"We had high expectations for 28-50, and chose it for our one night in London. Sadly, it disappointed in every way. Although they had 30 by-the-glass options from many different regions, the majority of the offerings were a sad representation of mass-produced product. The service, though, is what really destroyed our experience. I try out wine bars in every city I visit as I’ve been in the wine business for 20 years, and put on dozens of tastings a year. This place was the bottom of the, err … barrel. The evening started fine enough with a decent cheese platter and passable. Chablis. But the strong start went rapidly downhill from there. One member of our party ordered a red, a simple Bordeaux, which was served lukewarm. It is unforgivable for a wine bar to not keep their wines at the proper temperature! But the biggest faux-pas came when the second glass I ordered, the Tuscan blend, showed up with a very low pour. It was certainly less than 2.5 ounces. I asked the server if they thought I had asked for the 75ml taster size, and instead of replying, they sent over the sommelier, Simone. He looked at the crappy pour in my glass, and said “let me check for you”. We just assumed he would return with the bottle and top it off correctly, but instead he went back to the bar and played around for several minutes with the glasses and pourers. He returned and proclaimed, “that was my mistake, I gave your companions too much wine in their glass”. (Believe me, NONE of the pours were generous). The four of us (three who are also in the hospitality business) were entirely dumbfounded that he would think this was the correct way to deal with things. From that point on everything went downhill. The food was borderline inedible. Seared tuna was just a mushy piece, with no sear. The tomato salad was made with low-quality tasteless produce. The steak was equally low-quality and incorrectly cooked. We left so much food on our plates, but the undertrained servers just swept them away, never asking if there was a issue. So this is the place to go to if you want bad food and boring offerings of wine priced 4 times what it would cost retail, some served at the wrong temperature, and get ripped off by underpours. Most of the wines on the list are $20 bottles sold in the supermarket. For example, La Crema (by Kendal Jackson) for Pinot Noir, or Lucas for Bordeaux. Other anemic offerings (although served at the correct temperature) were the bland Nebbiolo and Super Tuscan. Their highest priced, top-shelf wine at 28 a glass, is a ultra-modern Bordeaux by Kendall Jackson, Lassègue which tastes more like a cheap Napa Red. Those of us in the wine industry consider that wine a joke. As is 25-80."
Octopus And Orzo
