Santa Maria del Sur

I went here for my birthday with my wife. I have to say I thought the food was amazing and the service of equal quality. I'd 100% recommend it and was actually saying this to friends in Bristol on Saturday night, so was a little shocked to see some negative reviews.

I have to disagree with a lot of the reviews on here. I went last night and the food and service was excellent. Probably the best steak I've had in London. It was enormous and all cooked as ordered. The side dishes were all very good and the house wine (Malbec) was excellent. Highly recommended and deserves it's reputation off the tv.

Disaster!!, I went there with friends after a while, we ordered 2 deluxe barbecue, the portions was absolutely tiny in comparison of time ago, the prices increased too, and the service poor, and specially the meet wasn't good at all!!! And we wait more than one month to get a table!!!!!!
Sorry guys but there is a plenty of Argentinan restaurant out there better than urs for less.

Dear Sir , Madam.

My name is Gerardo and I am the manager of Santa Maria del Sur. I write this in response to some of the reviews I’ve read recently in several sites (some of them are, in reality, the same review, posted under different names in different sites)

For those of you who wrote those fantastic emails and words of encouragement and compliments; a huge thank you.
Unfortunately, bad reviews sound louder, so I am mainly writing to those whose reviews weren’t what we hoped for, and for those who are thinking of coming to visit us and upon reading these reviews, are thinking “ Oh dear..it doesn’t sound good”.

First of all, I am really truly sorry if your experience at Santa Maria was not what you expected.
I could sit here and write a defense of my restaurant but you’ve got your views and I, of course, respect that. Some of the points made are valid and help us get better, and on others I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.
However, there’s one particular comment which I read and I will 100 % refute and it’s what prompted me to write this. The success some people refer to, has not gone to our heads and we care greatly about our customers and their comments, particularly if they are not good.

We are not a fancy restaurant or a flash, pretentious venue in the West End. We are a local restaurant in Battersea. That’s how we started and that’s the way we like it and how we’ll remain. Success or not success. Therefore, our customers and neighbors are all we have. New and existing ones; and them leaving happy is all we care about.

Since December last year when we appeared on the F Word, we’ve seen a dramatic surge in the amount of customers we cater for. Our business changed and the way we used to do things had to change. It’s possible that somewhere along the way we made mistakes, or that on a given night, things didn’t go according to plan. When that happens, our customers have the right to be upset, but I can assure you, so are we.

But while the way we did business had to change, one thing remains intact: the quality of our products and having our customers’ satisfaction as our main and foremost priority. Of that I give you my word.

So I can’t change the way some of you feel about us and your visit, and I can’t change if something went wrong that day or if things weren’t done as they should be, but what I can do, is assure you that your comments have been noted and there’s always room for improvement, so we listen. But we also believe in Santa Maria and what we are, so I felt I had to say something and show you how much we care.

We are not short-sighted and we don’t think (quote) “there are enough people who will keep coming”. Nothing further from the truth. Instead, we are always working hard to make sure our standards not only don’t drop, but that we raise the bar.

With best regards
Gerardo Tejo
Manager
Santa Maria del Sur

What a disaster!!!
Me and my boyfriend have been trying to get a reservation at this restaurant for over two months and finally we found a table for 18th may at 6:15. We arrived to this very dull and dirty restaurant (my plate was dirty and table unwiped), which was empty after waiting months to book?!!. The waiter was very cold and uninterested as we ordered. I ordered the sirloin medium and my boyfriend the rib eye. I could barely cut into my steak, even with a steak knife and found it very hard to chew, my boyfriends rib eye was very very raw and practically breathing. They forgot our sauces and after nearly finishing our steaks did they bring them over. After all the hype on this restaurant on TV and by Gordon Ramsey (who is supposedly a michelin star chef with high standards) we were completely shocked and very disappointing and let down by this restaurant which is supposed to be the best steak in london. The steaks had no flavor or any texture at all - seemed like we were eating very cheap cuts of meat. Also do not eat the mushroom, so salty, un-melted warm cheese on top - horrible!!!
Overall extremely disappointed by this restaurant and in Gordon Ramsey and feel like this restaurant should have been on 'Gordon Ramseys kitchen nightmares' not on the F word!!!!!!

