Poor-value food is biggest complaint from City diners

Overpriced food and poor service remain the chief complaints from London restaurant customers, according to the latest survey from Square Meal magazine, which reviews restaurants in the City of London.

The survey, which analysed responses from 6,000 diners, found that 17% put poor value as their top complaint, while 16.2% chose poor service.

Other bugbears were poor food (8.1%), slow service (7.9%) and rude or snooty staff (6.9%). Other regular moans included overpriced wine (4.2%), mean portions (3%) and close-set or cramped tables (4.5%).

Nearly 6% said their biggest complaint was that menus were limited and too short, while 2.9% said it was the difficulty of booking a table that upset them most.

The statistics showed that, since the same survey last year, overpriced food has overtaken poor service as the most common gripe. Total service-related complaints have dropped by almost 10% to 32% of the total.

One thing that didn't change was the number of readers grumbling about their surroundings: 20% of comments referred to shortcomings in the decor of restaurants, the same figure as last year.

Square Meal said that the respondents to the survey were mainly professionals who ate out both for business and pleasure at lunch and dinner. Some ate out as much as eight times a week, which made them among the capital's most frequent diners.