Soutine London - Buy Reservations

As Fischers and the Wolsey have been my favourite for many years I was looking forward very much to trying Soutine in St Johns Wood. Everything was lovely until a film crew on mass unexpectedly arrived halfway through our lunch with lights, reflectors, strobes, cameras, computers & so forth to film. The camera men were moving around close to us filming as the food was being delivered. The lady part of the ensemble on the next table was reviewing footage on her computer all of which added to the annoyance in what was supposed to be a relaxing lunch with 3 of my clients. I was not at any time informed that this would be happening nor offered to be moved to a quieter part of the restaurant. This spoilt my lunch which was a shame especially as I was paying full price at what is not an inconsiderable amount of money to pay for lunch.

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Dinner with wife, son and his girlfriend. Mains small (except) for salad and average tasting. Staff totally thrown by going off menu (ie requesting some bread with soup) so simply ignore the request. Soufflé boring. Burger average but over priced. Decor nice pastiche of Parisian restaurant but overdone for St John’s Wood. Coasting on reputation.

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Nice spot in St JW, cozy and beautiful restaurant cafe'. Friendly staff and relaxed vibes, simply delicious meal!

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A terrible experience makes a good story! My first review on Tripadvisor. Never bothered to write anything until today. I was truly shocked by what has happened in this restaurant. Please read if you are still considering this restaurant. If it gives you credibility in what I am saying, I am a medical student and my mom is a university humanities professor. We are too busy to make unfounded claims. The following are just the facts: I came to this restaurant after a relaxing walk in the sunny Regent Park with my mom. I ordered coq au riesling (their best seller supposedly). But unfortunately, there were undercooked areas inside the chicken breast. The main blood vessel still appeared bright red, not purple/dark - so the chicken was clearly undercooked. When we gently told the waitress with a smile that there was an undercooked area inside the piece, implying that they should perhaps pay more attention in the future, the waitress did not apologise. She looked at the bloody area and brought the dish to the manager. She returned from a chitchat with the manager saying that there was no problem with the chicken for sure as the head chef has checked (OMG, wHAT? I just saw the blood!!) She added that the head chef cooked this meal in a batch for a long time, so it was impossible to be undercooked (WhAt!?). Then, all the staff practically ignored us (we were obviously looking quite puzzled and slightly irritated by what has happened), walking past us with no eye contact. On request, the restaurant manager (male with dark brown curly hair, non-British, middle-aged) came to speak to us and just kept reinforcing that there was no problem as the head chef had said so and that the dish had never had any complaints so there would be no problem for sure (I was like wHaT?? What is happening? I cannot believe it. There is a clear problem with my dish!). As I tried to speak to him further about the facts, he just walked away with no response, but with a smirk (must be laughing at us for wasting our time speaking to him! - In hindsight, I should have just got up and left and continued my walk to limit any damage to my emotional well-being as there was no point speaking to any of these people and no justice can ever be obtained. They were too adept at reasonless arguing and forgot the core values of humanities, and are just "bullies".) I said I would need to raise this with the Westminster City Council Food Safety if your restaurant was going to do nothing to address this, the manager laughed at me and walked away! I was in utter disbelief at this point by the manager's attitude. When I asked if he had any supervisor here, he said no one "higher up" than him was present and he was the overall in charge. But later, he introduced his "General Manager" to me (I was like what?? You just lied to me?? Judging by the story thus far you could probably guess that neither he nor the general manager apologised for the lie. Total disrespect!) It turned out that the guy looking over our table from the bar all the time was the general manager, named Matt Robins (or so it says on his card, a man dressed in a suit with some noticeable tattoo on the right forearm/wrist area). Matt Robins was extremely rude and unprofessional in his language and behaviours. He crossed his arms and spoke with disrespectful language, including "I have been tolerating you", "you must pay and leave now"! (We were two women, why did he have the right to threaten us to leave? I felt scared! Just because we raised a concern that you denied and did not attempt to address? BULLIES.) He then refused to provide me with the feedback channel and contact details to the restaurant head office - he said "the complaint route is through me and you have reached me", with a disrespectful smirk, "send your complaint to the seat reservation email and it will be streamed from there" (a lie), "there is no way to contact the head office.." (a lie), "no, no, I cannot write it down for you, you need to find any contact number online yourself!". When I asked for his name, he said "I will give you my card on your way out (RUDE!), but you need to pay first" (RUDE!). Throughout the whole process of ignoring us, the two aforementioned managers kept coming to me with the card machine saying "are you ready to pay??", "am I taking the payment or not?" and then "you have to pay for what you ate, and you will need to leave" - in the EXACT SAME WORDS! These waiters, or managers, forgot who they are - workers of the hospitality industry, with the aim to make customers satisfied with the service received. What they are doing is reflective of the lack of proper staff training in this restaurant group and a lack of supervision. Staff are doing what they want with no fear of the repercussions! After being bullied into paying the full bill, I broke up in tears. INJUSTICE. PURE INJUSTICE! For my whole life, I have lived in an ivory tower of well-behaved people and a happy bubble and never encountered minions like these people! When I calmed down, I found the proper feedback channel on the website of its head office The Wolseley Hospitality Group - the general manager was lying all the time! Shocking! I sent my feedback in. On the way home, I was in a depressed mood. Mentally went through what happened and reassured myself that I did nothing wrong, apart from speaking to people who hold themselves up to low moral standards and dining in a restaurant that does not know the importance of basic food safety (google Campylobacter jejuni or Campylobacteriosis from eating undercooked chicken) with chaotic management. Our concern was ignored by the staff completely and we had the WORST dining experience ever with utter DISRESPECT, SMIRKS and LIES with significant PTSD from the whole restaurant chain. The staff (Matt Robins, the unnamed manager and the waitress) are extremely not well-nurtured and repulsive to avoid using harsh words. But anyone else with a more untamed temper than mine would probably use all the possible swear words in this world to describe this experience (and the managers - you minions, you are stuck here as servants forever)! I just unlocked my first truly shocking dining experience in London. Given the standard Soutine aspires to achieve, such an attitude from staff is hindering its growth. People should not go to restaurants with stains on their reputations.

