Andrew Roberts (21 April 2008)

I went with a group of twelve friends to Refuel at The Soho Hotel. We arrived early for our 3pm booking and decided to have drinks in the bar area, which has a rather contemporary feel to it. Service was very slow – both taking orders and serving and we had long waits between courses. I ordered chilli crab cakes with aioli, which was quite tasty, although the breadcrumbs were soggy. My partner ordered shaved fennel, feta, bacon and chive salad, which he said was tasteless. We both ordered the mixed grill for mains, which we thought would have a lot of meat. This is a £20 plate and doesn't come with anything else, so should be quite substantial. Well, when it turned up it the portions were very small. In fact my crab cake starter was more substantial than the mains we had. I ordered a portion of hand cut chips with mine, just to bulk out the plate but again the portions were small. I asked for some mayonnaise or aioli to go with the chips and they said they would bring some, but they didn't. We were not offered a dessert menu. At £80 per person, we expected better quality, quantity and service, but were disappointed as we got none.