THIS RESTAURANT IS NO LONGER OPENWe have been to Global many many times. By 'we' I mean myself, my boyfriend, my friends, my family... You get the picture - we like it - and as a local option it's always been perfect. Good food, excellent service, relaxed atmosphere, reasonably priced. That is why last night was such a disappointment.
My friend and I always go there, we never even discuss a venue when we are going for dinner and so I arrived and ordered a bottle of pinot grigio from the menu. It was 7.30pm on a Wednesday and only about three tables were taken. I hadn't booked, we never need to which up until now has seemed crazy, given how good it is (was). When Katy arrived the waiter said we could choose our table. He was quite busy being the only member of staff for both the restaurant at the back and bar at the front. Shortly after being seated he brought us the menu and scuttled off. That was the last we saw of him for half an hour. We were so deep in conversation that we hardly noticed it had gone 8 but our stomachs reminded us and we found him and asked if we could order - four dishes from the tapas menu to be precise, advertised as coming with rustic breads. He didn't write anything down and two minutes later he was back - "I have forgotten one..." he admitted.
It didn't take too long for the food to arrive and it was pretty good. Mini risotto cakes filled with mozzarella and sunblushed tomatoes were a lovely consistency, although a little more tomato wouldn't have gone astray. The deep fried calimari was limp and greasy but chicken and chorizo quesadilla were beautiful, with homemade guacamole and 'salsa' (which was actually chopped pepper to all intents and purpose). Moroccan lambcakes have always been one of my favourite dishes at Global and they didn't disappoint this time: the meat was really flavoursome and not all all fatty: the fresh tzatziki is a lovely flavour combination.
I always wonder with tapas, if you put everything you have eaten on one plate, how much of a meal you actually get. We weren't exactly hungry when we finished but we fancied a pudding, and some more wine. The plates sat in front of us for ages... eventually Katy went up to the bar to order. The waiter informed her they had run out of the pinot grigio but recommended a suitable alternative (which, incidentally, was ok but a lot richer) and said he would ask the chef about puddings.
The wine arrived with fresh glasses but no mention of puddings. Another twenty minutes went by and eventually another diner noticed us straining to see the waiter and sent him over.
"Oh sorry I forgot... I'll go and ask now." By this point it was 10pm and we had finished eating a fairly long time ago. He returned, "No we don't have any desserts on tonight I'm afraid but we could do you some ice cream or a liqueur coffee." We politely declined.
Upon regaling the sad tale to my boyfriend later I realised we had never received the rustic breads.
Tapas and half a bottle of wine: £23 per head
Value: 7/10
Service: 4/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Food: 6/10
SCORE: 23/40
Global, 350 Old York Road, Wandsworth Town, London, SW18 1SS. Tel: 020 88705491.
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