The Green Room
special offers
2 courses £15
...3 courses £19.50 from a set menu. Includes Vat, excludes service and drinks. Click for more details
our review
Despite boasting a respectable range of mid-price eateries suitable for a weekend lunch or week day evening meal, up to now West Hampstead has lacked the type of Friday or Saturday night destination restaurant to rival the more chi chi offerings of neighboring NW3.
Enter the Green Room, a stylish new venture owned by fledging restaurateurs Kelly O’Keefe and her French fiancée, Laurent Richer. The latter – whose impressive CV boasts a stint at Gordon Ramsey’s Maze – oversees proceedings in the kitchen, while O’Keefe’s background as a fashion stylist is clearly evident in the choice of silver Victorian flock wallpaper, fairy lights and magnificent chandelier that adorn the intimate ground floor dining room.
In contrast to the flamboyant decor the menu is a more sedate affair, offering a solid range of Italian and French bistro classics along with an interesting but inexpensive wine list. For starters, a Cornish pasty-style folded spinach and ricotta tart was tasty but could have done with a slightly higher filling-to-pastry ratio to counter what was a rather doughy mouthful. My partner’s goat’s cheese soufflé with onion marmalade looked more of a cake from where I was sitting, but he happily woofed it down.
For mains I plumped for a fillet of sea bass with confit tomatoes and grilled aubergine with mint dressing from the specials board. The bass was pan-fried to crisp perfection and complimented well by a sharp dressing of lemon zest and parsley. The accompanying confit of tomatoes were jammy and sweet, although the mint dressing on the slightly overcooked aubergine was largely undetectable. In contrast to my unseasonal summer choice, my partner opted for a classic winter warmer – a heady fish stew of succulent prawns, cod, mussels, langoustine and seasonal vegetables steeped in a robust broth and topped by its own crisp flaky pastry top hat.
Pudding was a zesty lemon tarte shared between us that could have done with an extra half hour out of the fridge. We washed it down with a pleasing bottle of Argentinean Libertad Merlot 2007, de Mendoza. Service throughout from the good-looking waiting team was attentive but unobtrusive, and managed to keep pace even on the hectic Friday evening of our visit. Definitely one to watch.
M.D. - February 2008
your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne
I went in with a group of girlfriends, it was my second time there and the first had been really nice and the owner friendly and attentive. However with the introduction of the set menu offer (where I actually only saved £1.50!) things have slipped.
On arrival my friends and I were told we were 30 mins late, which we weren’t. So when it took 15mins for our order to be taken and then another 15 mins wait between starters and mains we were told this was our fault, as our late arrival and thrown their service schedule out of whack. And I totally agree with the earlier reviewer – pasta and risotto aren’t specials.
The owner did try to make things up to us by giving us a free drink but unfortunately it was too little to late.
I won’t be going back – which is a shame as it started with such promise.
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Kegs
Overall rating 
Food 6 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Went here a couple of weeks ago and was very happy with the food and service. We used the 2 courses for £15 offer and for the price, the food was excellent. The food was served in hearty portions and all of my party enjoyed what we ordered.
Recommended for a relaxed, intimate setting. A little gem.
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Paul
Overall rating 
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
I am baffled by the glowing reviews on here for The Green Room. Whilst the decor is pleasant and the venue small and intimate- everything else was disappointingly mediocre.
To begin with, I'm all for casually dressed waiters, but when they look like they have stepped off a football pitch you start to think it is time for the owner to rethink the whole approach to "dress-down friday".
The food was so average I can barely recall any outstanding flavours. Goats cheese tart was boring. My partner's squid stuffed with prawns sounded intriguing but was nothing more than a bland fishy mush. At least the cherry tomatoes were nice,
A request for pink lamb came back overcooked but my rare duck was actually very tender, it was just a shame that it was cold...as were the accompanying mushrooms on toast.
Now I would like to echo the previous reviewer who was baffled by the brandishing of the pepper mill. I had pepper on the table...the dishes i chose were neither pasta nor risotto, so really ought to have been seasoned in cooking...so please can we get away from this tacky gimmick,. Especially when the waiter isnt even listening when you ask him to stop (happened to my partner)!!
Finally I thought i'd let the place redeem itself with my dessert. Apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Usually simple to execute and delicious to eat! My pastry was soggy (could easily have been mistaken for sponge) and my poor ice cream was less ice, more cream by the time it reached me. The pie was filled with cloves (why?!) and the apples hadnt been cored properly so we kept having to pull out hard bits of apple from our mouths mid chew!
I really wont be returning. If i want this sort of food in future i can cook it at home quite easily (as a previous reviewer said too).
