Alain Ducasse at Dorchester Reviews

Wonderful lunch with the three course prix fixed menu. The price includes two drink for each. What a steal for a Michelin three star restaurant!

A perfect evening. The food was absolutely superb, but seconded to the the best service I've experienced to date. We had the Menu Jardin (veggie tasting menu) plus one fish supplement for me. Often fine dining can struggle with vegetarian food as the chef normally puts all their efforts into the meat and fish courses, not this time. In fact, the least best (I say this, because it was still wonderful) was the fish course I replaced one of the dishes for, I was quite jealous of my girlfriend's vegetable and fruit cookpot, luckily she let me steal some pastry, which was heavenly. The pea soup was a real highlight (who'd have thought that?) With a beautiful flavour that has stayed with me for several days. The raspberry and hibiscus dessert was probably the prettiest dish I've ever laid eyes on and wouldn't be out of place in a floral exhibition. A fear I had in the lead up to the Saturday night was that the evening may suffer from a 'stuffy' feel; on occasion high end fine dining restaurants can make you feel like you've intruded, as an uninvited guest, on a boring, pompous dinner party... this was not the case here. The staff made us feel not only welcomed, but liked. The friendly, funny, attentive and genuinely likeable front of house team meant we were genuinely sad to be leaving at the end. We had so much fun and they built a real rapport with us. I'm a difficult diner, with a plethora of allergies and dietary requirements, but not once was I made to feel like my genetic makeup was in any way am inconvenience or something I've cultivated out of spite. They even noticed that I eat left handed and began placing the fork on the right hand side of the plate. All in all it was one of the best dining experiences I've ever had the pleasure of enjoying. 10/10

Incredible experience, best restaurant of the trip. Sophisticated, all wonderful food. Expensive but perfect. Super incredible!!!!

All of it was very good, some of it great, but overall it just wasn't excellent, which is what I expected.

First of all, service is top notch..
Wine pairing is professional..
The food is overall delicious, but not amazing.. we don't feel the 3 stars standard..

It is by far the best fine dinning restaurant in London. Very good for business meetings

I guess great expectation brings greater disappointment. Unfortunately, the service and food at this restaurant subpar to its reputation. The staffs is cold and indifferent, the food is almost mediocre, overall quite underwhelming. By far my least favorite dining experience in London.

What a great experience! Delicious food, great friendly service! We tried the vegetarian tasting menu

Pros: Exceptional service. Fabulous desserts. Tasty wines. Nice setting.
Cons: Mains were just OK - pretty but forgettable in terms of taste.

The service is magnificent for sure. The ambience is quite nice too, although nothing spectacular. Now the food, whilst solid, is far from exceptional, which one might expect from a Michelin 3 starred restaurant. For example, the steak was so much nicer in "Beast" than here.

We managed to get reservation really easily for Tuesday when I called on Monday. That had to ring the bell but it didn't. Service was amazing and i cant say anything at all. It does deserve 3 stars. However food was above and beyond disappointment. I had langoustine, halibut (signature dish) and wild strawberries. All 3 dishes were dull no flavor and I wouldn't even give it 1 star. Halibut is their signature dish but it was one big disappointment. My partners dishes were not impressive either.
I was very much disappointed and i hope they will take into consideration feedback and will try to do something. I don't think this restaurant has a lot of loyal customers. There are lots of good restaurants in London and Alain Ducasse one is not one of them

Beautiful, candle-light French restaurant. I very much enjoyed my visit at Alain Ducasse Kitchen! Since the very moment of arriving, staff was incredibly responsive and kind. Food was great and nicely presented. The wine list was rich, giving the option to choose among various pairings. I certainly recommend visiting Alain Ducasse Kitchen, you will not be disappointed! I will myself be back pretty soon!

Horrible experience. Not satisfied.
Rude servants and disappointing food
How can this become a Michelin three star restaurant

Three Star Michelin restaurant. Presentation, service and atmosphere are definily worth it. I like the food, but there is no surprise compare to other same level restaurant.

When you walk in The front doors of the Dorchester you know you are in a very, very high end hotel. Your greeted by the door man, you walk through the classic revolving doors into the reception which has flower displays that the Chelsea flower show would be proud of. You then walk through the cosy (compared to George V) gallery into the bar which we found to be exceptional and a great warm up to our evening... In the bar we let the bar man know that we're going to have a couple of drinks before going for dinner, he asks us 'are we going to 'the grill' or 'Ducasse'?.., we tell him 'Ducasse'...... he then gives a very proud French nod of approval,,, after drinks he escorted us to the restaurant. From the moment the doors to the restaurant opened every thing that makes The Dorchester what it is becomes completely insignificant. Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester is completely on another level. Fun and Friendly with food, service and wine built for the gods. We were invited into the kitchen to meet the 24 chefs too..

