The Sunday Times
Camilla Long was enticed to eat at the new showroom of US-based homeware behemoth Restoration Hardware in a 1720 Italianate palace behind the Royal Academy, on what turned out to be the false assumption that “it’ll be like meatballs at Ikea but for rich people”.
The menu in the vast Dining Room’s had about it “more than a whiff of room service”, Camilla said. As for the food, the deep-fried artichoke starter was “like eating potpourri”, while the caviar baked potato was “sort of withered”, the caviar mushy because it had been sitting on it too long.
Wagyu – “the national dish of Dubai” – was fine, although it arrived pre-sliced (“naturally, as the rich are toddlers”); ditto the lamb chops, although they were a bit overcooked and greasy. But a pear martini was “perfectly disgusting, with top notes of pesticide and a slice of dried pear floating like a body on top”.
Camilla Long - 2026-07-19The Times
Jay Rayner ogled the furniture on display at a Palladian mansion housing the London branch of $3billion American home-furnishing emporium RH – “Ikea for plutocrats”, as he put it – whose “utterly magnificent restaurant” has “cathedral-high ceilings”, from which dangle “giant golden chandeliers like crystal udders”.
It’s a place to gawp at and gasp, he warned, “but whatever you do, don’t book a table in it. On my recent visit, the whole operation was a bloody shambles.” Ice had to be ordered three times before it was delivered to accompany sparkling water that arrived warm. The wrong dish arrived at the table. The right dish was delivered to someone else’s table. The kitchen ran out of burgers. There was no manager on the floor.
As for the cooking, it’s “best described as dull food for rich people who don’t eat”. Ceasar salad was “slippery and astringent”, the hard-crusted baguette in a steak sandwich “was doubtless lovely yesterday”, although octopus, sea bass, chips, broccoli and crème brûlée were up to scratch. One final swipe: “I wouldn’t buy a sofa from an outfit which sold me a dinner like this.”
Jay Rayner - 2026-10-11
Drinks
Extras
