The Forge at 7:30 pm on Wednesday 7th March, 2012. The cuisine: Modern European.
The Forge (entrance is on Floral Street)
14 Garrick Street
WC2E 9BJ
Actual price per head: £42
Nearest tube: Leicester Square (Northern Line and Piccadilly Line).
Remarks
Thanks to Gilles C. who attempted to negotiate a better deal with The Forge. The Forge was intransigent.
We ended up with the package of three courses and a glass of wine for £29.50.
The prior arrangement had been for house wine at £16 per bottle, but the restaurant actually charged us £16.50 per bottle. Perhaps I misunderstood the arrangement. In any case we only had 6 bottles on top of the glass included in the deal.
Braised cabbage was £3.50, Spinach was £4.75, Gratin Dauphinois was £3.75, Steamed Broccolli was £4, as were French Beans.
Latte at £2.75, ditto Cappucino, Decaf, Filter, Tea. and double Espresso.
I’m going back tomorrow to argue about 1 diet cola at £16.50. It’s an error but still puts me to the inconvenience of sorting it out which makes me grumpy.
Service charge was 12.5% and service was good. Any delays were my fault as I held back early on to give latecomers time to arrive. This impacts on the early arrivals but I’m not sure if there’s a better way to handle this.
There were a good number of new faces and I hope they enjoyed the evening.
The Forge is a good restaurant; extremely competent. Best value on a Sunday or Monday evening when they offer three courses and half a bottle of wine for £20.12
Afterwards I went for a few drinks with Bill, so now I’m merry, typing away in the middle of the night.
Ali commented that the vegetarian dish was a little bitter, though his dessert was very good.
Attendees
Ali H., Andy Y., Bill R., Colin I., Daniel R., David H., David W., Donal M., Gary T., Ian S., Jack L., Jeremy P., John H., John R., Kevin C., Mark B., Mark J., Martin T., Matt S., Philip S., Ricardo B., Richard J., Tim A.