Hélène Darroze at The Connaught Reviews Summary

Service

Pros:

• "The service was perfect and food was up to a high standard."
• "We had a memorable and relaxing dining experience at Helen Darroze and found the service knowledgeable and passionate about the dishes that were served."
• "The service was impeccable."
• "Attentive and friendly staff throughout your meal."
• "Service was excellent—Guest Relations Manager Claudia went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and provide a special experience for my wife—and the food was fabulous."
• "The service team were great and very attentive."
• "Service was impeccable. The waiters and sommelier are very knowledgeable and helpful, taking their time to explain everything and catering our needs."

Cons:

• "The waiting staff seemed lacking in direction, sometimes flustered, others idly chatting amongst themselves."
• "Although the waiting staff kinda put the restaurant down a bit, we were served by a female waitress who sad to say has a body odor."
• "The waiters were hurried and some were mumbling."
• "Like others I found the staff’s very thick accents almost impossible to understand this is even worse with the masks."
• "Service? Definitely lacking. Our Somm did not bother to explain all the details of the wines paired with food."
• "Service was very so so (not recommend)."
• "Substandard service (our table was not even cleaned from crumbles in between courses)."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "Every dish we tried was delicious."
• "The scallop itself was cooked to perfection."
• "Superb food, attractively plated and some divine reductions accompanying some of the dishes."
• "The flavour profiles of the offerings were creative and delicious."
• "Food was amazing !! We particularly liked the Supper yummy butter, lobster and beef ;-)"
• "Food quality exceptional and high quality."
• "The food is exquisite with a wonderful variety between dishes."

Cons:

• "The quality of the food, service and ambience is not compared to other restaurants with even one star only, no wow factor at all."
• "Uninspired food, we try to treat us once a year with a Michelin restaurant, for us, is a big deal... So, when you have the chance to escape, plan for weeks etc.. And then, you have the best produce, cooked to perfection, well, that turns out to be... just fine.... There is no wow factor..."
• "The food was simply not up to the mark."
• "Pictures look better than it taste. The ingredients are fresh but flavours don’t work and some of the dishes are underdone."
• "For the price of the menu the quality and taste of the food is very ordinary for what you can find in the market nowadays."
• "Food was average with only a few highlights, flavourful meats and a very alcoholic rum baba."
• "Food was decent, but the plates were slightly over-seasoned, cream-heavy (especially for a fish dish in one case), and lacked a bit of finesse that one would expect from a 3-star."

Ambience

Pros:

• "Restaurant itself it's nicely decorated in a vintage way."
• "The ambience in the restaurant is cosy and the place is spacious."
• "A fabulous location."
• "Exquisite surroundings."
• "The atmosphere is very nice."
• "The dining room is elegant, understated and quiet."
• "Atmosphere is great. Not grand but pretty neat and nice place. Comfortable and warm."

Cons:

• "We were underwhelmed by the dining room."
• "The venue is, nice. Slightly odd colour palette and didn’t really get a theme or style."
• "It just looked tired and brown."
• "The decoration of the restaurant was appalling, if you go to any other Michelin restaurants, the lighting, the decoration, everything is beautiful to look at, here is surpassingly dull, first time also with no tablecloth."
• "The dining room feels very sparse and a bit tired."
• "Also the room is a bit too cold."
• "It was too cold for us, maybe this was a choice for them as we could notice everyone was wearing a jacket, so we were not sure if they had a chilly atmosphere so you could wear them comfortably, first time in a Michelin where I had to have dinner with my jacket on."

Value

Pros:

• "Excellent wine menu as well."
• "The wine pairings were amazing."
• "Make sure to get into the World’s #1 Bar in the same building The Connaught Bar, before or after your meal and try the famous Connaught Martini or the Eclipse cocktail."
• "We took the 5-course meal and found the portions rather generous relative to other 3-star Michelin restaurant."
• "The lunch week-day menu is a hidden gem, at half the price of the dinner menu and with many of the same items."
• "Lovely service. Friendly, but not too much. I found weekday lunch set great value."
• "The set lunch is great value for money."

Cons:

• "Wine extremely over price (5X mark up)."
• "I felt it was very expensive for a Michelin 2 star!"
• "Not sure how it's 3 Michelin star and what dishes the judges were served to get that status."
• "SUPER EXPENSIVE. I cannot stress this enough, have had many Michelin restaurants in London, this is by far the most expensive one and it seems to be for no reason."
• "And £800+ for four 3 course lunch and two bottles of entry level wine is just negative ROI."
• "I also feel the wine pairing was overpriced."
• "For £195 for 6 x max 100ml glasses of wine, a lot more consideration needs to be paid."