Gastro, Clapham, London

This was a spare of the moment choice, as we were off to the cinema but arrived a tad early for the show.

The rustic authentic feel to Gastro is definitely a huge selling point; however the prices were unexpectedly high!
I ordered the Monkfish wrapped in bacon with Spinach which was £18 and was shocked when it came with no sides, I was tempted to order some mash potato, but didn’t want to miss the first half of the film.

The staff were very attentive and my meal was very filling so I can’t really complain, I will try it once more as the mussels on the menu were calling me…

But If I am planning to do a Starter main and dessert I better make sure I’m armed with the cash to do so haha…!

Great food and atmosphere but is a little pricy.

A local favourite of mine, with that authentic laid-back French approach. You could almost picture the Sacre Coeur around the corner whilst sipping your Latte and eating your croissant. Egg Benedict is a lovely morning treat whilst the mussels have been my choice for dinner more than once. I can sit here for hours in the afternoon, reading a book or having meetings with other creative souls talking about art projects and pretending we’re not far removed from bustling Paris in the 20’s.

Great atmosphere, really friendly front of house, attentive staff, nice service, clean, tidy, just the right amount of bustle without being overly noisy. The communal table at the back is a great place too. Wine was great although rather pricey for what it was (15quid for a split). Starters were huge and lovely: the goats cheese salad was excellent.

Then what was supposed to be the main event arrived: the beef for two was right in every way except for the beef. Something was strange about the cut of meat not to mention the way it had been cooked. 3 bites in and I pushed my plate back. My partner and I began an argument about au point (what we'd ordered) vs bleu. This was neither. I know, I should have sent it back esp at 44 pounds a shot. But panic set in. Were they taking the piss? I have sent meat back before and I probably should have done so this time, I was just too shocked to do it. In between waves of panic before the check came, I looked around at the other plates on the communal table: they looked fine, better than fine. I also looked at the other diners-- all happy. But it was too late for me. We paid and got out of there tout suite. 88 pounds poorer in 45 minutes. A new record.

Moral to the story: don't get the beef for two.

Made a rare trip to the Clapham Picture House last night (I'm normally a Brixton Ritzy person but they weren't showing A Single Man), and needed somewhere to get some food before the 9 o clock showing.

Gastro was the obvious choice because a) it's smack bang opposite the cinema; and b) it serves up that French brasserie food that I'm a bit addicted to at moment.

A bit more sedate than, say, Beaujolais in the West End, Gastro sits in the more bistro/restaurant category than wine bar, but it still has that distinctly down-to-earth feel which means baguette in baskets, wine in thick glass tumblers, and plenty of meat on the menu (foie gras, calves liver, rabbit, steak) alongside a decent sea food selection.

The prices are not cheap, and if you're here for a boozy evening of vin rouge you could end up burning the plastic a bit, but if you're just looking to polish off a platter of cold meats and a couple of glasses of wine before catching a movie, it's absolutely perfect.

Really nice staff, cool atmosphere, opposite the cinema, great coffee and fantastic croque monsieur!
The best thing when I was unemployed for a time was I got to hang out here a lot. I was a bit disappointed when I got a job to be honest.

Gastro do a very decent full English breakfast for those in a hurry. When I came in on Christmas eve, I told them I only had 20 minutes, and my breakfast and tea duly arrived in only 10, and I was out of the door on time and caught my train. The only small downside is the lack of beans! But the sausages were delicious.

My mind isn't quite made up about Gastro. I had a nice time here, but i can't help but think this place is lacking what the French call a certain "i don't know what". That's an Austin Powers reference by the way. Anyway, here are the good and bad points:

Good things about gastro

Location - Venn street is one of my favourite streets in Clapham. You're opposite the cinema here so it's a great place for a snack or a glass of wine after a movie.

Language - Everyone speaks French! That's right, you will be addressed by your waitress in French first, English second (don't worry, if you don't speak particularly good Francais they will move onto English sooner or later!)

Eggs - Some of the best eggs i have had in a while. I imagine they must buy alot of their produce from the farmers market.

Not so good things about Gastro

No Ketchup! - "We are a french restaurant Monsieur. We do not have Ketchup". Well, if i'm eating scrambled eggs, bacon and toast i like to have an option. I don't care if i'm in SW4 or the 8'eme of Paris!

Service - Slow and almost impossible to get the bill when you want it (so i guess they're really going for the authentic Parisian experience!)

