Marco Pierre White Restaurants
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Not What You Expect From Marco Pierre White
Ok, I always start with the positives. The wife and I visited the Birmingham Marco Pierre White Restaurants just before the pandemic and had the most wonderful time, ambiance, comfort, staff, and the quality of the food was just amazing. It was our memory of this occasion that took us back this week for a celebration with friends. On arrival, we first discovered the drinks offered were very limited, in fact only a single larger on draft (neither I nor my friend drink larger). We fell back on the bottled ale selection, again only a single choice and only two bottles in stock (at least we managed to have one drink we enjoyed). The only fall-back after that, which is always the last resort was canned Guinness, needless to say, we drank very little. When entering the restaurant I was asked for a copy of my Gourmet card so I could take advantage of the 25% off total bill, I provided my card details. The service was good and all the staff was very helpful, as my wife and I were guests we did not feel it appropriate to “make any fuss” it was important, to us, that the evening was a joyous occasion with our friends. The meal arrived, starters were very good to the expected Marco Pierre standard and very nice. The main course was just a disaster for my wife and I, cannot speak for our friends because if they felt the same they did not comment, although the simple comment “ very nice” when asked if they were enjoying the meal was not the normal feedback we normally got from this couple when they are enjoying a really good quality meal. The wife and I had the 8oz Sirloin steak, both cooked medium, so a little of the juices remained in the meat which should add to the flavor. Both steaks were only warm, and the outside of both steaks was almost black (blow-torched to death). When cutting into the steak it was a little tough so we both knew it would be a little on the chewy side, the inside gave the appearance of medium-cooked meat outer edge cooked with a good run of red meat through the middle, but was void of all juices, just a warm, dry almost tasteless chewy steak, this was cheap meat, it’s that simple (Morrison’s and Tesco’s 8oz Sirloin steaks at around £8 are of far greater quality). The four uncooked cold tomatoes dropped on top of the steak, the cold side order of mushrooms, and the egg cup measure of warm pepper sauce that accompanied the steak added to the poor quality of the main course, the only hot part of the meal was the chips. Dessert was only taken up by one of our party, I think by then we’d had enough as the canned Guinness had become a flat over-expensive yuk! Even if our friends had wished to complain when asked by the staff if everything was ok with the meal, they did not get the chance because they were never asked. The bill arrived, just under £400 but my discount had not been actioned, after another attempt at the correct bill, which failed my friend ended up going to the team and directing them to provide the correct bill. We left shortly after to seek out a nice drink to enjoy together. Not what you expect from Marco Pierre White, I really cannot see us ever returning, unless some major changes are implemented, I would start with a Mystery Shopper approach in every restaurant at least one a week.