Cote Opiniones 

Basically just bring back the old menu!
Always look forward to lunch at Cote but went recently with a friend and it was terrible! The new style half chicken was awful, I can only describe the skin as flacid and greasy and the chicken was tasteless and dry.
The new menu was confusing, there was no fish to speak of, all their lovely little French dishes were gone and were replaced with Pasta!
There are so few French restaurants on the high street, so why introduce this when you can get Italian Pasta anywhere?
Cote is normally our go to restaurant, the food is always just right and is good value. The service is also first class at Bury St Edmunds as it was that day but I feel sorry for the staff dealing with all their grumpy customers at the moment.
We won’t be coming back until things change!

Wow ! What and who has happened to Cote??!! Once a classy French style restaurant serving classic dishes well made and good value for money now a menu half the size, prices hiked, bottomless fries (oven chips - very classy!) and £22 for dry tasteless chicken and chips served with no garnish - Sadly nandoes does chicken better !! This is not Cote - even the waiting staff were embarrassed to serve us . Hopefully Cote will take all these reviews of the dreadful new menu and make changes quickly before they lose their loyal customers . Feels like budget cafe food with inflated prices lol going off their name :( Just cancelled our Xmas meal here this year …

Delightful staff and service as always in our local, Blackheath SE London Côte, BUT…

… a new high in the “We’re right, you’re wrong ..” style of online marketing? We’ve loved our local Côte, and liked the email newsletters (especially as they often offer free drinks!) but their recent weeks’ style has been weirdly apologetic with phrases like “ we’d lost our way “ to justify a new menu. Implying we (the customers) were mugs for previously putting up with great, authentic but now abandoned dishes like Breton Fish Stew and Poulet Grille? And that the (new?) Executive Chef has swooped in to save us with new alternatives like bottomless chips, Pasta and Burgers!

But today’s email disses the dissenters even more harshly, dictating that;
“ Our new French Roast Chicken is here...and it’s cluckin’ good.
We know you’ve been missing your Poulet Breton and old favourite Poulet Grillé. We’ve heard every “bring it back!” and every wistful sigh.
But our Executive Chef Steve is confident that our new French Roast Chicken is even better…”

So there. All you whingeing customers are wrong. We, or rather “Steve” is right!

Ok, yes, the new chicken is terrific. And so generous that I had to doggy bag a quarter home. No way could I cope with more chips? Although I guess if I wanted to be a cynical cheapskate, we could split a Demi Poulet and a mountain of Frites between two? Which would make up for them dropping our favourite House Wine from Languedoc so now we pay almost a fiver more for booze?

But no matter; we won’t cluck off, we’ll still visit weekly, and receive the same brilliant service from Kornelia, Chiara, Adrian, Naseem, Paul and all their wonderful waiters, commis and kitchen magicians at Côte Blackheath

Going to Cote St Martins Lane used to be such a treat. Tonight the food was terrible and overpriced. Tomato and basil salad used poorest produce, arrived crudely chopped, not sliced, without a drop of decent olive oil and about half a shredded basil leaf. Steak frites came tepid and ungarnished, creme brulee was cold! Won't be going to a Cote again.

The menu has changed and is now limited and boring. Tuna was overcooked and tough, couldn’t eat it. I have eaten at Cotes for years and always enjoyed a variety of dishes now removed from the menu; the new menu is so disappointing and expensive.

I have no idea what is going on with Côte but the chain has clearly plummeted in quality in the last two months. Having been a regular at Côte since it opened, I booked to take some clients out for dinner thinking that Côte is always reliable in quality of food and atmosphere. I couldn’t have been more wrong! It was like walking into a cheap pub, tables weren’t set and were chipped, forks bent and it was quite frankly embarrassing with my customers. The previously varied menu with lovely dishes has disappointingly been replaced with a dire, basic fast food type menu. I was concerned it was just our local restaurant that was the problem but, from reading other reviews, I can see this is happening across the chain. I can’t understand what has possibly prompted this and it surely can’t have been thought through by management? I was sincerely shocked that this seems to be a concious decision from the top. Côte need to urgently reconsider as they will definitely be losing their long time, loyal customer base with this change. I won’t be returning as the experience would have been better down the pub and I would have paid much less too.

