The Elgar Room in City of London, Westminster

Table booked for 17:45 for a concert which began at 19:45 - as I thought two hours would give us enough time to eat and get to our seats in plenty of time. However, I had not banked on the poor service and bad food. The £44 bottle of white wine was warm not cold. The starters were cold not warm. The main course was not quite as expected. The menu said “Roasted crown of Norfolk turkey, apricot and sage stuffing, root vegetables, Brussels sprouts, chestnuts, garlic and herb roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, pigs in blankets, sherry jus” – the turkey roulade with the stuffing was fine, the roast potatoes were fine, however there were no “pigs in blankets”, there was just one “pig in a blanket” all the other vegetables looked as if they had all been put together in a food processor and blitzed – so there were no identifiable individual vegetables. My dessert (a delicious-sounding “Chocolate orange, chocolate mousse, burnt orange jam”) tasted of nothing. My husband’s dessert (supposedly “Mulled wine poached pear, vanilla ice cream, chocolate and pistachio crumb”) was so hard that he had to cut it with a steak knife! When asked if we wanted our (included) coffee with or after dessert, we both said “after”. The coffee then appeared “before” the dessert. The waiter and maitre d’ were not communicating with each other, which meant that they were both asking us separately if we wanted water, order drinks, give our food orders etc. The service was very slow and confusing. The first bill included a £26 tip, which I declined to pay as the service was so bad. The bill was taken away, the service charge removed and the cost of the desserts was removed, but we were kept waiting for about 20 minutes until the revised bill was returned, by which time the concert was about to start. They insisted we were given a free glass of wine to make up for their lapses. Afterwards there was a horrendous queue to use the loos, so we just managed to get to our seats with about 30 seconds to spare before the concert started - having made everyone in the row stand up in order to get to our seats. Thus we finally arrived in our seats very cross and completely stressed, which completely spoiled the atmosphere for us. I found the actual space a bit like a high-ceilinged barn – lacking in atmosphere and not the intimate, expensive restaurant I had expected. I would recommend anyone else planning to eat at the RAH, to eat at Verdi, where we had previously had an excellent meal with extremely fast service and give Elgar a miss.

A friend booked The Elgar room & paid a compulsory deposit for our visit for pre show lunch before Carol Concert on 15th December. The room is light & airy, with tasteful decor. We were only allowed to choose from the Festive Menu. 2 courses £55, this did include bread & butter for the table & a mince pie & tea or coffee after lunch. The choice of starters was good. I chose the hot smoked salmon & beetroot salad. Well, I think it should have been called salad with a small hint of salmon (about 3 flakes of it) and beetroot (2 small cubes). There was absolutely no taste of horseradish on the plate whatsoever. My Husband had the scallop with cauliflower purée. It was literally ONE scallop on a shell. Shame really. At these prices you would expect a bit more of the main features. The main course of Roast Norfolk Turkey, with apricot stuffing however, was delicious. Only criticism - a few more vegetables. What vegetables we had were diced very small, and only a dessert spoonful on the plate. The sherry jus was lovely. There was a rather large service charge too, but overall , a nice way to start an enjoyable afternoon at the R A H though.

Food was quite average considering the price.. the service was very good overall with the exception of taking a while to take the order for food. I guess that was generally the expectation considering we were there for the show rather than the meal.

We ate at the Elgar before seeing a concert at the Royal Albert Hall and it made the evening so much more magical. The staff were fantastic. They made us feel welcome and never rushed, but also ensured we had our whole meal before the show started. I especially want to mention Tinotenda, who was warm, friendly, and looked after us incredibly well. Thank you for a special evening!

Superb staff, superb food and atmosphere

Great service, during David Gilmour Hospitality package.

An interesting selection on menu & delicious meal.

Excellent service and quality of food, not the cheapest but it’s the Royal Albert Hall! Marta was fantastic, thank you.

Surprisingly excellent menu and quality, very happy. Room a little somber, service, and particularly efficiency pre-concert, very good. Only surprise is exaggerated mark up on the wines. Double is acceptable, but on the fairly ordinary Embrujo Verdejo at nearly four times what one pays at retail is crazy. I know the RAH has a captive audience and they need to be profitable to survive, but this is just greedy. Beware before choosing from the wine list.

