What to expect
Coming for the first time
The things you would find out anyway on the night, written down beforehand — including the two most people want to know and nobody puts on a website, which are how loud it is and what it will cost.
What it costs, honestly
Two people eating a starter each, a main each, one side and a glass of wine each will spend somewhere around a hundred and forty dollars before service, at dinner. Lunch is roughly half that, and the set lunch is the cheapest good meal in the building. If that is more than you wanted to spend, the bar is the same kitchen at a lower total and nobody will think anything of it.
How loud it is
Moderately. It is a hard-floored room with a bar in it, so at eight o'clock on a Saturday you will raise your voice; at six on a Tuesday you could hold a quiet conversation across a four-top. If you need the quiet version, ask for an early table and say why — we will put you at the far end away from the bar, and that is a real thing we can do rather than a thing we say.
What to wear
Whatever you like. There is no dress code and there never has been. People come here from work, from the gym and from the airport, and nobody has ever been turned away for what they were wearing.
How long you have the table
Ninety minutes for one to four people, two hours for five or more. Nobody will stand over you at the end of it, and if the table after you has not arrived you will not be moved — but the table is booked again, and knowing that in advance is fairer than being hurried at nine o'clock. The arithmetic is on its own page.
Children
Welcome, at any table and in the private room. There are three high chairs, first come first served, and a short children's menu of smaller versions of things we actually cook rather than a separate freezer. Tell us when you book and we will hold a high chair.
If you have an allergy
Tell us when you book, not when you sit down. The kitchen sees the note before service starts, which is worth a great deal more than telling a server at eight o'clock. And please read what one kitchen can and cannot promise first — we can be very precise about what is in a dish and we cannot promise a plate has touched nothing.
What a photograph of a plate does not show. The photographs on this site are of this room and this food, taken in the light this room actually has. They are still photographs, which means they were taken at the moment the plate was best and are not a promise about the plate you will be handed forty minutes into a Saturday service. The dining room in particular looks emptier in pictures than it will feel, because a photograph of a full restaurant is a photograph of the backs of strangers.
Tuesday to Sunday · closed Mondays
Book a table
Pick a date, tell us how many of you there are, and the form shows the times we can actually seat that many — not every time we are open. Parties of eight and under book instantly; nine or more becomes a private dining enquiry, because a group that size needs a room and a set menu rather than a table. The twelve bar seats are never reservable, so there is always somewhere to eat here without a booking.