We ate at Cassis Bistro last Saturday night. It was without doubt one of the most awful restaurant experiences I have had in a very long time. So much so, that we left halfway through our main course.

We went there as we thought it a good choice for a party of 6 people including my parents who were in London visiting for the weekend. The meal started off quite well, the starters were good overall, although they did seem to arrive very quickly after we ordered. Halfway through the starter course, my father had to take an important phonecall, for which he stepped outside the restaurant. He was gone for a few minutes and during this time the rest of us finished our starters and our plates were taken away. They left my fathers plate on the table ready for him to finish once he returned to the table. However, almost immediately after our plates had been cleared away, our main courses arrived to the table! My father was still outside. The waiter shrugged and said that he would put his main course on the table BESIDE his unfinished starter. We were very surprised at this attitude - We were not ready for our main course yet and that we did not want them until everyone at the table was finished their starter! Surely this is BASIC stuff in any restaurant?! The waiter argued with us about it and seemed indifferent that we were unhappy. It was ludicrous. We had to insist quite forcefully that this was unacceptable and eventually the food was taken away and my father returned to the table (unaware that anything had happened!).

He finished his starter and 5 minutes later our main courses arrived. However, they were the SAME main courses that they had attempted to serve to us 10 minutes previously. They were cold, congealed and absolutely disgusting. I had ordered the rib eye steak (£26). It was not only cold when it arrived but it was not what I was expecting. It was the kind of steak I would expect in a pub chain rather than a top French restaurant. It was thin, overcooked, grey looking and poor quality. It had been served alone on the plate with a sad looking dried out stuffed tomato. At £26 it was way overpriced and by the time it arrived to us it was also inedible. The staff seemed to have no experience in dealing with the situation and merely shrugged and said 'it was nothing to do with them as they were only the waiters'.

Finally the manager appeared but didn't seem to understand what had happened. He barely listed to what we were saying and kept running off back to the kitchen with random plates and side dishes from our table, perhaps to 'heat them up' or something. None of us ate more than a bite and after 10 minutes or so, we decided we had had enough. The food was inedible, the manager seemed unable to deal with the situation and the waiters were now busy attending to other tables. Our evening had been ruined and we decided we would get better service, quality of food and value for money in one of the local fast food chains. We told the manager we were leaving. Although he did apologise quietly to one or two people at the table in French (two of our party speak fluently) for the behaviour of the waiters, he did not offer to replace our spoiled food. By this stage we simply didn't feel we could possibly enjoy what remained of the evening so we decided to leave.

It was by far the worst experience I have had in a London restaurant in years. The food is average, the service is awful and yet the prices are high. Punching above it's weight and a long way to go I would say. Needless to say we will not be returning to Cassis Bistro again.

We ordered pissaladiere, tapenade and an aubergine starter to share. Slow to arrive - the aubergine was pleasant, the tapenade tasted like someone had emptied an entire pot of salt onto it but the pissaladiere was plain simply vile. Three small pieces clearly warmed up from lunch, rock hard so that a fork would not go through. A continent away from the same dish at La petit Maison. Very disappointing. Waited so long for the soup ordered over - enthusiastically at the beginning that we cancelled it after a 35 mins unacceptable gap.

Fish course came promptly and did a little to redeem the reputation of the restaurant. Nicely cooked and served. Dessert menu had several appealing dishes on it but there is only so long one can sit at a table on a Sunday evening without the mind wandering to thoughts of Monday morning and frankly we thought if we ordered a pud we might be late for work the next day!