Social Wine & Tapas

Have I ever mentioned that I am a great fan of Jason Atherton’s cooking? I have visited several of his restaurants: Pollen Street Social, Little Social, Berner’s Tavern and Esquina (in Singapore). His style is tradition (French/​Italian) meets social eating with a pinch of street-​charm. Many of the dishes I love are the more simple ones, and the great thing about Jason’s restaurants is that his quality does not seem to suffer even with the many restaurants opening in his name. The man must be a genius to be able to keep so many chefs up to his standards.
But this review is about Social Wine and Tapas, Jason’s new restaurant in Marylebone, London. We originally didn’t have a reservation and thought about just walking in. Thankfully my date did a last minute check and reserved two seats for the same evening, as when we arrived they seemed to already be fully booked. There are some walk-​in tables, but we saw a crowd gathering after seven pm to wait for tables, and the lobby really was not that pleasant a place to be standing. We were seated on a bar facing the door, so we could follow the situation developing all evening (we got some evil eyes from the crowd after we had finished eating and were selfishly keeping the table sipping on wine). So the lesson is: Reserve a table before you go.
About the bubblies, wonderful choices. They had four different sparkling wines by the glass: one cava, one English sparkling and two champagnes. The Cava Mas Sardana was a disappointment. My date had tried it before (at Social Eating House) and told me that he did not have more than one sip. So a wine warning for that one. We chose to have a glass of the English sparkling, Wiston Estate Cuvee Brut from West Sussex (12£/ glass) and a glass of Les Murgiers Champagne from Francis Boulard (12.5£/ glass). I love the style of Francis Boulard and Les Murguers, one of his cheapest champagnes is a wonderful toasty brut nature, just the way I like my apéritif. The Wiston Estate was a real surprise, bone dry with notes of yeast, brioche and citrus fruit.
The list of reds and whites was also rather comprehensive with close to 30 wines by the glass. We did not at all have the chance to sample as many as we wanted but my date had the Love Red v.3 from the urban winery Broc Cellars in Berkeley. I had the Vin de Table from Jean Michel Stephan from Rhone which was lovely as well.
For food we had some wonderful dishes. Traditional tomato bread, croquettes, heirloom tomato salad with burrata and foie grass sliders. We also ordered two Spanish breakfasts expecting them to be like the ones we had in Singapore, but to our disappointment, the Spanish breakfast at Social Wine and Tapas did not live up to the ones at Esquina. The dish was good, but it is always a matter of expectations vs. experience. Overall, the food was really good, for the exception of there being too little burrata for our liking. I must say that Jason has done it again and reached outstanding quality. Price-​wise the restaurant is mid-​range. We had four glasses of wine and six-​seven different dishes and ended up with a bill of 100£ including service charge. Not too bad, but I cant really say it was cheap. Jose’s in Bermondsey still takes home the trophy (but I am very emotional about that place and biased) as the best tapas in London.

Nice restaurant, modern, Good tapas with strong wine selection. Will visit again on next trip.

My friends and I finally made it to Social Wine & Tapas, after learning the hard way that it is not open on Mondays. We arrived at 7 PM and they have a no reservations policy, and don’t even taken down names or give estimates of waiting times. But the queue was not that long, with about 3 groups ahead of us, and with the departures of the after-​work crowd, we were seated downstairs by 7:30. I like the downstairs area much more than upstairs, as it feels a lot more spacious.
We ordered a number of dishes off the menu: ham croquettes, jamon and cheese selection, slow-​cooked egg with oxtail dashi and creamed potato, the heirloom tomato salad with truffle burrata, and the Cumbrian lamp rump. We also put in two orders of bread, as apparently they can only do two slices per order. I must say that the standouts was the slow-​cooked egg /​oxtail, the lamb, and the croquettes. The slow-​cooked egg dish was as described, though I wasn’t really able to picture it until it arrived. The concept is so unique (when do you ever see that on a tapas menu?) and the sauce was great to have with bread. The lamb was cut in small round cuts, perfectly pink, and also came with a delightful sauce. And the ham croquettes came at the end, as we had to remind the staff that they had forgotten them, but it was a ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ blend of cheese and what was basically bacon bits. If only every croquette I ate could have this ratio! I was a bit disappointed with the tomato salad and burrata, as it was only a few bites of tomato and I didn’t taste the truffle in the burrata at all. Our jamon and cheese plate featured 5 types of jamon /​chorizo and cheese, and it came with a platter of crackers, which I don’t think would have been enough on its own, but with the bread it was a good amount.
This place is also all about the wine, with bottles behind glass cases serving as decoration for much of the restaurant, and semi-​creepy recordings about wine making playing in the bathroom. For our first bottle, we got a French Syrah that was on the Sommelier’s suggestions list. However, we didn’t really like it, as it has a very sharp taste, not at all what I expected for a Syrah. For our second bottle, the sommelier recommended an Austrian red that resembled a pinot noir. It was fantastic, and also came served in much nicer glasses too.
In the grand scheme of Jason Atherton, this place is just as great as Social Eating House. I guess I prefer his more casual restaurants. His fine dining establishments do well and win their Michelin stars, but they are also stiff and not very, you know, social. I think it would be fun to come again and sit with a friend at the bar, which they have both on the ground floor and the basement level. I don’t think it would be possible to come with a group larger than 4, though, unless you rent out the room downstairs that seems to be tailored to parties and corporate events.

I have been to Pollen Street Social on numerous occasions and always enjoyed the food, the very good service, and the ambiance in general. With these positive feelings toward the franchise, I was very excited to hear about Social Wine & Tapas, and planned a visit soon after opening. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out so well.
As there are no reservations, I made sure to try to arrive a little early to get a seat at the bar. This is where the problems started. I arrived at 6:00pm and told the host that I was meeting a friend and we were planning to have dinner. He said that I would not be able to sit at the bar until my party was complete. I noted that she was about 5 – 10 minutes away in a taxi, but he insisted that I could not take a seat. I noticed that there were 7 – 8 empty bar seats at the time. I acquiesced, and then asked if I could have a glass of wine while I waited. He said that the waiting area where wine was served was «full», so that I had to wait in the lobby, without a drink. I asked if he was serious. He replied that that was the restaurant’s policy. I told him that if that is the case, then I would simply take my business to a restaurant that wants and appreciates my business. I then left, and had a very nice dinner, with excellent service, around the corner at Zoilo.
What I don’t understand is the following: 1) how is it possible that a customer could be treated with so little respect and concern about their enjoyment and satisfaction with the restaurant? 2) how is it possible that the wine area (?) could be «full», necessitating a wait in the lobby, without either a drink or a seat, when the bar was more than half empty? 3) seeing that I was growing irritated with the simple lack of courtesy and professionalism, how is it possible that the host didn’t simply offer me a seat at the bar and a drink, thereby ensuring a happy and satisfied customer? And 4) having said that my friend was on her way, how I am I supposed to feel when the host dismisses this fact and insists that I wait to be seated?
Given the poor customer service, I wont be back here…