Côte Henley-on-Thames if you’re looking for delicious food in stylish...

Normally excellent, perhaps an off day in the kitchen, or the cost-of-living crisis has caught up. We will go back, and re-assess. FoH still top drawer, although there was a scary concierge. She barked at us when we clearly didn't want to sit next to the wide open front door. We laughed afterwards, but cowed, still sat by the open front door, which was beyond breezy.

Little things, ordered bread; no sideplates and had to air-butter.

Wine glass had lip marks; asked for another which arrived still unpolished.

Crab rarebit starter was 70pence worth of ingredients, but cost £12. Forgiven if it was awesome, which it was not.

Ribeye med-rare, was dry, no flavour, clearly a sad cow, not allowed to lay on fat, and not hung sufficiently long enough. Pot of bearnaise sauce was barely a table spoon, served with a crusty skin and cost £2.50.

Truffle chips were good at the top, but the serving pot had 5 desert spoons of oil sat in the bottom (measured as I bailed it out), so half of the fries were saturated.

Minute steak was badly butchered, and nearly a third was gristle, sinew and the unpleasant kind of fat.

6th or 7th visit to this branch, and every time before they've been amazing. Something has changed. Please...

Beautiful decor and a stunning new restaurant, however, neither matter if the service is found wanting. Cote is selling this as a new concept but having eaten at many of the old concept Cote restaurants, we found this to have chaotic service and the acoustics of the dining room made hearing the staff difficult and having a conversation with people on your table nearly impossible. The staff were young and eager to please but weren’t very well trained, so courses didn’t arrive together, we were served by 4 different members of staff and whilst the food met the usual high cote standard, the service repeatedly let it down. We were placed in a corridor between the welcome desk and the bar which meant that we were constantly interrupted by staff and other guests squeezing past and walking by our table. There were two men in non uniform clothes whom I assumed were the maitre de. They spent all evening chatting to each other neglecting to help or direct staff at all. We would love to give this new concept the thumbs up as we are Cote fans but unless things change here, we’ll stick to the wonderful Cote in Reading or Wokingham, Oxford or Winchester...