Chiswick, The

R Singh (16 January 2003)

Admittedly, this is a copy of a review I wrote quite a while back. Since the opening of La Trompette, things may have improved....

What was once a great restaurant in a beautiful part of West London, The Chiswick seems to have succumbed to a level of complacency in the last year or so. Frequent visits (yes, "frequent", one lives with eternal hope!) have resulted in dismal and often blatant poor service; lackadaisical food and poor value for money. I have had the worst squid I can remember, overpowered by too much squid-ink sauce that left all the other ingredients (prawn, mussels) with a neutral flavour. The indifferent staff make no attempts to improve the waiting time of serving the first and second courses (on three occasions I have had to wait up to 45 minutes for the main course). On every visit made, I have had to wait more than 15 minutes for the bill and subsequently deduct the service charge.

Good points: good wine, great coffee and petit-fours, nice interior and ambience (austere lime-green walls) with a proper demarcated non-smoking section.

Any chance of The Chiswick renaissance? For the sceptics and those wanting a good meal should make a bee-line for GRANO ...

PS. Grano has now closed.