Le Mercury

Wow wow wow. This place in my opinion is perfect. The food is amazing. I had the steamed mussels to start, duck as the main, and sticky toffy pudding for dessert! Everything was outstanding. The atmosphere is also very nice – kinda like a nice café style vibe. On one hand, it’s elegant with candle lit tables and on the other it’s not too pretentious.
My only complaint is that the service felt a bit rushed. The restaurant wasn’t too full and after some deliberating we decided it was because the service was poorly organized. Both waiters/​waitresses were very attentive, but since they didnt seem to have control over one area and both worked the whole floor it meant that we got asked twice about everything and didnt get much breathing space. For example, we asked to have some more time to look at the menu, but someone was there asking for our orders two minutes later. This was my only complaint and the reason why they only received four stars.
However, overall it was a very good experience at a great price and I wouldnt hesitate to come back!

«A beautiful story»???
It has been quite a while since I visited this well known Islington French bistro. I read some reviews that made me uncomfortable but decided to go anyway.
le Mecury is a well known Islington Upper Street establishment. I moved to the area in 2007 and have dined here with friends on many occasions. The restaurant was always busy so after a few years they opened another on Upper Street.
The novelty of Le Mercury was that all the starters, mains and dessert were for a set price for their category. In 2007 the price was £3.45 for a starter and the portion was on the lower side of generous. Now the price has gone up by £1 and the portions are smaller. However this is inflation for you. After all Islington property prices have skyrocketed in that time.
The food in general is good. My terrine was with spicy beetroot relish was nothing novel but tasted good. The salmon with new potatoes was well made. The salmon skin was fried perfectly and was crunchy while the fish was succulent. The crème brule was creamy with a hard sugar coating, as expected, and tasted excellent though maybe a bit smaller than I remembered. My wife also enjoyed her dishes of ravioli for starter, this apparently is the plural and should be raviolo as there was just one piece, and mushroom risotto. However the sticky toffee pudding was not very sticky, maybe best not to have English dishes at a French bistro :-)
The service by the waitress was excellent. Yale, originally from Paris, was attentive and was happy to hear my mumblings about living in the area… Hence the title to my review «a beautiful story» which is to quote her. Of course there was no question in Yale’s comment but I found it amusing that she used that phrase to describe my uninteresting story. The manager could possibly learn a bit more about a friendly demeanour from her.
Is Le Mecury special? It used to be a different place to go in upper Street that was very affordable. Now however it is competing with alot of newer and exotic establishments. The paint and food might be a bit too tired for the younger professionals moving to the area. However I see no reason to disparage this still quaint establishments which is well worth a visit.

Best food in London! Okay maybe French kitchen wise but it’s super good. Nicely priced. Perfect for date night! Also good wines and cocktails. The goat cheese and duck that I had were super! I would definitely go back. Try to make a reservation because it’s always busy.

STARTERS @ £4.45 /​MAINS @ £10.95 /​DESSERTS@ £3.45. Exceptional value for good casual French food!!!
Went for «Soup of the day”“Ravioli”“Beef Carpaccio“from starters twice and «Duck breast“from mains once. I don’t really remember the first time.
But I was disappointed this time. They brought them quickly. But all dishes were served not hot. a bit cold. They must have left them sitting there for a bit even though they were ready to be served. Or did they prepare them beforehand? I wouldn’t want to believe that.
It was Monday evening. Not busy, only 70% full. How could it happen?
Other than that, it was all good! The taste was nice and the portion was good with the amazing price.
I would come again and want to see if they are served cold or not.
But I wouldn’t want to take a risk so perhaps ask them to serve while the food is hot …

MEH. This place is so average, it’s painful.
It’s basic white girl average.
It’s white converse average.
It’s ripped on the knees jeans average.
And I DETEST, above anything, spending money on average food. Give me a four figure Heston bill with no fear, but dont you come at me with your room temperature white and ultra fatty pork and claim it to be French cuisine. Aint nobody got time for that.
And I wont even begin with the service. Im a nice human, seriously, and I hate calling people out on their shit work, but this establishment is famous for underpaying their staff and it shows! THEY ARE TIRED. and grumpy. and so unhelpful. and there were so many people, and it was stuffy and gross…
ugh. Nope, not a fan.

We’ve always loved Le Mercury for its food and value. Located basically in heart of the hipster suburb is a plus with quite some street shops around.
Not exactly easy to get to but it’s just around corner from both Angel and Highbury Islington is always a plus!
First of all, I must say this place is just great value! Where else can you get a proper 3 course French meal for £18−22?! No where! And they are generous portion, full of flavour as well!
Food is just great here, been to both duxumie and this a number of times and never disappoint! Top notch quality, great variety!
I do find their cocktail menu a little lacking but I’m not a big drinker so won’t complain!
Certainly recommend a try, whether it is a fine dine with the love one or a nice evening with some friends!

