Season Kitchen and Dining Room

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Comments

  • edited 2:24PM
    I am going to dine at the Pillocks of Season tonight as a pay day treat. Popped in to book a table this afternoon and they have a big party coming in. Glad to see they are doing OK, as a small place with so few covers could easily struggle.
  • edited 2:24PM
    I had an early tea. I wonder if you were there then, I was the last but one table at the back corner.
  • edited June 2011
    Probably missed you then. I was there just before 8pm. Same table as you it seems!
  • AliAli
    edited 2:24PM
    I like the photo on the web site <http://seasonkitchen.co.uk/>;
  • edited July 2011
    My sometimes agreeable girlfriend took me to Season on Friday, having bleated on about it for so long. She booked our table a couple of weeks ago, they emailed her twice and phoned her once to re-confirm the booking. I guess that means they must get a reasonable number of no-shows, which can't be good for a small establishment. Anyway, I have to report that we both loved it. The food was fantastic. I had smoked mackerel with a lime & gooseberry sauce, followed by squid, with chorizo, artichokes in a tomato sauce. Good portion sizes, just enough room to make way for shortbread with berries and cream. The missus had smoked salmon, followed by venison burger, then chocolate pot. The room was buzzing, the service was excellent and the decor was very well done. I would easily recommend it.
  • edited 2:24PM
    Exceptionally bad meal in Season tonight. Poor food, poor service. Hoping it's a blip. Emily (of these boards) was at another table, hope she had a better time.
  • edited 2:24PM
    Dear Mills,

    I'm sorry and disappointed to read your posting regarding your meal at Season on Wednesday.

    Having spoken to David, Mattia and Michael from their memory we had one table who made a complaint that evening and please excuse me if I'm wrong but I make the assumption this was your table.

    As I understand it your starter of Wood Pigeon was overcooked, you brought it to our attention, we apologised and offered a replacement. As was your want you declined a replacement. We subsequently removed the pigeon dish from your bill.

    I understand you both then ate steaks and Mattia enquired as to your enjoyment and he understood you to be both happy with your meals.

    I do hope I haven't made the wrong assumption and if I have misidentified you I apologise however I am only able to make such an identification as such incidents are very rare at Season and when they happen both front of house and the kitchen take them most seriously and try to draw on the experience to improve our future offer.

    I'm terribly sorry your most recent experience of Season was not a positive one, but we would have welcomed the opportunity to rectify any perceived shortcomings on the evening of your visit so that any mistakes on our part might be rectified allowing us to leave you with an enjoyable experience and a happy evening.

    We have been unexpectedly busy this holiday season (for which I am of course very grateful) and the team tell me that on the evening of your visit we did have a lot of walk in tables all at the same time (I'm not complaining) but generally we have a larger ratio of booked tables in which case we can spread the bookings more evenly allowing our team members more time to spend with each individual table. If you were a victim of this then I do apologise, though Michael, David and Mattia tell me althougth they were very busy they were happy with the food and service they gave and were under the impression the customers were too.

    I'll include my email address below as if any of the events differed from my impression as expressed above (or indeed you were a different table)I would be most grateful If you could take the time to drop me a quick mail or call to let me know.

    I'm currently on holiday in Spain but am able to pick up my e-mails.
    I would welcome the opportunity to retain your custom so please do not hesitate to contact me or indeed let me know if you plan to return to Season and I'll ensure you're next experience of Season is a positive one.

    Best Regards,

    Neil Gill

    Proprieter
    Season Kitchen
    eat@seasonkitchen.co.uk
  • edited 2:24PM
    My other half and I had a lovely time in Season last night. Nice atmosphere in the room and truly great food. Feel very lucky to have you in Stroud Green.
  • edited 2:24PM
    I'm very impressed with Neil's attention to detail and customer service even from holiday in Spain. I do hope this wasn't a case of 'while the cat's away...'. Anyway, I had a great meal in Season a few months ago and I'm looking forward to going back.
  • edited 2:24PM
    Awesome post from Neil @ Season. That's why they're winning.
  • edited 2:24PM
    I had a meal there a few months ago. It was lovely and delicious. Service was great, couldn't fault it! Best restaurant in SG.... well a close run thing with Porchetta's and Petek's
  • edited 2:24PM
    I think everyone that goes out for a meal wants it to be 100%...you're paying for a positive experience, in terms of quality and service. Therefore if you do experience problems along the way, i think its ok to come away and tell people about them. You paid for a stress-free quality experience, and you didn't get it in your eyes. Its quite a personal thing as to whether you want to "discuss" your meal with your server or the manager, and in some cases people prefer to avoid the conflict. Probably a bad thing for all parties (you get a shit meal, they get a customer mouthing off about a negative experience) but its what some people do because it makes them uncomfortable. That said, to be fair to the restaurant you should provide a balanced scorecard of the visit which doesn't appear to have happened. What was wrong with A, was made up by B or at least attempted to be resolved by doing C and in actual fact you enjoyed D. Once again, i like the fact that we can talk to the owners of local businesses on here. A customers negative experience has been turned into some positive PR because it shows the owners care and just want them to come again and enjoy the food.
  • edited 2:24PM
    had a great meal at Season last tuesday and the guests I took are going back under their own volition tomorrow. You can never be 100% all the time but good for Season for trying to rectify.
  • edited 2:24PM
    I'm going on Friday. I hope it's really nice.
  • edited 2:24PM
    I've been a few times, most recently taking some friends there as a thank-you dinner (they house- and cat-sat for us), and it has always been either very good or wonderful, with good, friendly (but not too friendly!) service. the sea bass with anchovy butter and lentils is excellent, and the rosemary chocolate pot is among the best puddings I've ever had. Last time I was there I also had an excellent lamb dish. I really love it.
  • KazKaz
    edited 2:24PM
    The rosemary chocolate pot is blooming marvellous... Yum.
  • edited 2:24PM
    It is, and I think it was the highlight of dinner there last Friday. I asked the waiter whether I should have the almond soup or the mackerel to start and, without a pause, he said the mackerel, so I went with that. It was nice, primarily because I love all things in it. I had the steak (yes, yes I know), which was delicious and cooked to blue perfection, but the chips were disappointing. I would have guessed at them being frozen crinkle-cut - Neil, happy to be corrected, but if they are home made, why try to emulate frozen chips? Pudding was great as people have mentioned before. What I really, really wanted, and what was the stand out item last time I went, was one of their home made oatcakes. But they said they didn't have any, and I think they were serving bought ones - a bit of a shame. Overall though, it was really nice and it's a great place to have on SGR. The delicious jerez to start always helps too.
  • edited 2:24PM
    When are you putting bone marrow back on the menu? I really fancied a go at that.
  • edited 2:24PM
    Hi Tosscat,

