The French Table Reviews Summary

Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Lovely atmosphere."
• "The restaurant is tiny but this gives it an intimate feel."
• "It’s also incredibly stylish, clean and beautiful setting."
• "The ambience was civilised and quiet in the upstairs seating area."
• "The setting was classy and calming, a suitable place to celebrate any occasion."
• "A truly hidden gem in leafy Surbiton."
• "The atmosphere was relaxed, warm and friendly. Soft, mood lighting was just right."

Cons:

• "The place was crowded and noisy without any music."
• "Felt it lacked a bit of character."
• "The seating was a little awkward and askew but maybe due to the old building and wonky floor not sure it can be helped."
• "Pretty bland room, menu wasn't particularly exciting."
• "Unfortunately we were put on a very awkward table, which had ice buckets (not belonging to us) kept behind my husband’s chair, meaning that we were constantly disturbed throughout our meal as staff reached to top up tables around us."
• "Our table was bizarrely short with chair heights that made it difficult to find comfort."
• "The waiter stood right next to our table chatting with the people on the adjacent table often and for way too long, which felt a bit invasive and uncomfortable."

Service

Pros:

• "Exceptional service and the food was skillfully prepared."
• "Service was very attentive and friendly."
• "The service was impeccable! The waitresses knew exactly what they were serving and were very attentive without being interruptive."
• "Service was excellent, food was amazing, quite perfectly balanced with pretty much no faults and great price quality ratio."
• "Our waiter was very polite and attentive and clearly passionate about the food."
• "The service we received was exceptional from the initial personal welcome to the sincere and warm hearted farewell."
• "Service impeccable."

Cons:

• "We ran out of water twice."
• "Everyone was lovely, seems like a lack of staff and/or training."
• "Service was good but not exceptionally fast."
• "The coffees never even came."
• "However service was poor, not just the speed of service but politeness and attention to the client."
• "Service felt a bit flat."
• "The service definitely needs to be trained up for that price."

Food Quality

Pros:

• "The food was divine (well worth the higher prices)."
• "Every dish was uniquely super tasty."
• "The food itself was beautifully presented, and melt in the mouth delicious."
• "Cooking doesn’t get better than this!"
• "Food was faultless, absolutely amazing and the wines that were paired with the tasting menu were some of the best we’ve tasted."
• "The food was beautifully cooked and just delicious."
• "The food was outstanding from start to finish."

Cons:

• "Works out very expensive too, which is reflected in the quality of the ingredients but doesn't feel like great value compared to other similarly priced places."
• "The only thing which can be improved is the tenderness of the pork loin - we found it too cooked."
• "One or two courses did not live up to expectations."
• "The aged pig i had was tough and very chewy."
• "Other than the lamb course and desserts, the dishes served weren't even remotely amazing."
• "However both my wife and my fish courses were overcooked."
• "Most disappointing were some veg deep fried, soggy parsnips, sautéed potatoes like large tasteless chips."

Value

Pros:

• "£52 at this quality is unbelievable."
• "For a £50 five-course tasting menu, it was far better value than you'd find elsewhere in London."
• "The lunch menu is very well priced and the lunch tasting is a steal deal in my opinion."
• "We felt that it was very reasonably priced for the quality of the food."
• "Prices were reasonable."
• "With 5 glasses of different wines and service the bill was £120. A bargain for this quality."
• "Absolutely delicious 5-course tasting menu with great value to boot."

Cons:

• "The 3 course experience was £58-68? I think that is fair-ish."
• "Dinnertime is more expensive."
• "£70 per head for 4 people with 2 small wine carafes, 3 beers and 2 proseccos seemed too expensive."
• "The whole bill came up to around £600 between 5 of us so its a little tip if you want to try this place to take in mind that it is not going to be a cheap eat."
• "Even though we tried to leave any prejudice about gourmet experience behind, and despite being aware of what we were going to, the size of the dishes served still managed to dissapoint us."
• "We both left hungry! Neither of us are big eaters, but even for us it was too little."
• "The long wait between courses (the dinner took us 2 hours and a half due to long waits mainly)."