I won’t return and wouldn’t recommend this restaurant. On paper it’s all great but the actual experience was very hit and miss. I feel like a restaurant with a small menu should have honed the dishes but it wasn’t the case. It was such a disappointment. Positives: Great location. Nice decor. Cod brandade starter - loved it. Dessert was delicious (banoffee). Food presentation is lovely. The non alcoholic cocktails are lovely. Set menu price is very reasonable. Large bottle of sparkling water with complimentary refill, less than £4. Once seated, service was good. Negatives: Restaurant called the day before and once I confirmed my reservation they hung up without saying goodbye; I laughed it off but it was dismissive and rude. Absolutely no staff upstairs at all when we arrived at 12pm and we were left waiting with another 2 bookings before finally being seated. £28 for a glass of Meursault which wasn’t chilled. The food presentation was lovely but a lot of it lacked any flavour/seasoning (beetroot salad, pork belly, salsify tagliatelle). Food wasn’t particularly hot, I feel the salsify tagliatelle should be cooked a little softer if it’s mimicking pasta and the sauce should have some flavour, the pork belly was barely warm, skin was soft and not crispy. No salt and pepper on the tables. £9 for a tiny side of potatoes.
Lydia Y.
Frenchie is one of the hardest tables to get in Paris so we went to London instead. This was a dinner that IMPRESSED Everything tasted so good I devoured every bite. My absolute fav was the leek. It was so simple yet the flavor combo rly elevated it to a whole another level. The slightly charred layers of the leek and the chervil emulsion were a match made by foodie gods Another must order is the foie gras. The layers of the liver and cherry were buttery, fruity, and so delicate. Go with a lot of people so you can taste it all! Barbequed Leeks £8* Foie Gras Pressé £20* Middle White Pork £36 Lamb Ragu Parppadelle £18 Bacon Scone £4.5* Banoffee £10파리에있는 Frenchie는 예약이 너무 빡세서 런던으로 고고! 기대했던 만큼 맛있다 최애는 대파랑 푸아그라. 두가지다 뭔가 심플하면서 조합이 넘나 맛나서 순삭. 특히 녹진한 간이랑 상콤달달한 체리를 빵에 발라서 먹을때 폴인럽!!! 여럿이 가서 다양하게 시켜먹기~
cvliang
We were really looking forward to Christmas Eve dinner here, but things were really strange here. - Waitress we had seemed like she couldn’t care less. It was almost as if she was tired and not wanting to work even though our reservations were at 5:30 and it was the beginning of dinner service. - They only offered the Christmas menu. No other options. This information was not updated on their menu. - The food tasted above average. We ordered several scones (very good). My husband and son ordered the pork belly and monk fish and they shared their entrees. I’m not sure what was contaminated, but both of them got severely ill with watery diarrhea the next day all day. I was ok, but I didn’t eat the same food as I am vegetarian and ordered the salsify “pasta.” We traced back all of the food they both had and the only thing that was the same was the shared entrees at Frenchie. Be careful of what you order here.
bucknall2012
After initially being met by a pleasant front of house staff member who apologised for not being able to seat us earlier due to the overrunning lunch service we were seated. To note the tables are close together so you are seated close to other diners. We waited……and waited and then managed to get the attention of a waitress who wasn’t that interested in taking our order and cut us off when we tried to confirm our order. She repeated our order which was wrong, we corrected her and awaited our meals from the set pre- theatre menu. In the mean time we asked what champagne was available - the response was just one - no detail etc provided so we asked for a drinks menu. The nibble was lovely and we then were waiting for 30 mins for our starters, we enquired were they were as we had a show to get to, the waiter advised he had checked……but wasn’t able to advise on when we would expect the dishes ? We were awaiting our starters ….instead our main dishes came out. We advised we were waiting for starters the waiter informed us that there were none on our order….we corrected him. There wasn’t really a response on how they planned to handle, or mains were out on the table and then starters arrived. Crab starter was inedible - pepper and other seasoning dumped on top with no flavouring to the dish , it was a mouthful of powder and bland paste. The main tagliatelle dish was inedible- just tasted of pepper, the diner next to us burnt her throat and was unable to eat anything else. We struck up conversation to confirm it wasn’t us and that the dish was inedible. We asked the staff if it was meant to taste of pepper - they confirmed the dish wasn’t right. We returned the dish and the pork belly was a nice replacement. They did bring two glasses of champagne however it was a chaotic experience. Initial waitress uninterested in listening to orders and getting them right, second waiter trying his best but not listening or resolving the issues, inedible food, lack of engagement from management when we were trying to explain that we just wanted what we ordered and to have it in the appropriate order and for it to be edible, a side dish never arrived and there was no explanation. We asked for a reduced bill due to the issues we had experienced. They tried to charge us for dishes that were inedible and food that never arrived. We asked asked again for those to be removed they then decided to add back in the drinks that hadn’t been included on the bill so it was then double the original bill price. I challenged this again as it was illogical to not charge us and then decided to add detail back in, they also tried to charge for tap water. I think to avoid any more discussions they gave us the meal complementary which was finally a nice gesture and recognised the issues we had had. We empathised as it had obviously been a challenging session due to overrunning lunch service however from other reviews seems to be regular disappointment. Avoid at all costs - go to the Chinese restaurant down the road
Barbara R
Just awful. The staff ranged from charmless to incompetent. Plates and cutlery plonked down on top of the menus. No attempt at politeness or conviviality. The menu has a limited choice which may indicate that the food on offer will be of the highest calibre. Unfortunately, the reality was a pretentious mixture of either disappointing, weird or horrible. And it all came in tiny overpriced portions. Oh no sorry ….the cheese gougeres and potatoes were good.
