John Holland

Review of SAVOY GRILL

The Savoy Grill Lunch

The Savoy Grill Lunch

Friendly welcome and shown right away to a good table with a view of the room. Surprised because I was alone and I expected to be bunged in a corner.

Very high on the "flunkey factor" with numerous staff hovering around but not making eye contact. Keen to sell me water and wine. Had to ask for a separate beer list.



Was very surprised that the multi-national waiting staff did not know such commonly used culinary words such as "vichyssoise" and "duxelles".

It took over an hour for the leek and potato (vichyssoise) soup to appear, and the bread served with it had evidently been sliced at the start of service - this was now 3pm - and had started to dry up at the edges.

I then had a nicely cooked piece of cod, but the sauce it was on had a skin on top from sitting under a heat lamp at the pass for too long.

Sticky toffee pudding was delicious.

Served a freebie plate of petit fours at the end. Very nice.



Apparently the Head Chef has just left, and a new one is due to be transferred from another Ramsay enterprise.

Not a patch on the old Grill Room under Marcus Wareing with its Michelin star. Perhaps Mr. Ramsay should take time off from critiquing pizza and burger joints in the States and check out his own flagship restaurants in England.

One of the nicest meals I have ever had was at his Amaryllis restaurant in Glasgow - now defunct.

Not bad value, but if I was around Covent Garden again with that kind of budget I would go to Clos Maggiore round the corner.