Review Time
I have eaten at Cote many times over the years and as recently as June I've enjoyed a meal here. I was unaware of the ownership/menu changes so while the service was still good, last night's experience in Shrewsbury came as an unwelcome surprise.The menu has been reduced to a single A4 card, and several of the staple options removed or replaced by pasta dishes. Despite a change in presentation style the crab maison starter was still serviceable, but we had to send the confit pork belly back as it was not crispy at all. When it was returned, it soon became apparent there was little to no meat and we were left chasing blubber around the plate.It's a shame as Cote was one of the last reliable chain restaurants in town, but appears to be going the same way as the rest.
My husband and I booked a table for a special wedding anniversary and noted this in the booking request. When we arrived there was no mention of this by the staff and the restaurant was not busy.Our meal started out OK and we both liked our starters. But then it all started to go downhill.My supposedly vegetarian main was served and tasted of meat; clearly the vegetables had been cooked either next to frying meat or in a less than clean pan. The server asked if I wanted a replacement but I didn't want to make a fuss because it was a special evening for us, so asked if I could just have some chips instead so I would be eating my main alongside my husband. My husband wasn't terribly impressed with his chicken which wasn't served nicely as it looked as if it had been thrown onto the plate.While we were eating our main courses, we saw a party of 4 at the table next to us asking where their chips were but, when their chips finally arrived, everyone had finished their meal and their chips were cold. I hope that my chips weren't intended for their table!Anyway after we'd finished our mains, we wanted to order our pudding but waited at least 20 minutes for someone to notice that we wanted to order. A different server finally came up and, as I didn't know what to choose, I asked for a recommendation from the server. I explained that I liked dark chocolate and asked for the most chocolatey pudding. She recommended I pick the chocolate praline tart. My husband chose the chocolate fondant. Sadly, my pudding was definitely not very chocolatey but I ate some of it.However, my husband's pudding was served cold. Now, we have been to Côte many times over the past couple of years and, on the 4 occasions when we have ordered chocolate fondant, it has been served cold. So this is clearly an ongoing issue. On 2 occasions we asked for a replacement which arrived at the perfect temperature. So you would have thought that the restaurant would be aware that they're sending out cold chocolate fondants and work to avoid this.After we'd finished the original server came to clear our table and asked if we'd like coffee or anything else and we said no thank you. We expected him to return to ask if we wanted the bill but after 30 minutes waiting for this to happen, I gave up and got up and asked to pay. This process also took a while.Now I didn't jump straight here to write a review as I thought I'd go in and speak with the management and give them our feedback and explain we were disappointed and why. We like Côte and wanted to give them a chance to improve. The manager seemed very concerned, almost dramatically so, and acknowledged they had an issue with late serving of chips and also that they were already aware that chocolate fondants were being served cold (so why had they not taken corrective action on this???). He finished by saying that he would send me an email to follow up and thanked me for coming in rather than giving them a bad review.However, he sent no email. I have waited 2 months in case it was on his to-do list and he was just busy but he clearly was all words and no action.So I now don't believe that Côte actually care about improving food or service and, as a result, we haven't been back and have no intentions of going back. I guess the good that comes out of this is that the other restaurants in Winchester are going to benefit from our custom :)
As a family we have been coming to Cote regularly for many years, last night was the last. The shrunken menu is dumbed down to burgers, pasta, chicken and chips...stuff like that. Very small portions, not cooked well and very expensive for what it is. Only 5 bottles of white wine to choose from and all about £30 plus. The price hike/drop in value is enormous! Moules the size of a starter (£18). Half chicken and chips (£23) Dry chicken, poor quality but endless chips and a bit of rocket to fill the big empty space on the plate. Side dishes are miniscule and Tuna now grilled not seared and overcooked. There is no French influence here at all unfortunately, even the staff were embarrassed by it all.So enjoy your year of profit at our expense Cote. Then swiftly followed by the inevitable slide into closures and oblivion, all brought upon by mismanagement greed. How sad!
