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 one in Liverpool has swings suspended from the ceiling. I’m a wheelchair user and I do like to transfer to a proper seat when I’m dining. Tried to explain that I would NOT be sitting on a swing, got eye rolls and attitude from the staff.

Jamie’s Italian.

Supernova, burger was so rich and salty. Didn't actually touch burger but the smell was on my fingers for the rest of the day 🤔

Happy was set up in Bulgaria by an ex communist apparatchik turned mafioso. The Bulgarian restaurants were infamous for employing exclusively very beautiful girls ( normally in the 17-25 age range) and making them wear a very,very revealing mini skirt uniform. Think that's bad ? The floors had at least 50% of their area mirrored. You can imagine.

I thought it was shite. Expensive and bland. Full of instatwats. Some were actually live streaming from their table. Made for excellent people watching!

They do a very nice old fashioned though, so I sometimes call in just for a drink.

Oh yes, the swings. No, I don’t want to sit on a piece of playground equipment while eating my dinner! I actually thought she was joking when we were offered a swing seat…..a what, sorry…..a swing….what, an actual swing?? Who wants to eat dinner on the move??

Fazenda. Absolute shite. Tasteless and way overpriced.

Sampa in Manchester was just ok. A bit underwhelming, and most of the courses weren't hot enough.

Agree with Hand and Flowers. I always prefer to go to The Coach.

Betty's in York- big queue, but my friend really wanted to go. The staff member who seated us treated us like she was doing us a favour letting us in. Mediocre food.
Betty's in Harrogate was very nice though.
Not sure if it's still going, but I went to Yo Sushi in Liverpool once and went home with a much depleted bank balance, feeling slightly queasy(that smell 🤢) and I still wanted my dinner when I got home!

I quite liked Tattu... The prawn toast was good and I'm a sucker for a stupid cocktail.

I don't think anyone has ever hyped up Nandos?
I always assumed the cheeky Nandos thing was teenage lads having a quick meal before hitting the beers.

I like Dishoom (went to Birmingham one and had the local specials - really enjoyed it) and the Tiffin boxes at Mowgli, but ultimately I think that small, independent restaurants are usually much nicer than chains.

I used to be a bit of a restaurant snob, in my former job I had pretty much unlimited expenses for client entertainment so for a few years I had Michelin stars up the yin yang 😂. I have to say my biggest disappointment was Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester. Tiny portions of average food, at extraordinarily inflated prices.
I actually quite like the Ivy. You know what you’re getting and the service has always been good when I’ve been (Canary Wharf and Victoria). The original Ivy is nice too.
Jamie’s Italian was a pile of shite.

Lympstone Manor near Exeter, Michael Caine’s Michelin Star restaurant. The food was bland and unadventurous and the wait between courses was so long we were itching with boredom.,We stayed over and to add insult to injury had to wait an hour after we had ordered for a very poor breakfast to arrive. It cost an arm and a leg too.

Sarastro in Covent Garden, years ago. It always looked so gorgeous and the food was actively terrible.

Oh Tattu was rubbish. We went during some promotion, and even vastly reduced it was still ludicrously expensive and wankily pretentious with their small plates and large plates. We recommend that people order one small plate and one large plate- what just like a starter and main then.

To be fair the starters were delicious, but I remember looking at the main thinking that was the world’s most expensive chicken with cashew nuts.

Ellen’s Stardust Diner in New York. We were really looking forward to it, queued for ages. We got in and it was dark, crowded, noisy and the menu was awful. Not at all the bright cheerful place we’d seen videos of. We left very quickly.

I don’t remember being disappointed by anywhere in the U.K, but that’s probably because I have low expectations anyway. 😆

I agree about Miller and Carter’s food generally but it is our go to for a celebratory fillet steak.

Nandos used to be very good. Now the food quality and service has gone seriously downhill. We went recently and ordered the full platter and was very shocked with the portion sizes. I think they’ve started to believe their own hype.

Pizza express absolutely over priced for what it is. Their pizzas from Tesco’s taste no different and much much cheaper. Rip off.

Dishoom. Sorry. But there it is.

Stick to Wetherspoons cheap as chips. Not pretentious and never had a bad meal. 🤣🤣

The Ivy.

A triumph of hype over substance and I wish they'd put enough lights on for you to be able to read the menu. Small portions. Went home hungry.

The Ivy Clifton. Mediocre food meant anything else about the restaurant was irrelevant. Decor, service, who cares if the food is just average? Trouble was it was average for £140 for two of us and to add to the fun we were next to some prat and his mother who were incapable of conversing below 120dB. Left feeling rather ripped off to be honest.

Ho hum. Getting old I guess.

Completely agree. The sandwiches were dry. I just don’t understand why people queue for ages.

It sounds dire. Gawd knows why anyone would think it would be a good restaurant?!

The lucky cat by gorden Ramsey was deeply disappointing ime. Extraordinarily expensive Chinese food which was nowhere near as good as half of what you can get for a tenth of the price in soho. I think you’re paying for the view alone, as the food is underwhelming.

The starters in Berenjak were as amazing as expected. Hype deserved. The mains were fine. But not mind blowing given the three month wait to get a reservation. Next time I’d order all starters and breads.

The Ivy opened up in Belfast last year and everyone was talking about it. It looks amazing but the food was just alright. My whole table came out a little disappointed as there is so many amazing restaurants around it.

Agree about Six by Nico, they also time limit your table, the staff couldn’t feed us quickly enough to meet their 90 minute time bar, crowded, rushed and mediocre food at best.