I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I know it is easy for me to say but at the point they denied you food, i would have asked to speak the the manager. I would not have paid the bill at V and A without speaking to a manager if my experience was like yours.
We went last year for our 14th wedding anniversary dinner. Sunday my BIL and SIL said they want to go to WDW with us and FIL around that time. FIL said that DH and I should go back for our anniversary. We had no problem booking it ( christmas week so was a little worried) and can't wait to go back.
I didn't see your post before or I would have replied! What happened when I asked for another dish is that my husband was in the bathroom and I did NOT want him knowing I was dissatisfied. This was the ONLY present I wanted and it wasn't his fault for the bad experience so I didn't want him to know about it. It wasn't until later in the dinner that we realized both of us were disappointed and when he got the bill and questioned them about it, he did not get any adjustment. It wasn't until we left that I told him I had asked for another dish. I know I should have, but at the time, I was more concerned for him because he wanted to make me happy (and he did and I still had a wonderful day and evening with him!) This whole trip was a BIG deal and BIG gift for me so I didn't want him thinking I didn't like his gift. Of course, looking back, I should have said something to him sooner. But I did tell the server so that should have been enough. I shouldn't have to tell my husband who then has to tell them to do something - you know?
After many years of fantastic dinners at V&A, we too had a not-so-great experience last week (Thurs). I felt the food was far "off" from what it had been. The amuse buche was terrible- all tuna and very Asian inspired. My gnocchi with mushrooms and truffles was really terrible. Could barely taste the truffle and the mushrooms were overlooked and just terrible tasting. Another dish ( quail) had a thick, heavy BBQ-type sauce that overpowered it and also tasted bad. I ordered the lamb that I always get and the portion was much smaller. It was also covered with a similar thick heavy BBQ type sauce which ruined it. Service from main course on was absolutely terrible. It was as if we were forgotten about.my husband is very easy- going and he agreed it was not up to par but he hates to make a scene so I did not complain. But boy was a disappointed and horrified at a$400 price tag for such a bad meal and so-so service,. We probably won't be back.
I completely agree with you about the amuse buche - two of the items were tuna and not good. The noodle item was good but nothing that wowed me. And that quail dish is exactly what made me drink so much water - it was horrible!!! I LOVE figs and was so excited for this dish but that sauce was nasty. It was after that where I asked for a different entree and I wish I had insisted because the lamb main dish sauce was just as bad.
How interesting that you had such a similar experience, and I think you said it was last Thursday so only the day after we were there (oct 16).
The recent negative reviews are interesting. I can certainly understand being disappointed by a less-than-stellar experience. Expectations are justifiably high when you pay $200 per head. They should be able to impress almost anyone.
For those reporting "bad" food, can you be more specific? Was it not to your taste, was it not prepared to generally-accepted standards, etc.? For example, at first glance, an Asian-inspired amuse bouche sounds wonderful to me. What made it terrible?
I would also be offended if nearby tables clearly received superior service because they were better connected or appeared wealthier. I don't understood snobby/aloof servers at places like this. Waiting tables can make a good living, but it won't make you an oil tycoon. I suppose it's a bit of a sore spot for me. My husband and I are relatively young and admittedly a little nerdy, but we're polite, love good food & wine, and tip 20-25%. We ran into snobby service at Citrico's earlier this year, and we were really taken aback. (They sat us at someone else's table and then unapologetically asked us to move, served us oxidized wine, never re-filled our drinks, and apparently forgot to offer dessert, all while we tried to gracefully roll with the punches. No fun.) I don't know... do the super-wealthy really tip that much better?
I'm headed to V&A's in early December and will keep my expectations in check. Thanks for the reviews.
I didn't feel that the service was snobby, just that other tables were more important - especially the food and wine event. Any time we had additional questions or concerns is when they looked at us like they couldn't believe we had detained them from the next table or their next job. We still tipped them, they certainly serviced us and when I made $2.13/hour, the tips made my livelihood. But I'm honestly not sure how much V&A servers make.
As for specifics on the food, I am posting pictures of our menu below with some food pictures (I didn't get food pics of everything). Here is my take on the food:
Amuse-Bouche: Two tuna items, one noodle item. It all looked, and tasted, very grey (and not the delicious stuff!). The tuna was not a good flavor and the noodles were just 'fine'. The wine pairing was lovely - a sparkling brut.
Petit Poussin: This was a flavorful dish and I loved the unique violet mustard. The second picture is my husband's dish, the Octopus which he enjoyed. The wine pairing for the poussin was good (not my favorite) but the wine pairing for the Octopus was too strong (supposedly it is Enrique Eglesias favorite wine and he bought the vineyard to be able to get it imported to the US or something like that). Notice that the dish 'fell'. As the server sat it down, it fell over. It was a minor thing but these types of mistakes happened our entire meal.
Scallop: It was undercooked and my husband agreed but it tasted fine so he ate it. My husband got the yellowtail snapper which we both thought tasted good, but nothing remarkable. The wine pairings were both ok but we are not fond of most white wines and were disappointed to find a fall menu full of white wine rather than red (with heartier meat dishes too although we LOVE seafood and fish so don't think that is why we were disappointed).
Quail: This was the dish that really bombed. The sauce was way too salty (and I love salt) and it was too meaty and overpowering. My husband had the veal which he could not finish (my meat eating husband!!) because it was also too salty. The wine pairings were red and some of the best of the night.
At this point is when I asked for a different dish for my entree and I wish I had insisted.
Lamb: The sauce is way too overpowering and I seriously started to wonder if they put this same sauce on all the dishes. The sauces were reduced too far and were not light enough to compliment the dishes. The vegetables were undercooked AND overcooked. The lamb itself - well, my husband had one bite and I had none. He said it was bad. He then got his 'face' and I decided it was best not to talk about it in the restaurant. His duck was also not good. I'm asking him now if he could elaborate and he said, "Honestly, the only thing memorable was the bread and butter." At this point, the server asked me how my dish was and I asked if I could have more bread and butter and my husband did the same. They asked if we wanted our meal wrapped to which we said we wouldn't eat it anyway. And that was that
The wine pairings were too light for the sauce but they tasted good with the bread
It was black truffle brioche style bread if you are wondering!
This lamb looks more like something we homebodies would make in a crockpot - the presentation alone was awful!
The duck had better presentation but it also had our pet peeve, which is where you can see where they wipe the plate off if they get sauce on the wrong spot - it always grosses us out because my husband knows that they carry a towel around and goodness knows how many plates or items it has 'cleaned'.
Cheese and white gelato - Finally something they couldn't mess up too bad. Unfortunately, only the parmigiano reggiano and gouda reypenaer were 'wow', the others were not and they did not do a good job pairing the cheeses.
Now we come to dessert where we both had ordered soufflés - chocolate for me, grand marnier for him. My chocolate souffle was fabulous. His Grand Marnier was delicious but less flavorful than mine. We did get the coffee service as well and that was very, very good. The bailey's was delicious too and while I was only sipping it, when they charged us $15 each and wouldn't take it off the bill, I drank it down.
The after dinner chocolates came and we asked for them in a box - they were all subpar - plain, generic, and little flavor.
Now we did get some bread to take home and it said it was made at V&A. I found it very good. So my take on it is the pastry chef (baker) was on target and the chefs and cooks were...not.
Here was the menu for the evening:
