Hawksmoor Restaurant

Hawksmoor is a steak restaurant with multiple locations across London, including Edinburgh, Manchester, Dublin, and New York to name a few. They say on their website that “they want something special for the people who come and eat with us.” They are always wanting to aspire to create the best customer service and experience. It made me excited to book this as a special birthday treat. Our experience didn’t go to plan, here’s what happened…

I learned about Hawksmoor from a colleague at work, who had been for Sunday Lunch and for meals on the weekend. When it came to booking a restaurant for my partner’s birthday I knew this would be the perfect choice. We both love going out to steak restaurants and always think it’s the perfect date night. I booked the Air Street location which is close to Regent Street / Picadilly area in London.

We arrived for the meal and were greeted and told to make out way upstairs to the restaurant. The restaurant has an art-deco look to the restaurant. We were shown to our table, which was at the back of the restaurant, in a booth. It had a large mirror, which my partner looked towards, where I could see the entire restaurant. We were given our menus and told the server will be with us shortly.

The server took a long time to come, and when he did arrive, he was not helpful. We ordered drinks first as we couldn’t choose what to have. Instead of asking if we needed help, he left us. When the drinks did arrive, the server came back to take our order. I went to choose the Porterhouse steak. They said to me that steak was not available and they only had certain weights of steak. As they explained this, it became more confusing and when we asked about other steaks, they said that were not available. He spoke down to us like we didn’t know this could happen in a restaurant. In the end, we both decided on the same dish. I felt frustrated that I couldn’t order what I wanted or understand what weights and steaks were available.

They then said how would you like the steak cooked, I replied medium/rare and my partner said medium. They said with fries which we said yes to but didn’t ask about any sauces or sides. They took our menu away. 12 mins later our starters arrived.

For the starter, we ordered the potted beef & bacon, with Yorkshire pudding and gravy. The potted beef and gravy had so much flavor and the Yorkshire puddings were fresh and fluffy. They came back and asked if we wanted our mains, to which we agreed. It took a further 18 mins for the steaks to arrive.

In the end, we both ordered the Chateaubriand steak with fries. When the dishes were been served to us the server assumed that the medium steak would be for me. When I said this is wrong and the other was mine they got annoyed. We were never asked if we wanted any sauces or sides and they just walked away.

When looking at the steak you can tell it was done on a chargrill. It was seared with a crunchy outside and hopefully a tender middle. When cutting into the steak, it was definitely more medium and had little blood running. The first sign to me of a bad steak. When I went to bite into the steak, it didn’t taste right as the outside was salt burnt texture and the most tender of steak inside. My partner asked me about how my steak was, and I said I didn’t like the taste. He tasted mine and said it was different. The server came along and asked about our meals which I replied not good but it’s too late now. The only thing I did like was that meat inside was juicy and tender.

He came and took our plates, and asked the same question where I explained the outside of the steak tasted like the saltiest fish with tender beef. I said if they bothered to check with us, I would have sent the steak back earlier. As we received no customer service this was not an option. Feeling my frustration, they asked if we wanted dessert, to which we said no just the bill.

I’d forgotten on the booking that I said it was my partner, birthday so he came out with a plate saying ‘Happy Birthday.’ I appreciate the token.

When receiving our bill he said that he’d taken off the steak for myself and that he’d given us a reduction in price. The bill came, and my partner said we would have paid over £100 for two steaks and two fries. The bill was still high coming in at just under £100.

We both walked out deflated, hungry, with no value for money. To me, you can pay a high price markup for steak. My partner and I have said we would always pay for good steak and service. Comparing this service with the style of food, I wouldn’t return. The server we had was clearly unhappy we’d been sat in his section, he didn’t bother to explain the cuts and weights they had. He didn’t give us options on what we could order. No one commented on why we had no sides. As a female, I was given the medium steak… The only good thing about this experience was the potted beef and Yorkshire puddings, since coming home we have tried to recreate this dish.

Have you been and had a better experience than me?