I was so looking forward to going to Cote today. I have been a loyal customer for many years. My proud boast has been, there are always so many dishes I could choose from a Cote menu, compared to any other restaurants. It has been the number one place for me to meet with friends in different branches. and the quality of the food and service has been excellent.
NOT ANY MORE!!! I had not read any of the other reviews on this site, now I have, I am in total agreement.
The new menu is a disaster. For starters, the way it is set out is really confusing. It is totally unappetising and over priced. The only thing I felt I could order was the Tuna Nicoise salad. The tuna was ok but there was a great pile of lettuce, a couple of anchovies, tomatoes, two olives and a boiled egg. Just not what I am used to. As for the chips, as opposed to frites, the last thing I would have wanted was to have an endless supply.
I didn't like the choice of desserts so finished with coffee which was the best part of the meal.
There were three of us having lunch today. We all agreed, we will no longer be going to Cote in the future unless the old menu is restored and the quality of the food improved.
It seems to me, the way Cote is going, unless it gets it's act together, it will not survive for much longer, which is such a shame.
I have another reservation for Sloane Square in December which I am going to cancel.

The Cote vibe has well and truly gone, replaced with a pitifully small menu, all the favourites have disappeared ,and please never use the word slathered on a menu.
Maybe the owners are looking for a different clientele, but you can’t fob off regulars with this inferior offering. Tragic, as we were very regular visitors to the Barbican Cote, not any more . Staff still as friendly as ever.

I’m French, and Côte Brasserie used to be one of our favourite places for a relaxed, authentic taste of home here in the UK. We’ve visited countless times over the years. The menu once captured real French flavours — the Duck Confit, slow-cooked and meltingly tender with green lentils and red-wine jus, was always perfect. The charcuterie board came with beautifully cured alpine salumi, cornichons, and rustic bread; the Poulet Breton was comforting and full of flavour. And where are the crisp French fries and those lovely sides?
We tried the new menu on 1 October: the crab mayonnaise was good, and my husband’s pasta ragù was fine, but my seafood pasta was disappointing — bland defrosted prawns, mussels with a strong smell, plain spaghetti, and no parmesan offered.
Most of the French staples have vanished, and what’s left feels cost-cut and generic. Please bring back the signature dishes and the focus on flavour that once made Côte so special.

Used to be our favourite restaurant but new menu, obviously written by an accountant and not a chef, is awful.
No more cassis for Kir or Kir Royale
No more Muscadet, my favourite wine, and no other dry white to replace it.
No French fries, just awful thick cut chips
Confusing menu possibly to disguise the meagre week day only set menu. If you have dietary requirements even more abysmal.
The saving grace is the lovely restaurant and superb staff who are taking all the flack for the corporate changes.

This restaurant chain used to be brilliant, but something has changed and what used to be a pleasurable experience is no more.
I observed that the menu had changed but was given a snippy reply by our server, "No its not, its the same menu but in a different order". But there are changes, particularly the prices. £6 for dessert spoon size portion of spinach is indicative of their excessive financial greed. After 15 years of regular visits, time for a change.

O stars sadly
Since your re-organisation, Cote has sadly removed all of what was a previously great menu, the quality and choice of food has now demised. We have been going to Cote for years because we could rely on a quality standard and a nice range of French themed food. Now you have cut corners, reduced the menu range, offered poor, grizzly cuts of unappealing steak, what seemed like oven chips, minute portions of side vegetables, small range of very standard wines. We can only concur with all the recent reviews of Cote, its so sad as we have been regular customers for years but will not be returning. Your attempts to save money by trimming the menu, using cheaper alternatives has very quickly killed a good reliable brand, so sad. Will be interesting to see to see now what happens to Cote in the coming months.
Sadly I do not think this once great chain will be seen much longer on the high street. Cote take note from your paying customers.

Cote has "lost the plot" entirely. No longer a special trusted restaurant. The new menus are awful. Have used our local Cote in the City of London for over 10 years. No more I'm sorry to say.

Sorry Cote! What has happened?! Since you have changed management style recently our dining experience was definitely not as good quality as it usually is. Once a go to place for our family to gather and eat unfortunately will no longer be the case. The food we ordered is now very basic and lacking the usual Cote Brasserie fanciness. The frites are now like basic oven chips, my husband's chicken was tough and the burger was still nice but was just like eating a normal fast food burger which would have been much cheaper at the usual fast food burger places. The staff however (at West Bridgford, Nottingham) were still very friendly, polite and provided the usual good service but the food is considerably lacking now. Don't think you will last long unless you can restore back to your old menu and presentation.

