The Brasserie at The Cumberland

Great meeting with a group of friends. Very quiet when we took part in a Saturday noon, but that was not a bad thing. Delicious food and pleasant surroundings. Fast service in general. Good price for a lunch menu in a hotel, although we were a little surprised by the steep price of teas.

The staff was very friendly, efficient and attentive. The brasserie is strong and unwilling. The food was nice.

I booked this for me and my friend because of his proximity to our site and thought 3/5 would do for a humble dinner at the end of the day as we were hungry. Big mistake while traveling as a brasserie, the food was more in line with the burgers, steaks and salads served in weather podons, but far below the standard. One of the few still decent looking dishes on the menu was the lampshades, it was too fat and greasy and the potato too hard to finish for my ever starving friend. The avocado and pancetta salad was first dirty, it contained normal bacon, not pancetta and second, the game was so drowned in Balsamico vinegar that everything I could taste was soggy, mucous leaves. Although the service was ok, the ambience was dirty. The brasserie looks like a trendy restaurant as you can see on the site, but it only looks empty, most of the time. If you go to a restaurant on a Friday night and its empty, though for a table, you feel quite reluctant to actually admit, you have a reservation. it had the feeling of a huge empty atrium that you could find in a hotel lobby or possibly airport atrium. The view of the place just didn't work, the food was dirty and seemed like they were trying to be trendy after pub menus of 10 years ago and to worry about the nearby tourism market, but overall it was terrible and I'm embarrassed to have found it on an open table and taken my friend there, provided it was pretty nice.

When we arrived, our booking was not made, although we had a confirmation email from Opentable. I don't know if it was the fault of Opentable or the restaurant. Fortunately, there were many tables available so there was no problem. The restaurant is spacious and airy. There was a pretty lush atmosphere with many diners, it was of course a Saturday night. The waiting staff were polite and polite, but you think they needed a few more than they seemed to squash around and a bit more fun. The food was really good, nice and simple and not too elegant. I started with smoked salmon that was really good. My most important chicken breast in red wine was beautiful. For dessert, I had the apple cake Tatin, which was delicious. The wine is a bit expensive, but a good selection of wines. It is not too bad for a central London hotel. Would definitely return.

Food was cold and soggy, roast potatoes were wet and Yorkshire pudding was tough. Variety was very poor and starters were very small. Would not return, a poor Sunday lunch.