Côte St Martin's Lane Reviews Summary

Category: Restaurant London

Address: 50-51 St Martin's Ln, London, WC2N 4EA, United Kingdom

Phone: +442073799747

Rating: 4.3
based on 287 reviews.

Service

Pros:

  • "The service is great, the atmosphere is beautiful and it doesn't matter how big or small the group is, we always have a great time."
  • "The gentleman serving us was friendly."
  • "Our waiter Domenico was outstanding from start to finish."
  • "Service was super with helpful and engaging staff."
  • "The staff are highly professional, friendly and efficient."
  • "Really friendly and attentive staff, delicious food and drinks and a lovely atmosphere in the restaurant."
  • "The staff are so polite & accommodating, despite working incredibly hard."

Cons:

  • "Sofia has been rude by telling me that she had no time to serve me when I was given a table outside for a drink ahead of my theatre visit and after waiting for more than 15 min."
  • "Service had changed and not worth the compulsory service charge."
  • "Felt so rushed from the moment we walked in. The waitress was talking so fast we could barely understand her."
  • "The male 'host' with the brown beard was arrogant."
  • "The manager on shift (small, dark haired woman) was horrible to the staff and made a really uncomfortable atmosphere."
  • "However the services is unfortunately terrible."
  • "Service was basically nonexistent, food wasn't great and was cold."

Food Quality

Pros:

  • "The meal was divine— I had the smoked salmon croquettes and the confit Duck A L’Orange."
  • "I had pork belly, cooked to perfection, followed by a chocolate mousse, which was delicious."
  • "One of the best meals I’ve ever had! And I am a huge foodie fan of French food."
  • "The food was fantastic, big portions, and the bread was perfection."
  • "The chicken was phenomenally tasty and full of comforting flavor."
  • "Food was outstanding and full of flavour."
  • "The food was unexpectedly exquisite."

Cons:

  • "Food was extremely overpriced for the portion sizes and was very bland and tasteless."
  • "Some food served cold, drinks order messed up."
  • "The quality of the food was notably poor."
  • "It was basically an under seasoned, dried out flattened chicken breast with grill marks on it."
  • "Steak for main was a very cheap cut of meat, stringy and tasteless."
  • "Food was uninspiring and tasteless."
  • "The Cod was so over-cooked I couldn't taste it at all and the chickpea/tomato-sauce thing really doesn't work."

Atmosphere

Pros:

  • "This place is genuinely a great spot to relax."
  • "The welcoming staff added to the positive experience, creating a great atmosphere."
  • "Wonderful restaurant with delicious food, and ecstatic atmosphere."
  • "A lovely atmosphere in the restaurant."
  • "Beautifully vibrant place, with a lot of activity and loudness, but that's the beauty of Covent Garden."
  • "The atmosphere is lovely."
  • "Exceptional restaurant in the heart of the Capital."

Cons:

  • "Uncomfortably crowded (and LOUD!) at 6.30pm."
  • "Bit noisy with no soft surfaces to absorb sound."
  • "The restaurant was quite noisy due to the large numbers attending Christmas parties."
  • "This is by far the noisiest restaurant I have ever been to."
  • "Very poor experience we felt rushed the entire time."
  • "However the 2-person tables were crammed closely together making it a tad claustrophobic."
  • "Definitely loud atmosphere but that is expected with high energy happy diners enjoying a dinner out."

Value

Pros:

  • "Great chain restaurant and really good value if you go before 7pm as they have a pre-theatre menu, 2 courses for £12.95!"
  • "The set menu price provides great value for the West End of London, served by lovely staff in a very pleasant environment."
  • "It is a save bet with good quality food at reasonable price that accommodates easily children."
  • "As for VFM in a London restaurant, it's very reasonable."
  • "The price, large serving, and quality of the food was shockingly outstanding."
  • "Always great food. The set menu price provides great value for the West End of London."
  • "The 3 course set menu at £21 (July 2021) is excellent value for money."

Cons:

  • "Kind of a trap that they charge extra for sauces though - esp since it’s not marked on the menu or mentioned by the server."
  • "The fish dish with citrus salad was adequate, again, a very small portion."
  • "The whole thing was let down by the dessert menu having 3 out of 7 items unavailable."
  • "Food was extremely overpriced for the portion sizes."
  • "Expensive for what it is."
  • "Value for money, most certainly not."
  • "There's a 12.5% 'optional' tip added to the bill, which you have to specifically request to be taken away- i.e. awkward o'clock, I really hate it when restaurants do this!"

Accessibility

Pros:

  • "Make sure you book in advance, I witnessed many people taking a chance but being turned away. I'm in a wheelchair and despite not being overly accessible in this way, the staff were brilliant helping me in."
  • "It's in the heart of London, an excellent location within walking distance of all the tourist attractions."
  • "The outside tables are really nice to sit on in the summer."

Cons:

  • "The place should be closed down until this facility is installed, or at the very least, advance notification that disabled people are not welcome."
  • "Given one star only because there are no toilets for disabled customers."
  • "Does not accept payment by cash, but this is NOT on the menu, it is NOT on the website and the staff do NOT tell you this until you go to pay."
  • "The only downside is that nearly in all the Côte restaurants I have visited the toilets are not very clean."
  • "However the 2-person tables were crammed closely together making it a tad claustrophobic."
  • "Also there was a discretionary 12.5% service charge on the bill which I had no intention of paying, but when it came time to pay it was automatically added without asking."
  • "Booked for new years eve ... waited at the queue for more than an hour for the a stuff member to come and tell us that they cannot serve any more people."

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