Strand Palace Hotel in London

Terrible experience at this restaurant, booked a few weeks in advance for Sunday roast, was also a special occasion. The staff were friendly enough but the service that followed was dreadful, we had to ask several times just for bread, after an hour there was still no sign of our main courses, at times there were no staff at all on the restaurant floor which was packed, we felt totally ignored most of the time we were there, for the prices being charged the service is appalling. There is clearly not enough staff in place for the amount of tables. The food we did get to eat was also really not great for the prices being charged, we just finished up having starters, one fish cake which was far too salty and a very small terrine which was very disappointing, the terrine came with no toast, both starters were £15 each. After an hour with no sign of a waiter we asked to speak to the manager, who did come and apologise, and did try to make amends but by this point we just wanted to leave, never again would we set foot in this place, I'd like to point out we were not charged for the food and drink we had but the whole experience ruined our afternoon which was meant to be a special occasion.

Would've given this a lower score if I could but I can't sadly. I was on a school trip to London and we had decided to go to this restaurant. We had already prepaid for the meal for over 60 people and we had been given a set menu a week before we were to have gone. The set menu only included two meals, (a burger and vegetable pasta) and one dessert option (chocolate torte). My peers and I thought this was quite bad as we were only given two options for the main and one for dessert, but we just dealt with it. When we arrived the service was quite good and we were asked which drinks we would like fairly quickly and they arrived about 5 minutes after they had been ordered which was quick considering there was over 60 of us. The food however was a completely different story. Some of the meals arrived within around 15 minutes, my table was one of the few who actually received it quickly, my friend and I had the vegetable pasta and it made both of us feel ill almost instantaneously. It had the texture and taste like (for lack of better words) baby vomit. It was horrible and everyone who had it agreed. Four out of the six people at our table ordered the burgers and for the most part they were okay; however someone at another tables burger was raw and this is when the problems started to appear, she had recieved another but refused to eat it as it still looked very pink. at least two out of the six tables didn't get served at all. There was at least 10 people from different tables who were sat for at least half an hour waiting for their burgers to arrive and when they were told that they were being made we were told that some of them would have to be served without buns which infuriated the teachers and pupils who were now starving (as we had just arrived after a ten hour bus ride there from Scotland). The two tables had decided they would leave, go to burger king and come back (we were on a very tight schedule as we had to be at the theater an hour and a half after we went to the restaurant), because they had to go elsewhere the teachers had to pay for it out of their own pockets. One boy was told his was coming (in tact with a bun) when it eventually turned up it was raw and did not have a bun! He sent it back as it was inedible and when it came back it was very overdone. There was no time for him to get any more food as we had to leave or we would miss our play. This was a terrible experience and I would not like for anyone else to have to go through what we did so I suggest just going somewhere else. Overall it was terrible and I am definitely not going back there if I find myself in London again. Very unhappy.

I really like this place and today been for the 3rd time. The portions are somewhat small and they charge 12.5% service fee on top of the bill. I would go there again if there wasn't this high service fee. Although it is forbidden it isn't welcoming to show the customers a service charge in the bill. The food tastes good and welcoming athnosphere and nice decoration. Hence 2 stars.