Brasserie Zédel

Whilst this may-be French by some poor London standards, its definitely no French by French standards. Its a nice big venue and atmospheric and cooler than usual lunch place. But the food is really just alright, you get much better for the same price in any French-speaking country. For the quality it offers, the price is just right in my opinion. And right because its Piccadilly, not because the food is great. In fact, les Escargot is certainly better in Cafe Rouge that is the chain as we know. And frittes are not particularly good either. Zedel is actually very average. The service was good though so no complains about this.

You get what you pay for and this is not the Wolseley. Brasserie Zedel is reasonably priced for the location and some of the food was alright, but the portions are small and the quality of the dishes varies greatly. The starter, "concombres a la creme" came in an unadvertised mustard sauce so hot our son (8) gave up after two bites. Later, his steak hache arrived in a pepper sauce, which we'd specifically asked not to get. The steak hache is chopped beef made into a patty. Good flavour, but it had bones in it! Actual pieces of hard bone. When we mentioned this to the waitress, she just mumbled "Oh. Sorry". Nothing like "I'll mention it to the kitchen" or anything like that. Which means other customers will have the same experience. For dessert, the profiteroles were good. The Ile Flottante was OK but strangely covered in rock-hard caramel. Having said this, service is swift and generally efficient. The duck and the rabbit were good although, as mentioned before, came in small portions. I wouldn't go back here. Better to spend a bit more at the Wolseley and be totally happy with the meal.

Pretty disappointing experience. My wife phoned in the day to make a booking but was told that they were fully booked. They said that they keep 50% of the tables for walk ins. We were told if we arrived early, at around 7pm we would get a table no problem. We arrived at 6.45pm and we were told we could have a table at 8pm. So we had some drinks at the bar, eventually we were seated at 8.35pm! Starters were good. The mains not so good! Four of us ordered the cote de boeuf (so two to share) at £29.25 per person. The portions were too small and there was a lot of inedible fat on both pieces of meat. There was really only enough food for one. No one came to check on us after the mains had been served, so when I explained to the waiter as they cleared mains, that we were unhappy with the meal, he said he would speak to his manager and they would come back to me. Nobody came over to see us, so I assumed that this would be dealt with at the end of the meal. Desserts were good as was the coffee and wine. We asked for the bill, when it came, everything was still on there and still no manager or waiter came to speak to us. I raised the point again and then finally a manager came to talk to us. The manager that came over was aggressive and obviously did not want to hear any feedback. After arguing for about 5 mins he very reluctantly took one of the beef off the bill. I really don't understand how someone who works in the service industry can have such an attitude towards customers. If you don't like dealing with people, you are in the wrong industry. Would not recommend1

Ate there last night with three friends inc. 2 veggies. Four people, three courses each, wine and kir = £95. Absolutely astoundingly good value, especially for Piccadilly. The food was delicious, especially the onglet. Vegetarian menu wasn't very extensive but the food was well received. And the dining hall... it's gorgeous. Who cares if it's a bit Vegas? It reminded me of Chartier in Paris for the glamour and sheer scale, but the service is London. Polite, attentive and friendly. I'm still getting over how good it was. Go!

I should have guessed before I went (what with it being French and all..) but they are NOT vegetarian-friendly. My main gripe is that my friend was able to order the 2 course meal deal but, meanwhile, I asked for the vegetarian prix fixe and was informed there wasn't one. EVEN THOUGH they had a veggie starter and main that was identically priced to the meat starter and main course eaten by my friend, when not included in the meal deal! I couldn't fathom it at all but the staff didn't seem to care.

This is a palace to tackiness. Would be more at home in Dubai or Las Vegas. Some interior designer gone wild & pulled out every possible design detail from the era & created a glitzy pastiche, in total contrast to the simple understated atmosphere of the elegant Wolesley that smacks of the authenticity of a bygone era. Over aggressive dooring policy, we are all over 50 & treated as if we were some tourist backpackers & plenty of waiting staff milling around looking busy, but impossible to summon when needed. Stars are for the food, excellent value, interesting range & affordable wine.

Very authentic, excellent food, impressive ambience, attentive service, extremely good value prix fixe menu and cheapest red wine. Strongly recommended.

Fantastic value for money. Lovely staff - I have already booked to go again!

It's the second time I have eaten at Zedel and whilst I enjoyed it the first time, I think the initial opening hype, care and attention to detail has now well and truly worn off! The true test of an open all day restaurant in terms of service and food qaulity has to be the ability to deliver all day at any time. The time of day to truly test this is at shift handover when the daytime shift are keen to get off home and the night time shift are just beginning, so at 5.30pm whilst the staff were finishing their staff meal at the bar and generally hanging around with no care for what was going on in the restaurant, my daughter and I arrived. We were seated swiftly and given menus and ordered some water, so far so good, but hereafter it all went down hill. The water never arrived and whilst we waited and waited to order, all around were lots and lots of staff, who knows whether they were starting or finishing work, but they were all far too busy to deal with customers. When we did order the starters arrived quickly - great. But foie gras came with ho accompaniment, no bread. Its pate, who eats pate with nothing? I know the french don't! We were dying for the drinks we had ordered which enticingly sat on the end of the bar in our eyeline for a good ten minutes. Despite the hoards of staff buzzing around, not one made eye contact with us so we sat waiting unable to begin eating our starters. after a rather loud and annoyed excuse me our waitress eventually got us some bread to go with the foie gras and our drinks. Main courses arrived again in good time, but medium rare Onglet inside perfectly cooked was black, crunchy and coal tasting on the outside, medium rare fillet steak was served med well, my daughter being the embarrassed teenager begged me not to say anything and insisted she would eat it, nevertheless I felt compelled to mention it. Wish I had not bothered, had to literally wave down one of the gaggle of officious, aimless, disinterested senior looking staff, who half heartedly offered a replacementt but we really just wanted to get on with it. Even the French fries which come in frozen and just need to be cooked in good fresh oil, lightly salted and hot, were overcooked to a cardboard state and way over salted. Our waitress did bother to ask how our meal was on clearing it away, I was honest, but not rude. I told her it was distinctly average. She just nodded! We paid full price even though we felt cheated and unhappy, I am not one who expects things for free, but I expect someone to be generally bothered if things are not right, at Zedel they are not. By the time we left it was picking up, lots more tables and lots more staff, a shame that none of the staff really give a stuff about your experinece. It would be good value if you got what you expected, but we did not.

We were a party of 8, the service was very good without being intrusive. The food was excellent at very keen prices. We had a good evening in very pleasant surroundings. We would highly recommend this lastest addition to the London scene.