Le Mercury, Islington, London

Can here last night with my wife for an impromptu school-night meal out.

Loved the menu, full of hearty French bistro classics. Bread and butter were served immediately and starters were quick to arrive and were very impressive. Soup of the day and lobster ravioli were both excellent and at only £3.95 each, easily a bargain. On to mains, I had the steak entrecôte and was not disappointed. The steak was cooked perfectly, melting apart and tasted excellently rich and beefy. The jus (of which there was plenty for me to mop us with my frites) was also divine. My wife had pork belly which was meltingly tender and our side dishes of vegetables (with rosemary) and frites were also very well cooked.

For three courses a la carte with a bottle of red and 2 sides, the lot came in at a little under £50. Virtually unheard of at any restaurant on Upper St, or for that matter in London!

Great food, great wine, great atmosphere and great price. We’ll definitely be back!

I attended not too long ago for my birthday bash lunchtime and can only point out that this place is phenomenal, Celeste, flavorsome, pleasant. There almost certainly aren’t enough adjectives to go into detail this places quality.we had starters, mains and desserts and all four individuals had next to nothing to complain about, for my loved ones, that says a lot and we were still conversing with regards to how good it was this morning. Our server was talkative and propogated his viewpoint on the menu and that is something I very much recognize the value of and the chef became available to speak to us which can be something If only more places would do the way it shows an interest and appreciation with the customers.Service was friendly and proficient too. A wine was recommended to suit the dishes we had chosen and bread, butter and water was proferred rapidly.Mains included many different dishes, I don’t recall what everyone had as all of us started sharing food having a delighted promiscuity.For being perfectly genuine, I think this can be my new favourite restaurant.

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Do you like to be tasked with choosing a place to eat or are you one of those who like to leave it to others?

For me, I’m happy either way. These two restaurants serving French cuisine were suggested by friends I was catching up with and that I haven’t heard of. One was to celebrate a birthday and the other was visiting friends in town.

Let’s start with a birthday dinner at Le Mercury. It was a cold windy evening and I was walking with a fast pace dreaming of the warmth that will greet me when I open the doors of the restaurant. In I went and was led up a flight of narrow wooden stairs to my table.

It was a very reasonably priced menu with all starters priced at £3.95

We ordered a trio of starters starting with the Calamars Fris which is deep fried calamari with home made tartar sauce and dressed French leaves on the side, Beef Carpaccio with capers and red peppers relish and finishing with the Ravioli de la Mer, a crayfish and lobster ravioli with spinach and shellfish sauce.

For mains which were all price at £6.95, there was the sea bass fillet with crushed new potatoes and minted pesto, a rib eye steak served with shallot sauce and a Scottish salmon with sautéed spinach and lobster sauce.

We all had a great time soaking in the atmosphere and vibe. It can indeed be quite a romantic place. The food may not be outstanding but is decent and with those prices, reflects a good value. An unassuming place that might not reside in your memories for long but will be thought of fondly if this happens to be part of your local eaterie.

Swift service (mind you we were only the second table to be occupied so at that stage there were far more staff than customers), keen prices and good food (my Barbary duck main course was very tasty but the pate starter could have done with a third triangle of toast. Nothing but praise for the chocolate tart dessert) made for a pleasant meal.

Despite the above I’m only awarding 3 stars as I can’t comment on the quality of the alcohol on offer and once we were ready for the bill we’d become invisible so actually paying up an leaving took longer than it should have.

Great food and service is also good... decor a little drab these days.. still a favourite of mine though

Went to Le Mercury as a last minute decision with a friend. We got served straight away which was great. This also meant that we got our food very quickly ( a bit too quickly..we were in and out of the door within 40 minutes). Saying that the food was very nice. The prices are so reasonable because of the fast turn around and it is obligatory to order sides with your mains as you won't get any veg or carbs on your plate. All in all a nice little place to go if you don't want to spend hours on your meal or have a play/film to catch.

Tucked right on the corner of Almeida Street and Upper Street, this little French Bistro is a wonderful little find. It's no fine dining establishment, but if you are looking for cheap, tasty and typically French cuisine - this is your Ronseal. (Does exactly what is says on the tin).

Its dark enough to be intimate, but romantically lit with candles enough to see your dinner (and guest). The waiters are very efficient... some may say a little too eager to get you in, served and out, but I'm quite partial to a bit of efficiency on a cold wintery night when I'm starving. A three course meal will set you back £17. And that's the entire menu - starters, mains and desserts are all the same price.

