Dorking Restaurant Review

Jim Thompson Reviews….

Two to Four
2 – 4 West Street,
Dorking,
RH4 1BL

http://www.2to4.co.uk

Date visited: Friday 22nd January 2010.

I was really looking forward to eating at Two to Four as I had never been
and my wife and I hadn’t been out for a meal for several months.

The restaurant certainly looks a smart place to eat although it is all
very pastel brown and low key which is a style I think is rather passé
now.

On arrival I was struck by just how low key the place is overall. The
maître d’ was welcoming and we were promptly shown to our table. However
the remainder of the wait staff were somewhat surly and aloof. I did not
see one smile amongst them for the entire evening. Service generally was
OK but slowed almost to a standstill towards the end of the evening. When
we left at 10.15 we were the only people left!

The menu was not particularly inspiring. Some fairly standard dishes
with a few flourishes but nothing outstanding. Of the 6 starters 4
featured fish. Not great if you’re a veggie or a non-pescatorian.

I’d like to have tried the smoked trout risotto. I asked if the trout was
served warm or cold. Cold I was informed. It was a chilly evening and I
wanted hot food so I opted for was a spaghetini with courgette and cherry
tomatoes which was delicious. However my wife went for the risotto and the
tout was in fact served hot. Nil points for accuracy there!

For the main course all four of our party chose steak. 3 rib eyes and one
fillet. My ribeye was cooked pretty well (medium), seasoning was average,
however my friend asked for medium rare and got blue. He ended up with a
plate of blood. Not nice to eat or look at really.

My biggest disappointment was the veg served with the steak. Now the size
of the steaks was great; reasonably substantial and certainly supported
the £18 price. However the so called “chunky chips” did not. To pay £18
for a dish and receive what can only be described as generic pub chips was
a let down. At that price and in that standard of restaurant I would
expect at the very least hand cut chips. Poor show!

The béarnaise sauce was bland but heavy on the tarragon. Combined with
uninspiring leaves and the unsatisfactory chips, for the first time ever I
could not and did not want to finish my meal. There was not enough flavour
there.

We ordered a £25 bottle of Shiraz which was delightfully peppery and would
have complimented the steak well if not for its shortcomings.

Desert almost made up for it. A delicious light plum and almond tart with
heavenly (although undersized) honeycomb ice-cream.

Overall price for the meal for four? a not insubstantial £180 including
service for the four of us.

In their defense Two to Four do have Table d’Hote menus which are more
reasonably priced.

However it is inexcusable that a restaurant of this stature should serve
oven chips with its meals.

Overall I’d mark the experience as 3/5. In the Dorking area there aren’t
that many top class places to eat and for me Two to Four need to up the
ante if they’re going to compete with the big boys. Other places locally
that surpass this place are the William Bray at Shere (superb), Neal’s
Restaurant at Rowhook (equally wonderful) and the Wooton Hatch – purely
because of value for money it beats Two to Four hands down.