Went there last night to celebrate my birthday with family and had forgotten what a beautiful restaurant it was. The atmosphere, decor and, most importantly, ceiling are totally unique. The food was superb and reasonably priced considering you are in a top London restaurant. The service was excellent and all waiters and waitresses who served us were obliging, respectful and amiable. Not pretentious. I love the place, well worth a visit - it's one of a kind!!

I never wrote a review before but I want to share my experience in Criterion with you guys. I went for afternoon tea this Sunday with a party of 9 at 3:30PM. Criterion is a beautiful place and the décor is STUNNING! We ordered all traditional tea and one with an apple juice instead as we had one child in our party. We didn’t wait long for the food and tea to arrive. The restaurant was not busy I think there were around 4 tables with customers. We had three finger sandwiches each, one VERY SMALL scone and a carrot cake, chocolate brownie and one cremebrulee for each person. The food was OK, nothing was great or amazing, the presentation of the food also needs improvement as every slice of cake is different sizes and so is the sandwiches with some has half of the crust on…..….But what annoyed me was once the waitress served the food I think she feels that is the end of her job. Soon most of our plates and teapots were empty so I called her over to ask her if we can have some more sandwiches and she said she had to check with the chef if that is ok?? I had high tea in many places and this is standard service and in fact always offered without even asking. Then I asked for her to fill out tea pot and asked if we could more scones. She looked like she was a little surprised and came back in 10mins to tell me that they have ran out of scones and it will take too long to remake another batch. Although she brought over more chocolate brownies but frankly by that time we have lost all our appetite. When the bill came I was so shocked they have charged me an extra 3 pounds for the apple juice with is was ordered instead of the tea?? I asked them to take it off the bill as I thought it was really unreasonable which they did but without apology. The tea in Criterion is 29 pounds per head but I would pay 34 pounds to go to Forum and Mason any day where you will really have a wonderful high tea experience. Seriously don’t bother with Criterion!

Fantastic restaurant. Me and my husband ate here for his birthday and the service was excellent, the food was excellent and the atmosphere was excellent. We did end up spending a small fortune as we drank loads and did not want to leave. The piano player added to the fantastic atmosphere. We are planning another visit here again soon and we have decided to bring some friends. Hopefully they will pick up the tab! The Criterion is a beautiful place. It made our romantic night special.

My other half surprised me with a restaurant and theatre date for our anniversary.
I was totally taken aback by the beauty of the place absolutely amazing.
Service was attentive and friendly without being intrusive.
We sat two tables away from the piano player who also sang through our meal and added to the great warm atmosphere.

The food was soooo tasty. I had the duck eggs Benedict to start with, salmon and fondant potato finished with a tiramisu. My other half went for chicken liver pate, pork chops and then a choc tart, ice-cream with blood orange preserve and raspberry sauce.
The food was perfectly portioned and I have to say the choc dessert won it for me... I had to fight myself from stealing it.

All in all perfect night with me feeling very happy and full indeed :o).

Shame about the waiter who didn't know the menu, asked for Oysters, he said there wasn't any. It is on the online menu and when I went to the toilet, there was a party of 4 eating two dozens of Oysters!
He seemed to be in a hurry and rushed us the whole evening.
Starter was fantastic, mains beautifully presented and tasty, but slightly cold. Not somebody who moans normally, but for the price, I would have expected a bit more, it was supposed to be a birthday treat.

The service was great, waiters were polite.
The food was mediocre. The portion sizes were too small. I couldn't even see or taste some of the ingredients that were stated on the menu. Its such a pretentious place that I felt uncomfortable to send the food back so just paid and left. Wouldn't recommend it to anybody. The Criterion is all about the mosaic ceiling and piano player...they forgot about the food.

I went last weekend and it was a fantastic night. The food quality in this place has really changed since I went a year ago. The smoked fish was really tasty and the fillet steak was out of this world! We shared the raspberry and mousse with dark chocolate which satisfied my sweet craving and left us full to bursting. Staff are friendly and smiley and the piano player / singer is a nice touch and really lifts the atmosphere. I've already booked again to take my parents as a Christmas treat!

A few friend and I went out wanting a quick meal while we could not leave this outstanding restaurant as we all fell in love with the food.

we must of samples everything on the menu. The desserts were wonderful with a real modern presentation.

Will be back soon.