THE WARRINGTON – Maida Vale, London 0

http://www.gordonramsay.com/thewarrington/

You know when your parents warn you about something…..repetitively…..like every day…..and the more they warn you, the less you want to listen…..It’s almost like their warning to NOT do whatever it is they are talking about makes you REALLY WANT to do it even more??….Well……welcome to THE WARRINGTON – the land of WARNINGS.

Ok – let me explain.

Since forever, I have wanted to eat here. It’s not too far from home, the building is really funky, great pub downstairs, cool atmosphere blah blah blah. So, every time the topic of pubs or restaurants has come up with friends (i.e. 24/7) I have mentioned The Warrington, asking if my friends had been / had heard anything about it etc.

Each and every time ,without fail,  people have said one of the following two things (or something similar) ”I’ve been there and it’s crap” or ”I know people who went there and were really disappointed”.

ALARM BELLS

…..should hand rung loudly in my ears……

But they did not….to me, it was an invitation to see for myself…..

But every time I went to book, I thought ”why?”…..”why ignore these warnings from family and friends who I know and trust and who know me and the type of food that I like and places that I go” So I didn’t book…..for a long time….UNTIL…..

I DID….

I made a pact to myself that I would not write ”negative” reviews on this blog, figuring that people are looking for places TO GO, not places NOT TO GO TO – But I am breaking my pact.

To be honest, I don’t want to go into a billion details about everything that was wrong with the joint – but broadly speaking; poor service (empty glasses piling up and up on our table, cutlery arriving at the same time as our mains, having to ask for our drinks again and again etc) small menu (I eat EVERYTHING and I struggled to find something that I thought sounded delicious – I settled on the potted duck – dry, not enough bread, not enough onion relish), small servings and pretty ordinary taste-wise – the servings weren’t trendy/ridiculous tiny but they certainly weren’t pub grub main course size – as I was saying to a friend, if they were trendy tiny, I could at least appreciate that it was some Ramsay-esque attempt at being ”pubby” but it just felt a bit like boarding school – always being hungry after! As far as taste goes – yeah…whatever…..nice….ok….but uh uh (*shakes head*) not on! In addition – the first thing they taught us at Cordon Bleu about fish, was MAKE IT LOOK TASTY – no one wants to eat a piece of fish with shiny silver fatty skin facing upwards on the plate – and that’s how the fish was served. Skin on a fish should always be crispy and yummy looking, either pan fried or covered with a nice stuffing or garnish – even I know that!

Dessert was ok – can’t say it was bad but have had better pudding from Waitrose!

Lesson: CHILDREN – LISTEN TO YOUR PARENTS! (Deciphered: When mates tell you not to bother going somewhere – don’t go!)

As a side note: I must mention that the company we had on the night was fantastic and so our overall evening was pretty good – just SUCH a shame the food/venue let us down so badly.