Lamb Rump
Grenadier

Grenadier

18 Wilton Row, SW1X 7NR, City of London,Westminster, United Kingdom

Pub • Fish • Steak • British


"Not as warm table service as I recall in the past here, but unchanging 19th century decor. There’s a constant flow of tourists who want to see Wellingtons old officer mess, so this is a franchise. We’ve been coming for decades. Mostly for a couple of pints in a weekend afternoon or when heading out for a restaurant meal. Tonight we tried the meal service. It was meant to be a special evening for a 90 year family member who was excited to be visiting us in London. Despite there being three empty tables that would have been fine, we were crammed into a small table that was right next to the crowded bar. The waitress said she was saving the three tables for larger parties, so we dutifully agreed, but we then watched the three more hospitable tables gradually fill up with parties of four. It turns out that Open Table, the firm the runs Grenadiers’ reservation book, doesn’t assign individual tables. We had two orders of duck, billed as a special variety but it was nothing special, fish and chips and a veg entree. One starter of buffalo mozzarella was good. This is not remotely a gastro- pub. Best advice is to stick with the basic pub food you’d expect, like the fish and chips or a hamburger. The chips are the processed kind, delivered frozen from a restaurant supply and formed into chip like shape rather than hand cut. But hand cut prices. The aubergine veg option was not very good. It tasted like leftovers warmed up from the night before after shriveling in the cooler. The dinner bill for one round of drinks (plus an extra pint), three starters and four mains was £173. We didn’t stick around for coffee or dessert because the table was a torture device for someone 6 ft 4. In the past we’ve had many great evenings that started at the Grenadier. That’s something in common with most of the people in the bar, plus the 40 or so who are outside in the cobblestones by 6 most nights. After a few pints and maybe a few crisps or other bar snacks, you move on to a restaurant with great food and a real dining table. Or you save your shillings and get a superior Piri Piri or Big Mac for a lot less than £173 elsewhere. If you eat at the Grenadier, go as simple as possible. Soak in the atmosphere and the good beers on tap like Grenadier bitter but don’t expect a fine dining experience and get the burger or fish and chips."

Santa Maria del Sur

Santa Maria del Sur

Greenwich & South London, 129 Queenstown Rd, SW8 3RJ, United Kingdom

Steak • Grill • Sandwiches • Gluten Free


"We visited here today for our wedding anniversary meal. We’ve been regulars for special occasions for around 10 years now so it was a no brainer to visit again as the food has always been amazing. Sadly this would be our last visit. On arrival we were greeted by new faces. Turns out there’s new ownership, we obviously weren’t aware of this. We cannot fault the staff at all because they were all lovely and welcoming. Good start. Sadly the menu has changed a lot and many of our fave items were no longer on the menu. We ordered chicken empanadas for starters. They tasted the same as before but instead of using chicken breast it was now chicken mince. Not as tasty or worth the price in our opinion. For our main we both ordered fillet steak at over £30 a piece. My husbands was cooked perfectly (well done . Mine was not. I ordered medium and it arrived medium rare. Maybe even more rare as I attempted to eat it. The meat wasn’t even red in colour, it was a purple tone and it was so rare and wobbled like jelly on my plate. I ended up not being able to stomach more than 50% of it. And to top it off it had 0% flavour. Maybe the chef needs to season the meat in future. The chimichurri was spot on but my husbands peppercorn sauce was rank. It was a strange sloppy grey substance. Never before in my life have I seen grey peppercorn sauce! My husband soon regretted pouring it over his steak which then made it inedible. Ordered the garlic and parsley roasted potato side at around £5. It arrived as 3 large roasted wedges with a small amount of green sauce dribbled on the top! Bland and awful. I’m actually offended by this side in particular. The roasted red pepper however was lovely. But how hard could that one be to get right. My husband did however enjoy one part of his meal and that was the prawn starter. So well done for that one I guess. Still not enough to justify the amount of money we’d just been robbed of. We only had soft drinks with our meal so didn’t spend much on those but the total bill came in at just over £150. I can honestly say it was the biggest waste of money ever. Shocking food to say the least. In my opinion and advice to any regulars out there please steer clear. Sad to say after so many visits over the past decade, we will never return here. Any recommendations for a new steak house would be welcomed! :"