An evening we won't forget.

It easily earns the three stars. I've been there twice, and I can't think of a single thing they could have done to make a better evening. Literally, there is nothing they could have improved. And that's what makes it three stars in my book. The service works like clockwork, smooth and without even noticing it's there, and the food and drink is divine.

Magical time at Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester last night. We had the Printemps taster menu with a bottle of 1995 Chateau l'Evangile, Pomerol, and a couple of glasses of 1996 Chateau d'Yquem, Sauternes. Everything was absolutely perfect. French cuisine at its best. So simple, everything revolving around the quality of the product. Elegance. Pure perfection. And the team is absolutely fabulous. We had a great chat with Chris the head Sommelier who is a fantastic being. Highly recommended!

The restaurant looks good , however Food is not spectacular at all , especially disappointed by desserts , staff really irritating with false smiles .

The best dining experience I ve ever had.
I will never forget this place. We had the vegetarian tasting menu, and every single one of the seven courses was exquisite. The flavours, textures, and smells were a sensation. The staff were incredible, as was the atmosphere.
Thank you for a once in a lifetime meal.

Amazing place with fantastic food and perfect service. A must visit if visiting London.

Came here for dinner recently and I have to say the food and service was divine!

I came in one night and firstly I got struck by some agregious wallpaper. this blackguardacious

People do not understand fine dining. This is not a pub, you need to understand this.

I had a really disappointing experience,
Invited my husband to this restaurant for his birthday, we had the seasonal menu and everything was fine until we had the dessert; it was an orange and calamansi sorbet in tarragon sauce, it was so sour, biter and sharp that only after 2 spoons of it I had to leave the restaurant because I got sick.
When you pay a bill of 595.12 GBPs for 2 people you expect perfection, I can not believe the dessert's chef allowed that sorbet to be served. The restaurant later on offered some sort of courtesy as a compensation. Honestly you are better off at Gordon Ramsey's restaurant, 3 Michelin stars, prices are reasonable and is really good.

Outstanding and refined service; in addition, all dishes were executed well. This restaurant is certainly deserving of 3 Michelin stars.

Absolutely amazing 7 course tasting menu - service was fantastic (all 4 hours of it).

I had the seasonal tasting menu. The service and presentation of the food was exceptional (and I guess this is why the restaurant has 3 stars) but I found that many of the dishes didn't quite hit top marks for me. Definitely still a lovely and enjoyable meal; but some courses lacked the depth or exciting flavours that you expect at these prices.

Absolutely excellent. Great service and world class food.

I was taken by a Chinese acquaintance with a large party and even though I was not paying I was disappointed and would never bother to return. Unmemorable food, perfectly prepared; perfect service by cold robots; expensive decor, bland to the point of disappearing, except for the central light fitting which was just awful. If the food was all so perfect, and technically it was, why was it instantly forgettable? I do not exaggerate when I say that dinner the following evening at the RAC was much better and the service far more genuine and pleasant but still immaculate.

Maria Tadman friend of mine recently invite me for diner in Alain Ducasse club at The Dorchester, London

Terribly disappointing. English "soup" that wants to be French. Without taste, without inventiveness. A terrible disappointment, to flee without regret

Overall, I went for lunch and had 7-course tasting menu. The overall experience was positive. Foods were not so striking for a 3-Michelin stars restaurant but the service was excellent. It's a fine place for business meal.

The worst service I have ever experienced at a Michelin 3 Star. The name Alain Ducasse used to represent the epitome of fine dining, but my recent visits to his Dorchester, Plaza Athenee & Le Meurice restaurants represent a trilogy of failure. Poor service, inconsistent cuisine, and in the case of the latter a desecration of the magnificent 18th century opulence of the dining room with chairs better suited to a McDonalds. The bitterness of the current state of Alain Ducasse restaurants sours the sweetness of his original culinary brilliance. Instead go to Ramsay, or The Ledbury, or Marcus, or The Fat Duck, or The Waterside Inn ... anywhere but here.

Peerless service.
Food was good but with a 3 star Michelin restaurant I was expecting to be wowed. Unfortunately I wasn t; the exception being the desert which is the best I ve ever had.

Extravagant food and flawless service. It comes at a price, but some dishes are truly memorable. Asparagus cook pot was world class and merangue with raspberry was outstanding. Some misses also and maybe closer to 2* than 3

Great service, great ambience and exceptional food. Staff were really friendly and polite. Definitely going again.

