Would you pay £18 for this as a main in a posh restaurant?

[Flowerwinter]

Ordered what I thought was a salmon fillet from the mains, this is what arrived…it was £18. I’m gutted.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

If this all blows up in the Daily Mail/general media (and they would LOVE this) in a time when catering/hospitality is struggling to get back on it's feet one bad review on MN about one dish (of many) could be very damaging

Definitely agree with that, and it's certainly true that places are struggling, but isn't that exactly the reason to at least serve what's advertised - or better still to dump the high-flown claims and offer some good honest food at appropriate prices?

I don't know. I guess it could give the place a voice to say what happened here though which might be a good thing. There are three sides to every story after all.

Stared' restaurants are an absolute waste of time for me, as a veggie.

Do you contact them ahead of time?

My friend has a few food issues but when I was booking for a big birthday (mine) I emailed them and we agreed a menu he could eat.

They actually printed him his own menu.

A for 'sushi quality salmon' you can buy that at Morrisons fish counter.

An expensive restaurant with a reputation to lose doesn't pull that kind of shit

If only

www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/food-crime-strategic-assessment-2020_2.pdf

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/beef-sold-in-london-as-kobe-often-isn-t-the-real-thing-says-top-chef-10012882.html

If we can’t do any better than ‘a top chef has claimed’ then perhaps better to leave it.

Kobe beef is a lot more niche and difficult to discern than high versus low quality salmon.

At that sort of place, to be honest, I’d expect to pay much more than £18 for a main. The sharing platter is £70 for two so I would expect to spend about that. I think the salmon plate is probably meant to be a large starter/light main rather than a filling main course. I think if we went we might well just order a couple of plates to share then add more if we still wanted it, rather than treating it as a starter/main/pudding meal, ie more small plate style.

Perfectly normal to serve it like this in expensive restaurants

I'm very familiar with expensive restaurants, around the UK and internationally, both as a diner and in other capacities. I'd be happy to pay the £17 menu price for the quality and techniques involved in the dish, but this plate doesn't meet standards and seems very light on the accompanying elements.

That presentation is worlds away from anything I'd expect to see and is nothing at all like the restaurant's own sample standard, or the same dish served to a previous diner, as pictured upthread. It's cured fish and shouldn't be dropped on the plates in chunks.

It's very disappointing that the OP took the issue up with the waiter but failed to gain any satisfaction at the time. I hope it tasted better than it looks. I would say it's been a kitchen mix up and the waiter didn't know any better. Looking at their Trip Advisor they've had one or two issues from relatively recent reviews, which isn't uncommon in hospitality opening up again. I think the chef would be very disappointed that plate escaped the kitchen as generally it seems to have a good reputation.

In the light of a later comment I also have experience of an ostensibly high end restaurant serving monkfish tail for a lobster dish. It wasn't to me, but it was to someone who definitely knows their stuff and they didn't get away with it.

Not a great menu if you don't like fish

If you don't like fish I don't imagine you'd make a special visit to what is clearly marketed as a "champagne and Seafood bar"

As others said
I would complain to the restaurant and also review on trip advisor ( looks like you may have already) . If it was supposed to be a main then they are misrepresenting portion size with the photos on their website

If it was your dh who put up the review on trip advisor, put up another under your name with a photo of the meal as i dont think you can add photos to reviews you have already made

Hospitality are struggling to get staff. I am pretty sure that wasn't prepared by their usual chef. My guess is he or she wasn't on shift, and the only cover they could find was someone who either couldn't cook or just didn't care. Happened somewhere I worked. Chef left detailed instructions, and did a load of prep before hand. The cover chef still managed to wreck expensive ingredients and send out mangled unappetising food that I was embarrassed to serve. I had every sympathy with the people who complained that day. I also felt for the restaurant. It wasn't their fault.

Complain, send photos along side their web photos of how the food should have looked. Specify the date and time of your reservation so they identify who send this out. The proprietors need to know when things go wrong otherwise they can't fix it. Slamming them on tripadvisor isn't helpful. It doesn't give them the information they need to follow up. It is always better to complain at the time or directly to the owner.

I agree that taking it up with the owner/manager would be my first thought. I am not sure what OP wants the outcome to be, they haven't posted much on the thread TBF.

If this was a rosette/ Michelin rated restaurant then yes I would expect that size, in all honestly I've eaten mains that have been smaller. £18 seems really reasonable? They usually give options to buy sides with the main.

Part of me is now wondering whether OP is real or from a rival restaurant....

A friend of mine has incredibly wealthy parents. They insisted on taking me to a high-end sushi restaurant. I got a glimpse of the bill and felt light-headed. YANBU

@EssentialHummus duck breast is usually served rare/ medium rare? You can specify if you want it well done.

moore I’ve had duck before, possibly even in the same place - though I don’t eat it often or cook it, so maybe my tolerance is low. It was just a bit on the wrong side of edible for both of us.

They're taking the piss; wouldn't be going back.

WTF, over.

From other recent reviews on Trip Advisor it looks as though they may be struggling a bit with staffing. OP the waitress's comment (I assume it's your review) that 'it's a main course because it's on a big plate' sounds like a classic mix-up. It's easy enough to email them a photo of their own website plus that blog-post of the starter, plus your own photo and the booking details.

They messed up. I'd be annoyed too.

@Moorelewis

If this was a rosette/ Michelin rated restaurant then yes I would expect that size, in all honestly I've eaten mains that have been smaller. £18 seems really reasonable? They usually give options to buy sides with the main.

Quite.

Round here, the posh restaurants[think tv chefs] are booked up until October. Unless you know someone connected to them or the restaurant, no chance of a table until then.

I cant imagine their portion sizes are huge, but not been in those particular ones, so cant guarantee that.

@dentydown

You should have posted a picture of it before you ate it

PMSL at this! ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Where’s the chips?

Where’s the fries???

I would have said yabu had it not been for the website pics definitely query the size with them

Haha - toddler DC is watching the episode of Ben & Holly where Nanny Plum has to prepare a meal of Modern Cooking for King & Queen Thistle.

"What exactly is Modern Cooking, Princess Holly?"
"It is food that is very delicate and special and not porridge."

@Choux

The restaurant's own website has a picture of the dish which looks NOTHING like what OP received. She prob got 1/3 max of the salmon in the below picture.

I would definitely contact the restaurant, show them the two photos and query it as it's false advertising.

Part of the experience of going to nice places is perusing the menu before you go and thinking about what you might order. Here the reality was nothing like the impression given on the website.

Wow! That looks completely different to OP's plate. they were clearly skimping on the fish when OP was there ... veyr poor.