The Strand Dining Rooms

This restaurant has one of the worst services I have seen in the world. Quite unmatched when it comes to slow response, rude dining interruptions and disrespect to the customer. I am not sure if the waitress waiting on us is simply incompetent or maybe she was having one of her bad days. The dining experience was unfortunately very bad for the four of us.

Every dish was so delicious and impeccably prepared. Service was fantastic… best I’ve experienced in Europe. Atmosphere is gorgeous and quiet. Live this place.

The food was excellent, and the service was better than any restaurant I have ever eaten at in my life.

Love this restaurant. Atmosphere was great. Food came to about 25£ each but the overall experience was really good.

Waren hier frühstücken — alles perfekt. Guter kaffee, leckere warme croissants — tolles omelette. Preis ist etwas teuer aber die Atmosphäre und Lage sind Top! :)

Beautiful plates, accomplished flavours and great service — if that is what you are looking for in a good lunch or dinner, The Strand Dining Rooms is a worthy option.
When I went to The Strand Dining Rooms, I really enjoyed the classy atmosphere — no exposed brick walls or other modern-​chic in sight, just beautiful dark wood, leather and candles.
The friendly and nice staff demonstrated great service throughout my stay. It started before I even ordered when they offered me tasters of different wines — something I always appreciate.
To start off, I went with Earl Grey smoked duck breast and confit duck leg rilettes, pear crisps and cranberry, orange and thyme coluis. It was beautiful and really delicious, but I would not have needed the duck breast at all, I would have been happy just with the duck rilettes. The star of the plate probably were the clever coulis.
The chicken breast I selected as main came as an equally eye-​pleasing plate. The white chicken breast might have benefitted from slightly stronger spicing, but in combination with the sauce and the crispy skin, it all came together and made up a well-​balanced dish. And again, the orange-​or-​whatever sauce — or rather smear across the plate — was probably my favourite element on the plate.
The duck egg was tasty with a pinch of salt, but I would have liked a bit more salt on it. What let the rest of the plate down for me were the potato dumplings. I simply found those too herby and earthy in flavour. Without the egg and the dumplings, it might have been almost a perfect plate.
Following my current preference for white wine, after the tiny tasting, I opted for the 2013 Vina Garedo from Rueda, Spain. It was pretty fruity, but not sweet. Interesting and kind of intriguing in some way.
After I had finished up my main, the staff again proved their attention to detail by topping up my water before I was running dry. They were also cleaning up the table properly to remove all crumbs and leave it as impeccable as it was before I started eating.
I took a little break before moving over to a dessert. Then, I finally decided to order the dark chocolate delice — or whatever it was called exactly. It was a stunning and rich chocolate dessert, not exceptional, but really good. The dark chocolate brittle gave the dish some height and tasted great. Combining dark chocolate with orange, or here tangerine, usually works well, so no surprises here.
My lovely waitress even convinced me to get an espresso. Despite it being an Italian brand, she said she usually does not need sugar with it, so I thought it could be worth a try. And yes, for an Italian coffee, it really was not too bitter. It was okay to conclude my meal, although it will not become my favourite coffee brand.
The Strand Dining Rooms right at Trafalgar Square fortunately is far from being a tourist ripoff and instead delivers actually pretty and tasty food in a classy atmosphere without trying hard to be cool. Refreshing at a time where many new openings in London seem to focus more on edgy style than on compelling customer service.

I had one of my best meals here on a Sunday while visiting England. That surprised me a bit, because it’s right next to Trafalagar Square which you would expect to be a major tourist trap. Instead, it’s a very nice white linen table cloth place which attracts both Brits meeting up for meals and drinks, as well as the tourist scene.
It was another grey, cold, rainy late afternoon and I turned to it for refuge. It was after the Sunday Roast Dinner crowd (though they do serve a traditional one of those). Sat where I could watch the Strand and Trafalagar Square, as well as the bar tender cooking up fancy cocktails for folks — while I sipped a glass of wine, For my late lunch, I went with the Vodka Salmon appetizer and the Seafood Crumble which I’m told is one of their signature dishes. The Salmon was good. The seafood crumble (a sort of creamy seafood pie without a crust, loaded with salmon, scallops and all sorts of seafood yumminess with a spicy breading topping) was phenomenal. Try this! I wish anyone here in Houston would serve it. So…
Food — 5-​stars
Ambiance — 5-​stars (the place is beautiful, and feels French amidst all the traditional Brit surroundings)
Prices — Expensive, but in line with other high-​quality restaurants around — and good value for what was spent.
Service — Warm, friendly and helpful.
Bottom Line: One to put on your list if you are in the Strand area and want a great meal, atmosphere and service — either for a meal, drinks or (as I saw a few do) tea and a decadent sweet.

Dinner with friends on a special deal. Quite surprised this place was doing a deal on Friday night, as that’s quite rare, but oh well, I’m not complaining! The deal was a starter, main and dessert plus a cocktail or wine for £25, very good value.
I started with the smoked trout which had nice flavours and was appetising. My main was the seafood crumble, which I really liked, lots of chunky pieces of scallop, salmon and mussels in a nice creamy sauce. For dessert the rice pudding with milk ice cream. I liked it all, but I think I was partly lucky with my choices as my friends steak wasn’t so well received.
That said, service has a lot teething problems that need working out. It is far from polished, but this is a rather new establishment so I guess they will still be working kinks out. I wish them the best of luck as there’s definitely potential

My husband reported such a great first impression of The Strand Dining Rooms after a breakfast meeting that we decided to check them out for pre-​dinner cocktails last weekend.
A two-​minute walk from Charing Cross and a stone’s throw from Trafalgar Square, I wasn’t sure what to expect (i.e., would it be tourist-​focused?). But luckily the shops-​turned-​fine-​dining restaurant was expertly staffed, beautifully designed and perfectly suited to our desired atmosphere: sophisticated but not pretentious with high-​quality drinks without the super-​high cost.
It wasn’t busy on a Saturday early evening, so we were able to chat up the bartender, which meant we got to learn about the owner’s own whiskey (aged 23 years and a steal at £18 per drink, instead of the usual price of £25+ for a similarly aged whiskey), the new cocktail and food menu which is seasonal and just switched over for autumn, and even got a little taste of some of those new drinks.
For just under £50 (including a service charge of 12%), we had four lovingly crafted cocktails and a bar snack. Of what we tried, the cosmopolitan was my top pick. I know it sounds like a pedestrian choice, but trust me on this one. This is not the sickly sweet, pink nonsense of the 90s — this one was refreshing and clean and came topped with green tea foam and spritz of rose water.
If you’re a ginger beer fan, get the Dark and Stormy which is made with their homemade version of it.
The drinks averaged about £9 a piece, and from the staff to the menu to the sleek and comfy interior, you will leave feeling like you got your money’s worth.