Vinoteca, One St Pancras Square, N1C 4AG

Vinoteca, One St Pancras Square, N1C 4AG

www.vinoteca.co.uk

14/03/2015

She said: Another soft launch (50% off) so I booked this new addition to the growing food destination that is King’s Cross. We’d been to the Marylebone branch of this wine and dine restaurant and loved it so expectations were high. Set on the newest corporate square of the King’s Cross development, initial impressions were good. Lots of glass, bright, a casual wine bar-bistro feel. The maitre d’ was warm and welcoming. We were early so took a seat at the bar but I was informed they did not offer a cocktails menu so I just studied the food menu instead until our guests arrived. The menu offered a good, solid range of options. Unfortunately the food was a bit of a let down. Nothing was bad but neither was it memorable or worth returning for. My hot salmon starter was fine, a little crisp. My cod main looked lovely but was excessively salty – there must have been a slip of hand in the kitchen? I scanned and rescanned the dessert menu for chocolate but other than profiteroles there was nothing nor any suitable alternatives as everything seemed cream based. Still I opted for the semifredo which turned out to be a lump of sort-of tasteless ice cream with a skirt of toffee sauce; disappointing. Service was slow but maybe they were letting us take in the company and setting but the restaurant was also very cold with an icy breeze shooting through every time a door opened (I kept my coat on throughout). All I can hope is that these were all soft launch issues and with feedback, the menu and cooking will ‘evolve’ to the more sophisticated flavours achieved in its other branches. For now, it’s fine as a casual after-work social but falls short as a smart, foodie destination.

He said: I was looking forward to this Vinoteca. The one near us is nice, and New Kings Cross is everything that London isn’t: planned-out, spacious, it works. She booked us into a heavily discounted pre-opening deal, so we let rip and ordered everything gangsta style, without thinking about the interest on the credit card. But this Vinoteca was miles apart from the other, and, despite good service, was really let down by the quality of the food: even by soft-lauch standards this was sub-par. Food came out quickly enough, but without any flair or attention. It wasn’t bad, just really average. The impression I took away is that Vinoteca, like so many other really good restaurants, is expanding too fast. What’s wrong with just having one, maybe two restaurants that work really well. Why rush and screw up? But the location is nice so I guess it will do fine.