Oh dear,not the cote we used to know. Undercooked chips,seafood "linguini " made with the wrong type of pasta and too much chili. The kitchen staff seem to be struggling,the service was not much better

Having been loyal customers of Cote for the last 5 years, the new menu is tasteless, overpriced and in no way French. Sadly we like most others will not be returning which is such a shame as Cote used to be the go to restaurant.

We decided to try your new menu as we love cote. What has happened ??? Let’s start with the fougasse horrendous dry and tasteless bring back the garlic butter and salt. The burger the change in cheese is better but the chips - they aren’t frites they are basically oven chips. Steak frites no option for garlic butter so basically boring. No option for a one portion mouse that my husband loves.
Bring back the garlic butter !
Update :-We were told the restaurant doesn’t have garlic anymore and unable to provide garlic butter and also that the mousse was only available as a share portion so we did ask about both.
Please please change the fougasse ! Have you tried it …….
Unless the menu changes I don’t honestly think we will be back which is sad as we dinning with you for years and always have our pre Christmas and new year meals there.

We visited Côte in Brighton on 9/10/25 and we were very disappointed at the deterioration of the whole experience. We have been there many times in the past and it was always very good. This time, the service was very slow and the food was of a very low standard. Firstly the menu has changed a great deal and there were very little choices. Then I was served a starter I hadn’t ordered and luckily I noticed it didn’t look right before I ate it as it was apparently potted crab and I am allergic to seafood. They returned with the chicken liver parfait that I had ordered which was inedible. It was supposed to come with a fruit chutney (fig) but this was missing. I had to get up and walk over to the bar area to ask for this. When it arrived it was a few sloppy pieces of chunky figs in a tiny dish that were disgusting. The parfait was even worse! It tasted bitter and left an awful taste in my mouth. Maybe it was off! I was unable to eat it. My husband had ordered the potted crab starter (which interestingly didn’t look or smell exactly the same as the first thing they had given me) and he said it was watery and tasteless. It took another half an hour to serve the main courses. Worth noting here that the restaurant was nearly empty. (Clearly this speaks volumes as in the past it had always been packed). The main courses were both poor. I had the roast chicken and pommes frites. My chicken was a bit grey and again, tasteless and the so called “pommes frites” were nothing of the sort. They appeared to be and tasted just like skin on oven chips. They were soggy and again, didn’t taste very nice. My husband ordered the seafood linguine which was very odd looking and quite unappealing. The linguine was more like Asian noodles and was a bit crispy around the edges. There was no sauce, just some muscles and grey-looking prawns. He said it was pretty awful. We had asked for two sides, one of tomato and basil salad and one of spinach, holding the pine nuts. The tomato and basil salad had no basil in it. It was a few pieces of chopped up tomatoes in a small bowl. The cooked spinach was less than a tablespoonful, watery and still had some pine nuts in it. Both starters cost £5.50 each… that’s £11.00 for a chopped tomato and a spoonful of spinach! I had to ask for the basil! We also had to ask for a spoon for my husband to eat the so-called linguine. My husband said it was the worse thing he has eaten in a very long time. We picked at this food and decided to leave. We were not going to chance a desert or coffee. The serving staff were polite and didn’t charge us for my starter but the bill was still £80. Worth noting we didn’t even have any alcoholic drinks, just soft drinks. Not blaming the serving staff but it was not in any way the experience we’re used to at Côte. Unfortunately we will not be frequenting this establishment again. And it looks like many others are also doing the same. What a shame. How the mighty have fallen. Côte…you have some work to do to save yourselves.

Cote Winchester. Lunch . No booking. Superb experience. Warm and friendly staff throughout. Cote Burgers were absolutely delicious and well presented, hot and tasty. The Pistachio Crème brulé was to die for and my son enjoyed his Praline tart. Can't fault a single thing and we are looking forward to going back. Hopefully very soon.

Nothing beats a delicious bowl of French Onion Soup on a rather chilly autumn evening in Cote Reigate….especially, if it’s accompanied with a chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc and followed by hearty Bourguignon!

Had a lovely meal which was enhanced further by service with a smile from ‘Chanice’ our waitress. Nothing was too much for her and that alone would warrant a return.

Parking was a slight issue for us but it was a very busy evening and the atmosphere warm & welcoming. Next time I think I’ll try the ‘Moules Marinière’…as the table next to ours were so full of compliments.