38-40 St. John Street
London EC1M 4AY
Tel: 020 7608 2181
Date of Last Visit: Thursday, January 5th, 2006!
The Victim: Renee
The Damage: Unknown
So if you read my previous post, you’ll see that one of my my New Year’s Resolutions is to eat at every restaurant on St. John Street. I wanted to eat at the Clerkenwell Dining Room, but they were closed for refurbishment, so we ended up at Vic Naylor’s instead.
Strike 1: We ask if we can sit by the fire. They have to "check." The place is EMPTY. Too many minutes later for an empty restaurant, they return to tell us we can. (Note that it was even emptier when we left around 10.)
Strike 2: Waiter wants to take our orders immediately. We’ve just sat down! Give me a couple of minutes, won’t you?
Strike 3: After saying he’ll come back, our waiter disappears FOREVER and we have to flag him down to actually place our order.
Score: Renee’s French onion soup was HUGE and delicious. So too my chorizo and chickpea salad.
Strike 4: My salmon (remember, I’m eating more seafood this year) was undercooked. I mean, I love smoked salmon, but this was raw salmon.
Strike 5: My salmon was also soaked in way too much terryaki sauce. A lighter hand would have been much better.
So, in general, I’m a bit "eh" about the whole experience. I don’t think I’ll be going back, except maybe to Vic’s Bar next door, which has a rockin’ DJ on Friday nights.
The Verdict: The fire was nice.
