Smith's of Smithfield Top Floor Restaurant London (Clerkenwell)

Superb steaks, good chips, beautifully fresh and sweet oysters... My wife and I enjoyed a very good lunch, and the service was warm and informative.

by Deacon (2 reviews), 17 May 2011

View is great, waiting staff are awful... advise you stay well clear.

by marie_louiseg2005, 13 Nov 2010

Horrible place. Waiter was rude, they dropped half of the dishes on the floor, so adding 15 mins of waiting time to the food. Price was far too high for food quality. After dinner, half of us went out to smoke, half stayed in to have a drink; the ones out smoking could not get back in, and we were verbally abused by the doorman.

Awful place - find another place to spend your money.

by fanton, 30 Oct 2010

Went here for lunch and was very disappointed. Chicken and leek pie (even though a very generous portion) was rather bland and not a patch on the pies from Farm! The accompanying chips weren't made from the most flavoursome potatoes and were most definitely not handcut - something I expect from somewhere like this. Add to this the strange choice of 'house' music to eat your meal to and I think you get the picture: a reasonably priced but overhyped eatery.

by Muse197, 21 Oct 2009

Work colleagues and I went to Smith's for lunch and were bitterly disappointed. Apparently this restaurant is very well known and has a famous chef. Well, what is he famous for? I doubt whether it's the food. It was a cold day and I felt for something I thought would warm me up. I had the beef stew and dumpling. There was one soggy dumpling and the meat was 60% gristle. The meal was awful and I would only recommend it to my enemies. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Never again!!

by angela.bell, 21 Oct 2009

Beef roast dinner was awful... Yorkshire pud was flat and burnt on the top. Beef was too thick, fatty and hard to cut, meaning I had to leave half of it. Veg was parsnips and squash (?), the parsnips were overcooked and burnt - considering it was summer, I would have expected seasonal veg. Horseradish was straight from a jar, not homemade. Very ordinary bread with no side plates. Chocolate cake/pudding was dry and not enough choc sauce. Service was very very slow.

No way would I recommend this restaurant. A great disappointment.

by tricia_warner, 13 Jul 2009

Looking at the reviews here, it's pretty clear the place has gone downhill. I last went about 4 years ago and from memory it was very good, easily a 7 or 8 out of 10. Went there this week, and it was decidedly below average. 3 out of 5 steaks on the menu unavailable, and the T-bone I ordered was poor (unattractive and overcooked). In hindsight I should have sent it back, as I got food poisoning for my trouble. Very overpriced when compared to say Hawksmoor, Goodman, Black & Blue... Oysters were excellent though!

by ssukcl, 22 Apr 2009

I would say, having visited this restaurant only once (and that was once too many times!), that the establishment is totally focused on selling you way overpriced wine. Oh, and by the way would you like some very mediocre and overpriced food while we look for a corkscrew? In short, a disgrace!

by pml370, 04 Apr 2009

The service at Smith's is simply awful. Possibly the rudest, most obnoxious waiting staff I have ever encountered. We were greeted with a grunt, our order was taken without so much as a smile, food was delivered by placing all plates on one corner of the table (expecting us to distribute them amongst ourselves), some plates were taken away while others were still eating, etc.

The food was OK, but as my colleagues and I have some self respect we will not revisit Smithfields to be insulted again.

by phill, 01 Mar 2009

My girlfriend and I ate there a few weeks ago thinking the food, if nothing else, would be consistent and good quality. Unfortunately I was quite disappointed. Starter (squid) was average, but my steak main was tough and not very tasty. My girlfriend's duck was actually quite good... However, for the money there are far better places to eat in London.

by neil1, 16 Feb 2009

My wife and I were taken for dinner to this restaurant by our son on our recent visit to London. Ordered the rump steak (at £28), medium rare. When it was brought to the table I could hardly cut it with the steak knife - it was quite inedible it was so tough. Complained, and manageress came to table. After some waffle from her, she agreed to replace the rump steak with a sirloin. If anything, this steak was even tougher!! The Dorset crab I had for a starter was pathetic - served on a really hard bit of sourdough toast, and the small amount of crab was tasteless. Wine list is ample but expensive. Service third-rate.

On the whole, this is a very overrated restaurant. I have seldom had such a poor steak anywhere in the world. Prices way over the top for what one gets. I believe the owner appears on the TV show Masterchef as a judge. I would strongly suggest that he spends a bit of time judging some of the food and service in his own backyard before criticising others.

by garrodgibb, 20 Jan 2009

What a surprise... and not a pleasant one.

We booked a table for 12.30, it wasn't ready till 12.45 (we were the only clients).

Bread: served by hand (very unhygienic) without a side plate to put it on.

Wine: a Valpolicella with screw top (surely cannot be considered appropriate for such a restaurant!).

We asked for a rare steak. The waitress suggested we take it medium because, she said, 'rare' was in fact very rare as it was cooked in the "French style" (?). I thought "OK, if she says so". I'll never trust a waitress in future - the meat was medium/well done.

Chips: served without any serving spoon or fork - we had to serve ourselves with our hands. (Yes, I was with my wife, but what if it had been a business lunch? Unhygienic to say the least.)

I'm sorry, but this restaurant is very overrated.

by macla, 09 Dec 2008

Given its location at Smithfield, I had a pretty average bit of roast beef here. On the plus side, nice views and nice room.

by StuH "top london reviewer" (39 reviews), 04 Oct 2008

Went for a birthday meal last night. Service was very slow - 20 minutes before our order was taken, and in that time we had to search for someone to take an aperitif order. The starters, scallops and fois gras, were good, while the mains were ok - at £30 each the steaks needed to be excellent! Although we ordered a bottle of wine this didn't arrive at the table leaving us chasing waiters once again, still the practice was useful as we had to employ the skills again to get a dessert menu. Overall, needed to be much better to justify £225 for 2 courses for 3 people.

by mysterydiner, 11 Sep 2008

I ate there last night and it was absolutely fabulous. The 7oz fillet steak was cooked to perfection - delicious! My partner had a whole crab, which he thoroughly enjoyed. Just lovely. Will definitely eat there again and most definitely would recommend it to anyone.

by tattlebug, 24 Jul 2008

In spite of the other reviews on this page, I felt the food was utterly fantastic. Simple, perfect, presentation was great and refined and service was wonderful. The foie gras terrine was divine, my Hereford steak was possibly the most delicious piece of meat I have eaten, and the desserts were little pieces of perfection (macaroons with Sambuca ice cream, lemon soufflé, apple pie). I would eat there three times a day.

by rvondeh, 11 Jun 2008

It was good but not quite as good as I was expecting, considering where it is in the heart of Smithfields. Having said that, I would certainly go back again.

by saucyland (10 reviews), 13 Feb 2008

Terrible food. Had to send one main course back, as the monkfish was raw in the middle. My steak was very nice but when the steak came out for the replacement for the fish, it was burnt to a crisp. Poor flavours and very badly seasoned food. At £189 for 3 people, I would not set foot in this very dirty, poor value for money restaurant.

by steve776, 30 Nov 2007

Nothing special. Nice interior, nice service but found the food to be very average, especially considering price. Head to the Eagle instead for some amazing pub grub.

by Anonymous, 20 Jan 2007

A great view, lots of space and light, and a firmly British menu with lots of emphasis on good quality produce. Go for the beef - they give the producer and the amount of time it was hung for.

by louise_m, 30 Mar 2006

Smith's of Smithfield Top Floor

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