I have ate at Bistro Pierre many times but the standard has fallen. Very disappointed on my last visit December 21st.

So let’s start from the beginning. We asked for a bread basket and when it arrived the bread was cut into very small pieces as though to disguise the fact the restaurant was short of bread. The presentation looked childlike and messy. I have had the bread basket before and the bread had alway been cut on the bias and very presentable. We ordered the ham hock and baked Camembert starters. The presentation of the ham hock was unacceptable. The meat was crumbled and looked like it had just been thrown on the plate without even trying to make it presentable. In fact it looked like someone’s leftover rather than a professionally plated dish. We drew our waitress’s attention to it and she replaced it. I have had the baked Camembert numerous times but what appeared was a cutdown version in the same ramekin with greaseproof paper packed around it to give the appearance it fitted in the dish.

We ordered from the fixed Christmas Menu. In terms of the main course my friend had the Turkey dinner. The Turkey was cardboard dry and cut very thin. The meal was also tasteless. Again we drew this to the waitress’s attention and changed the dish to the hake which although presented well was not tasty. I ordered the steak au poive but what appeared was the steak dianne for which there was a supplementary charge of £5. I had asked for my steak be cooked pink but it was medium. The steak was chewy and also had a big piece of elastin running through it which made it hard to eat.

Finally we ordered the crème brûlée. The top was rock hard and there was no shortbread biscuit which on previous occasions it was served with although the waitress insisted this was not the case.

All in all it was a very poorly executed service. The waitress said it was because there was only 2 chefs instead of the 4 normally in. However the restaurant was not full at all. Only one large party and 3 other tables with less that 4 people.

It was my birthday and I feel particularly let down as up to this point I have never had a bad experience here. However the overall impression was that of a meal delivered on a very tight budget where corners were cut. We just paid the bill and left but it really doesn’t sit well with me that neither of us were satisfied with our meal. With hindsight we should have complained on the spot!

I have posted this complaint here because despite trying to make a complaint directly from their website numerous times an error comes up. Hoping that they’ll see this here and respond.