Maps732893
Very disappointing supper. The restaurant ambience was great, but the staff were aloof and genuinely uninterested. The food was basically strange and minimalist, we all left still feeling hungry. In summary incredibly limited menu, bizarre dishes some of which were generally vile. Sadly I cannot recommend this restaurant.
Sophiag1
There was a group of eight of us, very excited we were going for a meal then the theatre. A couple from our group went there about 15 mins before and were told not to come back until the allocated time. When we all arrived we were taken to our tables and were given the menus. Two from our group had dietary requirements and the restaurant was called up on numerous occasions to check that they could cater for them. The waitress didn’t have a clue about what was what on the menu and took her about 15mins to come back with what the two dietary people could have. The menu itself isn’t very big, from the pre theatre menu to the main menu. Seven chose from the pre theatre menu and the dietary people only had one choice from each section. I chose from the main menu. I had the chicken in a brioche with the trimmings. When all the food arrived (which took such a long time, especially when we know we had a show to go to) the fish mains were cold and my chicken was cold. When asked about it the waitress said that they should be hot. She took the food back and we didn’t get our food again until 6.50pm. When our food was returned to us my chicken was half the size I was given before and the two other dishes didn’t even look like the ones they were given before. On returning the waitress then retracted and said that the fish is meant to be served cold (if that’s the case, state it on the menu) We had to eat it so quickly that to be honest couldn’t enjoy it. So disappointed with the service and after care they gave. No sorry or even come to the table to see if we needed anything else. Can’t say I would Recommend this establishment to anyone. Over price and service terrible for what you pay. We were nearly 2hrs there and the show was starting at 7.30pm.
Honest M.
Really good restaurant - near opera house - many theaters and Covent Garden - in the midst of a whole lot of lousy joints this is an oasis of good chow
Florence W
We were served by a lady who had the most disgusting nails ever, chipped nail polish & all.....Not a great start of our experience. Portions are very small, and no red meat to chose from. We asked for bread with our main course & discovered on the bill that the 3 pieces of bread we got was charged 6 Pounds...... If you take Foie Gras from the 34 Pounds Menu, there is a 12 Pounds extra on bill, it is printed on menu but if you chose a menu you don't look for that. In that case make the menu more expensive. Then to top it all, they automatically charge you a pound for Charity, I asked to have it taken off, by principle........Just ask 1st! Experience was very disappointed & there are lots of other French places to chose from so no big deal.......Just lost time & money there!
John H
Went for pre theatre meal. Nice set up and contrary to some other reviews service was very good. Food was the expected good quality. Downside was the house wine at £50 plus 15% service- also noted that service was taken on the £1 charity donation which was added to the bill! Seemed excessive, even for this part of London.
