I went to Tom Aikens for a birthday meal with my w...

I went to Tom Aikens for a birthday meal with my wife last weekend I have to say it was a disappointing experience. Firstly the waiter persisted in talking to my deaf ear despite having been asked to change position twice as I couldn't understand anything that was being said with the ambient background noise. We ordered some wine not mentioning a half bottle but were presented with a half bottle which was opened before we could question it (an expensive decision on the part of the waiter). Then another waiter came to take our order, I again explained that I would not be able to understand them as they were talking to my deaf ear but again this was ignored. I guessed when we were served a large portion of breads that the meal would be supplemented with cheap fillers. The waiter came to clear the crumbs but left a swathe on the table which I had to remove with my neatly folded napkin. We ordered our food which when arrived bore no resemblance to anything we had seen pictured on the restaurant website. The pork belly portion was tasty but tiny and as a result amounted to nothing particularly special, the aubergine accompaniment again was bland and a tiny portion. The waiter attentively re-folded our napkins at every opportunity but neglected to actually remove the stray greenery that had been dropped onto the table when our pea soup nest and was removed at the beginning of the meal, in fact it stayed on the table until dessert despite the table being visited many times by the staff. The pastachio dessert was also disappointing as the cake base tasted slightly stale and was a bit dry. I am not particularly keen on sweet things so was a bit annoyed at being served a generous portion of petit fours at the end of the meal, would have preferred something a bit more substantial with the savoury part of the meal! The ambience was nice but spoiled by being just a bit echoey and a few shades too dark. Overall it was a disappointing end to a great day. I felt they just tried too hard and delivered too little.