Toilets are fairly interesting... but clean.

We dined on Carpaccio of Beef, Fois Gras, Sea Bass, Belly Pork, Marscapone Cheesecake and Sticky Toffee pudding. Delicious. Can't comment on the booze as we were driving, but French wine isn't really my thing anyway. Oh - driving - easy peasy. You can park on Almeida Street and the streets behind the restaurant from 6.30pm Pay and Display. Biking? Bike bay just on Napier Street - it couldn't be more convenient!

Go on - have an indulgent Monday night out - and keep your wallet happy at the same time.

Average food, reasonably priced but eat it quick or they throw you out!

The service is awful. We found our waiter rude; as he served us our coffees at the end of a meal he said that we had to leave because we have used up our 1.5 hr time slot and the table has been booked.... When we asked if we could finish our coffees, he said that we were warned that the table was needed by 7.30 so no! Why serve us the coffee?! We couldn't believe it.

The manager was not helpful at all as he seemed intimidated by the waiter who was a little scary. The whole situation could have been avoided as there were 4 other empty tables at the time and a simple reminder in advance could have helped too. Shame.

I'd heard great things about Le Mercury and it didn't let me down. Although it's best to book, we were lucky to get a table upstairs on the spur of the moment one evening.

My God, it's so cheap! It's a simple menu with lots of French classics to choose from, but the food is delicious.

OK, the service isn't the best, but Le Mercury still has charm and atmosphere, and at those prices you really can't grumble.

Had passed this place a lot and never got around to calling in until one night when 6 of us decided to go for food and every where was absolutely packed out around here. With empty grumbling bellys we made it to a really busy looking La Mercury and luckily were able to get a table upstairs. We couldn't believe how cheap the food was, we got a set meal and the food was stunning. We were all well impressed and would definately head back soon.

Decent fine food at reasonable prices. Good service despite being even early on a weekday evening (on that note - booking recommended). Would definitely go again.

Many of the reviews talk about the romantic atmosphere here, well that might be fine if you are lucky enough to be seated in a quiet part of the restuarant, unfortunately we were put on the top floor in a room with a party of about 30 people celebrating a birthday, the noise was ear shatteringly loud as the room had no soft furnishings to absorb any of the volume. As a group of 5 not so young women who meet up only about once a year we were not impressed I do not go out to a restuarant in order to get a splitting headache due to the noise. The maitre'd was totally unsympathetic when I complained and suggested they should review their booking policy on large parties. If you want a romantic evening be careful or go elsewhere. The food we had was fine but we were so fed up with the racket we didn't bother with desert and went home for some headache tablets.

Excellent value on Upper Street, among restaurants that are usually overpriced!

The atmosphere is romantic, making this the perfect place to bring a date if you are on a budget. All starters cost £3.95 and all main courses at £6.95. They do have a changing daily menu with more expensive options, but they are only at £7.95.

Portions are rather big, making this an extremely good value place. The main courses were a bit slow to arrive, but the service in general was very prompt.

The menu has a french slant, with many British dishes as well. Unusual ones include frogs legs, along with the traditional steaks and leg of lamb.

Amor, Amor, Amor…the place screams romance and lurve. Candle lit twosome tables, fairy lights adorning the windows, French waiters, cocktails, champagne, steak… the list is endless on why this place is literally the hottest place for couples. Want to know what makes It even better? All choices in each course are the same price so you know you can afford it. Now, I’m not one to endorse the act of polygamy, but if you are a serial dater than this place is perfecto. You can wine and dine your lover and be safe in the knowledge that it won’t cost more than fifty of your English pounds for two people to enjoy a 3 course meal with booze – a bonus in my (little black) book!

I've avoided reviewing Le Mercury for some time now because I liked to think of it as my little secret. But previous reviews seem to contradict that and I don't think my favourite restaurant in London is a secret any more.

Le Mercury is a cosy French restaurant on a corner of Upper St and I love pretty much everything about it.

My first favourite thing about Le Mercury is the food. The menu isn't huge but everything that's on it is done very well and pretty cheap for saying how yummy it is. All starters and sides are around £3, mains are £8 and all desserts are £4. Unfortunately they stopped doing the dark chocolate truffle cake with Baileys ice cream.

The second best thing about Le Mercury is the general cosiness of the restaurant. It's quite plain but not austere, and though it's lovely in summer I've always preferred it on a cold evening. It's one of those few restaurants thats perfect for a date or meeting lots of friends.

