Aux Lyonnais

This place is the best, and always has been, even before it was "discovered".
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Thursday, December 15, 2005

Ate here with my husband and father on a recent weekend trip to London. Was expecting a lot from this restaurant, but was disappointed by the experience. It's clearly the 'in' place - and the restaurant is milking that fact for every euro it's worth - to the detriment of the dining experience. The food was admittedly good but the service was brisk and charmless. The front door opens straight into the main dining area, so that every time someone came in we would get a cold blast of air. The two women sitting directly beside the door looked positively mutinous. Once the time came for coffees we were pretty much told that we had to leave our table and have it upstairs (so they could turn over our table as soon as possible). If my French had been better and my reflexes quicker, I would have insisted on staying where I was, but stupidly I went with the flow. The room upstairs was in a featureless open area that felt more like a waiting room, and we were so fed up with our cavalier treatment that we gulped our coffees to get out as soon as we could. Then we had to ask three times for the bill - and when it eventually came, declined to pay a service charge. Won't be going back.
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Catherine Burden
Tuesday, December 06, 2005