Terroirs
5 William IV Street
WC2N 4DW
Date of Last Visit: Saturday, March 14th, 2009
The Victim: Me
The Damage: £25
The Background: I was out on a highly unsuccessful errand. Sometimes I think I send myself on these errands, knowing that they will be unsuccessful. This way, I can skip straight to lunch and get a blog post out of things more quickly.
I call Terroirs in advance to see if they can squeeze me in. It's a Saturday afternoon around 2 p.m. What do I know? They tell me to come on over.
The Entrance: I had no idea Terroirs was so close to Trafalgar Square. In a way, this makes me worried. Surely, they will be packed with tourists! But no. The restaurant is actually pretty empty for a Saturday lunch.
I'm given a seat at the restaurant's bar–this is a good place for the solo diner–and the guy behind the bar hands me a menu and then promptly forgets about me. A while later, he comes back and I place my order–smoked eel and some sort of polenta. I take his recommendation on the wine. And he suggests some bread.
And then I wait. And I wait. And then the wine arrives. And then I wait and I wait some more. My server apologizes for forgetting the bread. I say, "That's okay." I assume he'll bring it immediately. He doesn't. And I wait. And I wait. And I wait some more. I ask him, "Hey, how about that bread?" And he is super apologetic and brings it to me.
And all this while, I really wish I had ordered the duck scratchings to start me out.
The Food: The eel arrives and it's good. I took a picture, but my new camera phone kinda sucks so I've got nothing to show you. But the polenta with mushrooms…the polenta is fantastic! And I'm not really a huge mushroom fan. I debate ordering a second helping. But I figure that's not a good idea.
The Verdict: I liked Terroirs. I'd want to return and review more things on the menu. Was not so impressed with the speed of the service though.
2 comments
I’ve tried the polenta there (and I have a photo of it), which was excellent, but I agree about the service being a bit on the slow side… However, I plan to go back tomorrow and focus more on the wine side of things.
Two weeks ago, I booked a table for a birthday and, surprise surprise, the six of us were sent away as they’d lost our booking reference. Without a hint of contrition. Our table was booked for 6pm. Their answer? Well, we’ve got a table free at 9.30. Yeah, right.
Just awful, completely ruined what was supposed to be a special night. No matter how good their food, or excellent their wine, I won’t be going back.
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