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Amazing French food, Henri waiter amazing! Amazing ambience! Amazing everything! A must.. Love Love Love! Thanks Soutine

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From start to finish a fantastic night spent in Soutine. Starters of steak tartare & onion soup were delightful. Our brilliant server even split our soup in two to save the mess & to enjoy the sharing. Hidden gem in St John’s Wood. Will be back! Merci

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I understand that a Saturday evening meal is a busy time for a restaurant. But a Nicoise salad should have a piece of TUNA not a quater tim of tuna bits. And for £24.00 I would have been complaining if I had been someone's guest. Not a place to visit again

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Good atmosphere with a nice selection of wines. Staff were very hospitable - if I was to be critical service was a bit slow given the restaurant was not full or busy. You can’t really go wrong with the menu as it is traditional French cuisine cooked well and the food was by no means bad. The prices however are somewhat of a let down and would prevent us returning - you’re better off going to a high end restaurant in the west end if you are paying Soutine prices. There are plenty of cheaper Parisian style restaurants in NW London for a similar (if not better) quality of food.

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We haven’t been here for some months and our immediate reaction was how much prices have increased! The quality of cooking and service is as good as ever but £35 a head for 2 small courses sans drinks felt uncomfortable - what really is disappointing is the charge for bread with the (excellent) soup; it used to be included with the price and I think it’s small minded to charge at this level of tariff. Not sure it’s worth going again, a pity is we used to visit regularly.

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Really good place. Every time I've eaten there the food has been delicious and the service spot on. Lots of crisply starched white linen - waiters' aprons and napkins and classy, solid fittings. Great choice of unfussy French dishes on the extensive menu. Some come in massive portions - like the chocolate mousse, ice cream sundae or steak and chips, while others - like scallops - don't. The macarons which are a kind of dessert option listed as 'Friandises' are whoppers. Delicious, too. I've been to cheaper places but still this doesn't feel like a rip off.

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