It was a lovely thing to do, dine before the concert. My starter, Salmon Creviche, was very nice but the Spatchcock Poussin and Fries were disappointingly dry, so went unfinished. People around us were also leaving their food. It's an expensive meal, so you don't really want to be leaving it. However, the staff were all very good.

On a very rainy evening it was perfect to have our pre-show meal a few (indoor) steps away from our seats! Food was excellent and service was great from Storm. Will definitely be back!

Fantastic meal with family Olha was amazing on giving us attention and service throughout with our pre performance dinner

Excellent choice for lunch pre Carmina Burrana - very good food and wine with the bonus of excellent table with amazing views. Couldn’t fault it all. Excellent experience

Good food and excellent service. Not cheap but good value if you want a special musical evening out.

We had Jasmine as our server, very informative, kind and attentive!! :) Really decent portions of food, lovely as well! Good variety!

Very enjoyable evening. Menu and food good. Service stunningly friendly and we finished at a perfect time for the performance.

A reasonable meal, but very expensive for what it was. £15 for a small glass of wine?! A lovely setting though and good customer service.

Excellent food, charming service

The salmon salad is too sour, can’t really taste the salmon. And the trout fillet didn’t salt properly, part of them were super salty and part of weren’t salted. The sauce goes with potatoes really well, and okay with the fish. The fish didn’t have fish smell which is nice as well. I know it’s super busy but can definitely do better. It’s really convenient for people who wants some food between two shows.

We had a fantastic evening of great food, service and ambiance. Chef Scott and his team were amazing, his whole team are doing a great job and should be given a pay rise. The service was also as good, all the staff from the hostess, waitresses. Jasmine was polite, well informed on the whole menu and wine pairings and made us feel at home. Which is exactly what we had hoped for. Thank you so much xxx

A great experience all-round. We had a very warm welcome and excellent service from Nadirah. There was no sense of rush but everything was very prompt, which I guess is essential when you're serving pre-concert meals all the time. The food and drink menus had something for everyone. The food was very well prepared and presented. For this part of London, the prices are surprisingly reasonable, too, which I wasn't expecting.

Excellent meal in the Elgar Restaurant, Olha our waitress was exceedingly attentive, now looking forward to a night at The Proms 😀

Excellent food, swift service. Our waitress, Tinotenda, was personable and efficient. Tomato soup, cerviche, Thai curry and crispy trout all recommended. Decent house white.

We ate prior to one of The Prom concerts. The fixed price menu had a good selection of dishes and as a party of 4 we all ate different dishes and thoroughly enjoyed them all. We felt the wine was a little more than we are used to paying, but we had a bottle of red and one of white and both were very good. We chose to return at the interval for our dessert which worked out well. Yes there is a 12.5% service charge but we found this was standard at all restaurants in London. Staff were attentive but not overbearing and in our opinion deserved the tip. We would definitely return if attending another event at The Royal Albert Hall.

The absolute perfect spot to dine before a show. Jasmine was a phenomenal server - attentive to our needs and exceedingly kind. Thank you so much for helping to make our evening wonderful! Sitting by Elton John’s piano was out of this world.

This I found a great place before your concert, this so 3rd floor and so were our seats so ideal. Initially we had a booking for an hour later but we were accommodated early. We had the delightful Angelo managing our table . The restaurant is a max of a 3 course menu which for all courses and wine cost us £80 each including the dessert course and coffees we had in the interval . Easy to order with allergies or intolerances. One slight mix up with the main course but was remedied quickly so all good

What a lovely visit my father and I had to this restaraunt after watching BBC Proms 47. We were served by the most lovely waitress named Jasmine who was nothing but friendly, polite, and delivered an impeccable service. For a main we both went from the burger which was delicious. The desert was highly recommend to us by Jasmine which was the chocolate brownie and that did not disappoint.

