Loft St Albans — Restaurant in St Albans

Highly over priced and hugely disappointing! We went for my birthday after reading such rave reviews and our experience was worlds apart from what we’d read. The food was overly salty and otherwise bland, tough cuts of meat and a pudding that was part frozen. The rice looked like it was from a packet, and tasted worse than it looked. One of our party has been ill all night due the poorly cooked saddle of lamb which didn’t taste at all fresh. We politely gave one of the waiters the feedback after the main meal, hoping the evening could be rescued. He was apologetic. Unfortunately when one of the desserts was also bad I felt I should give the feedback to the owner. Whilst doing so I realised the chef was looking over my shoulder, I asked if he would mind leaving us, to which he replied ‘I want to hear what you’ve got to say’ (a little intimidating!) I replied please leave us, I’m sure you’ll receive the feedback from the owner. The owner listened but appeared glazed and completely disinterested. We told him we didn’t want to pay for the food, which he agreed, we settled the bill for the drinks and left. The restaurant is in a stunning building in a beautiful location, however, the furniture is cheap and the service incredibly amateur, so overall an awful experience. No where near the same league as Darcy's, Dylan's or The Abbey. We won’t...

A literal hidden gem...

Navigate through two other restaurants in the back streets of St Albans... Climb the stairs to this "Under New Management" restaurant... Ignore the reviews more than three months old (at the time of this review!)...

Then savour the aromas, fresh cooking and great dishes served at Loft. Starters are generous and full of flavour. Chicken wings were herbs, crispy and hot served with a great salad, halloumi fries were well flavoured, again with a really good salad garnish. Taramasalata,. Hummus and plenty of pita breads, all good... Lamb and chicken mains and the moussaka were really fabulous. Parmesan fries were brilliant and the portions were really large... Couldn't even manage a dessert... So we had to take them away!

Is this Michelin dining? No. It is rustic, traditional Greek (with some concessions to the local preferences) well prepped and presented food with bags of flavour and a willing service from Mattina (forgive the spelling) Who also ensured that the ingredient intolerances of our party were well looked after.

The atmosphere rating is one star down because after the really early diners had gone, the place was empty... It deserves to be full every night... We will be back and I recommend that as many people as possible give this place a chance to show how good it is. Then the...

Fantastic food and service in a great location with a lovely atmosphere. Have previously only been the the loft for a cocktails and a work Christmas dinner about 5 years ago, I booked a table here at short notice via the convenient and simple WhatsApp service last night. On arrival we received a genuinely nice welcome and shown quickly to somewhere that we could relax with a couple of great cocktails whilst we decided what to order from the menu. We were given as much time as we needed and without any pressure to make our choices, which was much appreciated and something that really annoys me in many other restaurants. Our lovely Italian waitresses (never know if that is the right terminology these days, so apologies if I am wrong) was happily to go through the menu with us with recommendations etc. We both went with the lamb Souvlaki and Kleftiko. Both dishes were delicious, perfectly cooked, and more than generous portions. The best compliment I can give to be honest, is that food could not have been better if we’d been a top notch Taverner in Greece. Plus, as a lovely touch they most have overheard us talking about it being my partners birthday and we got complimentary: amazing Cheesecake for dessert. Thank you so much and I look forward to coming back...