never been to a so called proper restaurant in london went for parents birthday was a fantastic experience the staff were attentive extremely polite and couldnt have done more the food was fantastic great flavour and the wine reasonably priced overall a great evening at a fantastic price maybe it depends on what your used to have read the other reviews maybe i picked a good saturday night but couldnt have asked for more or maybe its been improved fantastic place to go

The venue is beautiful...that is about it for the good stuff!! My g/f and I were placed next to 2 blokes as if we were dining with them and then made to wait 25 minutes before being asked if we wanted to order!!!

The starters were amazing but the service all night was terrible and when I asked what snails taste like (excuse my arrogance) 3 waiters could not tell me as they could not understand English!!!

Terrible experiance and would not go again!!

The Criterion Grill is a brilliant place. I love the food, maybe because I'm French? But if you go there, don’t go for the pasta (you can go to Pizza Express for that) rather go for a nice rib eye steak with mushroom sauce.



The wine list is good and I always find what I’m looking for. Criterion Grill is highly recommend even though sometimes the staff can be a bit too French.

Criterion Grill seems to think it can go on trading on its fantastic decor and famous name year after year. Like a previous reviewer, we were plonked right next to the only other diners in there. Why? The place is like a cathedral, so it's not like they were pressed for space.



The food was at best bland and at worst inedible, and to cap it all, the Criterion Grill staff gave my umbrella away to the other diners on their way out - then barely bothered to apologise to me. Frankly, I've eaten at better fairground burger vans.

Criterion Grill is an attractive venue, with reasonable food, but I found the Criterion Grill experience disappointing with the lack of a warm welcome and mediocre service throughout. This coupled with the fact that our table for 2 was positioned far too close to another couple, only served to annoy.


I can only suggest that staff training and customer service is placed higher on the menu Criterion Grill from now on.

I went to the Criterion Grill to celebrate me and my partners anniversary - for being together for 10 years. I asked for my G&T four times though and it was only brought to me when I had to go to the bar myself after 45 minutes! During our meal we had to ask for water three times too!

The waiters & waitresses in the Criterion were so slow and some were a bit arrogant in my opinion! In the end they even had the cheek to ask for a tip! Criterion has great decor, I agree, and the food was good - though maybe I just got lucky that night...

I would highly recommend Criterion Grill if you like poor service from disinterested staff and bland, overpriced food. I don't blame the waiters/waitresses for the level of service as they genuinely seem to believe that they are being paid to stand around looking good and chatting rather than do any work.

The chef at Criterion Grill must take the blame for the awful food though. My friend and myself ordered Spaghetti Alla Vongole and Spaghetti Sorrento (or something like that). In my opinion her pasta appeared to have been cooked in tomato sauce, then rinsed to remove any trace of the sauce, while mine was cooked in dirty dishwater before having a few clams thrown into it. It was a bland sticky mess that frankly my 8 year old cousin could have cooked better.

Best thing about this restaurant? It's 100 yards from KFC, McD's, etc (i.e: higher quality restaurants) so you can give it a go safe in the knowledge that you won't starve to death if your meal is rubbish.

Ps: The décor is beautiful.

The Criterion is such a lovely restaurant, I'd go to the Criterion with my boyfriend anytime, if I had one...