The Association - Brent

Was attending a match at Wembley Stadium and decided to eat here. The food was very nice and as it...

I visited this restaurant with my partner after watching an American Football game at Wembley Stadium which is only 100m away. What a haven of tranquility! One can sit in front of the floor to ceiling windows and enjoy a splendid view of the stadium. On match days there is a limited fixed price menu £30/2courses or £35/3 courses which is more than adequate. There is also a decent if slightly expensive wine list. Service was very good and attentive. It was efficient without being overly fussy.We both had the duck liver pate to start. This was a good sized portion served with well prepared brioche and a sweet chutney. We both enjoyed this but why sprinkle the pate with salt which we both just scrapped off? . My partner had chicken which see liked very much. Good garlic flavour well balanced with herbs. I had the sea bass which was properly cooked and delicious.Neither of us had room for dessert but we did have coffee which was very good. We regularly come to this restaurant after events at Wembley and have not been disappointed.

My husband booked lunch here as a treat whilst we were in Wembley for an event.The table was booked for 2pm, and we arrived 5 minutes early for our booking. The restaurant was completely empty with no members of staff in sight. We sat outside and waited, aware that we were early and they probably weren 't ready yet. It got to about 2.10pm and we could see waiting staff putting candle holders on the tables, however they all deliberately avoided eye contact and still we waited. Eventually, at 2.15pm someone saw us stood waiting by the entrance and asked about our booking and took us to our table.The food was enjoyable and I cannot fault anything we were served. However, throughout the whole meal the service was lacking. There were only about 4 tables in the whole restaurant which were taken, so I would hate to see how they cope when they are busy.My husband 's side plate and roll that he was half way through eating were taken away from him when his starter arrived.I ordered soup to start. When it was set in front of me, the Waiter said he would bring me a soup spoon. I waited and waited, but it didn 't arrive. He obviously forgot and as he had disappeared out of sight, there was no way of asking again. Eventually, rather than having cold soup, I used my desert spoon.When it came to the bill, after another long wait to catch someone 's eye and request it, it came with a 'discretionary ' 10% service charge on. Having had such poor service, my husband and I had no intention of paying this charge and, as it was clearly marked as discretionary, we paid just over the billed amount for our food and drinks.We gave the payment to a waitress on the way out and she called us back to say that we hadn 't paid enough. When we explained that we didn 't feel the service warranted a tip and we had elected not to pay the service charge, she then said she had to call a manager over.This was all very embarrassing as again, we were quizzed on why we weren 't paying the full amount. After giving our feedback the manager agreed to re do the bill less the service charge.If a service charge is discretionary and therefore not mandatory, why are you made to feel like you are doing something wrong by not paying it and have to explain yourselves not once, but twice?Despite the nice food, this treatment left a bitter taste!

Stayed at the hotel and ate in the restaurant. We ordered steaks which were well cooked and nicely presented.Service was friendly and attentive and the meal was good value for the amount and quality. Nothing to fault.

Ok, so it's the Rugby World Cup and everybody inflates their prices. However I think the Association Restaurant at the Hilton took things a little too far.Starting with the positives, this is a great hotel product, living up to the expected Hilton brand standards. I have eaten there before and it has been good.The food itself was extremely good, a great selection and quality.The service or rather, the lack of, let the restaurant down. What made it worse was the fact that is was a buffet so there was far less to do than in the usual dining circumstances. It took a long time to get drinks ordered, but the worst thing by far was having to wait 30 minutes for the bill! The staff seemed oblivious to the fact that there was a rugby match about to start just next door and in the end our group had to give the impression to leave the restaurant in order for some attention and bill settlement.Finally, the pricing was quite absurd. £65 a head excluding drinks for a buffet! No wonder the restaurant was about a quarter full. When I booked the restaurant several months before, I was told that they didn't know what the format would be and likely to be a buffet at about £35 to £40 a head. They lied, although I know that I should have re checked before heading there on the day, That will teach me to take the hotel's word for it.The hotel let itself down in doing this. It is a great product, but could not be bothered either to employ more staff or to invest in more/better training. As for the price, that is just down to pure greed.We will probably select another restaurant before our next match there. Shame.