Absolutely authentic french restuaruant - but the French restaurant you find in the tourist areas in Paris. Overpriced, dated, tasteless 1970s creations. Believe me I love France and French food - my partner had the Fish soup - he expected the delicious creations from the sounth of France - instead it was brown gloop with neon aioli that he didn’t even try. We both had gambas for main - tasteless wet rice and no discernible flavour to the prawns. The saving grace was the Tarte Tatin - unfortunately my partner was so hungry he hoovered it up so I didn’t get much. Even the friends who took us there kept adding salt and pepper to their ravioli and chicken in a desparate attempt to add some flavour to their bland overcooked dishes. All in all we left hungry and £110 lighter. I do disagree with comments about the staff - they were perfectly nice to us. However, to add the final delight to the night we encountered four young guys within 5o feet of the restaurant p*ssing in the street - like I said, Paris at its worst.

In a word…. excelent!!!

Lovely food and very French. The staff and lovely (and French) and it’s got a lovely, rustic feel. I do tend to go for the 'old faithful” of steak and chips but they’re soo good. My friends are more adventurous and I’m annoying in always being that guest who wants what they’re having. Great little place this

Good atmosphere, shabby French chic! Feels authentic and casual, and good for steak.

good place near clapham picture house. I tend to go for movies after having nice diner at Gastro. French like the francais likes it. Says it all.

Very nice ambience - feels like being in France. Steaks and tarte tatin are great, not sure about the rest. Expensive.

Good food, very tasty especially if you like garlic.

But for what it is, it’s quite overpriced. And the staff are not the friendliest.

That said if you’re after a great steak and frites or oysters then it’s worth a visit.

Good venue for post-cinema dinner if you don’t mind the big communal table out the back.

One of my favourite restaurants in London, I’ve had a completely different experience to the first reviewer. A bustling, atmospheric and intimate setting, especially if you sit in the diner-style booths near the front. Every time we’ve gone, the food and service has been impeccable. The last time we were there, we were given drinks on the house after our meal by our lovely (and not at all arrogant) waitress.

I hate Clapham, but tonight thanks to some Qype mobile help, I managed to find this cute restaurant for a nice meal. You might not notice Gastro from the outside ('cept for the neon sign) but it’s a small French place which is very expensive for it’s location and unassumingness!

However the food we had was nice. After some comp french bread, we (2) shared a huge bowl of mussels to start. They were nice, but perhaps a little bland. Then we both went for the steak which was huge and offered with a choice of either peppercorn or Bearnaise sauce & some very tasty fries.

With just fruit juice to drink the bill came in at about £60. I can imagine it would be a great place to go with a large group of friends, because there is a massive table at the back of the room. It’s also the type of place you’d like to eat french bread & jams for breakfast, and at the other end of the day has handy opening hours, open till midnight!

‘Inconsistent. Bad service. Over-priced.’ Just a few of the comments I’ve heard bandied about describing the most authentic French restaurant south of the river.

Yes, the service can be slightly ‘french-sullen’, but isn’t that part of its charm. And the waiter even gave me some moule-eating tips, which is better service than I get most places. And yes the food can be occasionally inconsistent, but for the most part it’s excellent, and to this day it has provided me with my finest ever steak frites. And over-priced? Not really, considering the area and the quality of food. Let’s stop French bashing, shall we, and just enjoy an eaterie which isn’t owned by pizza express plc.

Gastro is a lovely place - the food is amazing and the décor very charming.
On the up side it is very authentically French, the food is delicious and the staff are friendly.
However, it gets quite busy and when I went there it took quite a while for us to be served our food, which is quite pricey for what it is.
It’s not somewhere you’d want to frequent very often as the food is very rich and I’m no millionaire, but for a romantic night out or a special occasion its great!

Gastro serves a pretty good breakfast (okay, petit dejeuner), it must be said.

But in the evening this place becomes a crowded, sloppy, arrogant restaurant that thinks it is a lot better than it actually is.
On our last visit, last month, the service was painfully slow - more than 45 minutes for the starters; nearly an hour between starters and mains. Items were delivered late (side dishes arriving well after the mains) or missed off the order altogether.

On a previous visit we tried to order a bottle of wine, which was priced at £20. We were told it wasn’t available but a new wine, not on the list, would make the ideal replacement, so we took the waiter’s advice. There was no mention of price, and we assumed it would be roughly the same as the out-of-stock bottle. We enjoyed the wine (and ordered a second) but were rather taken aback when the bill arrived at the end of the night: the “replacement” wine was nearly £45 a bottle - more than twice what we had intended to pay.

The food is average to good (hardly exceptional), but be aware that you will get poor service, plenty of attitude and a bill that is higher than it deserves to be (and that’s without taking the waiter’s wine recommendation!)