Toklas Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "The food is thoughtful and indeed imaginative."
• "Highly original, thoughtful and exquisite menu - not long but the product, it seems, of a committed team of chefs. And all reasonably priced too."
• "Only positive note is for the food: both trout and deep fried rabbit were delicious."
• "Fresh and light food. The lemon sole and mussels were amazing."
• "The food beautifully balances simplicity, creativity and seasonality, with stunning cakes and puddings from their own bakery."
• "The food was unbelievable, fresh everything, gorgeous flavours, just wonderful!"
• "Delicious Mediterranean flavored dishes! Very fresh ingredients."

Cons:

• "I felt the food was a bit bland."
• "The mussels with daterrini lacked the main ingredient."
• "Both the mains (chicken and seabass) were underseasoned."
• "The lobster pasta was like a can of tomato soup poured over pasta with minimum of lobster."
• "All of the vegetables were bitter and underseasoned."
• "When the risottos came, they were (i) small; (ii) cold and slightly congealed."
• "The main course, wild sea bass was underwhelming, slightly miscooked and seasoned incorrectly."

Service

Pros:

• "The nicest M'aitre D', Alcedes, you're the best!"
• "Really great service."
• "The service was lovely and the food was outstanding."
• "Friendly & professional staff - nothing was too much trouble!"
• "Service was good tho, atmosphere really nice."
• "The staff were exceptionally nice and friendly."
• "Down to earth and friendly service, atmosphere is lovely and the food is amazing."

Cons:

• "Service slow and unhelpful."
• "For example, my main course was served several minutes after my friends had started their food."
• "Worst service I’ve had in a long time which let the entire kitchen team down."
• "Service was terrible- waitress had no idea about the food or wine, and didn’t do anything without being asked."
• "The major negative was the service, all dishes were plonked on the table by staff who barely said a word and made no eye contact."
• "Service was average at best, some waiters looked bored and barely keen to interact with clients in an half-empty restaurant."
• "The service was poor, with the waitress utterly lacking in warmth and hospitality."

Atmosphere & Setting

Pros:

• "It was a great dining experience with amazing seasonal food in a beautiful setting."
• "Lovely atmosphere."
• "The interior is spacious and calm, making it a wonderful place to spend an afternoon."
• "The restaurant has a large outside terrace to sit and dine. Really lovely setting."
• "Wow, what a gem. Delicious food and a fabulous roof terrace that makes this restaurant even more special when the sun is out!"
• "Everything about this place ticks the boxes. The atmosphere with all the plants and the lovely building opposite just makes you feel really relaxed."
• "This place has a wonderful atmosphere with great relaxed vibes and a beautiful almost cinematic interior."

Cons:

• "Outdoor can be better, has lots of potential but the lighting wasn’t very inviting."
• "The rest were disappointing."
• "Very very disappointing and very over priced. (Cheapest wine by the glass £21!)."
• "The restaurant was surprisingly empty on a Saturday lunch, which made the atmosphere less pleasant."
• "We wanted to order the fries that were raved about but the waitress acknowledged that the famous fries were not available."
• "Food was good, chair seating/ arrangement was so uncomfortable & tightly sitting next to neighbours."
• "No matter how busy Toklas is, the staff are always unfailingly lovely: calm, friendly, helpful, and efficient."

Price & Value

Pros:

• "Though a tad pricey is good."
• "And all reasonably priced too."
• "The very reasonably priced food was absolutely delicious."
• "The wine was good and very reasonably priced."
• "The food was so delicious and fairly priced."
• "It's slightly pricey, but worth is for the quality you get."
• "On the pricier side but reasonable taking into consideration quality, environment and service."

Cons:

• "And of course a 12.5% service charge is added to every bottle."
• "Quite expensive and although food was really good I feel like you could also get similarly good food for slightly less elsewhere."
• "That is steep by any metric."
• "Unfortunately, this lack of exceptional taste was paired with a steep price tag, which left us somewhat disappointed."
• "Very very disappointing and very over priced. (Cheapest wine by the glass £21!)."
• "Paying over 42£ for a non-labeled wine bottle is enough for me not to come to this place ever again."
• "For the pleasure of eating food produced in their dull kitchen, the bill totalled an outrageous £200.00."