York & Albany

My husband who is a long serving fire-fighter at one of London's busiest fire stations was recently awarded a Ramsay Voucher via his work. We had been very excited, yet undecided which restaurant to use the voucher at. We decided on York & Albany as a colleague of his had recommended it. My husband booked a table for us for 3pm Saturday 29 October 2011. We followed the directions provided on their website and allowed good time for delays and for the fact that I am heavily pregnant and can 'waddle a little slower' at the moment. We arrived at the restaurant a 3.06pm (6 minutes late). The bar staff directed us to the restaurant there were no staff to greet us immediately, however a well-mannered waitress passed us within a minute or so and asked if she could help. Whilst she was ticking us off the reservation list, what appeared to be a 'hostess' moved between us and the waitress, she ignored us and tutted, waggling her finger at the waitress saying "No. No. No!". We were puzzled how she could be so rude to her colleague when we realised she wasn’t criticising her colleague she was insulting us; ignoring us but instructing the waitress not to seat us as we were late. It was now only about 3.08pm. My husband asked what the problem may be and the 'hostess' curtly said without even making eye contact "What time did you book?". My husband confirmed 3pm. She then tutted again and said "3pm? Well you are late and the kitchen is now closed". I explained in a light hearted friendly manner that I am a little slower than usual walking as I am pregnant, and that we were only about 5 minutes late anyway; which is time that could have been swallowed up by us taking time looking at a menu anyway. There were several covers still left in the dining area who were still eating. My husband suggested if they could then contact one of their sister restaurants, who's kitchen was not closed, to see if they had availability and we would pop in a cab there. She completely ignored our request, and us, and reluctantly after speaking with her colleague said she would ask the chef if he would allow us to stay (??!) We both agreed that if the staff didn’t want to serve us and the chef closed the kitchen at 3pm (when our table had in fact been booked for) then we didn’t want to stay and feel uncomfortable and have half hearted input by the restaurant.

Oh do grow up - there seems to be a preponderence of people thinking that this is going to be a £9.95 burger and a pint joint - don't act all surprised when you realise it's actually a decent restaurant. Staff aren't ponsy [sic] - they are professional. We've had the set lunch, the sunday lunch and today, the a la carte. On all occasions we spent a fair bit - yes, prices are 'optimistic' but on all occasions we were treated very well and left with a warm glow. Today - assiette of smoked rabbit, and rump of lamb. We recommend the decent selection of wines by the half litre caraffe - even a decent albarinho. However, the place was half empty on the thursday before the Royal Wedding, and it's starting to show a few cracks. One of the ladies toilets was out of order, another grubby, and the caraffe serving the white wine full of red wine residue. Changed happily enough as you'd expect, and overall a pleasant enough meal. Apparently there will be a change of direction soon - the same menu in the bar as in the restaurant, with the formal attire of the witing staff changed to jeans and aprons, which might make it a bit more pubby. The loss will be in the restaurant, but if the place survives by adapting, then fair enough.

On our first visit to the York and Albany we had sunday lunch and our daughter was served a cooked caterpillar on her pizza, disguised by the rocket. They apologised but added it to the bill anyway. Yes, i know, we shouldn't have gone back but we did...

Today we walked out - furious. We had booked a table for breakfast but when we were shown to the table it was so low that we couldn't physically get our legs under it. Amazing for such a high grade restaurant. The waitress said there were no other tables - although one had a reserved sign on it. When we asked to sit there she said oh no, the people had reserved that particular table. We could see why no one would book the table for munchkins!

She said we could sit at the bar on high stools - surprisingly we didn't want to eat the £25/head breakfast on a high stool. The waitress then left us and started serving people while we stood there. It became evident that they weren't interested so we just walked out in disgust.

Although we love good food and nice surroundings while eating it there is nothing we hold more highly than good and warm service - if you want this don't go to the York and Albany. They haven't got a clue.

We recently booked a table for sunday roast at York and Albany but was very very disapointed with the service in fact we could hardly believe it, on arrival we were seated and asked would we like drinks we ordered drinks and then we were told that they had in fact run out of beef, pork,lamb and chicken which left us no choice of sunday lunch at all, we asked the glum faced waitress why she had not told us before we ordered drinks and were told these things happen, planes don't always take off and trains are missed we could not believe her careless attiitude,as we had been seated we then felt obligated to at least try the menu as we were hungry, but found that they had no meat at all left, the waitress then said she had managed to get some roast beef so we ordered, we then were given the bill and had been charged fifteen pound extra when asked what this was for she said it was because she had found us the beef, I was uncomfortable throughout the whole meal and when I questioned the price which is something I would normally never do I was told if you don't like it don't come back, don't worry gordon I would never come back to your two bob resteraunt the staff have serious attitude problems all in all a very uncomfortable expensive evening.

We dined at the York and ALbany on Saturday evening and sat at the back of the restaurant next to the floor to ceiling window. To say it was drafty and cold would be an understatement. The menu was 'ponsy' and whilst even i have a varied taste, there were only two things i recognised as anywhere near possible. All four of use changed the courses and i ended up with the smallest baked fish have ever seen. Smaller than a fish finger! All in all, if you like ponsy restaurants with ponsy waiting staff, then this restaurant is for you. Although we were moved (eventually) Its definately not for me. Oh...one more thing...dont ask for salt or pepper. The chef is likely to come out and ask you why you want it.... 'so confident is the chef that you wont need them' was the response when i asked for pepper! Gordon...you are definately taking the f**king pis*.

Was very excited to find Time Out recommending The York & Albany somewhere for breakfast so close to home but was so disappointed I wondered who exactly had eaten there to make this recommendation. Coffee as mentioned was just about adequate. Husband ordered kippers but was brought a ring of CAPERS the size of a 2p piece, My muesli was more like sawdust that anything edible, no nuts or fruit to be seen. Cutlery was also a problem, No spoon for the muesli or teaspoon for the coffee. The restaurant is extremely comfortable as long as you're not interested in eating or drinking anything!!!