Finally, a word for the specials board: i love these, they often lure me away from the main menu. However "linguine with tomato and parmesan" sounds too underwhelming for words...not really special in my book.
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SDS - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 4
Saturday, November 01, 2008
What a ridicuous review! Stay home and cook, please! Don't be at the table next to me in this simply delightful and very French addition to the boring W. Hampstead area. I don't live in the area but was introduced to it by a friend in Paris. I travel from Holland Park for the quality and EXCELLENT price/quality ratio.
Terrific restaurant - ignore this review and read the others but do try the souffle de chevre and the seafood - bliss!
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Jeannine
Overall rating 
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Thursday, October 16, 2008
This was our second time here. The food was so basic we could have cooked it at home- not the reason why you eat out eh?! Would you pay a la carte price for the waiter to ask you if you want extra pepper? We were told by the owner it was our fault we thought the food was basic! Customer service?! Get AA Gill in! Enough said.
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Victoria - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Thursday, July 10, 2008
I stumbled upon "The Green Room" online while looking for the telephone number of one of my fiancée’s favourite restaurants; they were closed for refurbishment so I proposed we try The Green Room instead.
Upon our early arrival, we were surprised to find the restaurant empty, well it was only 6:45 on a Friday night. The restaurant decor was modern with a warm and welcoming feel. However, this inviting feeling was also due to the young & trendy owners, Kelly who is bubbly and happy to please and Laurent, who trained in Paris, this shows through his level of service.
Once seated and given our menus, we were happy to see a wonderful selection of food bestowed upon us. My partner and I were salivating while deciding what to choose.
We decided to have the goats cheese soufflé and the tomato risotto (which sounds really boring, but my partner can't eat wheat). As soon as the food arrived and we tasted it we new we hit jackpot. The goats cheese was cooked to perfection with a sweet onion marmalade, which was perfectly put together. As for the risotto, 10 out of 10. Due to my partner’s wheat allergy, she eats a lot of risotto and this is officially the best one she has ever had.
Next came the main course, one fish stew of prawns, cod, mussels, langoustine and seasonal vegetables in its own pastry lid & the rack of lamb with sweet mash gratin dauphinois and spinach. All the fish was fresh with flavours bursting with every mouth full taken. The sauce was slightly creamy which was great for mopping up with the light fluffy pastry lid that it came with.
The rack of lamb was meant to come well done and it did look so, but once it was cut into, it was a bit too pink (that’s because my fiancé is a bit weird and likes it cremated, it looked perfect for me).
We asked the waiter if it could be cooked a little longer and without any hesitation the plate was whisked away and brought back 2 minutes later on a newly dressed plate and this time cooked to her perfection. The meat was tender (even after being cooked the second time round) and flavoursome, the sweet potatoes were magnificent.
We also ordered a side of potatoes and green beans, both of which were perfectly cooked.
By this point we were talking about where to go for my fiancées birthday and we had spoken to one of the owners (Kelly) and she informed us that they have a private function room available and we booked it there and then (for December).
We were not going to have a dessert but because everything else was so good we just had to indulge. 1 vanilla cheesecake with a strawberry coulis and 1 Wild berry compote with a natural yoghurt and home made cookies. This cheese cake ROCKS !!!
The wild berry compote was also very very good but we both decided the cheese cake won hands down. We saw somebody else order the chocolate fondant and that also looked amazing.
The bill came to a total of £90 including 12.5% service charge, this included 2 glasses of a very good Pinot Grigio, a couple of chilled bottles of Budweiser and a bottle of still water.
After being so pleased with our meal we immediately made another 2 reservations over the next month for the both of us.
Kelly & Laurent, thank you so much for making our evening such a wonderful experience and we look forward to coming back soon. I cant wait to go back and try something new, but that’s going to be hard as I know what else I will be missing out on !!
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Billie & Sal
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, May 30, 2008
I spent my birthday there last night and am still recovering from the continuous flow of drinks. We where a group of 14 who dinned in the private area which Kelly laid out beautifully for me, she added flowers, table confetti, they even put on my iPod later on in the evening which filled the room with my own sounds.
The food was delicious, everyone’s food came out together, and they even had a birthday cake with candles for me. Every one of our needs was met, we had the best time. Upstairs the restaurant was packed with diners; this place is a hidden gem.
I cannot recommend it enough, Kelly and Laurent are both lovely and took the time to speak to us, and they gave us a bottle of bubbly as complements for the birthday girl.
I cannot sing this place praises enough and wish them every success and we shall be returning again, one of my guests has already said she wants us to go back for her birthday. All in all a top night out and a memorable birthday.
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Asya De-Brookly
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Wonderful!
The food and atmosphere are amazing
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Gem
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Friday, April 25, 2008
