Villandry

Popped in here for a quick breakfast with friends and while it’s nothing spectacular, it definitely gets the job done. I had the avocado and bean toast, and for 7.50 quid I got exactly that. Presentation was… non-​existent but I enjoyed it and the coffee there was also very fresh.
Right now if you go and download the app «Cake» for the first time you get 10 quid of credit to apply to your balance so I basically had a free breakfast!
I loved the space though, very bright and airy. They do a champagne brunch later on in the day, so if you’re looking for a boozy brunch option this may be it.

I came here twice recently for tea and cake. They have a nice tea selection and some decent cakes! Especially the passion fruit one. But it’s pretty expensive. I also thought their brownie was totally uninspiring. How do you mess up a brownie?

Popped in for a quick breakfast. Food wasn’t great at all. Grabbed an Eggs Benedict. It came with the smallest about of hollandaise and to be fair that was probably for the best as it was laced with way too much vinegar which killed it completely. Over priced for what it is. Shame, as the staff were very polite. (Visit — 15/​09/​2014 Breakfast)

Time and time again i really enjoy this place. It has a little bit of everything its not too expensive and its a nice place to do business meetings.

London Wine Week: Villandry, St James’s Street — If you have not heard, it is London Wine Week from 18^th May — 24^th May. To participate in the wining and dining scene with London Wine Week (LWW), buy a wristband for GBP 10.00 and you will get a free London bar guide, GBP 5.00 wine taste flights in participating wine bars, bespoke discounts in restaurants which include a small dish paired with wine and with independent merchants there are a series of wine tastings, masterclasses, meet the maker sessions and discounts on bottles of wine.
Gladly, my introduction was with Villandry at St James Street. This is also available at their Great Portland Street branch.
Villandry’s offer:
3 chorizo sliders and a wine flight — GBP 15.00
3 mini fishcakes and a wine flight — GBP 10.00
a dish of salt and pepper squid and a wine flight — GBP 10.00
Villandry’s wine flight offers four types of wine by Adi Badenhorst; two white and two red from the Secateur and Family (a blend with over a dozen grapes) blend range.
The chorizo sliders were delicious, slightly spicy but mildly tamed by the mayonnaise spread. Three of them were plentiful and at GBP 15.00, it was definitely a bargain.
With more than 100 venues across London participating in the LWW, it is time to make a strategic planning for your wine tasting week!

Lovely interior to the restaurant. Had the fillet steak which was lovely along with a decadent chocolate fondant. Would recommend

I love this place if not for the ambiance and décor alone! In the summer time it’s really nice to sit and have brunch outside. There’s fresh squeezed juice and awesome coffee. I’ve sat here catching up with friends for hours and the staff have been really accommodating.
Inside is really spacious and it’s never been really loud or crowded on of the occasions that I’ve been here.
I’ve had lunch and dinner here as well and that is expensive but its convenient so can’t complain. It’s a nice place for a date and the location is great!

It is a bautiful and delicious place. However, we went on a Tuesday night and it lacked a little bit of atmosphere. Sometimes the waiter hung around too much. However, bad points out the way it is such a great restaurant and I would deffo advise everyone to go at least once. YUMMY

I have never had a sit down meal at Villandry but this is my got to place almost every morning/​when I can afford it! That is most definitely not to say that that the breakfasts or coffee are expensive, in fact they have a fantastic deal every morning!
£4.90 for a breakfast sandwich, options including scrambled egg, bacon, sausage and Portobello mushroom, AND you get a drink!
Whats not to love?!

Great breakfast sandwiches (4.90 plus any hot drink — a steal for Marylebone!), ok breakfast. Got the eggs and smoked salmon here with a friend and the eggs were soggy. Friend got a scone with clotted cream and loved it, so maybe just bad luck on my part. Regardless, takeaway breakfast here is amazing.

Having read reviews about the restaurant, perhaps my expectations were set too high. Seems like a place for business deals. Nonetheless, great range of reasonably priced, fabulous food (breakfast, salads, pizzas, main courses, desserts)…BUT service was slow. We had gone for a late lunch, by the time the place was emptying out. The waiter who served us seemed distant, making it a little awkward to summon his attention.
Altogether, a prominent place which I will be happy to try & visit again.

