Cote Reviews 

New owners killing this brand.
Compared to last 10 years, it’s the pits.
Avoid.
CEO & CMO should be sacked.
All French staff have been removed.
No longer a French-themed restaurant.
Wine list has moronic descriptions.
Food far worse than ever before in 10 yrs
Music tries to be a nightclub - weird.
Please sell to the professionals.
Predict that Cote will go bust like this.
Will never visit again.

Had a family meal for 7 for a birthday at Horsham
We all used to love cote and haven’t been for a while and wished we hadn’t! Waited for drinks for about 20 minutes
Starters were average and for mains what a surprise an undercooked burger pretty much mooing, taken away and replaced with another burger which was burnt on outside and raw inside, two half chickens that was dryer than the desert and got stuck in the throat worrying that someone would need to preform the Heimlich
steak baguette that looked and tasted horrendous and sirloin steak that looked like it had gone 2 rounds with a boxer and lost!! Drinks got forgotten
On the plus side the manager tried to accommodate and was very apologetic as 4 meals weren’t eaten and the manager had them removed from bill and a nice surprise desert for birthday girl and our waiter was a lovely man
What has happened to cote Horsham such a shame

the happiest menu deal... not at first ..after initially been charged the whole amount, when the pay machine was disregarding the vouchers, and after raising the issue it has taken another 10 minutes to sort out the bill. It was impossible to split the bill by 4 people using electronic payment.. so we ended up with paying different amounts.. really a bit embarrassing and not a great customer experience.. cannot blame the staff though.. they were very friendly and made a huge effort. And at the end they did manage to sort out the bill. Nice gesture at the end too, when we received a call,after we left, to remind us that we forgot a hat. Wtrt the meal.. starter, main and dessert....charcuterie platter, steak & frittes and a decent size cheese platter respectively were good value for money for GBP 19. The price for the wine was a bit steep imo.. GBP 27 for 2 glasses.. but that's probably standard these days.. The Ambiente in Cote was, as always, very nice. So overall .. worth giving it a go

Awful loud music. Why can't they put relaxing music. The food was not bad!

We used to love Cote having visited for many years in Clifton Bristol, Deansgate Manchester. It is really sad to see it go downhill and become tacky. The Manchester one closed so we went a couple of times to the one in Liverpool. The restaurant looks dated and the menu has deteriorated, the dishes we enjoyed have gone and staff were pretty indifferent unlike the friendly, professional service we experienced for years in Bristol and Manchester. Cote was one of our favourites but we won't be visiting anymore. Sad as we have many lovely, dining memories at Cote for several years and disappointed to see the decline.

What has happened to the menu, not so much to choose from, Cotes was always my first choice of restaurants, haven’t been back since, so disappointing
Staff still very good

No warning wait times would be an issue on an ordinary Friday evening. Ended up nearly 2 hours after arrival. Order was taken a little slowly but not terrible for a Friday evening, however downhill from there. The drinks arrived after the starters which we thought was odd so kept a record of the timings.
Starter 36mins after booking
Drinks 42 mins after booking
Mains 1hour 46mins after booking.
Only offer of a refund was the service charge.

visited the Marlow branch with a friend as we have before (Jan 15th 2026). Felt ignored. Enough staff but sat with empty starter plates for around 20 mins. Wasn’t overly busy. 3 indifferent serving staff and uninterested manager (lady).
Had to ask for mains, then when it turned up, got regular fries instead of the truffle/parmesan chunky chips. Again asked for them, had nearly finished steak before they arrived. Steak chewy and not nice but was hungry after the long wait, so ate it. Short waiter couldn’t understand me and was a little abrupt. Tall waiter ignored us and was indifferent. Young ish manager seemed to have little interest in our lack of good service! Instead of resolving the situation and taking off the service charge or removing the drinks as a gesture of goodwill, when I told her me and my friend had 60 years of customer service between us and this had been the worst, she apologised lamely yet did nothing to pacify us. I said I’m going to be honest I won’t be giving CÔTE a good review and would be writing in. She said “well it will come to me anyway” as in she had control over who saw it. Going to a nearby shop they casually asked been anywhere nice? We said CÔTE and without saying anything else someone started bad mouthing it saying it has gone downhill and out of ten people five had got food poisoning at the Windsor branch. Will not be recommending or returning. Terrible food and service. Shame as it used to be good.. sent an email same day heard nothing. Poor customer service… they’re not bothered.. plenty more (and better) places to eat.. shall not be returning. Ever.