I visited Frenchie at the end of November on a Friday evening for dinner. A member of my party arrived early and was seated at the bar, she was handed a wine list (not a drinks menu) and had to wait a long time to even be acknowledged by the bar staff (let alone served). When we all arrived, we were seated near the door. This was very cold. There is no curtain or real divider between the waiting area and the restaurant so when the door was opened (or left open by other customers) there was a terrible draught. I had to ask at least twice for the wine menu and three times for a drink to be brought to one of my family members despite the drinks being brought out for everyone else on the table. It took the staff around 10-15 minutes to take our drinks order and, at the same time, our food order. She did not write any of this down which we thought was impressive until the main courses arrived without any of sides that we had ordered. Clearly the waitress had forgotten to send the sides order through to the kitchen. It took about another 5 minutes for the sides to arrive (at which point our food had been sat on our table for almost 10 minutes). The food was ok, it did not blow me away and, as we had had to wait for the sides to arrive, it was cold by the time we came to eat it. The puddings were tasty and probably a highlight of the otherwise dismal evening. When the bill came there were mistakes - there was a £27 glass of wine that had been added to the bill (we had ordered a bottle of completely different wine that was also on the bill) and the sides that had been delayed in being brought to our table were on the bill (despite being told by the waitress that they would be complimentary due to the delay). These items were removed from the bill but then a separate member of staff brought along the card machine and no one apologised for the error with the bill. In all, the service really let the restaurant down. Despite it being a Friday evening, the restaurant was not busy but a combination of being served by at least 4 waiting staff (meaning that no one really seemed to know what was going on) and the delay and lack of an apology from staff for their very poor service means I will not be returning.
Lewys B
Really awful. Took a while to be seated after the time we had booked. Then took 15 minutes to be offered a drink . After we requested spoke to the sommelier who was brilliant. Beyond this food was really bad, I was served undercooked chicken and when we complained staff avoided us for the rest of the night. Really awful experience and very upset.
KS1509
Unfortunately I have to agree with many of the reviews on here that the only thing letting this restaurant down is the service. And one particular waitress who was so shockingly rude I genuinely couldn’t believe the arrogance on her. I’ll definitely be taking this further as I’m sure the owner would be mortified knowing how she’s treating customers. FYI she has brunette hair and a lip ring piercing. The food is absolutely delightful- 10/10, the bacon and maple syrup scones were one of the best things I have ever eaten! But I just can’t bring myself to be positive about Frenchie due to the rude waitress. There were 9 of us and we asked 4 times for a dessert wine menu, they forgot to bring out our puddings, the waitress made comments when we asked where our sides were ‘uhhh yeah I haven’t brought them out yet’ and to top it off she rolled her eyes at us and said ‘are they still here’. If I wasn’t with my work colleagues I would have dealt with her in a different way, but that’s another story. Anyway- if you want fabulous food give it a go but be aware of the shocking service you’ll receive
Alice Hblt
Very nice place in Coven Garden. The food is fabulous and the manager too. I will come back again !
Emily B
So disappointing! Totally disinterested staff. It went from bad to worse. It felt like the staff had all been told they were working their last shift. No one cared. Things were forgotten, service was rude and disjointed. We couldn’t wait to get out of there.
I won’t return and wouldn’t recommend this restaurant. On paper it’s all great but the actual experience was very hit and miss. I feel like a restaurant with a small menu should have honed the dishes but it wasn’t the case. It was such a disappointment. Positives: Great location. Nice decor. Cod brandade starter - loved it. Dessert was delicious (banoffee). Food presentation is lovely. The non alcoholic cocktails are lovely. Set menu price is very reasonable. Large bottle of sparkling water with complimentary refill, less than £4. Once seated, service was good. Negatives: Restaurant called the day before and once I confirmed my reservation they hung up without saying goodbye; I laughed it off but it was dismissive and rude. Absolutely no staff upstairs at all when we arrived at 12pm and we were left waiting with another 2 bookings before finally being seated. £28 for a glass of Meursault which wasn’t chilled. The food presentation was lovely but a lot of it lacked any flavour/seasoning (beetroot salad, pork belly, salsify tagliatelle). Food wasn’t particularly hot, I feel the salsify tagliatelle should be cooked a little softer if it’s mimicking pasta and the sauce should have some flavour, the pork belly was barely warm, skin was soft and not crispy. No salt and pepper on the tables. £9 for a tiny side of potatoes.
Frenchie is one of the hardest tables to get in Paris so we went to London instead. This was a dinner that IMPRESSED Everything tasted so good I devoured every bite. My absolute fav was the leek. It was so simple yet the flavor combo rly elevated it to a whole another level. The slightly charred layers of the leek and the chervil emulsion were a match made by foodie gods Another must order is the foie gras. The layers of the liver and cherry were buttery, fruity, and so delicate. Go with a lot of people so you can taste it all! Barbequed Leeks £8* Foie Gras Pressé £20* Middle White Pork £36 Lamb Ragu Parppadelle £18 Bacon Scone £4.5* Banoffee £10파리에있는 Frenchie는 예약이 너무 빡세서 런던으로 고고! 기대했던 만큼 맛있다 최애는 대파랑 푸아그라. 두가지다 뭔가 심플하면서 조합이 넘나 맛나서 순삭. 특히 녹진한 간이랑 상콤달달한 체리를 빵에 발라서 먹을때 폴인럽!!! 여럿이 가서 다양하게 시켜먹기~
We were really looking forward to Christmas Eve dinner here, but things were really strange here. - Waitress we had seemed like she couldn’t care less. It was almost as if she was tired and not wanting to work even though our reservations were at 5:30 and it was the beginning of dinner service. - They only offered the Christmas menu. No other options. This information was not updated on their menu. - The food tasted above average. We ordered several scones (very good). My husband and son ordered the pork belly and monk fish and they shared their entrees. I’m not sure what was contaminated, but both of them got severely ill with watery diarrhea the next day all day. I was ok, but I didn’t eat the same food as I am vegetarian and ordered the salsify “pasta.” We traced back all of the food they both had and the only thing that was the same was the shared entrees at Frenchie. Be careful of what you order here.
