Flatiron Soho

It seems to be the ‘thing’ now to make people sit on shared benches, drink out of tumblers and have a menu without choices. Flatiron in Soho is the latest restaurant I have visited where this slightly ‘emperors new clothes’ approach is being pushed and because of experiences at other establishments I wasn’t that much looking forward to it.

I began my evening with a quite unpleasant cocktail in the bar downstairs. Of course you can’t book here but we were happy to wait somewhere with a decent looking cocktail list. The fact that they offered the unusual approach of icing the drinks by chipping great chunks off a big block gave the impression of being consummate cocktail professionals but this was not the case. However, where the cocktail didn’t taste good it was strong (and it came in a Babycham glass – old school) and by the time our table was ready I was buoyed with booze.

So the menu choice here is basically a steak or a burger with a small selection of sides and sauces. Most of us opted for steak with one exception of the burger, and we all wanted it cooked different ways. In terms of the wine, there were two choices of Malbec on the menu, which was a pleasant surprise – and one wasn’t a bank breaker so we opted for that. It was good! Although having to drink it out of what was essentially a school squash glass did ruin the experience somewhat (get proper wine glasses!).

The food was swift – the little thin strips of £10 steak arrived on blocks of wood accompanied by (small) portions of eggplant parm, chips and spinach. Everything was cooked exactly as we had asked and frankly the entire spread was delicious and lasted about five minutes – not what I had been expecting given the terrible cocktail. The diner in our party who had the burger even said it was the best he’d ever had.

When it came, the bill was not too extortionate either – a very reasonable £26 per head for a bottle and a carafe of Malbec, three steaks, a burger, four sauces and four sides. Pudding-wise there was one choice on the night that we went (I assume this is normal) and none of us fancied it so we left. We would probably have had a desert if there had been another option or two (we just didn't want chocolate) so they’re kind of cutting off a mini profit stream there.

All in all I would say that Flatiron is definitely worth a visit (just don’t have a martini downstairs). It’s tasty, the atmosphere is lively and you don’t walk away feeling like you’ve just been made a mug of by somewhere that is all style and no substance. But maybe take your own wine glass…