The service in Le Mercury is pretty good but not the best I've had. That said, when my friend asked to have the rhubarb pie taken out of his rhubarb pie and blueberry ice cream, the waitress sorted it out.

It can get busy on weekend evenings (but never unbearable) so it's advisable to book in advance. Or you could just find your own favourite restaurant and leave Le Mercury to me!

Wow! Now this is a rare find - gourmet quality for mainstream prices! I almost don’t want to review this place so that people don’t flood it, but I want them to continue doing their beautiful thing!

We went here after a week in Dijon, where we were sickened by the high prices for relatively little quality. Coming back to London to find this awesome little place was such a contrast.

We started off by only wanting main and perhaps dessert, but ended up having wine and all three courses! Every single course was amazing. I recommend this as one of my favourite places in Angel!

Hello new favourite restaurant!

Seriously, is there nothing this place doesn’t offer? When someone suggests a French restaurant, you immediately think it’s going to be pricey, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. All of the mains are under £7, desserts under £3.

So what did we have? Well we shared a starter of Crayfish and Lobster ravioli which was yummy. really nice. I think we were both a bit annoyed that we didn’t order one each.

But the mains were ace too - it’s not a huge selection, but it’s a good one. I had duck breast on garlic mash with cabbage. It had a great sauce, although I can’t remember what was in it. The mash was really too garlicky for my taste, but the duck was perfect. Yummy yummy yummy. We didn’t get a side of veg with our meals, but we did spie roasted potatoes and green beans on a nother table and were instantly jealous. My friend’s mushroom rissotto was yummy too. Dessert was a mascarpone cheesecake. YUMMY!

There was nothing bad about this place, it’s a gorgeous little find. We booked ahead, and we might have been lucky but it’s not a bad idea. The service isn’t the best, but my friends and i were catching up so we didn’t really mind that they didn’t take our order for a while - in fact I think they were waiting for us to shut up! In the meantime we ate all of the bread that they gave us. Freshest bread eve. The place is open very late (1am on weekdays, 2am on weekends) so you could even pop in after going to the cinema. It’s a little further up Upper Street than the main drag, but that’s a good thing. If I was just looking for somewhere to grab a bite to eat, I wouldn’t have walked up this far. I’m so pleased I did!

So one starter, one dessert and two very yummy mains, plus a couple of glasses of wine costs us £26. Very impressed indeed.

Do come here! On a date, with friends, whatever. Just come here. We were in such a mood for all things French that we’ve booked the Eurostar to Paris next month! Doesn’t get much better…

Le Mercury is a real gem. It’s not very fancy, but it has loads of atmosphere with the lighting provided by candles in wine bottles and street lights coming through the windows. Things can get packed in pretty tight, so it’s best to make a booking (even on a Monday night at 8pm we wouldn’t have been able to get a table if we hadn’t already reserved one).

The food is quite good, even if the menu isn’t terribly extensive. My sea bass was fantastic, nice a crispy on the outside but really moist on the inside. Their desserts are really nice too, but don’t expect anything on the lighter side. But the portions are perfect, just enough to leave you feeling satisfied without feeling stuffed. And things are relatively cheap with three courses costing only about £15 (excluding drinks).

It’s a really good late night spot as well; they’re open til 2, and they won’t rush you if you want to sit around and chat after your meal. It can get a bit noisy in there, but still a good place to bring friends.

I really like this restaurant. My boss put me on to it a couple of years back, and I have been numerous times since.

The combination of good value with high quality food and a nice location / layout really make this worth going to.

The menu is always varied and changes frequently. As I said, the great value makes it even better. You don’t get massive portions, but more than enough to do the job. There is always a specials menu (no, not just the leftovers) which has some stunning dishes. Haven’t had a bad dish yet!

There are a few French restaurants in Angel, this being my second favourite. A very close second, mind…

My favourite little restaurant in Islington. I almost want to be selfish and pretend I hate it so that it doesn’t get any busier! But in the spirit of paying it forward - GO TO THE MERCURY!!
It does get very busy so make sure you ring ahead.
Anyway, the food is unbelievably delicious, which is exacerbated by the excellent prices and good sized portions. I cannot say enough to recommend this restaurant. The candle light and the warm atmosphere all add that little extra special something.
I remember the lamb main course being particularly yummy, but the menu keeps changing and I haven’t had a bad experience yet.