Smollensky's On The Strand

We weren't visiting the restaurant on the best of days since at the time of our lunch visit the grill's extractor fan was out of order and we had to choose our food from a limited list. Luckily this wasn't really an issue and we had a nice meal, and the fan was quickly sorted to the relief of the staff. The level of communication was great and the staff was really nice. We enjoyed the Cajun chicken, fries and a Ceasar salad and were happy with the food. Cesar salad as a main would have needed for me an appetizer to be substantial enough, but you can always fix that with a dessert... In our eyes the prices were ok, the central location has an effect and the surroundings were very enjoyable. Will visit them again to try the steak or burgers!

It could have been good. Staff very friendly but terrible at service. Were seated and given menus, then waited about 15min until we finally got someone's attention by waving at someone like a lunatic (it wasn't busy). Drinks came and also the starter pretty quick. So far so good. Mains came which according to the menu was with sweet potato fries with the chicken, arrived with normal fries. Mentioned it and got sweet potato fries. Steak was ordered medium but it was almost raw abs chewy plus cold. I looked around a few times for someone but no luck. So I just chewed it. We ordered one dessert at the time of order and after finishing the mains again nobody came for about 15min until we got up and actually had to tell someone who was leisurely cleaning empty tables. We didn't have much time left as we had theatre tickets. Dessert came and we ask for the bill at the same time. Then actually our server came to ask how the food was. He was apologetic about it. Of course the bill was wrong it didn't consider the menu price we had chosen. I guess we just won't be back.

I visited Smollensky's with a group of friends, six of us in all, on a weeknight. Booking through their website was really easy and we had no problems getting the table. The restaurant itself is a nice one to be in, everything seemed to be well maintained and smart. There were some nice touches such as the chandeliers, though there was nothing extraordinary. Just a solid, comfortable bar in which to have food with some mates. The food itself was great. I had a halloumi and mushroom burger and it was one of the better one's I've ever had. The cocktails and food combined was priced at standard London over the top figures - the cocktails being what let them down as they weren't particularly good. The only real bug bear I had with Smollensky's, was that the staff seemed to want us out of there ASAP, despite the fact that there were hardly any other diners present (only about 6 tables in all). They returned to the table quite frequently to ask whether we had finished and we noticed them watching us a bit. Though I was very grateful to the waitress who came over and offered to take a photo of the group for me when she saw we were having pictures.

Very disappointed. Been before and had a few problems but tonight there was a whole list so unfortunately we won't be going back. Such a shame as a great venue! Late being seated and just left to wait. No garnish as watercress had ran out! Most people's steak had fat running through it. We were overcharged 100 on bill. Service was slow. A glass of gin was £11.00 and barman was rude when someone commented on how expensive that was!