We were looking for a fine dining experience for our final night in London. What a disappointment. From the lazy service, imprecise table settings, tired setting to the bland and unimaginative plates, we were left wondering how Alain More

One of the worst Michelin 3 star experience. The service is okaybut the food here is terrible. Waste of money and time.
It s really unpalatable. Don t come if it s not for taking pictures. If you want to eat it, you can eat Notting Hill. That two-star hotel is 10,000 times better than this one.

extremely overrated, safe cuisine lacking much imagination

My wife and I were taken by a very kind friend of ours who was visiting on business and asked us for a recommendation. We hadn't been before but it has a 3* Michelin rating so we figured it must be pretty good. He likes to go all out in such settings, so we had the seasonal tasting menu with truffles shaved on one or more dishes, and the most expensive wine pairings (including the two rare supplemental wines).

The service was impeccable and The Dorchester is a beautiful setting. The restaurant itself is understated and classy.

The tasting menu had seven courses and sadly I can't say that any of them were memorable. The food was perfectly nice although the dessert of preserved (?) orange rind was, shall we say, 'unusual' and I was glad they bought round chocolates & petit fours afterwards so that wasn't the last taste I had. Two of the dishes - fish and beef - had sauces that seemed very similar, and as a whole nothing in the menu was particularly interesting. It was perfectly good, but I am truly surprised that they have three Michelin stars.

Of the wine pairings, the dessert wine we had really matched the food but the others didn't really seem as harmonious as other wine pairings I've had in other restaurants. One white wine in particular was almost 'smoky' and not all that nice.



I should stress that the food was all good, but when you're one of only two restaurants in London with three Michelin stars - and charging these prices - expectation is very high.

Sadly it wasn't met.

For an upscale restaurant, the staff were really down to earth, friendly and definitely added to the overall dining experience. The food was incredible. One of the best meals we ve ever had. Based on seasonal ingredients, the scallop dish on the tasting menu were some of the best prepared scallops we ve tasted! Overall a great restaurant for a special occasion.

First of all, I am a real foodie and have been to many michelin star restaurants, such as Gordon Ramsay, Royal hospital road, The Square and The Ledbury, to name a few so was excited to try Alain Ducasse.

I write with regret as sadly we really didn't enjoy the meal tonight. We ordered 3 tasting menus and were very disappointed with the dishes. The only courses we enjoyed were the lobster, chicken quenelles and homemade pasta and the venison and found all the others very disappointing. For the restaurant to have 3 michelin stars, we expected the food to be exceptional and it really wasn't. The service was on the whole very good and the ambience too, however overall compared to the likes of Gordon Ramsay and The Ledbury, there was no comparison.



So overall we were all very disappointed and I wanted to write to let you know as it is such a shame and a lot of money to pay and feel this way.

A definitely superb experience, both for the excellent food and the impeccable and very friendly service. The place is very nice and no detail left to chance. For a special evening or simply for a special experience is the right place. Alain Ducasse is confirmed as a great chef.

A lifetime experience! I have never enjoyed a meal more in my life! The service was impeccable the food was out of this world. The staff made myself and my family feel welcome in a beautiful atmosphere of gastronomy extraordinaire! The sommelier chose the perfect pairings for every plate we enjoyed . It was a night I will truly remember the rest of my life! Thank you so much for such an incredible evening!

pretty good best experience ever.sure enough that I ll come here again

We ordered the tasting menu for lunch. Love the lobster, especially the sauce. The duck was perfect! The best that I have tasted! The cheeses and the sauces that came with them was heavenly!

Highly recommended! Worth the special journey to dine here!

This is the worst Michelin starred restaurant I've ever visited. We did the full tasting menu with the highest end wine pairing. It was ok but very forgettable. Not what you expect from this supposed caliber restaurant, especially with the More

With this price level, services and quality of food. Michelin made no sense to awarding 3 Star for this terrible place. We did not enjoy this meal.

I can't afford it
And shout out to all the people who can

Summary: I've been to several fine dining restaurants in London (Hedone, The Ledbury, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, etc.) and all of them put Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester to shame. Mediocre quality ingredients, sub-par execution, and boring dishes make this restaurant outrageously overpriced. The food critics have it right, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester is all show, with little to offer for those seeking a truly impressive meal.

I ordered three dishes; the foie gras, saute gourmande, and the duck.

The foie gras was served almost cold and had the texture of a cheddar. What little flavor it had was wholly unappetizing. After having foie gras at Hedone, which was served just warm with the texture of a thick flan, and brilliantly combined fresh berry flavors with deep, smokey, savory flavors, I was terribly disappointed. This dish should be removed from the menu altogether. I only ate it to avoid being rude.

