The Vestry - Carta

We read the reviews from earlier in the year with great concern. We had theatre tickets for the Mayflower 19 April and decided to book a table and hope things had improved. Well they have. The food was beautifully presented and cooked and served in good time. I asked about the poor reviews and they had problems earlier in the year but seem to have overcome all these. We will return.

Ate here yesterday evening from the Pre Theatre menu. We were 15 minutes late for our 6pm table the waitress very politely informed us that we would be best to only order 1 course as time was limited not a problem! The service was good, we were checked on several times by staff. Even though we only had one course the food was excellent. I nearly didn't book here because of the poor reviews but tend to like to make my own mind up! Glad I did. I will definitely go back for a pre theatre meal again (but turn up on time)!

A gorgeous venue is being wasted by incompetent staff. Hugely overpriced nearly £16 for one beer and one wine. The bartender tried to mix two different pinot rose wines with totally different labels in my glass and only didn't do so when I challenged her. We were ignored on several occasions at the bar I had to say excuse me twice to get attention when the manager ! and another bartender were doing things like fixing one of the two tills. I challenged the prices and the wine issue with the manager and was offered nothing by way of apology. DON'T GO unless you want to be treated poorly and rudely and also get ripped off by extortionate prices in the process. Ver carta

Linguine overcooked, tomato sauce it was in just like you get with tinned spaghetti. When asked by the server about the food l said l thought the linguine in tomato sauce tasted like it had just come out of a tin and l couldn’t eat it. This left a meal consisting of a small chicken leg with the skin on and a handful of rocket leaves. No manager, chef or anyone else came to explain or apologise. What’s the point in asking diners how their meal is if you’re not going to take any notice or try to put matters right? Most disappointing indeed especially as linguine is very quick to cook and a decent tomato sauce made in the kitchen is very easy to do in advance. The venue is wonderful so don’t le...

The bar staff and waiting staff were all lovely and pleasant. Cocktails were refreshing and as well as having the staples there were a few unheard of ones that were delicious. Unfortunately we caught the chef on a grumpy day and although the food we had was nice and beautifully presented, when asked for a simple change on the cheeseboard (swapping Stilton for more cheddar) we were told this was not possible. This request also resulted in the rest of our desserts not being sent to the kitchen so we waited for over half an hour with the continuous promise of ‘yours is next’. After 40 minutes of waiting we were told that our desserts hadn’t been sent through and we could order them again if we...

Arrived for 11 45 table booking. Served by lovely staff got our drinks quickly and meal with 30 mins. However we asked for the sharing beef platter for2 for under £40. Food was cold not only meats but cold kale and other veg too. The platter content was really good and enough for 2 sharing. We had 2 sweets. Mine was 5 10 and my husband had stickt toffee pud( his favourite . It was about 3 inches square and cold and sauce was cold. The worst he'd ever had. He paid the bill and when we got into theatre checked the bill! We were charged £78 for the platter.! We went back after the show and questioned the bill. The manager showed us a P.P. in tiny letters which we missed. ! If it was a sharing p... Ver carta

The building that is now The Vestry has been part of the city's history for centuries. In 1845, the 12th century building was converted into St Peter's Church and in 1953 became a Grade II listed building. The first thing you see after opening the old church doors is a huge Renaissance Italian fresco, in this case depicting a group of what appear to be merry fifteenth century well-to-do young people enjoying themselves. We were led upstairs to the balcony where we had a seat at the front looking down at what was happening in the bar and lounge below. We were going to see a show at the Mayflower theatre directly opposite and had booked for the set theatre menu. We chose to have the 2 course o...

Very poor. I went in with my teenage daughter and her friend before I took them to see a show at the Mayflower across the road. We arrived at 6pm and had ordered our food by 6.10pm. We watched others arrive after us and get served before us. When I asked the server at 6.55pm why our food had not arrived she told me that they had forgotten to put it in the system and that it would arrive soon. At 7.05 the manager came and told us the delay was because everyone else was also there for the theatre and it was busy, which was clearly dishonest based on what the server told me. The food arrived at 7.10 and we had to stuff it down in 10 mins in order to get over for the start of the show. I paid qu...

My friend and I booked to eat here at 5.30pm before a show at the theatre opposite. We were running late so notified the restaurant who asked us to preorder over the phone as they were very busy, which we did. We were only 15 minutes late and our drinks order was taken promptly and our starters arrived shortly after. This is where it all went downhill. The starters were beautifully presented but luke warm, we couldn 't get anyone 's attention to send the food back and as we were starving and had been running late we ate them. It was more or less impossible to get drinks ordered, no one came to check on us and after waiting an hour for our main course, which we had preordered, I asked a waitr... Ver carta