I went for dinner with a Groupon for the first time last night – didn’t have huge expectations about the experience but thought the food and drink would be good?
Lounge Lover – part of the Les Trois Garcons group – had a Groupon on for a 5 course tasting menu for two, and a cocktail for £40 – regular £80. I had heard good things about Lounge Lover previously and love Japanese food so thought even though I’m not down with Groupon, it’s a reputable restaurant and so how bad can it be?
Let me tell you.
We tried to book in November…first date available was the end of January. This place absolutely cannot be THAT busy. Especially as you can only use the voucher during the week…apparently in typical Groupon fashion they oversold and this is why we had to wait ages to use it.
So we finally went last night – and I was excited. It was date night which I always get excited about, and we were going to a trendy place in Shoreditch (I never do this anymore…old and married and all that)…fun times were to be had.
We went to a pub for quick drink first at The Owl and Pussycat – which was a lovely pub that I would go back to. Then we walked down to Lounge Lover – starving as anything and ready for some yummy food.
Walking in you are hit by the smell of burning incense, which, as my hubs said ‘you’d expect in a vegan restaurant in Camden’…to be fair the entrance is an enclosed space so maybe there was only incense in there. We were left standing at the front desk for AGES, but when someone finally came to take our name they were really pleasant and helpful, taking our coats etc and then escorting us to our seats.
Opening the glass doors that separate the entrance from the restaurant (bar? Not sure which it is really) you are slapped in the face by more incense. C’mon people. If there is anything I’ve learned from restaurant wars in Top Chef, never ever use scented candles or introduce smells that will distract from the food and eating experience.
We were sat literally at the back of the space – and quickly branded as Groupon customers. A server quickly explained this was the menu we were sharing (£65 value) and that we could have one of two cocktails…then she left.
So we sat and waited for someone else to come and take our order…for quite a while. Finally we ordered and got our cocktails – which were meant to be champagne based but had less bubbles than still water.
Then we got our edamame. There were about 6 beans each in the tiny pot, and honestly? For quality and quantity and chilli taste Wagamamas beats them 100 times over. And we waited some more. I’d say on average between all of our ‘courses’ we waited at lease 15 minutes (after finishing what we had).
Course one was steak tartare, a ‘duck salad’ and fois gras. Two soup spoons with a tablespoon or so of average tartare (totally lacking acid). 2 slivers of over cooked room temperature duck each on half a dozen wilted salad leaves and a piece of fois about the size of a 2 pound coin. Not impressed and still VERY hungry.
Course two was sushi, which I’m not even going to talk about, 8 pieces in total on the plate, you could probably do better if you went to Waitrose.
Course three was the only redeeming plate of food. Some well cooked and well seasoned steak, root veg crisps and sesame dipping sauce. The portion was by far the most generous we’d seen and it tasted good.
Course four was some teriyaki salmon on bok choy. You know when you eat overcooked salmon and it sticks to your teeth? That happened. And the whole dish just tasted of sweet, totally one dimensional and bland. The bok choy was over cooked too, limp and pathetic swimming in the sugar sauce. This was also the only course that came out without a significant wait.
Course five was what they called crème brulee – it was not this at all. Sweet mousse-esq vanilla-ish stuff sat in a puddle of some sugary water sauce. There was some sugar work sticking out of it (the brulee?) and two green strawberries and a solitary blueberry sat atop the mousse…someone needs to talk to the chef about seasonality. I LOVE crème brulee. LOVE it. This was not that, nor was it good. So sad.
It took us over 2 hours to get through all of this – not because of the quantity of food, or because we were enjoying lingering in the incense laden atmosphere.
Honestly I wish I could say I had a great meal and would go back. Isn’t that the point of having a Groupon or Groupon like voucher? To encourage people who might not come to your establishment normally, and then once they’re there to wow them with amazing service and food so they’ll tell people, and come back to pay regular price? Apparently this is not the modus operandi for Lounge Lover.
And the worst part? my poor darling hubs was desperate for McDonalds or a dirty kebab to fill him up afterwards. This is not the sign of a satisfied customer.