    I'm glad you had a good time eating at Season last week.
    I'm sorry the chips disappointed, we do make them ourselves (there's a reason they're crinkle cut which I'll come on to) but chips are one of our biggest challenges believe it or not. There's a real science to them. We double cook (blanche, dry & chill then fry) our chips to get them nice and crispy but the main factor in a nice crispy chip is water content of the spud which is out of our hands, which can mean sometimes they're not as razor sharp crispy as we'd like (down to excess water in spud steaming up from inside and breaking the seal the hot oil makes). But we're working on it and the chips are up!

    There's a sentimental story as to why the chips are crinkle cut. My sole inheritance from my Nana was the very cutter that makes our chips crinkly. Funnily enough, just before we opened the restaurant I was walking to the restaurant with the crinkle cutter in hand and absent mindedly smelled it and was touched that it smelt of my Nana's house. Tear in eye, I handed over the cutter to Mattia our kitchen porter (the man who to this day has cut all the chips) and expressed how important it was and how he must guard it with his life. Couple of weeks later I was in the pot wash section and thought I'd see if the crinkle cutter still smelt of my Nana's house. I was awash with nostalgia to find it did still smell of Nana's house, and then it dawned on me, my Nana's house smelt of potatoes! Some inherit country piles, others crinkle cutters. But keep it under your hat as I've not declared it for inheritance tax.

    Ref the oat cakes, I entirely agree they're delicious. For the summer months, with the cheese board we serve Sardinian Music Bread, which is, we feel just a little lighter for the warmer months (although as I write this it's 4pm, about 10 degrees and David Walliams has just swam past the restaurant, so the oat cakes won't be far away from returning to the cheese plate and replacing the music bread). When they do, and if you have time, you're welcome to pop in and Ben will be happy to show you how he makes the oat cakes (although I
    may ask you to cut a few chips in return!)

    We look forward to seeing you again soon.

    Best,

    Neil
  • edited 2:24PM
    Hi Krabbyrubsnif,

    I'll keep this one short, promise.

    The roasted bone marrow, with parsley salad and toasted sour dough will return at some point in the Autumn. It's great food to set you up for winter.

    If you're a fan of twitter I tweet all our menu changes and this links to face book if that is a preferable social medium.

    facebook.com/seasonkitchen
    twitter@seasonkitchen

    Look forward to seeing you soon.

    Best,

    Neil
  • edited 2:24PM
    Neil's responses here are brilliant and would make me want to spend money at Season even if the food wan't ace. Neil, I've a table booked for 5 people on Saturday evening, I wanted to give my visiting family the chance to sample your wares/buy me dinner. facebook.com/seasonkitchen takes you through to a restaurant in Taiwan!
  • edited 2:24PM
    We had dinner last Saturday night with my brother in law. Nothing but compliments.Wish we had come sooner!
  • edited 2:24PM
    Thanks all for your kind feedback.

    Arklady, thanks for the heads up on the facebook url. We're actually facebook.com/seaandsons. I'm yet to master the dark arts of facebook.
    Look forward to seeing you on Saturday.
  • edited 2:24PM
    There's no lady in Arkady.
  • edited 2:24PM
    Hello Neil I have yet to eat at your restaurant but it soundsperfectly splendid. I shall save up for an Autumn bone marrow treat. I inherited an apple corer and rolling pin from my Nan and I have yet to see their equal among modern kitchen tools.
  • edited 2:24PM
    Arkady, my apologies. I had the clue in front of me from your reservation this coming Saturday. A quick google check has informed me of an impressive on line presence and I will now be able to recognise you from your pics on arkady.com.
  • edited 2:24PM
    Sadly I'm not that Arkady. There's something hilariously wrong about that website through!
  • KazKaz
    edited 2:24PM
    @Arkady, I cannot tell you how disappointed I am by that revelation...
  • edited 2:24PM
  • edited 2:24PM
    @Arkady, I'm devastated. On the basis of that website I had you down as some kind of sax playing Borat
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