Cote Recensioni 

My husband and I went to Côte last Saturday 29/11/25) to meet friends for lunch. They had booked the table in advance so we were shown directly to a pleasant enough spot at the top of
the building.

The waiters were friendly and attentive enough although service was a little slow.

I had the Bourguignon £24.50 described as ‘Beef cheek, mushrooms, bacon, carrots, creamed potatoes.’ It was an extremely small child sized portion, luke warm and bland. My husband essentially had chicken and chips which was shared between two, a small cooked chicken was laid in front of them which they had to carve themselves along with a small dish of chips, they orders more.

We followed with the cheeseboard, essentially because we were still hungry! It consisted of four very thin pieces of cheese of our choice and four charcoal crackers approx 2” square for £12, Oh, and a tiny cube of quince! The tiniest cheeseboard I have ever been presented with.

We drank a selection of wines.

The meet-up with friends was lovely, throughly enjoyed by all. The poor food and the consequently high bill at the end (approximately £450) left a very bad taste.

I would not recommend this restaurant at all. In my opinion the cost and upkeep of this beautiful building is transferred onto the customer at too high a cost resulting in a poor quality meal!

We bought a large Christmas sandwich at the train station on our way home because we were starving!

Abysmalcustomer service

Arrived at17:45 for 18:00 booking

Waiter coundnt speak proper English
and misrecorded order three times. First course didnt arrive till 19:00

Served three tables that arrived after us and still couldn't explain where our first course was
]Food was excellent but late and no proper apology from Manager - took three attempts till they agreed to withdraw service charge

We had booke d for Christmas week but will cancel and never eat there again

Abysmal

We went for my daughter’s 17th birthday meal. We chose chicken and steak and they were both supposed to come with bottomless chips, so we didn’t mind the small portions of chips between 4 people to start with. We have asked for some extra chips, and there was a massive delay, the second portion arrived after we paid the bill! The staff were trying to do their best, but it wasn’t good enough for the price they charged! Also there was no acknowledgement of my daughter’s birthday at all, even though I put it in the original booking. Overall, it’s an expensive and disappointing experience! Shame, we won’t be going back.

Oh dear what a shame. Cote really has been ruined. It used to be great, but the menu changes and other issues mean the cote experience is now awful. Tons of salt added to the food unnecessarily, rank chips, small portions and very very slow service. We have been to cote in different places many times over the years but we won’t bother again. It’s a waste of (a lot of) money for very basic food.

We've never used them anywhere before, and our first experience was in Oxford. I booked because it was convenient for the theatre and the food prices looked reasonable for what we wanted.
Service was fine for what we wanted.
I was impressed by the quality of the food, given that it's a chain, but if the menu is consistent, like a M&C then there is no excuse.
I was impressed by the quality of the steak. Their chef got it spot on! Thank you.
Minor grumbel, I probably would have liked a little more sauce, hey that is just me.
My partner enjoyed her meal and the wines were good for the price.

Cote used to be great and have been dozens of times but it’s now unrecognisable.
The menu has changed with lots of good dishes gone and replaced with baguettes! French fries have been replaced with fatter chips, serving steak sauce on the plate and not on the side, waited ages to be seated and to get a drink. Whole experience does not reflect the cost. We spent £160 on two people and it was worse than average. Much better alternatives out there.

We have been frequent customers of Cote for many years, but we were very disappointed last week with the new menu. Very little choice, very downmarket, and who would want 'bottomless' chips!
It's such a shame, I don't think we will be visiting again unless the menu improves.

Lunch today in Cote Salisbury - atmosphere, decor and service were all excellent - but let down by the Tarte Tatin which was very bland and one of the worst I have ever had. The menu seems to have shrunk too. Tjat said a big shout out for our waitress Ana who looked after us superbly.

What an absolute shame. This menu change is awful. Historically they would always amend/add or remove dishes. The menu has been slashed in half. The fries aren’t anywhere near as good and I don’t want bottomless fries! I have been a regular customer of Côte for many years, having always enjoyed the food, serving and atmosphere. It’s a shame the new owners aren’t taking on board customer feedback. All responses seem quite dismissive.