Haven't been to cote for some time but it used to have a decent French inspired menu. Went to St Martins cote in London tonight. It was packed with pre theatre goers. A captive audience. Service is fast and reasonably good. Food is pretty awful. Their set menu has very few options. We paid £8 extra for a sirloin steak which was relatively small with a few fries and overcooked for medium and medium rare. The idea of flowing fries was definitely not evident as nothing was offered. I saw the linguine with seafood which was served on a plate and not a bowl. The size of portions was not commensurate with the price. A rather cheap cote de Gascogne for over £30 is a rip off even for London. There are so many great restaurants in Covent Garden and soho such as prix fixe. Avoid if you can. 0
Delightful staff and service as always in our local, Blackheath SE London Côte, BUT…… a new high in the “We’re right, you’re wrong ..” style of online marketing? We’ve loved our local Côte, and liked the email newsletters (especially as they often offer free drinks!) but their recent weeks’ style has been weirdly apologetic with phrases like “ we’d lost our way “ to justify a new menu. Implying we (the customers) were mugs for previously putting up with great, authentic but now abandoned dishes like Breton Fish Stew and Poulet Grille? And that the (new?) Executive Chef has swooped in to save us with new alternatives like bottomless chips, Pasta and Burgers! But today’s email disses the dissenters even more harshly, dictating that;“ Our new French Roast Chicken is here...and it’s cluckin’ good. We know you’ve been missing your Poulet Breton and old favourite Poulet Grillé. We’ve heard every “bring it back!” and every wistful sigh. But our Executive Chef Steve is confident that our new French Roast Chicken is even better…”So there. All you whingeing customers are wrong. We, or rather “Steve” is right!Ok, yes, the new chicken is terrific. And so generous that I had to doggy bag a quarter home. No way could I cope with more chips? Although I guess if I wanted to be a cynical cheapskate, we could split a Demi Poulet and a mountain of Frites between two? Which would make up for them dropping our favourite House Wine from Languedoc so now we pay almost a fiver more for booze?But no matter; we won’t cluck off, we’ll still visit weekly, and receive the same brilliant service from Kornelia, Chiara, Adrian, Naseem, Paul and all their wonderful waiters, commis and kitchen magicians at Côte Blackheath
Wow ! What and who has happened to Cote??!! Once a classy French style restaurant serving classic dishes well made and good value for money now a menu half the size, prices hiked, bottomless fries (oven chips - very classy!) and £22 for dry tasteless chicken and chips served with no garnish - Sadly nandoes does chicken better !! This is not Cote - even the waiting staff were embarrassed to serve us . Hopefully Cote will take all these reviews of the dreadful new menu and make changes quickly before they lose their loyal customers . Feels like budget cafe food with inflated prices lol going off their name :( Just cancelled our Xmas meal here this year …
Going to Cote St Martins Lane used to be such a treat. Tonight the food was terrible and overpriced. Tomato and basil salad used poorest produce, arrived crudely chopped, not sliced, without a drop of decent olive oil and about half a shredded basil leaf. Steak frites came tepid and ungarnished, creme brulee was cold! Won't be going to a Cote again.
The menu has changed and is now limited and boring. Tuna was overcooked and tough, couldn’t eat it. I have eaten at Cotes for years and always enjoyed a variety of dishes now removed from the menu; the new menu is so disappointing and expensive.
I was so looking forward to going to Cote today. I have been a loyal customer for many years. My proud boast has been, there are always so many dishes I could choose from a Cote menu, compared to any other restaurants. It has been the number one place for me to meet with friends in different branches. and the quality of the food and service has been excellent.NOT ANY MORE!!! I had not read any of the other reviews on this site, now I have, I am in total agreement.The new menu is a disaster. For starters, the way it is set out is really confusing. It is totally unappetising and over priced. The only thing I felt I could order was the Tuna Nicoise salad. The tuna was ok but there was a great pile of lettuce, a couple of anchovies, tomatoes, two olives and a boiled egg. Just not what I am used to. As for the chips, as opposed to frites, the last thing I would have wanted was to have an endless supply.I didn't like the choice of desserts so finished with coffee which was the best part of the meal.There were three of us having lunch today. We all agreed, we will no longer be going to Cote in the future unless the old menu is restored and the quality of the food improved.It seems to me, the way Cote is going, unless it gets it's act together, it will not survive for much longer, which is such a shame.I have another reservation for Sloane Square in December which I am going to cancel.
I have no idea what is going on with Côte but the chain has clearly plummeted in quality in the last two months. Having been a regular at Côte since it opened, I booked to take some clients out for dinner thinking that Côte is always reliable in quality of food and atmosphere. I couldn’t have been more wrong! It was like walking into a cheap pub, tables weren’t set and were chipped, forks bent and it was quite frankly embarrassing with my customers. The previously varied menu with lovely dishes has disappointingly been replaced with a dire, basic fast food type menu. I was concerned it was just our local restaurant that was the problem but, from reading other reviews, I can see this is happening across the chain. I can’t understand what has possibly prompted this and it surely can’t have been thought through by management? I was sincerely shocked that this seems to be a concious decision from the top. Côte need to urgently reconsider as they will definitely be losing their long time, loyal customer base with this change. I won’t be returning as the experience would have been better down the pub and I would have paid much less too.
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