Malmaison Brasserie & Bar

Came here on a Wednesday night so not very busy when we arrived which, was around 6:30ish. By the time we had left, however, it did become a little more busy.
Waiting staff greeted us with a friendly smile and showed us to our table. There was a selection of menus including a fixed option of 3 courses or a la carte. Both had a good selection.
We skipped starters and went for the mains. I had haddock fishcake in my bid to avoid chips however, the grilled options did look very tasty. The haddock fishcake was nice with a sauce served on the side which is always nice as you can select how much or little you want (if any at all). I did feel that there could have been more but, maybe my fault for foregoing the starter in another bid not to over eat!
I liked that the large glass of wine was not poured all in one go and you received a little flask of your wine to top up as you pleased (or as the waiters saw the need).
Of course, I had to opt for dessert also, I went for the sticky toffee pudding with ice cream (does no one do custard anymore!?). This was of a decent serving and pretty good. My friend had the carpaccio of pineapple which was really tasty also. In fact, desserts being the most important part of the menu, they had a number of desserts I would have eaten so was spoilt for choice.
There was no harassing as we finished and think they would have been happy leaving us there for some time having a chat.
Waiting staff checked in on us without becoming annoying. No loud music so found it to be a nice place to be able to catch up and chat. Part of Tastecard also so 241 on meals. Bargain!!!

Had the most fantastic experience here! We stayed at the Malmaison and 3-​course dinner was included with our room as part of a package. Everything was spectacular (and very generously portioned).
The menu changes seasonally and the pre fixe menu had some different options on it, but the prawn appetizer was cooked to perfection in a delicious (but not overwhelming) white wine sauce, the coq a vin was moist, the butternut squash ravioli were addictive… I could go on, you get the point.
The cheese plate is a must. They have many options to choose them and your server will educate you about each type of cheese before you select them.
The hotel breakfast was also very nice, although pretty expensive if you wanted to order hot items (continental breakfast was free).

I just had the most delicious meal at the Malmaison… we chose the special 2 courses plus bottle of wine and coffee for £30 between 2 — although by the time we’d had various extras it came out at £54 — still really good for what we had. I nicked a bit of my friend’s starter of blini with a generous amount of smoked salmon and thyme crème fraîche — then they let me subsitute a different pasta dish for the one on the set menu as my main course — a really fantastic pumpkin ravioli, with a drizzle of balsamic reduction and pine nuts. My only grizzle — the sage leaves would have been better fried. I had a side of steamed spinach — my friend had seared John Dory with a thyme risotto which he polished off pretty smartly. After the pasta triumph I thought it would be hard for dessert to trump it — but the waitress, who was brilliant, said we’d definitely made the right choice with the chocolate marquise and shortbread — and it was absolutely delicious. In fact, and I am a chocolate dessert fanatic, it was one of the best I’ve had for ages. A very thick, rich scoop of dense chocolate mousse — and two shortbread rounds that melted in the mouth. We both ended up making rather loud ‘mmm’ noises — no idea what the table next to us thought we were up to! If they have that pudding on the menu again — I’m back. And the service was brilliant, really friendly and helpful.

Does it also happen to you sometimes that, when your visit to any kind of establishment starts off on a wrong foot, you suddenly find yourself scrutinizing and nit-​picking everything that follows after? — Well, this is exactly what happened to me at the Malmaison Brasserie last night…
…it all started with the waiter giving us a welcome that might just have lead to a premature ice-​age. In fact, it was not that he was unfriendly or rude, but just totally unengaged and seemingly unnerved about the fact that we were a large group. (Granted, the restaurant was quite busy, but that still doesn’t excuse this shortness and inattentiveness.)
We waited forever to order drinks and then another eternity passed until our dinner orders were taken… all of which was done in such a hurry and impatience that I was just flabbergasted. In fact, having worked in the high end hotel business for many years, I found this to be an exciting case study on of how to not do good service!!!
Service is my pet-​peeve, but sometimes good food can console my hurt feelings, but that was not really the case either: the bread that they served for appetizers (which they actually had the audacity to charge you for!!!) was clearly bread from the freezer section at Sainsbury’s. (I actually don’t mind these kind of baguettes, but why charge for it???
My appetizer, the goat cheese with side salad, was so rubbery that I had a feeling that they had prepared it for the lunch menu and just re-​heated it before serving it in the evening. The burger I ordered as a main was actually quite alright… but it still didn’t make up for what had come before. My friend had the fish and he said he had to put so much mayo on it, just to make it taste alright…
Reading through the dessert menu, I was then quite amused by the fact that I discovered spelling errors on it: «Peirre Ferrand Ambre» instead of «Pierre Ferrand Ambre»; and then they used «liqueur» and «liquor» interchangeably… consistency, please!
Granted, the last observation is really pedantic, but as I mentioned before: once you open Pandora’s Box…