Oslo Court Restaurant
French Restaurant in St. John's Wood
Oslo Court Restaurant (named after the residential mansion block on whose ground floor it is situated), is one of a kind. Having been on its current site for over 30 years, the welcome today is as warm as it's ever been. The food is excellent, portions are generous, and the patrons come back time and time again for more. Dishes include the likes of beef wellington, prawn cocktail and crepe suzette; a throw-back to the 80s perhaps, but a good one!
We went here yesterday to celebrate our friends 60th birthday. From the minute we arrived until we left 5 hours later, I felt 25 again. The decor, menu and staff all gave us the flavour's of the 1970s and it was wonderful. The staff were attentive, friendly and thoughtful. The pink table dressings (with large fresh flower displays in the centre) and the room decor was straight out of the 70s. We were even given the old style menus, where the ladies cannot see the prices but the men can! The lunch menu of £31pp was extensive with lots of old favourites from the 60s/70s/80s to choose from. The food was excellent and not one of us was disappointed with our choice and we all had generous portions. We were given "crudites/olives/cashew nuts" at the bar and "melba toast" on the tables and "garlic bread" whilst we made our choices. Dinner was followed with coffee and "petit fours". As there was not another sitting until the evening, instead of having to rush off, we were able to stay at our table and have extra drinks and relax, which was very welcoming as we were so full up! All in all we really enjoyed our visit to Oslo Court. It probably is a little expensive but well worth the money for a special occasion.
Perhaps negative reviews visited a different Oslo Court restaurant?
Having dined there for the last twenty-eight years, yes, the decor is 70s/80s and maybe so is the menu, but the quality of the food and service is second to none, whilst the secret to their success is having maintained a standard over the years and this they have done beautifully!
The 'dining experience' is superb, from starting with the crudites and garlic bread rolls, to Neil who looks after your desert order. OK, the menu is so old that it could have originally been written in Hieroglyphics, but it is both extensive and designed to cater for meat, fish and vegetarians, alike.
If you want an expansive venue and modern cuisine, do not visit Oslo Court, but if you want a stunning meal, at a reasonable price and excellent service, from staff who have practically grown-up there, visit Oslo Court and enjoy a true dining experience!
I love this restaurant, even though it's true that the food is unimaginative and somewhat bland, with only a few basic sauces etc, as other reviewers have commented. However, it's always generous portions of perfectly edible, satsifying 70s style dishes. So not great food, but reviews which describe it as dreadful shouldn't be trusted. The decor is also old-fashioned, pink and powder blue, maybe not to everyone's taste, but not at all shabby or run-down. The service is always excellent - warm, friendly, polite and attentive without undue hovering or being over the top. The waiters bring any extras that you ask for and always seem to remember, unlike some restaurants where extra requests disapper into a black hole. It's a great place to celebrate birthdays etc and they will make you a truely delicious creamy birthday cake for about £20. It's not the place for a gastronomic treat but if you think you'll enjoy a rather retro 70's kind of meal and ambience, give it a go. My family have been going for years and have always enjoyed it, it's like being in a comfortable time warp.
There is something strange about reviews of Oslo Court - they are nearly all 10 stars saying its the best restaurant on the planet, with the odd one saying its the worst! I'm afraid we're in the latter category. The food is very bland, the chef seeming to have no use for any ingedients other than the basic meat or fish, with the exception of a choice of three sauces for the duck. Its not simply that they have a 1970s menu, its that there's no imagination, style or panache to the food. The apparent adulation this place receives is incomprihensible. The service is actually very friendly which makes it all the painful to say just how unimaginative, unexciting and unsatisfactory Oslo Court is as a place to eat.
It seemed to me, on my first visit last week, that it is a perfect place for celebrations. There were at least 4 'happy birthdays' sung, by people who were obviously having a good time at lunch time. The food was excellent, the staff solicitous, the clientele well-dressed and the atmosphere charming and relaxed. There is something distinctly old-fashioned about the restaurant, to its credit I'd say. Nothing hurried, yet the staff were busy, good choices of food - I was particularly impressed by the young Spanish lady who went from table to table, with the menu choices on offer that day, with real enthusiasm and also by the dessert waiter who made you feel as though he was saving the best for you.
My only criticism is the entrance - I thought I'd stumbled into a cloakroom and the parking is a nightmare. We parked in the Park and walked. Probably this wouldn't matter normally, as I imagine that the clientele is made up from the ranks of residents in the residential block itself or the surrounding neighbourhood. Next time, and there will be a next time, we'll go by taxi.
I have been coming here for the past sixteen years, nothing changes apart from the odd new face, and Tonys daughter now taking up the reins. To me it is simply the best, food excellent and very wide choice,service top notch, and the ambiance is what adds the icing to this cake, and of course the gentleman we call the "sweetie waiter" I live on the south coast and this is my treat to myself.
Robert Veal
Well what can I say about this restuarant, I visited it for the first time the other day, the staff were fantastic made me feel very welcome, the place is just pure class, my guest and I had a fantastic delicous meal, mouthwatering food, fine wines could not get a better meal anywhere in the world, would recomend that you don't visit or I might not be able to get a table, only joking, if you like very good food do go there you will not be disapointed, I personally would like to thank all the staff there for making my guest and myself very welcome and look forward to seeing you all again soon. Thanks Joe and Raza
Last night ( Feb.13th ) was the first time I have been back to Oslo Court for 17 years.
It was the best restaurant experience I have ever had, from the dips on the table, through the mouth watering Lobster Cocktail, to the sumptuous Beef Wellington, and ending with the show that is desserts.
Oslo Court is not 10 out of 10, it is 11 out of 10.
Can't wait for another special occasion to go back.
But not 17 years time!
Oslo Court has got to be one of the very best Restaurants in London, both in terms of the quality (and portions) of the food and the service. Everything about the restaurant and it's staff are full of eccentricity; the room looks like a 70's cruise ship and the staff look as though they too have just arrived from that era too. I've yet to meet anybody who visits and is not completely taken with it. The quirky service, Neil the Desert Waiter, the overheard conversations, the fact ladies receive a menu without prices, actually I should say no more, since it is already difficult to get a table!
I really don't get it! In my opinion this has got to be the worst restaurant in London. The decor, lighting and customer environment resembles a bad motorway service station from the 70s. The food hasn't changed since the 70s either. It comes in large portions, but lacks imagination and most definitely is not worth the 2005 price! Still, there is one thing that eclipses all of these - the service. I waited 50 minutes for my table, without a word of apology or explanation, I found the table service patronising and false, and the dessert waiter has got to be one of the most annoying men on earth! To cap all of this, when I spoke to the manager to say I wasn't happy with my experience