Regards

Sam Champ

I used to love this chain, it was reliable, delicious French brasserie food. Now it’s awful…frozen chips, sinewy steak…horrible frozen veggies. Why oh why?????

I went here for a meal and drinks, however when the bill came I went to pay with cash only to be told that they only take card. I was furious to say the least cash is a legal tender, for this reason I will never visit Cote again.

Message to a friend about Côte: it was the best High Street brasserie for years. In England, and by a decent margin. It gave a good name to chains. Their chips were really chips. Suddenly they no longer are. A bit of skin left at the tip of a supermarket chip doesn’t make it into an acceptable one.

I ate at the Côte in Marylebone recently. I was very disappointed with my roast chicken salad as it was actually cold shredded chicken salad. When I pointed this out to the server she replied that the salad was made with the roast chicken. Then I noticed that on Côte's online menu the salad is indeed listed as shredded chicken salad. I emailed Côte to point out the error between their printed and online menu only to receive a delayed response, which was basically, "oh well, hope to see you again." - No thanks, I'm not having cold chicken salad during winter.

We used to love Cote. Consistently high quality food.

Since the acquisition in October 2025, the menu is tiny and bland and the food quality is appalling.

Just one example - my son ordered a croque monsieur and it was a damp piece of toast with a small piece of ham and some poorly grated cheese on top.

The Karali Group clearly think they can cut the costs and flip the business, but there won’t be a business left - I’ve been to greasy spoon cafes which do better quality of food than this.

Really upset - Cote was a favourite, but we won’t go there again :(

On 5 January 2026, our party of three registered members visited St Christopher’s Place for the Happiest Menu promo. The waiter arbitrarily restricted us to one set menu per table—despite no such rule in the T&Cs, later confirmed wrong by Côte HQ—forcing us to pay more than entitled.

I posted a factual comment on their Instagram highlighting this service failure. Their “Social Team” unprofessionally deleted it without reply, only engaging after repeated pressure with a generic reply, avoiding real accountability.

Key Failures
• Discriminatory restriction unfairly targeted our group, unlike others.
• Instagram manager’s censorship and evasive replies escalated a fixable issue into brand-wide distrust.

Will never return—untrained staff and poor social media practices make this chain unreliable.

Poor service. Côte Dorchester. Delivered side after meal finished despite asking twice where it was. Little concern when replied to manager about our experience. Finally charged for it! Another search for a staff member to adjust bill. Found staff generally unfriendly and unhelpful. Won’t be repeating experience. Expensive mistake in choosing to go, despite offers.

We had a lovely staff member. Good food. When we arrived I checked we could have the happy menu at £15 for 2 courses with staff.
Yes she said and checked my app. All good so far
and the Happy menu was what we chose. Four of us.
However when they bill came we had to pay with a card on our phone!! Not a credit card.
We don’t have a card on our phone. Age 70s and 80 s
Result we had to pay full price. TOTALLY CHEATED.
Cote did get in touch and told us you can pay by credit card as long as you have the app so it appears staff at Chiswick did not know this and charged us full price. We are being refunded the overcharge which is welcome.

Excellent service - varied menu - value for money at the Oxford restaurant. The staff were especially attentive and ensured we were served in time for a theatre engagement post meal. It has been a while since we have eaten there and will definitely be going back. Very good offers on at the moment too for January. Sincere thanks to the Oxford team.

New menu is sadly disappointing with several old favourites no longer available. Food is still good but now limited. Cote is more interested in the profit than the food and service.

I was treated to a meal and was looking forward to it. I have been a loyal Cote client for over a decade. I was shocked that the level of service was nonexistent. The server served the plate hanging half on the table and half on the edge. A big no-no, as I almost tipped the plate over. The hamburger was verging on undercooked. Never offered any condiments, took ages to clear the table, and we juggled with the space. I asked for a green side salad, and they said no green salad. For dessert, I ordered "tarte au citron", but it came caramelised on the top, and I thought it was crème brûlée with a caramelised topping. I asked for a spoon, and I was handed it without a serviette - slack. After talking to the server, it was explained that he also did not like what they do with it! It was all amateurish - something I saw many decades ago in Eastern Europe, but today London is below the level, and Eastern Europe is way better !! I would not recommend this chain anymore. High prices and poor service level.

Lovely food and exceptional service. Thank you!