Maze is no doubt a slick restaurant but after today’s lunch I found myself slightly … underwhelmed by my experience. I think it was one of those cases where built up expectations were much higher than what was delivered so maybe its not a reflection so much on the quality of the restaurant but my expectations. Maze is part of the Gordon Ramsay stable, a recipient of one Michelin star and with nearly constantly 10/10 reviews so you could hardly blame me for expecting quite a bit.

The restaurant is attractive with couches on one side lining the entrance and a bar on the other before you come to the restaurant proper. The dining tables seem to be split into three areas which gives both a sense of space and intimacy at one time. The colours are predominantly cream and brown with brighter splashes of colour, in our area at least, from circles of glass laid into the barriers surrounding us. Gladly they didn’t try to cram everyone in close to each other with plenty of space left between everyone. It felt casually elegant without going overboard. There are individual toilets as well with own sink and Molton Brown products.

Service was impeccable except for them not re-filling our glasses of water! Such a pet hate of mine!! The water is such simple aspect of the meal and yet they utterly failed. We had to ask twice for the water to be re-filled. Otherwise it was friendly and efficient. As with these kinds of restaurants you have a person for everything such as one person to carry the plate to the table, another to serve it to you, another to serve you your drink, another to take your order, another to bring your bill! A bit of overkill but if it works …

Food-wise we were dining off the set lunch menu. We did peruse the tapas a la carte menu but in all honesty nothing caught our attention. The lunch menu wasn’t particularly exciting either but at least it was a bit more reasonably priced. (Though drinks were another matter – £3.92 for a glass of juice which was no doubt out of a box was extortionate!) For starters we had choice between Mackerel tartare, pickled daikon, mackerel pâté and baby radishes and Salad of beetroot, goat’s curd, red chard and pine nuts. Both Pat and I opted for the beetroot salad.

For mains and desserts we both selected opposite dishes with Pat having the Roasted sea bream, cuttlefish rice, herb essence and summer courgettes and I the Pork Belly, potato purée, crushed broad beans, mint and chorizo. Desserts were Chilled cherry and mint soup, toasted marshmallow, cherry sorbet and ‘Arctic roll’ and raspberry jelly respectively.

I couldn’t complain too much about the food except to say it was rather unadventurous. We were given freshly baked bread with our meals plus a petit fours (Turkish delight and an exquisite dark chocolate caramel) which is nearly expected at fine restaurants such as Maze. Food was very good quality and prettily presented. However, my meal, admittedly partly due to my choices, was nearly exactly the same as what I had at Skylon a few weeks ago so hardly innovative stuff!

Memorable? Hardly. A nice meal? Yes. Worth a visit? Probably at least once … but it helps if you have money to spare.