I would normally not bother reviewing restaurants, but the Albert Hall were keen for me to do so, so here is my assessment. This was not good value. The food was good—not great—and the service was also good, if a trifle over-attentive. The latter probably explicable since everyone needed to be fed and bills paid before the concert started. But £173 for two courses for two people, a glass of wine each—£13.50 per—a cocktail each, and coffee for two is taking the proverbial. There was no question of deviousness, the prices were clearly marked in the menu, although I was not expecting the 12.5% service charge; perhaps that was mentioned also and I just didn’t notice. My main course was very good, and I had the cheese to follow. The set menu for two courses was £44 with an inexplicable £4 surcharge for the cheese... The latter was ok, but three pieces of cheese, some very thin wafers and three great strings of grapes with no relish hardly justifies that extra £4. Oh, and there was also a £2 charity donation. I repeat that the food was good and the wine was nice but nowhere near £173 nice. Had we paid £120 I would have been very happy. The subsequent concert, the Aurora Orchestra doing Beethoven’s 9th from memory was brilliant, but that restaurant bill left a metaphorical bad taste in the mouth. I cannot recommend the Elgar Room, and I have no intention of using it again.

Just had a great meal at the Elgar restaurant. The food & atmosphere was fantastic. We had exceptional service from our waitress, Nadirah. Thank you

My husband and I together with another couple had a very pleasant meal prior to a Prom concert. One of our party does not eat meat. That was fine as there were plenty of fish and vegetarian options. The food was good and the service was excellent. A good way to start our evening.

Came for dinner before the concert, our expectations were exceeded! Loved everything: welcoming atmosphere, friendly and efficient staff. Olha who welcomed and served us was lovely. Food was great: I highly recommend octopus carpaccio and cod! Also had lamb which was wonderful, so soft and fragrant with herbs. Crème brûlée was the best we ever had! Big thank you to everyone at Elgar for making our dining experience enjoyable and memorable. We will return with pleasure.

Delicious food & wine in a great location. Our service was outstanding - many thanks to our brilliant waitress, Tinotenda, who looked after us throughout and was able to talk us through the menu, giving recommendations to suit our taste. Fabulous!

Great menu cooked to a high standard. The meal fitted well with our concert and being able to seated for an awaiting desert in the interval really added to it. Juri was an excellent, attentive waiter. Very kind and well mannered, it really did make a wonderful addition to an evening at the Proms.

Good food and good service. Great to have a proper bread and butter pudding

Delicious food, efficient service and fabulous staff. Wonderful to be able to catch up with friends in a blissfully cool, air-conditioned environment on a hot day- and special thanks to our fantastic waiter Furi, who was exceptionally kind in making special arrangements for one of my guests, who was performing in the concert. We really appreciated his help and his very efficient, courteous, attentive service. On a hot day, it would be ideal to have more salads on the menu and ice in the tap water but otherwise the whole eating experience was faultless. Thank you.

Had a lovely pre show dinner with family here, we were served by the fantastic Yuri who took care of us really well! The food was very good and the drink selection was also very substantial.

Great pre-prom meal. Food excellent and Juri was extremely attentive. Quality.

Food was really enjoyable service was amazing 👏 thank you Olha

Beautiful setting, perfect service, top food! Thank u Olha for taking care of us ❤️

Wonderful place to eat especially before a concert. Fantastic tasty food ( some of the best chips ever) , perfect portion size , great house wine and a super choice. We ate at 6pm prior to 7.30 concert. The food was all perfectly timed. Anita runs front of house and is both friendly and professional, an amazing asset. Best of all they take your order for interval drinks to sit at the same table , kindly leaving you a glass of water too.

The food was very good and the staff exemplary. One slight caveat was that the second course was a little slow in coming.

Juri was our waiter and was really friendly and attentive without being intrusive. Food was really tasty and served promptly overall excellent experience

We dined here before a Rick Astley concert. I had prebooked and paid a deposit for the dinner. Service from Filippo, the manager, was great. He was not pushy and provided explanations about items on the set menu. I ended up choosing the three course set dinner including dessert and coffee that I chose to have during the interval, returning to table 33. My heirloom carrot starter was very tasty though I thought the carrots could have been cooked a little more. It was a colourful and well presented dish. I chose the pork belly main course that was hearty and came with broccolini and celeriac puree. The piece of pork was a generous portion, too much for me and came with a spicy sour sauce that wasn't to my taste. The baked bananas dessert was the disappointing course. The bananas weren't that ripe so they tasted a little starchy, not sweet. Overall, it was a good experience and a timesaver before a concert with a full house.

