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RSJ
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RSJ is the place to go in London to learn about Loire wines. Sure, the grey and wood dining room is slightly weathered, but the perennially friendly and polite staff hit just the right note, making this the perfect place for a leisurely meal or a pre-theatre quickie. The great tome of a wine list offers dozens of interesting bottles, or you can choose from the regularly changing wine specials menu, which offers ample by-the-glass options. A 2004 Savenniers Clos de Coulaine and a Château de Villeneuve Saumur Champigny 2005 were interesting and priced at around £20. The seasonal food more than stands up to the fine-wine list. A typical starter of steamed scallops with clams and rocket was fresh, pure and sweet. Roast quail with rocket and endive was perfect. The only time the menu disappoints is when it goes off-piste in a fusion direction, as in a steamed Cornish monkfish in Asian broth. Look out for special wine-tasting/food pairing events and special pre-theatre dinners.
Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2009
Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.
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Details
- 33 Coin Street, Waterloo, SE1 9NR
- Area: Waterloo
- Tel: 020 7928 4554
- www.rsj.uk.com
- Category: French
- Travel: Waterloo tube/rail
- Times: Lunch served noon-2pm Mon-Fri. Dinner served 5.30-11pm Mon-Sat
- Price: Main courses £12-£17. Set meal £15.95 2 courses, £18.95 3 courses
- Credit cards: AmEx, DC, MC, V
- Services:
- Available for hire: Separate room for parties, seats 25
- Child facilities: Babies and children admitted
- Function room: Separate room for parties, seats 25
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I used to come here thirty years ago but now it seems like a weird throwback to when foreign food was a novelty. On the prix-fixe menu, the escalope of beef was gristly, and the breadcrumb coating so soaked in oil as to be positively nauseating. A very dense pork chop was served with half a half-baked apple and a lurid, grainy sauce bearing no relationship to the meat. The cold vichyssoise was fine, but the plate of marinated fish came straight out of various indifferent bottles. RSJ has the advantage of staying open late so is useful after South Bank events. The dishes a la carte may be better, but they would have to be as it's not cheap.
Some other reviewers must have caught the place on a bad night. I went with a large party and nobody had a bad dish.The wines, house red and white, were both very good, particularly the white. The service was friendly and non-intrusive.
Would recommend highly.
It's like eating in a deserted Cafeteria with the staff glumly watching every mouthful and just itching to whip each dish away as soon as possible. Their unwelcoming mood is reflected by the bleakness of the décor and it’s obvious that they are desperate to get home; which is exactly how we felt less than half way through the service!
I advise scrapping the dismal “post-theatre” sitting; no one should have to sit through such torture.
We have been back several times over the past 15 years and have tried to give it the benefit of the doubt since the food can be excellent but we will never go back there again.
Not impressed at all. Extremely slow service, no character, inconvenient IKEA chairs, little space, etc. Food was not anything special either.