What a lovely place to sit outside, have some drinks and food (in good company) and enjoy life. The waiters were really friendly, the Chardonnay tasty and the food yummy. We went for the waiter’s advice of their extremely tasty Fish, Chips and mushy peas and it really was lovely.

Nice deco inside. white wine was good, sea foods were also good. We had cods, scallops, and lobster. all those were pretty good. But Don’t ask them bread. It was like a stone.

It was close to the hotel, seemed promising, and I was in a mood to judge a book by its cover so I let my hunger pangs and the Frenchy-​sounding name make the decision for me. Mistake #1.
After taking an initial look around the attached market and noting that the take-​out selection kind of sucks, I gave up and decided to have breakfast on premises. Mistake #2.
Chose the most innocuous looking item on the menu, which was the yogurt, banana, muesli concoction. Mistake #3.
It got worse as the dish came in what looked like an old-​fashioned soda fountain-​looking cup. It was impossible to mix the ingredients together — the banana came in a different smallish condiment bowl — and given the weird shape of the cup I kept spraying muesli all over the table like some spastic American tourist (oh shit, wait…). On top of this they fuc*ed up the yogurt to muesli ratio (not enough yogurt) and hence it was super dry — after a while I gave up as it felt like I was munching on tree bark.
Oh well, I’m sure the other items on the menu are just perfectly fine. It’s not like the service is excruciatingly slow even when there’s 3 – 4 wait staff hanging around the dining area catering to less than 10 diners… oh no, not at all. I ended up going to the Pret down the street for breakfast.

I was wavering on three stars; Villandry might have skated on mediocrity alone, but at this price point, that’s just not acceptable.
Service was incredibly spotty: the young man at the door was bored, inattentive, and distracted; one of our waitresses was fantastic; another botched a simple order; two separate men fumbled simple etiquette. Really odd.
Menu options were surprisingly slim, but then, we came at an odd time – early dinner. We ended up with two different sorts of fried calamari (one regular, one «spicy») and beef carpaccio as starters, pumpkin ravioli and a lemongrass shrimp dish as mains, several drinks, dessert.
For a French restaurant, everything felt oddly Italian – from the Italian waitress (the good one) to the dishes. The calamari were clunky, floury, overly-​breaded, and bland: sort of like drywall wrapped around each piece of squid, which is an unfortunate thing to do to a tasty animal. The «spicy» version had a few Thai red pepper slices tossed in along with them. That and the dipping sauce were the only differences between the «regular» and «spicy.» The carpaccio was fine, but it lacked any hint of acidity, brine, or bite: without vinegar, capers, or just a dash of sea salt, the meat just tastes bland, and the arugula and Grano Padano couldn’t make up for the lack of basic seasoning. Again, decent base ingredient, botched execution.
I can’t comment on the shrimp, though they looked plump and the portion was ample, but the pumpkin ravioli felt like a «fresh» pasta dish from a shop. If the pasta was made in-​house, it certainly wasn’t made today (or yesterday, for that matter). The filling was bland, but had some adequate pumpkin flavour. However, aside from a tiny handful of barely-​oily arugula (the same from the carpaccio?) and three sun-​dried tomatoes, there was no sauce. And that’s fine, but how about some olive oil, at least? A spoonful of pesto? Anything? No? No. Just dry ravioli on a tepid plate, with a small handful of arugula on top.
At least the «Aspen» fries (frozen fries tossed with grated Parm and a drizzle of white truffle oil) were good, though they were served in a shallow, slippery bowl which meant none of us could get at one with a fork without sending another flying. Awkward.
Cocktails were boring but there was nothing essentially wrong with them.
Dessert fell short, as well; my partner’s sea salt caramel and walnut tart was in a stodgy, hard crust (is this place seriously claiming to be French?) and had a tinny flavour reminiscent of stale caramels left in a box with no hint of walnut aside from the single walnut half pressed into the thick caramel topping. My crème brûlée was fine, though it came out fifteen minutes after everyone else had finished their dessert because my waitress thought «crème brûlée» meant «crumble.» Unless you think I’m pronouncing crumble «crumble-​lay,» I’m not sure how you mess that up. I shouldn’t be surprised; this was the gal who didn’t know what a café au lait was – French? What French? We finally settled on an Americano with milk for that guest.
Despite the espresso machine at the bar, the espresso wasn’t made with fresh beans and the particular bitterness hinted at significant over-​extraction. As is the norm with such exercises in futility, it was an overpriced afterthought made by someone without a clue.
Nothing about this place, aside from its veneer, spoke of a fine dining experience. The only good part about this meal was that I didn’t have to pay for it.
Avoid.