Went for a meal at the Elgar restaurant before the Gladys Knight show. The food was excellent and our waiter, Yuri , was most helpful. His great inter- personal skills made the meal even more enjoyable.

The food was good, service is efficient and it's nice to be able to return to table between support and main act. Only small issue was dessert order misheard and so correct one had been assembled quickly and thus missing elements as described on menu

Very good staff. The food is excellently good. :)

A fantastic service from Olha. Very cheerful and provided an excellent service

Lovely restaurant for pre-show supper. Food was great, wine list was great but service from Yuri was patchy. He basically ignored us and served all the other tables that came in after us, first. This sort of attitude is just rude, unprofessional and not expected in an eaterie of this calibre. Shame because our evening was a special occasion which was overshadowed by one of us constantly trying to get a waiters’ attention to avoid being rushed over supper and late to the show.

Grrrrreat restaurant. Good food properly seasoned.

Great meet & greet, attentive service and overall good experience. One lamb main course was not great; fat/sinew but otherwise good and recall was good to rectify. Thank you

Delicious food and excellent service by Anita! Thank you very much!

The food was good & the experience was even better with the help of Jasmine who looked after us beautifully.

Great food and service (thanks Juri!) - recommended

Nice food. Excellent service from Alan, our waiter - not rushed at all. Table held for us to use during the interval so we chose to have our desert then.

Brilliant. Friendly, and service with a smile. Thanks.

Good food! Amazing service (thank you Anita for taking such good care of us)

Perfect pre-performance restaurant! The food is outstanding and Anita was an attentive and great server who made our evening special. Highly recommend!

Excellent food and service. Anita was fabulous!

Juri was an exceptional server and made our experience at the Elgar room wonderful and personable. We highly recommend this restaurant as the food and drinks were excellent!

We went to a show and booked the Elgar beforehand. Nice food, good location, perfect service. Yuri was gracious and charming.

good for a conf but ate there before slow service and expensive food. would not eat there again .

Great evening at the Royal Albert Hall seeing James Blunt. We had dinner in the Elgar Room Brasserie where we were well looked after by the amazing Anita. Everything was just perfect and had a great time.

Great atmosphere and food. Our server Anita couldn’t have been more welcoming and helpful.

An excellent evening. Delicious food and great service. Table 5 has a fabulous view of the Albert Memorial. Highly recommend

Great food and atmosphere. We were hosting guests for dinner before the concert. I had fantastic help and support in advance from Anita who was able to confirm the menus and accommodate a number of dietary requirements. On the day Anita was also our host and the food and service was exemplary and just as pre-ordered. It was timed perdectly so that we were able to finish eating and get to our seats in time for the support act. I would definitely recommend.

We dined here as we were going to see a show at the Royal Albert Hall. We were late due to a issue with our Royal Albert Hall Parking Permit, but us being lste was not a problem to the restaurant. My husband is a wheelchair user and we were offered different options for our table. The food is London prices, two courses £44 and three courses £51, with a supplement for rib-steak. There is a very good choice of drinks. Our server was Anita pril and we were looked after admirably. The food and service are all excellent. Our favourite part was the Baked Alaska.

Super meal and Anita gave us amazing service looking after us so well!

Excellent food and service. Went to the restaurant for a pre show meal and we weren’t disappointed. Food was tasty and well cooked and Juri our waiter was kind, polite and attentive. He had a good knowledge of the menu.

Lovely service with friendly staff. Really diligent on my allergy. Steak was beautifully cooked.

Good food and great service what more can you say. A great start to a lovely evening at what is the most beautiful concert hall.

Great for onsite dining. Pleasant room. 2 courses (main & dessert) was sufficient. All good, nice wine although not sure a large glass was 250ml. Only opens at 17:30 onwards. Shame University parking is from 18:30

Smart casual restaurant at the RAH. Good pre-show menu, excellent cooking, very friendly and fast service, nice wines. Plenty of time before the performance to eat comfortably. Book beforehand but the restaurant wasn't full when we visited. Highly recommended.