9 of us went for an evening meal in Bristol and the staff were putting up Xmas decorations around us whilst we ate and they had a staff party at the same time in a different part of the restaurant which meant they were also wandering about...very unprofessional.
Thanks for your reply....but no one was being trained....just people putting up decorations!!!!!

Menu change is terrible. Struggled to find one thing I wanted to order. Have eaten here regularly once a month for several years and in between but will now be finding somewhere new. The fixed menu had a dish unavailable which wasn't replaced by anything so no vegetarian choice at all. Tables are not set, looks more like a cafe. Unwelcome feel. Felt sorry for the staff who continued to be great despite unhappy customers all round. Will absolutely not be returning. Very disappointed.

Our first and last visit to Cote.
The staff weren’t attentive. No one asked if our meal was satisfactory. If they had, I would have told them that neither the steak nor the pork belly was seasoned, so both were bland. The waiter also took my plate away while I was still chewing my last mouthful… no member of staff thanked us for our custom on the way out .
Simply not worth the money.
Cote have since reached out and have assured me that they have taken up my concerns with their restaurant in Richmond.

Cotê has been doing poorly lately. We did love our local one, since there’s a great and welcoming staff, we only kept coming back for those guys. However food quality, menu range and pricing are so bad now that unfortunately we’ll stop coming back. Maybe for occasional coffee which is still nice. I do feel sad for the staff since they did all they could on their side to keep Cotê Reading a pleasant place.

So, recent reviews all share the underlying criticism observed by others...you've change your menus/pricing and yet your responses just dismiss this feedback. Simply arrogant - ignore your customers at your peril. Four of us ate at your Salisbury restaurant and we observed exactly the same for the lunchtime menu as many others have stated already with your other menus. A reduced choice with smaller portions and dramatically higher prices. Listen to your customers, revert and stop the arrogant attitude. By the way, our family lunch was only saved by your pleasant staff.

Great location. And that is all. Staff unprepared and unprofessional, some of them behaved as if they were on work experience in a high school canteen. Very noisy and loud, more interested in joking with each other than providing a service. Wrong plates and cutlery on the table, waiters totally unaware, ended up having so many side plates, random bowls, glasses, it was bizarre. One waiter continuously brushing his arm pit on our heads to serve or retrieve items from the table in order to avoid going round the table, as he should have. We thought food was of a very mediocre quality when we received our starters, we were not prepared for the disappointment and disgust that followed with the mains. The steak was chewy due to too much gristle.The small bunch of wilted and clearly unwashed salad leaves should have gone straight into a composting bin. The seafood linguine looked as if they had come straight out of a can, all chopped up and overcooked, three long strands of hair included. It was the most revolting and stomach churning dining experience of my life. When we told our waiter and showed him the hair on the plate, he took the plate away and murmured an embarrassed ‘sorry’. No other member of staff or manager came to apologise. The waiter returned with a menu and said I could order something else. So badly handled, we were feeling sick, so we paid and left. Awful experience. Will never set foot in a Côté again.

We have been to Cote many times before & always enjoy the whole experience.
This time was just as good - apart from my Half Roast Chicken. It was no better than I could have got anywhere & certainly not a suitable replacement for the previous Chicken Breton .

What have the new management done to Cote Brasserie? Menu totally changed, although a few well known choices remain. French authenticity has been wiped out. And claiming to offer unlimited for their 'famous chips'? Are u joking? Cote customers are not dumb. The Cote chips are gone, they are now ordinary frozen chips. Our meal was a tasteless tomato salad, cheap chips and low quality steak . Green salad was better but the avocado in it was brown!! Incredibly disappointed to part with good money and where was once a terrific and trusted place to eat has totally lost the class. Pretty annoyed with Cote to sell to the Karali Group. ' The Karali Group is a family-owned business that also operates other franchises, such as Burger King, Taco Bell'.