Went there today (after seeing it on Ramsay's show)
Steaks were superb and perfectly cooked, same for the tuna, and well, all the foods good
Just the price left a bad taste in the mouth - I think the added service charge (as JBS also mentioned) and ordering wine by the glass must have scewed the value of this experience for us

My girlfriend and i visited this restaurant on the 24th April 2010 as we seen it on Gordon Ramsay's F Word and as we are big steak lovers we wanted to give it a try and we wasn't disappointed as the the 2 10 oz filet steaks we ordered were cooked to perfection.I suggested to the owner that he opens a branch in Birmingham as we cannot get steak of this quality in our region.I told the owner" i would gladly drive 120 mile to eat here".Score out of 10 i would give it 20 it's that good.

My girlfriend and i visited this establishment on the 24th April 2010 as we had seen this restaurant on Gordon Ramsay's F Word and as we are big steak lovers we had to give it a try.On our arrival the restaurant is very cosy,romantic and we were greeted with smiles all round from the wonderful staff and the thing is you don't know who the owner is as they are all chipping in and doing their bit for the service to work.We had 2 10oz fillet steaks which were cooked to perfection and i can safely say this is the best steak i have ever had by a mile.We were on a day trip to London as we are from Birmingham but i told the owner "i would gladly drive 120 mile to come and eat here"which was met by astonishment.I also suggested that they branch out and open a restaurant in Birmingham as i think it would be a roaring success.I don't care about price as long as i get quality and that experience was quality in abundance.Well done to all staff and a big mention to the chef who is awesome and also quite modest as to how good sorry excellent he is.Marks out of 10 i would give 20 its that good.

The sign says the best steak in London and it didn't disappoint. Didn't order a starter but ordered chips to go with the two fillets and delicious bottle of wine. I like mine medium, but not bloody. My husband likes you to show his to the griddle and put it on a plate. Both were done to perfection and served simultaneously. We eat out a fair amount, but I can honestly say it was the most melt in the mouth steak I've ever tasted. Heaven. The chips were clearly hand cut and worth sinning for. Fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside. The service was unobtrusive, but attentive. The place was packed, with a few larger parties too, but it was a really nice vibe. I'd definitely go there again. Just book well in advance as I think they've always been pretty busy, but their new found fame means that it's even harder to get a table. Well deserved.

What a terrible experience Santa Maria Del Sur was Easter Monday. I had booked a table for my girlfriend and me, to celebrate her birthday. I had made the reservation for six pm and was told we are very busy; you can have a table but only for one and a half hour. This was ok, but we arrived at the restaurant at 5.55pm and they did not open the door until 6:10pm leaving us and others to stand outside on a horrible grey pavement and not a nice stretch of the Queenstown road. I should have known the night was going to be bad right then.
We were seated by a professional guy but no smiles or welcome, or sorry to leave you standing outside a main busy ugly road; and for opening late.
The grill hadn’t even been lit! As most people know it takes a grill at least half an hour to forty five minutes to reach the correct temperature. It seemed they were still preparing to open as customers were in their seats ordering. Really bad ethos.
We ordered, I had the tuna steak at 6 15pm to start and asked for it to be left pink inside. It arrived at 6 45pm overcooked. We had waited 30 minutes for our starters; I didn’t say anything.
Then I asked for my fillet steak to be cooked medium, it arrived charred outside and red rare inside. When I cut in to the chips oil seeped out of them, obviously the oil hadn’t been heated and was cold when the chips were put in.
Then the insult to injury, the head guy comes and asks me if I mind moving from our table to ones at the back. He says he knows the grill was late in firing up, right there I reminded him also that they opened late, he then says “oh you came early.” “I said no I got here for 6pm which was the time I was told to arrive at” he ignored that and said we can have dessert if we want to but at the table in the back.
Now it seemed they didn’t really want to open on Easter Monday, it was a half hearted attempt to run a professional busy restaurant, greed has got the better of them.
Then they wanted almost £9 for indifferent (not rude but indifferent none the less) service on a £75 bill for two(without dessert and only one alcoholic drink)mm. I was not going to pay the service charge, but my GF reminded me how difficult a job this can be..blah blah. (before you start, I have waited tables and tended bar with 12 tills and 400 people on a night) So ok I rewarded them,ARRRRGH.
Their sign outside says best steaks in London as seen on the F word, what rubbish! The success has really gone to their head and standards are dropping. I should have complained but for two reasons, one it was meant to be a special occasion for GF and I didn’t to ruin it for her. And second in my experience if a place is so busy and has fame currently on its side the management don’t care about the complaints. They tend to be rather short sighted and think there are enough people who will keep coming.
Not the few smart ones who read reviews though I hope. Save your money go elsewhere