We got the tasting menu, most of which was lovely. Very attentive staff and good ambience.
Iain Farrell
A thoroughly enjoyable experience. This was a joint birthday lunch, and we were treated to friendly, cosmopolitan attention from the Italian receptionist, the delightful Nepalese table waitress and the Provençal manager/sommelier who shared his comprehensive knowledge of the uncommonly special wine flight which accompanied our lunch tasting menu.My companion had said in advance that she would not eat any bread but the black ale bread we were served was so light and full of flavour that she ate all of her share. She also praised the gnocchi and the champagne aperitif. The highlight of the menu for me was the confit duck leg, tender meat under a crispy skin with a bone to pick up and gnaw on. All dishes were the product of culinary ingenuity and decorative art as we have come to expect from restaurants selected for the Guide Michelin .There is ample, low-cost car parking just a short walk away as an alternative to the rather distant (one mile) Metropolitan station.
Norman Pope
Taster menu first class,; excellent
Amanda Catterall
What a great restaurant. We really enjoyed our evening. Our party of 4 all selected steak dishes which were cooked to perfection. The service was top notch, our host was the owner and took time to chat with us. Other options looked good but we had halloumi fries and the garlic bread which was soft, puffy, garlicky and quite delicious. A good wine list, but needs some IPAs on the drinks list. The surroundings were pleasant and I have no doubt would be quite lovely in the summer months. Recommended.
Wai Yue Wong
Big improvements. Loved the food. Will go again.
Tamara Villanueva
The staff are friendly and knowledgeable, the service was impeccable. The food is phenomenal, definitely in the top three meals of my life, and worth every pence! I cannot wait to go back!
alanc949
We went last night to celebrate a family birthday. Despite arriving 30 minutes early they kindly accommodated us and made us welcome. So a round of cocktails seemed the only sensible option. We opted for the a la carte menu and between us we had literally all the starters and main courses dishes, plus two of the three desserts. Their veal sweetbread appetiser along with the Cornish cod main course earning special praise; but all were really good. Some recent reviews have made mention of service deficiencies. We experienced no issues whatsoever. Indeed Mario was a delight and his advise was welcomed and appreciated. A lovely, high class celebration.
David Sherratt
Fantastic place. Food was very tasty and a lot of creative dishes can be found here. My favourite was the Choux Bun because it was very unique and I was not expecting it to be served cold. Desserts were ok, nothing special.Service is fantastic. Restaurant is beautiful. Would recommend as a treat, date night, or just to try some new creative dishes!
Zac Baum
A bit too pretentious and full of pomp. Overall fairly poor value for money.Many other great restaurants in the area that offer much more bang for your buck.The staff appear to be a bit too keen to get involved with your meal and the enthusiasm and smiles felt very forced. we had multiple different servers throughout the night and overall it felt awkward. Something I’ve never experienced at a restaurant before. It was very disengaged and off putting when they seemed fairly relentless on ensuring you ordered another glass of wine or other drink every few minutes. Many were friendly and lovely people, but the whole experience was inconsistent and overwhelming.We had the full tasting menu, which had many courses.The bread and first few starters (scallop, pumpkin soup, sweetbread) were outstanding. The picked apple with the scallop was incredible. With the chioux bun, the staff made a weird point of telling us that it wasn’t grated cheese, but chestnuts on top in a very proud way. After that it all fell apart. The halibut was bitter and the venison was cooked poorly - not to mention it was brought out 5 minutes after a large plate of chestnuts and pine branches was placed in front of you where the smaller plate with food was then put.The sides with the venison were borderline inedible. My partner couldn’t finish hers, and I left the chestnuts and pinecones (who’d have thought?) after trying some of each and barely being able to keep them down.The portions were very small for a £120pp meal, where drinks are £15+ each and even just flat water is £5! Not to mention a “discretionary” 12.5% service charge.For £350, we left wanting more of some things but also less of many. The main (venison) left much to be desired. It really should bring it all home and tie things together - but this dish challenges you too much and leaves the meal in a bad place after starting off so well. Should be simpler and more palatable to a wide audience so people don’t leave hungry after not really wanting half the main.Overall, we knew there would be one of two outcomes from going here - ideally, a meal that we loved but was too expensive to eat often, or something that was poor value for money and we wouldn’t do again. Sadly it was the latter.Lesson learned, and will stick to other nearby places we know where the service isn’t so awkward, and you get a lot more for your money than a few bites of poorly cooked venison and pinecone.
