The food at Dial Restaurant undoubtedly has some moments of quality but it’s let down by a uninspiring dining room and uneven service.

The Venue
Dial is the restaurant at the Radisson Mercer Street Hotel, a smart place to stay with a prime location at one corner of Seven Dials. It shares the ground floor with the adjacent bar and overlooks the likes of nearby Cambridge Theatre. Unfortunately, the open-plan layout between bar and restaurant is the cause of some consternation: the main problem being that there’s no clear indication of where to wait to be seated so queues tend to form at an invisible point between the two even when there are plenty of seats available in the dining area. Once you rest your behind on either the floral-patterned banquettes by the window or the tables and chairs dotted around the room, you are absorbed into a fairly run-of-the-mill hotel dining room which is spruced up by purple velvet armchairs and bits of colourful art like a harlequin print.

The Atmosphere
It’s a fairly low-key space as most other diners are hotel guests, with the occasional theatre-goer or group of businessmen. Staff are keen and friendly but seem fairly short in number and it might take several requests before a wine list makes it to the table. Slightly incongruously for the setting, there’s a big speaker mounted on the wall above one of the tables and this plays fairly feisty house music at a fair old whack.

The Food
There’s no doubting that most of the food that comes out of the kitchen is entirely satisfactory; it even has flashes of genuine quality. One of the best picks from the starter menu is the duck egg with white pudding: a rich, moreish and hearty cold weather dish, its crowning moment is when the yolk breaks and oozes all over the stuffing-esque pud. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the goat’s cheese panna cotta, a thick-set waxy puck that doesn’t do any favours to the goat’s cheese at all and the earthy beetroot sauce and slices of apple it is paired with do little to save what is an ill-conceived dish.

Mains are more consistent: the lamb chops are good quality, tender and have those crispy little bits of charred fat that are so devilishly tasty. A delicately spiced potato cake with red onion, buttery green beans and a meaty gravy completes a very satisfying plate. Alternatively, the pan-fried cod has a nice bronzed skin thanks to the heat of the pan but a mound of risotto rice it is paired with is noticeably dry and clumpy.

The Drink
Wine is the focus and there are some nice options available. Ordering a bottle may require some patience as it doesn’t arrive at the table until after the starters have been pretty much devoured. An Aussie shiraz provides decent value at around £20 a bottle. Freshly prepared cocktails using premium spirits are available too.

The Last Word
Dial Restaurant has a superb location and the food has some moments of quality; however this isn’t a dining room that’s going to quicken the pulse or convince you to head here rather than somewhere else in Covent Garden, an area that’s booming with seriously good foodie options these days.

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