The Saute Gourmande was a serviceable dish, that could have been great, but the lack of high quality ingredients and underwhelming execution held it back. Much higher quality mushrooms and lobster can be found in other London restaurants. There's no excuse to use such average ingredients considering the reputation and price of Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester.

The duck was the best dish they had to offer, and yet, it was uninspiring at best. It was a fairly good quality piece, and it was cooked expertly (which is what you expect at these restaurants), but there was nothing impressive to it. The spiciness of the duck, as well as the sauce, were nice, but the primary flavor remained the duck itself. As such, for the dish to be truly impressive, the duck needed to be of the highest quality. Unfortunately, it wasn't, and so it ended up being rather comparable to the duck I've had at vastly more affordable restaurants. The sauce and seasoning simply weren't good enough for me to call this dish anything but average.

Service was stellar but wasn t blown away by the food or the wine pairings. Neither particularly remarkable. Whole experience felt a bit formulaic tick these boxes for Michelin stars

We had a wonderful "chef's table" brunch for our anniversary. The service was phenomenal, food and wine were delightful! Would highly recommend, arguably one of the best restaurants in the world.

The elegant presentation of nouveau interpretation of classic French dishes belies a critical flaw of over-seasoned protein. Most regretfully, the Director of restaurant, unconventionally, decline to acknowledge the issue, which goes against the very principle of emphasis on saucing in the Escoffier tradition.

Lunch menu was great value with two glasses of wine. Emailed beforehand to ask for the baba au rhum and that was the highlight of our meal. 4 stars only because our expectations were too high and we felt that some of the two Michelin starred restaurants fared better. Tables by the window offer you nice natural light in the day.

Food is rather mediocre and service is alright. I am not sure why this place has 3 stars, but the price is somewhat reasonable.

Each and every thing in this restaurant is perfect and probably the best restaurant in London.. LOVED TO SPENT MY TIME THERE...

One of the best meals I ve had ! The food is amazing and the service is impeccable. Located in the Dorchester hotel. Beautiful space .

Definitely not worthy of 3 Michelin Stars. I sent them a letter to articulate the reasons of my dissatisfaction months ago and never even received a reply. Will never go again.

Very disappointing. We had the tasting menu and every dish appeared quite love- and careless. Just left on the plate - tone in tone, nothing smart. As you can see on fotos the range seams not to change over 3 years. I agree that after a time always serving the same it becomes boring for the staff in charge...
The atmosphere was quite chain-like. Service without really caring. Tired of what they do.

Firstly, the staff were friendly and the restaurant had a nice ambience. Secondly, the standard & presentation of the meal was top notch. Having dined at a Michelin 2* restaurant in London earlier in the year (also under a French chef, who has a number of worldwide restaurants), not only did we find the food better, but in particular the quality of the wine was much more superior. Quality food deserves quality wine. Enjoy.

Food are nicely prepared and served, we ordered summer menu and it was great!

Exceptionally good food and service, well-deserving of its 3 Michelin Stars
The lunch menu, although expensive, is a steal! A great place to celebrate one's special occasions

We've been lucky enough to have frequented Michelin starred restaurants on a few occasions but until our visit to Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester we hadn't been to a three star. So we were both a little bit apprehensive about what the experience would be like. Would we feel out of place? Would we find it too stuffy, as we had done at a couple of previous meals at high-end restaurants? We needn't have worried. From start to finish our evening was an absolute delight.

Our visit began with being warmly welcomed into the plush interior of the restaurant and guided to our comfortable seats near the window looking out onto a rainy Park Lane. We'd decided in advance to choose the tasting menu, and after a small amount of deliberation we plumped for one of the three choices of wine flights to accompany it. We hadn't originally intended to, but as it cost not much more than the bottles of wine we were considering we thought we'd push the boat out.

A couple of tasty canapes and some excellent bread with the most fantastic fermented curd (which I kept sneakily eating at various points throughout the evening) kicked off the meal before the first starter; which was Dorset crab enclosed in crunchy celeriac with a dusting of decadence in the form of some caviar. Next was terrine of foie gras - not a full-on hunk of liver but a more subtle slice of pate to be smeared liberally across the deliciously-crisp brioche which accompanied it.

The restaurant's signature dish was to follow - sweet discs of lobster with a tremendous bisque and immaculate quenelles of chicken and truffle. Again the flavours were immaculate, clean and subtle rather than overpowering, though the bisque was packed with taste. So much so that our waiter encouraged us to mop up the remainder and provided more bread with which to do so. We did just that and were not disappointed.