Fussyat50
A pre-Christmas celebration for hubby and I. From the warm welcome upon our arrival we were given the best possible experience and of course the food......just as wonderful as ever. Our tasting menu featured such dishes as scallop, a wonderfully seasonally savoury choux bun, partridge and a delicious but fairy-light dessert. My general gripe with tasting meus is that several courses in one feels like surrendering, but not with this one. Just the right amount of food, and not overpowering. We chose the wine paring option and were treated to an imaginative selection that gave us a tasting experience we'd never have worked out for ourselves. We've been coming to the Artichoke since it first opened, some 20 years ago (I loose track of the exact number), and what a delight to see that it is going strong with such a great team.
Very welcoming and incredibly accommodating; especially as our group had a range of dietary requirements.Greatest compliments to the waiting staff and kitchen.
AnnMcGregpr
This was our first visit to Artichoke. The menu was interesting and the food delicious and well presented. The cod was the stand out fish for us. The sommelier was excellent. He was very knowledgable, enthusiastic and engaging and answered all our questions. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the rest of the front of house staff. Their knowledge and enthusiasm was lacking and I have never had something described as ‘stuff’ in a Mechlin star restaurant before. They didn’t know the answers to any of our questions and were not passionate about the food. I expect more.
Lorraine Charlton
Delicious food expertly done. If only I could eat here every week! Thoroughly enjoyed our experience. Particularly the Sarrat apples.Parking: Free on street parking only. Can get busy.
Douglas Fraser
This is a wonderful restaurant and I hesitate to recommend it since it may get even more difficult to obtain a table. However, my reason for commenting is that the last time I booked I used the Google reservation system and it did not work. I wanted to warn others not to use Google for this purpose.
Angela Leslie
A total delight from start to finish, amazing staff with incredible knowledge, particularly the sommelier. The food produced in the kitchen is sublime and the little extras are delightful and just incredible. Still on a high today from our meal last night, thank you.No photos sorry to busy having a lovely time.
We got the tasting menu, most of which was lovely. Very attentive staff and good ambience.
A thoroughly enjoyable experience. This was a joint birthday lunch, and we were treated to friendly, cosmopolitan attention from the Italian receptionist, the delightful Nepalese table waitress and the Provençal manager/sommelier who shared his comprehensive knowledge of the uncommonly special wine flight which accompanied our lunch tasting menu.My companion had said in advance that she would not eat any bread but the black ale bread we were served was so light and full of flavour that she ate all of her share. She also praised the gnocchi and the champagne aperitif. The highlight of the menu for me was the confit duck leg, tender meat under a crispy skin with a bone to pick up and gnaw on. All dishes were the product of culinary ingenuity and decorative art as we have come to expect from restaurants selected for the Guide Michelin .There is ample, low-cost car parking just a short walk away as an alternative to the rather distant (one mile) Metropolitan station.
Taster menu first class,; excellent
What a great restaurant. We really enjoyed our evening. Our party of 4 all selected steak dishes which were cooked to perfection. The service was top notch, our host was the owner and took time to chat with us. Other options looked good but we had halloumi fries and the garlic bread which was soft, puffy, garlicky and quite delicious. A good wine list, but needs some IPAs on the drinks list. The surroundings were pleasant and I have no doubt would be quite lovely in the summer months. Recommended.
Big improvements. Loved the food. Will go again.
The staff are friendly and knowledgeable, the service was impeccable. The food is phenomenal, definitely in the top three meals of my life, and worth every pence! I cannot wait to go back!
We went last night to celebrate a family birthday. Despite arriving 30 minutes early they kindly accommodated us and made us welcome. So a round of cocktails seemed the only sensible option. We opted for the a la carte menu and between us we had literally all the starters and main courses dishes, plus two of the three desserts. Their veal sweetbread appetiser along with the Cornish cod main course earning special praise; but all were really good. Some recent reviews have made mention of service deficiencies. We experienced no issues whatsoever. Indeed Mario was a delight and his advise was welcomed and appreciated. A lovely, high class celebration.
