Which hyped restaurants have you found underwhelming?

[Kickinthenostalgia]

Went to happy restaurant london today and I just didn’t get the hype. It was okay as far as restaurants go, but I just found it a little underwhelming considering the hype it gets. DP, DS and my sister absolutely love it, they’ve been about 4 times, dd has been twice, she told me she prefers hard rock and tbh I have to agree with her.
what restaurant hypes did you find underwhelming?.

The room at Sessions Art Club is truly stunning and it's a nice experience, but I agree, the food is underwhelming.

Duck & Waffle used to be a lot better when they first opened. It's a nice option if you're looking for something late at night, though.

Never been to Sketch as it's always looked like style over substance.

Planet Hollywood in the 1990s when it opened. I thought it was going to be amazing. I don’t think I have felt as let down by a restaurant since then.

I'm sure (given their review ratings) that I'm going to get slated for saying this, but Tattu.

Just average, restaurant chain food, pimped up in the surroundings of masses of plastic cherry blossom. Overpriced, average cocktails and desserts that rely on smoke and mirrors to detract from their mediocrity.

Grace Dent’s review of Tattu is excellent.
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/may/13/tattu-london-wc2-restaurant-review?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

It’s an influencers wet dream, all for show and crap expensive food.

The Walnut Tree near Abergavenny.
Horrid reception.
No hint of local or seasonal food.
Food portion so so small
Would have stopped at a chippy after lunch if there was one on my route home.

Thank you! Been twice and underwhelmed both times.

I agree with PP’s about H&F, it’s just a pub with very overpriced food. Don’t get the hype at all.

But I love the Ivy’s. However, I don’t see them as being fancy. The interiors are all gorgeous but it’s just somewhere we pop to when we can’t be bothered to cook during the week as the special price menus are such good value. Our local one also has excellent service.

"Somewhere the Kardashians would enjoy" sums it up perfectly!

We went for our 25th wedding anniversary. I felt too old, too frumpy and too uncool to be there, but could have lived with that if the food had been exceptional (for the price).

Many years ago, I went with work colleagues to a Michelin starred restaurant in Birmingham called Jessica's (it's no longer there, it closed in 2007), chosen by a colleague who was an avid foodie. Everything was very prettily presented, but in pixie portions. A skate wing flanked by half a dozen peas and a couple of swirls of colourful puree, that sort of thing. I was so glad I wasn't paying. If I hadn't been minding my manners I'd have suggested popping into the chippy on the way home.

Yes that's the one.

Il Portico, a really shockingly sad place that is the opposite of what it purports to be.

Nandos and my local frankie and bennys.

Cipriani’s in London.

Full of people just wanting to pose or take photos. Very very overpriced for pasta! Though the cake was good so not a total disaster!

Really? How come?

Wagamamas back in the day was genuinely a bit different for a chain restaurant - now you can't move without hitting a ramen bowl or a Korean bun, I think they've upped the carbs and the cheap ingredients. I'll still pick them from time to time if I'm in a city eating on my own and fancy miso soup, pickles and some udon.

Five Guys - really don't get the hype.

I think it’s closed now, but The Man Behind The Curtain in Leeds was lousy. Expensive and lousy. The sort of place that plonks you in a waiting area and suggests you order a glass of champagne. The food was weird and wildly over-seasoned. The staff wibbled on so much about the journey or some such X Factor nonsense, I half expected a story about the head waiter’s dead nanna. Dreadful.

But I liked Leeds.

The Ivy Glasgow has the worst service. The Ivy near Seven Dials had abysmal food.

Hakkasan, it was not worth the money. Pitch black, so pretentious and my seat was weird to sit on.

Michael Farlie at Gleneagles. So many courses and it took so long to explain each one I was no longer hungry or that interested by the time we had finished.

Lots of London places that do brunch or similar, overpriced and with stuff just piled high on plates. Apple butter cafe, pancakes swimming in sauce and the staff were so cold and unfriendly.

Hawksmoor Edinburgh, daylight robbery for drinks and I do a better Sunday roast.

Ka Pao Glasgow, totally rammed, couldn’t hear DP across the table. Food came to us quicker than it does at McDonald’s. So dinner date out, over in about 45 minutes and £150 out of pocket. Felt like we had been rinsed.

heston Blumental at the mandarin oriental Hyde park
£350

Why was it disappointing? Style over substance?

There’s a place in the countryside near Sandwich in Kent that some people rave about and travel to from London to eat at. It’s received a lot of hype locally so when DH and I went for his 40th a couple of years ago we had high expectations but sadly came away £150 lighter and sorely disappointed.

Inexperienced staff, a freezing draughty restaurant, the toilets only accessible through the kitchen, toilets had no handsoap, and a bad tempered owner chef. Tiny portions of mediocre food.

Don’t go to Updown restaurant - there are plenty of better value places in Deal and Sandwich which don’t make you walk through the kitchen to get to the dirty toilets.

😂

I think people here expect too much of chain restaurants and few posting have been to Michelin starred restaurant. Many should not bother either given tastes are not aligned. Heston Blumenthal was always divisive - you could always find better cheaper. Overall Michelin recommended is a good guide and we tend to like one star Michelin. Even better, we like discovering restaurants before they get a star! The Great British Menu is fantastic at unearthing chefs - we go to their restaurants. Never disappointed but you have to like food - 3 scallops is generous for a starter.

The ivy is just a franchised chain now - not a ‘proper’ restaurant.

It’s a wonder some of these places survive year after year. I’ve been to several fancy and Michelin places but nothing has beaten a €12 pasta dish I had in Italy in a back street no-name restaurant. Wish I had taken note of its name. I still dream of that dish twelve odd years later.

I really liked the breakfast in Dishoom. You can book the Birmingham one, are there some you can't? I wouldn't wait in a queue for it!