Salieri - Reviews

Salieri
376 Strand London Greater London WC2R 0LQ 0207 8361318 1.00

October 09, 2008     1

We went to Salieri after seeing the Lion King, using their Post-show 2-stage Menu offering. We were seated quickly and some bread and veggies were on our table even before the menu's were. It was a while before we were asked what we would like to drink. My wife wanted the house wine, but strangely the waiter was unable to tell us what that a glass of wine would cost exactly ("somewhere around 4 pounds, 4 pounds 50"). Drinks did arrive quickly, but then they just left us sitting there while we were ready to order. At last, one of the waiters came to take our order. It did take about 20 minutes for the food to arrive. While nicely presented, the food was not too hot and did cool off very quickly. The vegetables were not fully cooked (appears to be the fashion these days) and quite tasteless. My wife's salmon was good, not great. My steak was not that good, the meat simply was not like you'd expect for that price. And the pepper sauce.. well.. ordinary gravy with some peppers in it... For desert, my wife had the Tiramisu I believe, and I had the Panne Cotta. Both were not great. After that we decided we wanted to leave quickly, and I asked for the bill. It took a few minutes, but it eventually got to our table. On the bill they charged us 2 pounds extra for beef (which came as a complete surprise as this is nowhere (at least not clearly) on the menu), and 12.5% for service!!! By that time I was ready to make a scene, but my wife did not want me to. We put the money in the bill holder, and waited for it to be picked up. That again took some time, and I was getting more and more annoyed. After I "reminded" a waiter he picked it up, but then he proceeded to the cash register and just put it there, with us waiting for the return money!! After again something like 5 minutes, with me getting increasingly (probably visibly) annoyed at the place, a waiter stopped by our table and asked if everything was OK. I resisted the urge to grab him by his neck, but told him we were waiting for our money back. After a few minutes passed, we finally got our money back. But.. where was the receipt?? We got up, and as my wife walked out I went to the cash register to ask for our receipt! Food: Some of Burger Kings food is better than this. Service: Too lazy, not paying attention. Atmosphere: After the above, does it matter? Bottom line: Avoid!!

- D. Walterfang


1