Fantastic place. Food was very tasty and a lot of creative dishes can be found here. My favourite was the Choux Bun because it was very unique and I was not expecting it to be served cold. Desserts were ok, nothing special.Service is fantastic. Restaurant is beautiful. Would recommend as a treat, date night, or just to try some new creative dishes!
A bit too pretentious and full of pomp. Overall fairly poor value for money.Many other great restaurants in the area that offer much more bang for your buck.The staff appear to be a bit too keen to get involved with your meal and the enthusiasm and smiles felt very forced. we had multiple different servers throughout the night and overall it felt awkward. Something I’ve never experienced at a restaurant before. It was very disengaged and off putting when they seemed fairly relentless on ensuring you ordered another glass of wine or other drink every few minutes. Many were friendly and lovely people, but the whole experience was inconsistent and overwhelming.We had the full tasting menu, which had many courses.The bread and first few starters (scallop, pumpkin soup, sweetbread) were outstanding. The picked apple with the scallop was incredible. With the chioux bun, the staff made a weird point of telling us that it wasn’t grated cheese, but chestnuts on top in a very proud way. After that it all fell apart. The halibut was bitter and the venison was cooked poorly - not to mention it was brought out 5 minutes after a large plate of chestnuts and pine branches was placed in front of you where the smaller plate with food was then put.The sides with the venison were borderline inedible. My partner couldn’t finish hers, and I left the chestnuts and pinecones (who’d have thought?) after trying some of each and barely being able to keep them down.The portions were very small for a £120pp meal, where drinks are £15+ each and even just flat water is £5! Not to mention a “discretionary” 12.5% service charge.For £350, we left wanting more of some things but also less of many. The main (venison) left much to be desired. It really should bring it all home and tie things together - but this dish challenges you too much and leaves the meal in a bad place after starting off so well. Should be simpler and more palatable to a wide audience so people don’t leave hungry after not really wanting half the main.Overall, we knew there would be one of two outcomes from going here - ideally, a meal that we loved but was too expensive to eat often, or something that was poor value for money and we wouldn’t do again. Sadly it was the latter.Lesson learned, and will stick to other nearby places we know where the service isn’t so awkward, and you get a lot more for your money than a few bites of poorly cooked venison and pinecone.
A pre-Christmas celebration for hubby and I. From the warm welcome upon our arrival we were given the best possible experience and of course the food......just as wonderful as ever. Our tasting menu featured such dishes as scallop, a wonderfully seasonally savoury choux bun, partridge and a delicious but fairy-light dessert. My general gripe with tasting meus is that several courses in one feels like surrendering, but not with this one. Just the right amount of food, and not overpowering. We chose the wine paring option and were treated to an imaginative selection that gave us a tasting experience we'd never have worked out for ourselves. We've been coming to the Artichoke since it first opened, some 20 years ago (I loose track of the exact number), and what a delight to see that it is going strong with such a great team.
Restaurantji Recommends
Very welcoming and incredibly accommodating; especially as our group had a range of dietary requirements.Greatest compliments to the waiting staff and kitchen.
This was our first visit to Artichoke. The menu was interesting and the food delicious and well presented. The cod was the stand out fish for us. The sommelier was excellent. He was very knowledgable, enthusiastic and engaging and answered all our questions. Unfortunately the same could not be said for the rest of the front of house staff. Their knowledge and enthusiasm was lacking and I have never had something described as ‘stuff’ in a Mechlin star restaurant before. They didn’t know the answers to any of our questions and were not passionate about the food. I expect more.
Delicious food expertly done. If only I could eat here every week! Thoroughly enjoyed our experience. Particularly the Sarrat apples.Parking: Free on street parking only. Can get busy.
This is a wonderful restaurant and I hesitate to recommend it since it may get even more difficult to obtain a table. However, my reason for commenting is that the last time I booked I used the Google reservation system and it did not work. I wanted to warn others not to use Google for this purpose.
A total delight from start to finish, amazing staff with incredible knowledge, particularly the sommelier. The food produced in the kitchen is sublime and the little extras are delightful and just incredible. Still on a high today from our meal last night, thank you.No photos sorry to busy having a lovely time.