The Phene

Imagine an invite to a close friends surprise 50th birthday party, champagne in a flat nearby and a short walk to The Phene for dinner. What could be more fun? Well drinks with canapés was exquisite, the walk lovely and on arrival at The Phene all looked well. Dinner was very limited choice (2 per course) as there were 30 of us in a private room and ordering was quick – the wine flowed…looking good. Starters arrived with undercooked grilled asparagus and an overcooked poached egg on cold plates so by the time everyone was served it was cold. The same applied for the deep fried chees but at least this was not undercooked! The main course was fillet steak (medium rare of well done) or scallops…again steaks arrived medium and on cold plates. The side dish if you can call it that were chips but they were barely cooked and were white, hard and cold. Did I mention the plates again were cold! Scallops looked great but again when served on cold plate were cold by the time we all had our food and not very nice. Sticky toffee pudding or cheese – hard to get wrong but the pudding was served on cold plates yet again… Without warning we were all asked to leave at 11.30 when there was still wine in glasses and almost full bottles on the tables. My recommendation is to AVOID this place if you want a half decent and relaxed meal.

Held a surprise party for my wife's 30th birthday. They were friendly and helpful all thought the booking and the evening itself. The private room was superb, and the evening went without a hitch. I could not fault them and the atmosphere, food and drink was fantastic. I will definitely return for lunch or dinner again. Thank you to the whole team there. Great evening. Very memorable for all the right reasons.

My husband and I had dinner here last night and had a dreadful experience. Having booked a table and arriving on time, there was no-one in front of house to greet us. We eventually found a member of staff who said she didn't know how table seating worked. Another waiter arrived who said he would get our table ready and to have a drink at the bar – no offer to get these for us, much less comp them. 25 minutes and 3 enquiries later, we eventually were given a table, in the draughty hallway area next to the bar. Smoke from the outside courtyard was constantly blowing in. No round of free drinks offered. Service throughout was shocking. Waitress gave us one menu and then never removed them after we ordered. Drinks took forever. She didn't know how anything was prepared. We had to ask 3 times for cutlery, 4 times (and wait 20 minutes) for more drinks. When we complained we got a very weak apology but no offer to make it up. We were told it was the waitress's second day… The food was fine, House wine dreadful but other wine was ok, pricing fine, but service so abysmally poor makes the whole experience was extremely disappointing.

Had a great time yesterday: food was awesome (much better than my last visit), friendly atmosphere as usual but the thing which stroke me the most was the security personnel. Oh boy, they are doing excellent job as I could see how professionally they were dealing with the situation. Here, I want to mention one particular security guard (with glasses) at the door, who was very polite and understanding. As he tried to explain the customers the reason the security staff is in the garden is to keep the noise level down due to neighbors’ nonstop complaints. I must say he is doing tough job yet very professionally, the guy must have gotten a lot of patience. Lovely place, good food and awesome staff, thumbs up!!! Will go again whenever i am going to visit london I highly recommend everyone going there at least once. great regards from USA !!!

Amazing place for drinks in a very trendy area… the interior and garden are very cool..spotted a number of well-known faces having been here a couple of times now. Food not bad either – i had a good burger (always judge a place on its burgers!) and my friend had a really nice looking sea bass and edamame dish. Clearly a lot of attention to detail especially in presentation of the food. Nothing bad to report really – it was incredibly busy so perhaps waited 10 mins longer for my food than i would have wanted, but we weren't really that bothered. Probably the best looking pub i've seen in some time. cant really call it a pub. I recommend getting a table in the garden – best atmosphere and really warm heaters so it feels like you are inside. I live right round the corner so the perfect spot for a Chelsea Drink !