After initially being met by a pleasant front of house staff member who apologised for not being able to seat us earlier due to the overrunning lunch service we were seated. To note the tables are close together so you are seated close to other diners. We waited……and waited and then managed to get the attention of a waitress who wasn’t that interested in taking our order and cut us off when we tried to confirm our order. She repeated our order which was wrong, we corrected her and awaited our meals from the set pre- theatre menu. In the mean time we asked what champagne was available - the response was just one - no detail etc provided so we asked for a drinks menu. The nibble was lovely and we then were waiting for 30 mins for our starters, we enquired were they were as we had a show to get to, the waiter advised he had checked……but wasn’t able to advise on when we would expect the dishes ? We were awaiting our starters ….instead our main dishes came out. We advised we were waiting for starters the waiter informed us that there were none on our order….we corrected him. There wasn’t really a response on how they planned to handle, or mains were out on the table and then starters arrived. Crab starter was inedible - pepper and other seasoning dumped on top with no flavouring to the dish , it was a mouthful of powder and bland paste. The main tagliatelle dish was inedible- just tasted of pepper, the diner next to us burnt her throat and was unable to eat anything else. We struck up conversation to confirm it wasn’t us and that the dish was inedible. We asked the staff if it was meant to taste of pepper - they confirmed the dish wasn’t right. We returned the dish and the pork belly was a nice replacement. They did bring two glasses of champagne however it was a chaotic experience. Initial waitress uninterested in listening to orders and getting them right, second waiter trying his best but not listening or resolving the issues, inedible food, lack of engagement from management when we were trying to explain that we just wanted what we ordered and to have it in the appropriate order and for it to be edible, a side dish never arrived and there was no explanation. We asked for a reduced bill due to the issues we had experienced. They tried to charge us for dishes that were inedible and food that never arrived. We asked asked again for those to be removed they then decided to add back in the drinks that hadn’t been included on the bill so it was then double the original bill price. I challenged this again as it was illogical to not charge us and then decided to add detail back in, they also tried to charge for tap water. I think to avoid any more discussions they gave us the meal complementary which was finally a nice gesture and recognised the issues we had had. We empathised as it had obviously been a challenging session due to overrunning lunch service however from other reviews seems to be regular disappointment. Avoid at all costs - go to the Chinese restaurant down the road
Just awful. The staff ranged from charmless to incompetent. Plates and cutlery plonked down on top of the menus. No attempt at politeness or conviviality. The menu has a limited choice which may indicate that the food on offer will be of the highest calibre. Unfortunately, the reality was a pretentious mixture of either disappointing, weird or horrible. And it all came in tiny overpriced portions. Oh no sorry ….the cheese gougeres and potatoes were good.
Very disappointing supper. The restaurant ambience was great, but the staff were aloof and genuinely uninterested. The food was basically strange and minimalist, we all left still feeling hungry. In summary incredibly limited menu, bizarre dishes some of which were generally vile. Sadly I cannot recommend this restaurant.
There was a group of eight of us, very excited we were going for a meal then the theatre. A couple from our group went there about 15 mins before and were told not to come back until the allocated time. When we all arrived we were taken to our tables and were given the menus. Two from our group had dietary requirements and the restaurant was called up on numerous occasions to check that they could cater for them. The waitress didn’t have a clue about what was what on the menu and took her about 15mins to come back with what the two dietary people could have. The menu itself isn’t very big, from the pre theatre menu to the main menu. Seven chose from the pre theatre menu and the dietary people only had one choice from each section. I chose from the main menu. I had the chicken in a brioche with the trimmings. When all the food arrived (which took such a long time, especially when we know we had a show to go to) the fish mains were cold and my chicken was cold. When asked about it the waitress said that they should be hot. She took the food back and we didn’t get our food again until 6.50pm. When our food was returned to us my chicken was half the size I was given before and the two other dishes didn’t even look like the ones they were given before. On returning the waitress then retracted and said that the fish is meant to be served cold (if that’s the case, state it on the menu) We had to eat it so quickly that to be honest couldn’t enjoy it. So disappointed with the service and after care they gave. No sorry or even come to the table to see if we needed anything else. Can’t say I would Recommend this establishment to anyone. Over price and service terrible for what you pay. We were nearly 2hrs there and the show was starting at 7.30pm.