Tried this place as it was just around the corner from the hotel we stayed in on a recent trip to London.
Luckily for us it was a Friday night and it was «steak night». Steak, chips and Béarnaise sauce for £15 and probably the best steak I’ve had in a restaurant this year!
Wine was a bit more on the pricy side per bottle though, but as most wines were available by the glass I suspect they expected people to drink it more matched to each course (that was what many other diners appeared to be doing). We’ll remember that next time around.

The Croque Monsieur is my jam. Anytime. All the time. Every time.
Served with a fresh, green, leafy salad and a sparkling water — really, it’s the meal of champions on Great Portland Street.

When it gets sunny in London, it could become difficult to find a nice place to sit outside. However, a few days ago, I managed to secure one of the few sunny spots at Villandry. The service staff are very friendly, though not always the quickest. But for me, waiting a bit in the sun was no issue at all.
I ordered the chicken sandwich and I must admit it is perhaps one of the best chicken sandwiches in the world. To be fair, for that price, they really have to deliver an excellent sandwich.
Altogether, I greatly enjoyed my break in the sun at Villandry and am sure I will be back.

So, I guess you can say… I’m a fan, with at least 5 visits per month.
Pro’s
— French staff (they are funny snobs)
— Bread! Veeeery good French bread!
— Healthy stuff
— The cakes… no but really.
— The pizza, take away or stay
— It’s an easy place (for me, just around the corner: i’m soooo biased!
— Family hangout
— Business hangout
— Breakfast hangout
— Dinner is simple, good, what you need.
Con’s
— French staff (they are funny snobs!!)
— Bread! …it’s so good, doesnt fit my diet…
— The cakes and the pizza and well…
Real Con’s
— Not cheap, but not too expensive
— The house wine (not so great)
— The other clients can sometimes be very snobby
— They sometimes make the pizza way to heavy on cheese
So: I like me some Villandry, too much!

The first time we came here was on the taste card, and so it was purely a value for money experience. I went again very recently with work colleagues, and came back equipped with a better sense of what this place was really all about.
I entered through the stunning foodstore (and you will too), however unimpressively and unattractively priced. I would recommend spending a few minutes here to glance through the gastrospectrum.
The first thing I noticed once I walked into the restaurant, and surprisingly so, was that the restaurant didn’t seem like a popular place for a Friday evening (or that it was Jan 6, and the vacationing patrons of Villandry were not back from their respective sojourns.) Either way, that seemed like a note of caution. The last time around, I remember that the place was buzzing with chatter.
The wine list is impressive, but dear. That can never be fun.
With the least pricey main at £14.20, Villandry is not the best bargain in town, but I suppose it could be worse, given the location of the place.
Starters — the ham hock terrine is a definite order, and supremely memorable. The beet/​goats cheese is a great nibble (and turns out it works fairly well if you try it out at home as well).
The chicken breast main was nice; juicy and succulent. Definitely fresh, and clearly speaks about the chef’s attention to prep detail. If you can make me eat chicken, I can tell that you know what you’re doing. There were two people on the table who got the steak — of whom one returned it, and I can swear I saw the other, sneaking a lick off the plate. The other knows her steak, so I’d say it was good meat. The scallops were delicious and soul cleansing, but at £30, and with an empty stomach, it might be something of a hard sell. If you’re on a date with a millionaire, however, go ahead and order two of those babies.
Skip the dessert. Go pick up an ice cream tub from your local Waitrose.

Ganz nettes kleines Restaurant in der Nähe der Oxford Street