The Arch Duke: Waterloo, London

The Arch Duke

Date of Visit: 9^th August 2013

Ambience

Located under a bridge, you hear and feel trains passing by so the setting isn’t for everybody.  The trains did not bother us half as much as flickering lights in the restaurant (ones which required replacing) which were annoying for those facing towards the light. 

The surroundings were dark which created a moody effect.  At the beginning of our visit, this was fine but as we started eating, the live music started playing (jazz) which was rather loud and fast paced which made eating less enjoyable since it made us feel rushed and uneasy.  We also found ourselves having to raise our voices to hear one another.

Food

To start, we shared a grilled king prawn starter which came with salad – this was rather tasteless and was a little disappointing.

Since the steak at this restaurant was recommended, most of us went for Steak of various cuts.  I personally shared a T Bone steak which was served exactly as requested.  The steak was definitely not the best steak I’ve had, nor the most tender but it was plausible – at the least, it was not chewy.  The skinny fries and salad that was served with the steaks were reasonable but nothing special. 

For desserts we tried the warm chocolate brownie and the lemon tart.  The latter was ok  but lacked the sourness one would expect from a lemon tart but the brownie was lovely as it was melt in the mouth, slightly gooey but not overly sweet which is perfect for non sweet tooth people like myself.

Service

The waitress was very eager to serve us drinks when we arrived and we found the service to continue to be as attentive throughout the evening.  When half a peach Bellini was spilt by us, the waitress was quick to turn up with several napkins and quickly cleared away wet ones that were left on our table.  Part way through the main course, a friend decided to join us and again they were quick to offer to bring us an additional chair.

It was only at the end that we waited a little to get the attention of the staff but it had gotten very busy by this point so it was understandable and we had no issues as soon as we managed to flag somebody down.

Summary

In summary, the service was brilliant, the food ok but given the costs, I wouldn’t rate this place as being good value and if I wanted steak in the future, this would not be the first on my list.  I recommend the steak at Grill on the Market in Smithfields :)