Really good restaurant - near opera house - many theaters and Covent Garden - in the midst of a whole lot of lousy joints this is an oasis of good chow
We were served by a lady who had the most disgusting nails ever, chipped nail polish & all.....Not a great start of our experience. Portions are very small, and no red meat to chose from. We asked for bread with our main course & discovered on the bill that the 3 pieces of bread we got was charged 6 Pounds...... If you take Foie Gras from the 34 Pounds Menu, there is a 12 Pounds extra on bill, it is printed on menu but if you chose a menu you don't look for that. In that case make the menu more expensive. Then to top it all, they automatically charge you a pound for Charity, I asked to have it taken off, by principle........Just ask 1st! Experience was very disappointed & there are lots of other French places to chose from so no big deal.......Just lost time & money there!
Went for pre theatre meal. Nice set up and contrary to some other reviews service was very good. Food was the expected good quality. Downside was the house wine at £50 plus 15% service- also noted that service was taken on the £1 charity donation which was added to the bill! Seemed excessive, even for this part of London.
Restaurantji Recommends
I visited Frenchie at the end of November on a Friday evening for dinner. A member of my party arrived early and was seated at the bar, she was handed a wine list (not a drinks menu) and had to wait a long time to even be acknowledged by the bar staff (let alone served). When we all arrived, we were seated near the door. This was very cold. There is no curtain or real divider between the waiting area and the restaurant so when the door was opened (or left open by other customers) there was a terrible draught. I had to ask at least twice for the wine menu and three times for a drink to be brought to one of my family members despite the drinks being brought out for everyone else on the table. It took the staff around 10-15 minutes to take our drinks order and, at the same time, our food order. She did not write any of this down which we thought was impressive until the main courses arrived without any of sides that we had ordered. Clearly the waitress had forgotten to send the sides order through to the kitchen. It took about another 5 minutes for the sides to arrive (at which point our food had been sat on our table for almost 10 minutes). The food was ok, it did not blow me away and, as we had had to wait for the sides to arrive, it was cold by the time we came to eat it. The puddings were tasty and probably a highlight of the otherwise dismal evening. When the bill came there were mistakes - there was a £27 glass of wine that had been added to the bill (we had ordered a bottle of completely different wine that was also on the bill) and the sides that had been delayed in being brought to our table were on the bill (despite being told by the waitress that they would be complimentary due to the delay). These items were removed from the bill but then a separate member of staff brought along the card machine and no one apologised for the error with the bill. In all, the service really let the restaurant down. Despite it being a Friday evening, the restaurant was not busy but a combination of being served by at least 4 waiting staff (meaning that no one really seemed to know what was going on) and the delay and lack of an apology from staff for their very poor service means I will not be returning.
Really awful. Took a while to be seated after the time we had booked. Then took 15 minutes to be offered a drink . After we requested spoke to the sommelier who was brilliant. Beyond this food was really bad, I was served undercooked chicken and when we complained staff avoided us for the rest of the night. Really awful experience and very upset.
Unfortunately I have to agree with many of the reviews on here that the only thing letting this restaurant down is the service. And one particular waitress who was so shockingly rude I genuinely couldn’t believe the arrogance on her. I’ll definitely be taking this further as I’m sure the owner would be mortified knowing how she’s treating customers. FYI she has brunette hair and a lip ring piercing. The food is absolutely delightful- 10/10, the bacon and maple syrup scones were one of the best things I have ever eaten! But I just can’t bring myself to be positive about Frenchie due to the rude waitress. There were 9 of us and we asked 4 times for a dessert wine menu, they forgot to bring out our puddings, the waitress made comments when we asked where our sides were ‘uhhh yeah I haven’t brought them out yet’ and to top it off she rolled her eyes at us and said ‘are they still here’. If I wasn’t with my work colleagues I would have dealt with her in a different way, but that’s another story. Anyway- if you want fabulous food give it a go but be aware of the shocking service you’ll receive
Very nice place in Coven Garden. The food is fabulous and the manager too. I will come back again !
So disappointing! Totally disinterested staff. It went from bad to worse. It felt like the staff had all been told they were working their last shift. No one cared. Things were forgotten, service was rude and disjointed. We couldn’t wait to get out of there.