Oh dear. Oh dear. What an unmitigated disaster. I arrived at the Hereford Road with 4 friends at around 8pm last night. They were busy enough but not full. Our mains took over an hour to arrive and we weren't particularly placated by their response to our queries on this, which involved basically telling us to be patient. But I can stomach a wait for fine food, so we chatted away and ordered another bottle of wine (we drank 1.5 bottles before the food arrived!). What was bad was the service once the food arrived. In fact, it was without a shadow of a doubt the worst service I have ever received in a restaurant. And that includes surly teens serving at Mcdonalds.

The food itself was pretty decent on the whole, but no more than you'd expect for £13-15 a course of meat and vegetables. The problems began when one of my dining companions queried the 'game chips' that accompanied his pheasant. (he had received a handful of ready salted crisps on his plate and was expecting hot cooked chips of some description.)the response from the waiting staff was basically to arrogantly correct him on what game chips are. There was no hint of 'sorry it wasn't what you expected' or 'i will go and get you some normal chips, sir'. No smile. Just incendiary arrogance.

But the performance of the waiting staff was topped by the restaurant manager, who we demanded to see after the meal. This chap (french, skinny, shifty-looking) really took the biscuit. He showed no people skills whatsoever and seemed intent on inflaming the situation further, telling one of my companions 'you talk too much' and repeatedly informing us that we were simply wrong and would have to like it or lump it. It was unbelievable stuff. We were ready to accept that we didn't know our definitions on this one but to be treated with such indignance and arrogance was a real shocker. In the space of 10 minutes our sense of mild disappointment with one aspect of the meal had been step-changed to abso

POOR!!!!!!The worst experience ever with this restaurant! Was there End Jun 08. We want to put '0' star but there is no such choice. Shame!We had a friend arriving from the Far East who took long time to go thru immigration so we changed the booking fm 7.30 to 8.00. If they said NO, we could always go somewhere else. They cfmd to take us for 8.30. We were there just before 8pm & they could not take us into the dining area - BTW, the person (or manager) was super rude / arrogant. We took a walk. Back to the restaurant 8.20pm and hope to have a drink (business for them) before dinner. We sat outside. Asked the lady what juice they had, she said she must check as she was new. We also asked for the menu so we can choose what food we'd like. Immediately, she said, 'Can you tell me what juice you want so I can come with the menu?' The staff is poorly trained. So we have to choose something out of unknown choices. We waited for the juice for a long time. Another lady came - 'oh, the juice is freshly squeezed so it will take a while.' ???? Hello????? more than half an hour for a drink!We were seated late. Juice & menu came about half an hour later. Appetizer came about 45-50mins after we ordered. They served people came after us first - we ordered well before them. Gone 10pm, not a sign of main course - no attention from waiters or waitresses. We could see the frustration of other customers. Service was bad. I had the fish or seafood soup, it was so thin and tastless. I expected more from this restaurant. We finally got some attention and the lady said our main course is on its way - but never mentioned how long it would be. We kept chasing... at the end...we had to walk out of the restaurant as there was no service / no food. The manager looked embarrassed then!Try to act posh?! Very disappointing when v tried to show our fr London nice places! I think there are tons of lovely restaurants for fussy diners like us. Def not this 1.

If you are a serious food lover, you'll love Hereford Road. Perfection is evident at every level, from the choice of cutlery and pepper mills to the design and finish of the restaurant itself, not to mention the sensibly-priced but knowledgeable wine list and finally the food itself. The chef's training at St John shows in his prowess with classic British ingredients, but there is plenty of room for the unexpected delight, too. Can't wait to go back and work my way through the menu!

Fantastic! Considering that they had only opened last Thursday, everything ran smoothly. Food and service were top notch and I cannot wait to book again. The 'soft' opening is a great idea as I felt completely spoilt and part of an exclusive club that got to sample this restaurant before anyone else!!

Walking past Hereford Road Restaurant on the way to the well-known Greek Restaurant Aphrodite Taverna, we decided to give the new place a trial. Although empty, we were told that the new place was fully booked for the whole evening. So we continued to Aphrodite where we ate well, if simply. On returning past Hereford Road Restaurant we saw it was still empty! On challenging their earlier refusal to admit us, they seemed embarrassed. So who do they want business from? Perhaps someone could explain.