Had a free Saturday afternoon so walked down to Westbourne Grove to try the New Gastropub "The Commander". My wife and I were pleasantly surprised when we walked in the room was bright and airy and a lot of effort had gone in to transforming it from the rather grotty sports pub it used to be. The place was about half full and their was a nice buzz. The service was very friendly but perhaps a little overbearing at times though I put that down to them being very eager to please. I was particularly impressed we were offered iced tap water and this was refilled regularly like you get over in the States. My wife who loves oysters tried a couple of natives to start which she found excellent. We both had steak from the market menu, served with seasonal greens which is a nice touch. My sirloin was very nice but my wife's fillet steak was really top draw, loads of flavour. We had a prefectly decent carafe of Rioja with our main and coffee for afters.
All in all very good and we will go back soon. One slight drawback was the state of the ladies toilets which my wife thought had missed out on the makeover. However this place deserves to do well and matches up well to the nearby Cow and Bonaparte.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
