Joe Allen - Covent Garden

I have been going to Joe Allen since I was a little girl; that's at least once a year for 28 years... I went last night with friends having spent a substantial amount of time promising them the best ribs they will ever taste whilst reminiscing over nostalgic tales of Dale Winton bringing me my 14th birthday cake and Honor Blackman blowing my brother a kiss, all in the infamous restaurant. I mentioned to said brother that we were going. He hurriedly encouraged me not to bother as “it's just not the same". I disregarded his comments and, regrettably, booked anyway.

I was hugely disappointed. It has noticeably changed and definitely not for the better. Yes the venue has been 'spruced up', but no-one cared that it was slightly worn out - a 1920s prohibitionesque bar should be and that was always part of the fun! In fact the only things that really needed a good seeing to were the loos and they’re still that very distinctive blue.

The venue, some of the staff and Jimmy are still there (thankfully) but the food is completely different. We were offered (unnecessarily) three different menus on which none of the original fabulous Joe Allen options made an appearance!! No wings, no ribs, no ice-cream with hot sauce, wine no longer served in a carafe!!! Mortified, I bit my tongue and politely asked the waiter what was going on. He informed me that the reviews on the internet would confirm that the restaurant was the best it had ever been. Well, the calamari was generic and average at best, the burger was not a patch on Meat Liquor (or even Byron Burger for that matter) and the peanut ice cream and jelly was so hard that I required a chainsaw to hack through it. As well as the atmosphere, the only other thing that ever really drew anyone to Joe Allen was the food, which has very much died a death.

I would like to make it clear that I have never taken the time to write a review before and am not intentionally trying to give Joe Allen's a scathingly hard time. I just think the new owners should really consider why people have been going there repeatedly for all these years. I mean, why would you take the two best-selling dishes off the menu? Needless to say, I won’t be going back again and so, for me at least, it’s the end of an era.