le petit square, Newbury

Hoggit and Hoof as of november 2010

not great actually, meringues were clearly processed, salad was out of a bag, turkey was processed, atmosphere cold - apparently the radiators were playing up, no christmas crackers, no avocado in the prawn and avocado salad. mince pies too hot to handle - no tea plates or napkins.

it was so much better in May as Le petit square! what's gone wrong?

We visited Newbury yesterday & fancied French food. Le Petit Square in Market Square looked nice and the menu seemed to offer classic French dishes.
My wife and I ordered snails, but when they arrived they were stone cold, so I asked for them to be properly cooked. They arrived back a couple of minutes later, sizzling hot, obviously having been 'blitzed' in the micro-wave. They were then over-cooked and tasteless - they needed lots more garlic & parsley - certainly the worst escargots we've ever had. My wife then had a vegetarian gallette with goats cheese etc, but it was not a gallete, just some very thin flaky pastry about 6 inches round - she said it tasted ok, but was definitely not a gallette. I had a nicoise salad, which used several pieces of cooked (grilled or fried) tuna and a salad which was ok, but missing the essential anchovies as advertised in the menu. The two young people serving were very friendly and helpful, but sadly the food was very poor indeed and not exactly cheap for what it was. I suspect that the nearest the chef has been to France is Dover and I'm just glad we are driving to France next month to taste the real thing !!

I've been to this restaturant for dinner twice now. First time 14 months ago, very good and we enjoyed it very much. This time (July 10) though it was a tremendous disappointment. Firtsly they mucked our order up meaning we had to wait a long time for our food. I wasn't so fussed about that, but then the starrters came. My wife had red onion tart that was smothered in balsamic vinegar and that was all that could be tasted. I had scallops which were immersed in some sort of strong white sauce and covered in mashed potatoe and grill grated cheese. Completely ruined the scallops. Main course: my wife ordered a steak - medium to well done - it came pink. I ordered boeuf bourguignon - and this again was covered in mashed potatoe - yuk. £77 for one of the poorest meals I've had for a long time. Avoid!

I’ve yet to go here for dinner but get lunch and breakfast often. Always tasty. A bit pricey. Sometimes the service is a bit surly but I don’t mind. Maybe they are trying to create a French atmosphere. Once they get to know you they seem to be more keen. They’ve recently changed the hours to have more breakfast time. And they seem to have free wifi now, which is great for me.

Their espresso could be better, but is not any worse than anything else in town.

Update: Since first writing this review le petit square has become my main source of food in Newbury. They are always welcoming, the plat du jour is a great deal for lunch, and the dinners I’ve had there have been fantastic.

The tuna nicoise salad makes a great lunch, with at least the appearance of being healthy.

I still think the espresso could be better, but since I have about 10 a week from them, it’s not at all bad, it’s just not superb.

It’s not five stars because five stars should be reserved for the places that are so good you’re almost afraid to go back. I go back to le petit square every day.

i love this place. really good menu and the staff are lovely. we had a nice meal and wine and didn’t feel rushed to finish even though it was busy.

only 3 stars though because as we left there was a fight in the market square and police everywhere. a bit scary and not very nice to finish the evening. not their fault but i probably wouldn’t go in the evening at the weekend again.

We had a lovely night out at le petit square, the atmosphere was lovely the service informal but polite and welcomng. I choose the French onion soup which was wonderful (equally as good as some I ate in Paris), my fiance choose the snails which again were lovely.

For our main course we ahared the Châteaubriand, the beef was very tender and well flavoured. We didn’t have room for desert but did wash ourfood down with some nice wine which was a recoomendation from one of the waitresses.

Overall I would say that the resturant is well priced and very good. We will definatly visit again.

The most amazing french restaurant i have ever been to….even better than in Paris!!!

This place is a classy, relaxed,bistro style french restaurant staff are very helpful and can give you supposrt on what to order. There is a new menu every day and they even do breakfasts!

As there is a weekly fresh fish market from the south coast its got the loveliest cleanest fish ever.

the chefs are true french chefs and you can see a little window of them working away inn the back.

They come up with new meals all the time and they are lovely delicate and cooked and designed to perfection.

I am actually thinking of going here to visit because I miss this place…so a long journey from manchester will be planned soon!

This restaurant has never let us down. Our little daughter (17 months now, but we’ve been going there a while now) is always welcomed brilliantly. The food is superb, and surprisingly reasonable for the high quality.
I will never forget the first time my little girl ate lobster here!
The waiting staff are to commended for their attitude, which is just genuine attentiveness and care.
I think this must be one of the most baby friendly restaurants in Newbury.