Brasserie Max, Covent Garden Hotel, Monmouth Street, London WC2H 9HB

Brasserie Max, Covent Garden Hotel, Monmouth Street, London WC2H 9HB
www.coventgardenhotel.co.uk

04/10/2014

She said: I booked the film club which offers three courses for £35 in the buzzing hotel brasserie plus a movie in the chic screening room. I was looking forward to the meal and had deliberately reduced my food intake for the day in anticipation. After struggling to get attention to place our order, we advised the waitress that we had booked the film club so needed to eat within 90 minutes (a reasonable time period for most restaurants). Her response was a very high pitch assertion that we were not the only film club people and we would be served in good time. The set menu looked appetising; I went for a tuna cerviche to start but alas, the tuna had no taste and was drowned in what tasted like orange juice. After about a 25 minute wait we checked on our mains (as customers who arrived after us were being served well before us); again a shrill voice said some words which amounted to ‘what are you complaining about, we know what we’re doing’. To add insult to injury, she had the cheek to say ‘well you asked us to make changes to your main so that’s caused the delay (this referred to my asking for spinach with my salmon instead of beans – not something I was warned would create a kitchen crisis)! Turns out the wait was not worth it; the salmon was fine, cooked as it should be but the spinach tasted gritty. The only saving grace was the chocolate brownie which was indeed a rich, lovely chocolate pudding in a toffee sauce. I would expect more from Brasserie Max, part of the Firmdale group which owns Ham Yard and the Charlotte Street hotels amongst others when what we got was more of a mid-range chain churning out standard, forgettable dishes for the Covent Garden tourist crowd knowing you’ll never see them again. Disappointing.

He said: It’s very unlikely that we would’ve gone to Max’s if it hadn’t been for the enticement of their Film Club package: who wants to venture into the epicentre of touristy London on a Saturday night? But with three courses and a movie for £35; how could you go wrong?! Turns out you can. Given the time of week (psychotic Saturday) you could count on service niggles, which we got in spades. But this is a Firmdale joint, and though it’s by no means at the cutting edge of the culinary arts, you certainly wouldn’t expect a bland cream sauce pappardelle, or barely cleaned, gritty spinach. It’s definitely time for head office to send the Quality Control gang to knock some heads together. Whoever’s managing Max’s just doesn’t care anymore. Given the location there are plenty of alternatives, so at the best of times there wouldn’t be any reason to go into Max’s; I hope I’ve given you one less.