Had a lovely meal at The Elgar Room just before watching Gypsy Kings. The food was delicious, well cooked and presented, the crème brûlée was lovely. I have to say the service we received from the Head Waiter was excellent , very polite, courteous and friendly. Will definitely return there when watching another concert.

Was amazing to see Jeremiah Fraites at the Elgar Room.

Some nice details. Food ok. Wine very expensive

Outstanding way to warm up for the Who Concert benefiting Teenage Cancer Trust. Splendid service with a unique atmosphere and good food at reasonable prices considering this unique venue.

Had a brilliant evening at Letters Live on Wednesdays - highly recommended - and the evening started with a delicious meal and service by Anita at the Elgar restaurant. Anita couldn’t have been more attentive. We arrived late so had a small table. Before our main course arrived, a more spacious table on a better spot became available so we were quickly ushered across. Came back for interval drinks and pudding and received same level of care. Food was delicious, just wish we had had a little longer to enjoy it…

Wonderful fiod in the Elgar restaurant, great was to start a trip. OLHA was a credit to the Royal Albert hall

We enjoyed a delicious meal at The Elgar Room. We were running late but Anita was fabulous and made sure we had our main course before the event in plenty of time and did not make us feel rushed at all. We had our dessert during the interval, which was ready and waiting at our table! Superb evening.

Great food and impeccable service from Yuri. Although delicious, wine was overpriced as it so often is!

Great food and impeccable service from Yuri. However, although delicious, the wine was overpriced, as it so often is in places like this!

What ann amazing experience for our first time dining at the Royal Albert Hall. The Elgar room food and service are of another level and we both felt very special being served by Anita. We.okan to return.

GREAT restaurant with very friendly and friendly service! Very good dish, we recommend!

The food was delicious. Better still the staff made us feel very welcome when we walked in with kids and friends joining us halfway through. Made the whole theatre experience even better!

The food was superb. The service was efficient and timely. The real kicker was being able to have pudding (and a fresh drink) served at the intermission. Anita was a great server.

Great show, food and service. Thank you so much Anita!

Very pleasant experience, served by Anita who was polite and knowledgable. Will definitely have a pre-show meal here again.

Really nice service and good food, good waiters a sbrayshaw@btinternet.com found that they were eager to assist. Very nice meal.

Comfy excellent acoustic s great late night jazz

Obviously an amazing location! Great staff, Nice menu. Only 4 stars due to my fish not being cooked through sadly!

Lovely venue in the beautiful Albert Hall. Staff were great, but service was a bit slow and it did feel a little rushed to make sure we didn't miss the start of the show. They had also run out of Vegetarian options for main meal.......not good for a top restaurant

Absolutely superb way to start our day at the Albert hall. We were lucky enough to be served by Tatiana, who was a credit to the restaurant, attentive, fun, personable and helpful. The food was excellent, we arrived at 130, had starters and main course...

Excellent food, service, ambulance, location, and all-around experience. Thank you.

Was lucky enough to visit this place after getting a ticket from friend. The place is difficult to find bur staff were well placed to show us the way.

Good and service both amazing. Would really recommend as a great way C to start your evening. Our waitress Olha was exceptional, thank you very much

Not quite as elegant as I expected but very good high end food. Going back for dessert at the interval is a nice touch.

We had a lovely meal here before the Christmas carols, and I must say the food was very good, the service was excellent and the prices were very reasonable, we'll definitely be booking here again

My wife and I visited during a trip to London, prior to the Royal Choral Society Christmas Concert. We both chose from the Christmas menu. My wife's king prawn starter had one prawn, which we drew attention to with no result. Then our roast turkey...

Soup not hot and half a bowl, Pork belly only fat no meat. Dessert tastless. Overall a very poor experience.Staff however very attentive and friendly.

From arrival to departure the staff were kind, courteous and very helpful. The restaurant is a fabulous space with cleverly placed planters affording space and privacy. The food is something else! We gad the three course set menus which has superb choices and the food was exceptional. We chose to have dessert at the end of the near BUT could have taken it at the interval, nice touch! We will return again Thank you very much and I would heartily recommend it! I have eaten all over the world in some of the top restaurants Inc multi Michelin stared and this holds its own! Bx