Dear God 🤯

My sister and I went to Cote in Sloane Square. My sister ordered a burger which was grey , my steak was hard as a sole. In the night my sister got very ill , clearly food poising! I contacted the head office and restaurant to explain what had happened! The answer, no one had complained about the food this evening so they couldn't do anything. Meanwhile my sister was unwell for a week and it took almost 3 weeks before the bug had gone.
Don't ever go to Cote. The worst place ever.

A member of staff told me the reason why the company's menu and prices have recently changed so much is that the company is now under new magement. My wife and have visited Cote many times before. The food was ans still is fine. However, prices have increased considerably, the menu was limited and I had to leave our table twice, once to ask to see the menu again to choose a desert, and then for the bill, so we will not be returning again. The waitress suggested I might like to submit a customer surveys form direct to the company. However, when asked, she then had to look into the draw below the cash till to find one, and then consult her phone, so I then gave up.

OK, Where to start.

The first thing everyone should know is that Cote Brasserie was recentlty sold to a holding company called The Karali Group. So those of you who have been there when it was owned by a company driven by a different vision and the ethos of running an authentic French Brasserie will now understand why it is now unable to meet your previously held expectations.

I have previously been a loyal customer. Ealing is my local but i've eaten in over a dozen branches. My recent visit was accompanied by a long standing friend who, when in London, it has been traditional for us to break bread at the Ealing branch.

It has previously always either met or exceeded our expectations. Now under a new stewardship it is clear that the values that defined the brand have been trashed, in the bin, broken, finished.

Let's get to the review of the night in question.

My friend arrived at 20:40, I walked in at 20:50. I was not greeted at the door. A waiter, leaning against a pillar, about 5 metres into the restaurant with his arms folded, gestured with a nod as to where my friend was seated. No spoken words until as I passed said waiter he uttered 'I've already told him you've got 10 minutes to order'. What an utter trash way to greet a customer or even communicate with another human.

The Meal
We always eat the same thing and we both eat the same food. Fougasse, Chicken Liver Pate, Sparkling Water, Fillet Steak with frites (Now frozen chips), Gratin Mushrooms, 4 beers £330Ml Kronenbourg beers in total. £158.00 for this dross was a rip off. I don't have any financial issues but the price versus the experience and quality of the food is disproportionate.

I'll make this brief as it doesn't warrant my time.

The Fougasse was dry and burnt
The Chicken liver Pate was much smaller than before and obviously cafe quality not Brasserie.
The sourdough toast was a tiny portion and the bread of standard quality, not offensive but certainly nothing memorable in the positive.
The steak...hmmmm, let's get the correct adjectives, dry, flavourless, tiny and as I will never know I'd like to ask if it was previously frozen, as I say the lame response I'm expecting may confirm or deny this. The worst steak i've ever had in a restaurant and the worst in Cote over the last 18 years.
The Gratin Mushrooms were disgusting.

Now for anyone who understands the restaurant business i'd like to say that the food reminded me of what gets turned out from a deskilled kitchen. One of those operations with a central industrial kitchen where everything is prepared and just minimal finishing done in house. It was that bad. It was like being in a Beefeaters on a wet, winters evening.

So speaking of winters evening lets come to the ejection, yes I said it ejection!!.

At 10pm almost on the nail the one waiter who was really, really good and clearly left over from the takeover approached us and said that he had to do the bill and close the finances. He said 'but don't worry you can stay, I just need to do the cashing up'.

Fine we said, we split the bill 50/50, didn't leave a tip as we used to but paid the bill in full.

Ten minutes later the previous waiter who hadn't discovered his voice was now large of lung and in fine tone. He opened the double doors fully, filled the restaurant with the cold air of the Autumn night, all intentionally. The temperature dropped to that of outside. He walked over and said 'time to go now, we are closed'.

Well my boy, that is the last time, I, we, my friends, my family and anyone who I can convince will ever pass through your hallowed portal.

Cote is dead, long live the restaurant previously known as Cote.

It's dead and buried.