PJ’s Bar & Grill: Fulham, Friday November 6th, 2009

The best thing about PJ’s is its excellent ambience. It is like the classiest TGI Friday’s you’ve ever set foot in. Now approaching its twentieth year on the Fulham Road, a few friends and I traipsed in through a curtain of rain very wet and hungry. The foyer (if you can call it that) is far too small, and if there’s a group bigger than two arriving, you instantly feel like you’re in the way.

Once we had de-coated and moved to our table (where on a night as foul as this, you tended to get hit with a blast of freezing air every time the door opened), we perused the menu and ordered what turned out to be some pretty okay food. Decent pate to start (I’ve eaten so much in the last year or two that I can’t get excited about it much these days) was followed by the most over-decorated steak I’ve seen. There’s nothing wrong with that – I like my plate to be pretty and vibrant – but I have a feeling it was compensating for an underwhelming and dry piece of meat.

Having put away the onion rings, sauces, chips, mushrooms and other detritus that topped the steak, I was pretty full, but tried to find room for a chocolate fondant. This too was acceptable if not great, so it had some merit. Various other highlights from around the table included some fair lamb chops, a nice piece of chicken and an average cheesecake for dessert.

I came to three conclusions after I had dined at PJ’s, and these are as follows:

1 – The restaurant looks great but would probably be even nicer in good weather

2 – If you’re going to go there, do it to have a few drinks and bar snacks

3 – If you do go there for dinner, do so using a Taste London card

I think my tone might sum this up best: I’m neither exuberant nor vitriolic. PJ’s Bar & Grill is a lovely place, but it hasn’t provoked many reactions from me. If you decide to go, let me know if it hits you any better.

PJ's Bar & Grill