A hunk of buttery-smooth turbot was our main fish course and, unusually for a restaurant such as this, chicken was the main meat. What chicken though! Soft, tender and intensely chickeny and served with woody wild mushrooms and Swiss chard. Each of the savoury courses was matched brilliantly with the relevant wines - mainly whites but a terrific light and spicy red with the chicken.

Pleasingly, a cheese course was included with the tasting menu and it was a trio of classically-French fromage: an intense Roquefort, a creamy Brie and a swan-shaped sliver of Comte, which I'd never tried before. The Comte was my favourite, Parmesan-like texture with a hint of crunchy sweetness.

A pre-dessert sorbet cleansed the palate nicely before the dessert of raspberry sorbet with watercress and a duo of meringues, one of which was an incredible pair of olive oil flavoured meringue leaves which just dissolved in the mouth. We finished off with coffees which were preceded by wonderful mini pastries including a lemon meringue pie which evoked all the memories of the Sara Lee favourite but in one tiny morsel. Then, for a final surprise, Clare was presented with a tempered chocolate leaf covered in nuts and freeze-dried fruits as we left the restaurant on our way back through the hotel lobby.

The service all night was just magnificent. Warm, knowledgeable and at times funny with not a hint of snobbishness. It really felt like our waiting staff knew how special a night this was and made sure we felt totally comfortable throughout. Being encouraged to mop up sauce from our plate was not what we had expected!

Of course it wasn't cheap - it's a three Michelin star restaurant in an incredibly plush hotel on Park Lane. However the meal, service and whole experience made it feel like money well spent. We left the restaurant feeling incredibly lucky and privileged to have enjoyed such a treat. We may never get such a chance again and we'll never, ever forget our evening with Alain Ducasse,

Definitely met expectations - fantastic food and great service. Would highly recommend the tasting menu.

Our favorite restaurant in London. Food was fantastic, service incredible and delivered with a wonderful sense of humor. We took my parents for their wedding anniversary, my father ordered a dish with great gusto, the waitress with a dead pan look retorted sorry we have run out - obviously unheard of for a 3 michelin starred restaurant - then turned and smiled and said just kidding with you sir - amazing!

We visited this restaurant on my birthday 22/12/2016 - it was for a special '0' birthday.
We love food with a passion !!! We have made it a mission in our spare time over the last 10 years to sample food from top restaurants around the world... We appreciate beautiful food and we really were not disappointed here.

I have thought long and hard over whether to write a review in this case, purely because I would not like for my words to deter people like me, who are not from a privileged background, but from a working class background, who have to work hard to be able enjoy fabulous food in a fabulous location, but feel that it must be said.

In life I feel that a smile and attempt to engage with another human being, at any background or status, should be a basic, however our maitre d was less that hospitable, despite attempts on our part to engage with him, he was rude and aloof and snooty.

The saving grace was the waiter who escorted us out at the end of the meal, sadly I do not remember names, this lovely waiter was gracious and warm and actually salvaged what could have been a very disappointing special birthday.

I would like to add that last year we also went to Osteria Francescana, the number one restaurant in the world, where we were met with the warmest of welcomes, our maitre d, could not have been more pleasant, and helpful, also we met and chatted to Massimo for 5 minutes, his welcoming manner and conversation made us feel as if we were part of his extended family, it was the most wonderful of experiences.

And so, to the maitre d at the Dorchester, I would recommend if he was ever lucky enough to be able to work for Massimo, that maybe he could learn a thing or two, as for us working class people they are as much a part of the experience as the food is!

The food deserves a 5 star, I could not fault it, it was delicious, beautifully presented, but unfortunately the overall experience was marred by the maitre d.

The meal here was excellent, this is not a surprise given its rating. I enjoyed the simplicity of the meals; there really was nowhere to hide on the plate so everything had to be spot on.

Food, atmosphere, service, everything was excellent. They were able to accommodate our needs and provided a birthday surprise for my guest. Definitely worth what you pay for.

Amazing amazing amazing. Could not fault them at all. Food was lovely and presented beautifully. Staff were attentive and went out of their way to make you comfortable and really took care of you. Would definitely return for dinner.

Out of this world experience. Staff was super attentive. Flavors explode in your mouth. Simply flawless! I cannot recommend it enough

Great lunch deal. Very professional staff. Definitely a three star michelin

Excellent, great and surprising food. The service is great but over committed. Therefore only four stars

Very traditional French food and the service is very good. The food is also good.

Totally not worth it. Average food for unjustified extortionate price. Service was just okay.