With its location in an affluent area close to Buckingham Palace and just down from the Ritz hotel, you would think it would live up to its website statement 'Just St James Restaurant and Bar is one of the top restaurants in London'. However, this was definitely not our experience.
It is a very large restaurant spread over 2 levels, and to have such a large restaurant with only 2 tables seated at 7pm at night – we should have known better.....
We started with the Cornish Lobster and Watercress Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce. The presentation was ok but we could tell before eating it that the pasta was slightly undercooked. On tasting the dish it was obvious that it was not freshly made when ordered.
For the main we opted for the fillet of Aberdeen Angus Beef, Wilted Leaf Spinach, Nutbourne Vine Tomatoes, Armagnac Jus and also a side of buttered Jersey Royals.
Within a few seconds of the food arriving (I had managed to put one piece of potato in my mouth) the server asked if everything was ok – with a mouth full of potato I nodded as thus far it was – BIG MISTAKE (and possibly a very sneaky move – read on)
The meat was tough, chewy, grizzy and had a large lump in it?????? It was that bad that this was one of the very rare occasions that the food was such poor quality we could actually not bring ourselves to pay for one of the meals. After discussing whether to make a complaint and offer our opinion in relation to what was served up, we mutually decided that it was unacceptable and we would make a complaint and request removal from the bill.
When the floor manager/host had finish his lengthy discussion about his upcoming sabbatical to a winery with his friend at the table next (whom we assumed from the questions asked ‘why isn’t it busy’, ‘do you have a function coming in later’, may have been an investor in the establishment) he sidled past and asked if we had finished.
It was at this point we motioned to the offending plate and advised we were unhappy with the meat. Straight away he swooped in with – the server checked if everything was ok after delivery and you said yes............hmmmm well that half a potato was ok. We explained the issue was with the steak and not wanting to have one of us sit with an empty plate while the other finished their mediocre piece of meat (sans lump and grizzle but still not up to par) we had simply left the meal. (We have a rule – if you send something back, don’t order anything else).
Most decent restaurants would have been embarrassed and offered sincere apologies. However, this host floated away to ‘check the quality with the chef’ – after all, as long as the chef is happy who cares what the customers think – that’s the best way to run a business isn’t it????????????
Having checked with his chef – who, due to the chit chat and lengthy schmoozing with the table next to us we learned was his father, we were advised they were happy with the quality of the meat – oh, well that’s great but they didn’t have to try and eat it.
We were clearly unhappy with the whole evening and to remedy this, the tact chosen was for the waiter to argue with us and the host to argue with us – always a good customer service strategy.
Had we eaten half the meal and then complained we could have understood the argument, but only two bites were taken from the meat (one of those ending up in a napkin)
We found the staff rude and condescending and it seems there is clearly a lack of understanding in relation selecting and cooking meat.
Based on our experience, we were left wondering how the place is still open. Clearly they rely on corporate functions – but even if we were on the corporate credit card or a work Christmas party, we still would have complained about the meat!!!
After it appeared the investor/friend, had begun to take note (and that we could no longer be bothered with his rude attitude further ruining our night and given up the argument) the host took the service charge off and shunted us towards the door.
Will we go back???? never
