Cote Reviews 

Wokingham cote. We have just eaten here (after many times previous) and whilst the food was good (apart from the rock hard cold cheese and rubber bread, and the fact that they struggled to find the port for the cheese and then said we could have one glass of it then said it’s not available) there was a discrepancy with the final bill between what we were quoted whilst ordering and what we were presented with. After discussing the issue the issue was not with the price ( which was eventually presented to us lower that what we said we were willing to pay) but with the total arrogance and attitude of the manager who was speaking to us, even to the extent that when we had paid and we said that sometimes people make mistakes and that we would have not argued with the situation as a local business, she replied with “never again” meaning do not want to see you here again!
There is more to the story but this is the overall arrogant attitude of the manager from tonight, even to the extent that when we were leaving I asked where were our coats put when they were taken from us and her response was I do not know I did not take them from you!

We booked and we had a reply saying confirm your booking. We arrived and asked is there a valentine’s menu… no.
We saw sharing cote du beouf and asked how much as it didn’t say on the menu. The waiter said £24. We said, per person to which he replied no! We asked again… no
So we chose to order no starter and the beef to share followed by cheese platter. We liked a port too. He came back that they’d ran out of port. The manager came over and said… we have one glass left! Ok we said then they came back and said there’s none left. We ordered two sides to which the waiter claimed you used to get that in the price we said, it’s great value so we don’t mind paying for the extras.
The cheese came and it was stone cold and hard, which I understand is normal these days but the crackers were limited to 4 and black wafer which are not particularly nice. They also gave 4 slices of rubbery bread. We returned it as it just looked unpleasant.
The bill came and we were charged £32.50 each for two courses plus £24 for re beef.
We challenged the bill claiming we were’nt informed about the two course set menu. The manager came over and claimed that it was a communication issue. We stated the waiter was young and attentive and apologetic. The food was lovely but we were disputing the bill as we were told it was £24 and not a two course menu. When the manager said I’d received a text claiming a two course set menu she looked at my messages and agreed I’d not been sent this information. At this point you would've thought being a manager she would have recognised their failings.
She became arrogant in her behaviour and said we won’t see you back here again.
The issue is, we were willing to pay for what we had and quoted for. We offered to pay £85 for the bill instead of £145 but she came back with £76, so we were confused. But again she was rude saying don’t come back,
The waiter was a good lad so we tipped him. We were not after a cheap meal in the slightest but we were upset with her stance and behaviour. Sareena ….at wokingham cote

We have tried to reach out via email but have been left even more disappointed.
The food and waiting for food was terribly disappointing

As a frequent visitor in the past , We will never eat here again!

The food was good but the drama over having to download the app, then being told if we wanted to split the bill by 4 we would have to pay at the checkout and then having to stand at the checkout while it was all done made it feel like we were in a self service restaurant and ruined our experience in the Eton, Windsor restaurant yesterday.

Appalling and unfriendly service, food sub standard, dry and unappetising, plus they overcharged on the bill!
(This was for their Chichester restaurant)
Avoid if you can.

This was a "treat" for me to celebrate a landmark birthday with my son.
I've been a longstanding customer of Cote and have had some fabulous meals in the past. However, this was not one of them for one simple reason - the Starters menu was off-limits to me. I have an allergy (onions/shallots) that can be "challenging" but can usually find at least 2 things that are safe - not at Cote.
Having perused the Allergy Tablet all seemed well at first - but then the breakdown of ingredients showed the presence of shallot or onion in everything, with the possible exception of charcuterie and a beetroot salad. Being a keen cook I was gobsmacked to find shallot in the potted lobster, ditto the pan-fried prawns. In the end I had a Fougasse with garlic butter, not because I wanted it but to keep my son company.

The steak I had to follow was excellent, but the lack of a starter turned what should have been a memorable celebration into a less than special occasion. A great shame.

Do not trust Côte promotion for the saver menu although this finishes end of January. We visited the Clifton Bristol branch after receiving a saver menu promotion £15 for two courses or £19 for three. We also received a promotion for a free glass of Prosecco. We ordered the two courses and showed the waiter the Preseco promo on my phone he did not tell us that we could only have one of the promotions. When I asked for the bill I was shocked not only to see the Preseco on the bill at full amount but also service charge. So the Meal for two we ended up paying £51. Never worth the money and I would suggest if you intend using the promotion always check the small print. To add insult to injury they then offered me a free desert for the future on the app. Really disappointed in this restaurant

After a miserable month of wet weather we went for lunch at Cote at Hays Galleria in London to cheer ourselves up. We booked on the app and had a fabulous 2 course meal for £15 each. The potted crab starter and sea bream main were delicious and better than so many of the top London restaurants I've eaten in. Staff and service were excellent. We've always found this branch of Cote good, along with Brighton and Wimbledon Village.

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 :(