Le Relais de Venise L'Entrecôte The City

Great atmosphere, always cheerful and lovely beef and salad!

Good place to go if there is only one thing you want for lunch… steak + chips. That is it, no choice, not a place for veggies or fussy eaters. There is not even the option of having no sauce or the sauce on the side, it has to come with the sauce all over the steak. The steak is good, but french style and not as good as some of the steakhouses nearby ( gaucho, hawksmoor much better). The chips are good, thin cut french fries and you will only be given half your portion at the start, as the rest is kept warm and served to you half way through. Very good atmosphere or a bustling parisian steakhouse. One thing that lets it down is the no booking policy and the queue on the way in, which can be over half an hour at peak lunchhours…

Love this place. Been twice in the last 2 weeks; once for lunch & again last night for dinner. It's a bit of a conveyor belt, so if you're looking for a fine dining experience, this isn't it. Steak & chips are consistently good – which is just as well, as that's all they do! Only decision you need to make is how do you like your steak & what red wine would you like – genius! Always busy so be prepared to queue at peak times as you can't book.

Myself and two friends visited this restaurant for lunch at around midday, to avoid the lunch time rush. We have been before for private lunches as well as with our respective companies and occasions bought clients with us. Today however the level of service was absolutely appalling. One of our group was not eating due to having to depart early for a meeting, however they ordered a drink, whilst the other two ordered steak and chips. Half way through, before the food had even arrived, we were approached by a woman who I assume was the maître d’ and told that we were taking up a table for 4 when only 2 of us were eating. There were plenty of available tables in the restaurant. We explained that we would be finished before 1 however she returned on a second occasion and essentially told us we had to move. The person who was not eating was forced to leave. Following this, the same woman returned again with further excuses about the ‘busy period’ which resulted in the rest of our group getting up and leaving before we had even got our food. Had we had clients with us it could have been embarrassing. I will never return – clearly too pretentious for their own good. I have rated only half a star for food and drink as all I had the chance to have was a sip of my drink.

Arrive after 12:15pm and you can expect to wait up to 30 minutes some days, but the truth is, if you have the time, it is a meal worth waiting for. Packed with mostly male City suits and banking types, with the occasional women thrown in for good measure, the City branch of this world famous formula of restaurants is just the thing the Square Mile seemed to be missing. The concept is simple, with just a single item on the menu, a simple green salad with walnuts and vinaigrette, followed by a straight forward Entrecote steak with bottomless quantities of proper ‘Frites’ and an oozily unctuous ‘secret sauce’ that is the real star of the show. A rich butter sauce, made with herbs and absolutely stacks of garlic, which when drizzled over your steak and fries, is absolutely heavenly. Don't make the mistake of eating here when you aren't really hungry, because with two rounds of meat and as many fries as you can gorge yourself on, this really isn't ‘Nouvelle Cuisine’. Great value, it has to be said, with a fixed price of just £19.50 per person. For the brave among you who manage to continue on to eat more, the desserts are really the stuff of dreams. They are famous for the incredibly naughty stack of delightful little profiteroles, filled with vanilla ice cream (rather than cream) and bathed in the most sinful dark chocolate sauce you could ever imagine. They are also do some wonderful cheeses and wines, so i ask you, what's not to like? The only warning I would give is for Vegetarians. This is NOT a restaurant for you. We did once take a vegetarian colleague with us to lunch here and hilariously she had a small plate of cheese with endless fries. Cheese and chips at £19.50? Erm, I think even the non-veggies among us would pass!

Had an excellent dinner at Relais de Venise L’Entrecôte. The concept of a no menu restaurant sounded as gimmicky as eating in darkness but it turns out this concept has been popular in Paris for the past 50 years. I can't imagine many restaurants that have been around for half a century, let alone only serving one dish. Once we had ordered ( rare & medium ) we were brought a small plate of french stick and a salad each with walnut dressing. The main course was brought to the table in two stages, ingeniously, to keep the steak and frites warm. Rowley's has a similar concept with it's own secret sauce although I actually prefer the buzzy City atmosphere to the formality of Jermyn Street, it was nice to have a conversation without being overheard or interrupted or even having to worry about what to order. Will L’Entrecôte maintain its popularity for 50 years in London ? At £20 a head I imagine it just might…

Go here if you want to pay £40 for a decent steak but to be treated with arrogance, impatience, impunity, gross discourteousness and vulgar bluntness. We went to this restaurant for an office leaving-do with about 14 colleagues. As ever, a couple of people had not made it to the restaurant yet and we were told that if we did not order for them, we would lose our reservation. We were shocked at being told this so rudely because it seemed that the restaurant did not care for its customers – only the amount of money it made each lunchtime. There was worse to follow. We were finally seated after some censuring looks from the manager and then only after promising to place our order for all the people seated. The table did not accommodate all our guests. There were 2 chairs missing. There was nothing that could be done, we were told. One person in our group was not much of a steak eater and declined to order, saying that they might go for desserts and coffee instead. We were told that there would be a standard charge of £19 if they did not eat the main course. As we were a group of 14, we assured them that the per person charge would be well over £19 anyhow. We were told, rather rudely, that this was not satisfactory. When we asked to speak to the manger because this was unacceptable discrimination, we saw our waitress walking over to the manager who shook her head, shrugged her shoulders and walked away – the waitress came back to say that the manager was busy! We had two more colleagues who came in seconds after we were seated. They were told that they could not be seated and that was that. The manager turned her back and walked away. I would not return to this restaurant for personal or client dinners if I was paid to do it.

French Bistro simplicity at its best. Fixed Menu – Salad – Steak avec Frites – cooked perfectly with their own secret recipe sauce, fantastic Frites washed down with a reassuringly expensive bottle of red wine. I honestly could eat lunch there everyday if not for the fear of turning into Monsieur Creosote. Highly recommended for lovers of good French cuisine and a refreshing alternative to over priced City ponce. If only British pubs could get a basic meal like this so right.

The great thing about Le RdV is that you know exactly what you're going to get – decent steak in a really tasty (secret!) sauce, quickly. Not having menus really speeds up the whole lunch process (hands up who's waiting 20 mins in One Lombard just to order?), and my steak was very tasty. However, the price is a little steep (£90 for starter, main course and cokes for 3 – no sides, no desserts, no wine) and the staff are surly at best (typical Parisians). Worth checking out, and I'll probably go back when I want a fast, reliable lunch – but only if someone else is paying!