we waited a long time for our food.. although we were told we only ordered "37 minutes ago". there was apparently a party of 40 downstairs so all the customers upstairs were neglected. all around us people were complaining. the food wasn't hot enough and my fish was a very small portion. to top it all they tried to overcharge us. luckily we checked the bill. this is the first time i have ever refused to pay service charge.
if you want a great restaurant on pimlico road.. try tinello's. it's superb!

We were invited to try out this latest gastropub last week.

First impressions are very good. The building is divided up into several spaces - a downstairs bar with an informal dining area, an upstairs more traditional setting and a further space in the basement which was being hired out throughout the Christmas period (with a bar that had been installed mere hours before it was about to be used). The place was humming when we got there on a Thursday night at 7pm. Downstairs was already packed and the upstairs restaurant full an hour later. I'd say a great deal of this could be down to the rave review in Time Out - but ultimately it's a good location and the people behind the pub come with kudos earned at the nearby Pantechnicon and Thomas Cubitt. The manager opening The Orange also opened those two pubs, so he's obviously learned a thing or two from them.

As we sat down to eat, we discovered, somewhat surprisingly, that the same menu is offered throughout the building - visitors to the upstairs restaurant get served the same food as downstairs. The menu seems to be going for a wider range than we've seen at the previous establishments, with traditional starters and mains mixed with a few pizza varieties. For starters, we went with the salt cod croquettes, which were very good indeed, and the potted duck as recommended to us. Unfortunately, the latter turned out to be a little too dry for our tastes. We also ordered some bread - and though it was top quality it arrived the same time as our starters - which somewhat missed the point of us ordering it. Moving onto the mains, we had the wild boar stew and roasted cod. The stew in particular was fantastic - although it came with yet more bread (I'm unable to refuse bread it it's put down in front of me in a restaurant, so I ploughed through...). We ordered wedges on the side, but they were a little too over-salted and we left them unfinished as a result.

Finally - as we moved onto the dessert, the onslaught of carbs was taking its toll . As a result, we were looking for something light on the dessert menu, but other than ice cream, nothing fit the bill. Ultimately, we shared a decent, if unremarkable white chocolate ricotta cheesecake (again, a surprise - I HATE sharing dessert, but even I was admitting defeat). The consensus was that the menu was definitely in need of some lighter options interspersed throughout the carb fest.

But in all - the food was generally OK, but not at the levels I was expecting following the review in Time Out. However, the location is great, and for an informal evening out with friends or family, this is definitely worth a visit. Also - if dining in the restaurant and you arrive early - we'd also recommend going upstairs to the small "music room" adjoining the restaurant if you want to avoid the hoards downstairs.