Céleste at The Lanesborough

Excellent service and high quality experience.

Cannot fault.

Good food, service and ambiance with a warm welcome . Decor is stunning .

There was good and bad about the lunch this is what happened. I was taking my sister for a birthday lunch she arrived early at 2pm - table was booked for a 2:15 lunch. She was taken to the bar and ordered a drink whilst informing them I was running a little late. The barman was really helpful and very friendly saying don't worry just relax till I arrived. But 5 mins later she was rushed into the restaurant by a woman called Lenka where she was asked to order very soon as kitchen was closing. Next moment at 2:10 she was given a menu and asked by a waitress called Sandra to please order her meal as the kitchen is closing up. My sister started to panick as she didn't know what I wanted to order...I arrived at 2:20 to the commotion with Sandra standing next to my sister insistent on her food order. I asked what was going on and then she said that the kitchen is closing and that she needs an order....I asked to speak to a manager as surely you wouldn't take a booking at 2:15 knowing the kitchen was closing. I was a little annoyed as it was meant to be a treat for my sister but she felt really upset about the rush on it all and thought I was the person who was really late..Lenka then came over and said that they only needed our order before 2:30 which was fine...so why was my sister made to order before I had arrived? Anyway we ordered and I asked if we could have my sisters coat tag brought over from the bar, which they were happy to do but we were never told they had done so. So I asked Lenka and she said that she told me she had put it on my own coat tag which she most certainly hadn't? These two women were not helpful and I found them difficult however the Sommelier was terrific and made us feel very welcome along with the male waiter, we then continued to the bar afterwards where the staff were fantastic especially Sebastian. Just such a shame how we were made to feel at the beginning. The food and bar was lovely...it was just such a shame about the beginning of the lunch and how my sister was made to feel.

A venue with real 'wow' factor, the decor is only the start to a magical dining experience. Everything from the service to the ambience is exceptional, and then you try the food. The flavours are perfectly balanced and there was not one weak dish that we tried. Honestly one of the best dining experiences I have had.

I love easy reviews, they usually come after you don't have to do much thinking about it. You can distinctly say "The food was good" "the decor was nice" "The waitress threw rhubarb sauce on me..." (that actually happened). And this is such a review. Dining here for lunch we were the first ones into the restaurant, a strange experience it has to be said, and were greeted by friendly staff. Eating off a set menu as we were is quite a fun experience, you get the opposite of what your dining partner has, thus sampling each course to get the full range on offer. The problem arises when there's three choices for each course, and one of which you've never had before in your life... Baked celeriac... A genuine panic ensued, cod, lamb or celeriac...?! In the end we went lamb and celeriac. Phew! Oh, and wine pairings! Our starters consisted of mackerel for me and a Burford Brown scotch egg. I love mackerel, I really do, and this was excellent. Charred skin, with kohlrabi and wasabi vinaigrette. I hate wasabi, I really do, whether it be in vinaigrette form or not, but this was really quite delicious and complemented the mackerel. Main was lamb for me, and, to be honest I kind of wish I'd gone celeriac, that was the dish of the day for me and I'm so glad my friend went for it! It's easy to write about lamb, so I won't bother, instead I'll say the celeriac was the most interesting dish I think I've ever had in my long career of "eating food". Combined with something billed as Comté extra vieux millésimé (translates as extra old Comté) I've never had such flavours before. Celeriac and cheese?! Yes, thank you! Dessert for my friend was Hazelnut praline, described by her as "Bliss" and "ticks all boxes" I'll take her word for it... and, ironically, Rhubarb fool for me, I just wasn't aware that the fool bit would involve the sauce being thrown on me rather than poured on the dish... She actually did a wonderful job of missing all my clothes, so hats off to her! And she was incredibly apologetic. No matter, it didn't spoil the enjoyment of the afternoon one bit.

I really wanted to like Celeste. Hand on heart, we could with a few more "old fashioned" high-end dining rooms. Many reading these pages will know what I mean, as much as we like modern, relaxed fine dining, there are events which require the full service. Very few places pull off the balance. I had high hopes with Celeste but what I found was a stark contrast. The potentially beautiful dining room is decorated in a strange slightly lost empire or regency style which ends up lost in translation. No pun intended, but it looks a bit like a sugar coated weeding cake, but manages to be dark in the evening (blinds and lighting conspiring) and tables are strangely distributed. Moving on to the good, the service is perfect from start to finish. Both hotel and restaurant staff are absolutely sublime. The food follows the decor - it looks grand but lacks coherence and substance. The desserts were especially difficult to like and contained technical issues which are not acceptable at this level. The tragic result is that the kindness and quality of the staff is wasted on a strange dining room with uninspired food, which must be the poorest use of what could be one of London's prettiest dining rooms. Once more from the top?