Le Mercury is a great neighborhood French bistro restaurant offering exceptional value for high quality food. For two people we ordered:
1. 1 glass of Pernod– the always enjoyable French terrace drink (that probably no French folks anywhere near my age drink)
2. Mussels starter– white wine and garlic sauce that we dipped the bread in as well. This is one of the most flavorful mussels dishes we have eaten this year and at less than £6 the best value.
3. Duck breast main– cooked a tad more medium than rare, however sauce was rich and good for winter. Potatoes soaked it up well. Also they switched out cabbage for grilled courgette which was nice.
4. Salad and seafood ravioli as a main (normally a starter) — baby girl got this. Very rich with high quality seafood stuffed inside.
5. Glass of dessert wine– Chilean. Went exceptionally well with the cheese platter. We are actively seeking out this sweet treat to have at home.
6. Cheese platter– they graciously switched out blue for more of the others. The others were Brie and Gruyère, the Brie served with perfectly sweet biscuits and the Gruyère with grapes.
Bees was a little disappointing as it wasn’t French baguette. Overall very happy wit this place. A cozy warm bistro atmosphere of friendly people who were very accommodating. Oh yea and a £35 bill for a lot of food and drinks for two people. C’est la vie.

Heard heaps of good things about this restaurant, and when my friends and I tried it tonight, it doesn’t disappoint! Great food, great service, great ambience, and pretty reasonably priced.
The only down side was that they placed us at a bad spot even though there were many other free tables in better spots.

The food was absolutely amazing. I couldn’t fault anything. The ambience was more romantic as opposed to going out with a friend but we enjoyed it all the same.

One of my all time fav restaurants in London. Fabulous food and fantastic prices. Every time I have been the food has been of top quality. It is a great spot for groups or for a romantic meal for two. My favourites are the goats cheese to start and the lamb or duck for main. They have a great desert and cocktail menu too.
This place is definitely worth a visit you won’t regret it.

I enjoyed visiting Le Mercury, the food was good and reasonably priced and the atmosphere was great. We were a party of 22 and they were able to accommodate us. The service was very good, if a little slow when it came to billing us which then meant the Manager tried to kick us out, saying we were delaying his restaurant when we were all attempting to pay and had been trying to for a good 15 minutes.
I would probably come back here again, just not in such a large party.

A really cute and cosy French restaurant! The food was fair — and the price was reasonable. However, the service was excellent, and there was a great atmosphere in there… which is why I would probably go back and give the food another chance. And also to order something with the garlic potato purée! I totally had food envy when I tried some that my boyfriend had… it was to die for.
Actually…it’s worth visiting just for the garlic potato purée!

Just superb I had the lobster and crayfish ravioli and it was flavourful and rich. The sauce was tasty not too fishy but had a rich creamy taste and the contents of ravioli were cooked to perfection. My girlfriend chèvre chaud. Goats cheese on a bit of bread with a green salad dressing. Everything on that plate complimented each other and tasted sublime!
For main I had the entrecôte cooked medium rare. It was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had so rich and meaty but cooked to perfection. It was served with au jus and a side of french fries. It was a simple dish but tasted amazing.
My girlfriend had the corn fed chicken everything on that was great from the gravy to the beans.
Desert well you guessed it, that was amazing as well. I had the poached pear with vanilla ice cream. Just great. Flavoured with cinnamon and cloves the pear was glazed with a crispy sugar shell. It was a light way to end the meal. My lady had crème brûlée. It was pretty standard. We both agreed my desert was the best.
The wine was great I had the Shiraz and my girlfriend had the Pinot Grigio. Also the espresso Martini was a great way to finish the meal. If you’ve read this far the. Thanks!
All in all it was a great night. Very well priced for the food you were served and the atmosphere was typically french. A great french style meal in the heart of London that won’t break the bank.

Solid 3.75 stars. Food decent, value superb.
Quick mention they didn’t have our reservations down, however on an early Sunday (largely empty) they had no problem seating us right away.
Menu is full of reasonably priced options. We did have to think a bit. Ended up with beef carpaccio (ehh) and poached pear blue cheese and roasted walnut salad (delicious) for appetizers. For the main course we did duck breast (cooked to medium rare with nicely crisped skin, fairly tasty however could have been a little more tender) and chicken breast (was decent though a tad dry). We enjoyed this with the house Chardonnay (middle of the road).
Quick note although the menu says they charge £1 for extra bread, they provided seconds free of charge.
Apple tart tartine with crème fraîche (perfect finish to a very solid dinner). I enjoyed a glass of cognac and left with a smile.
Would go back again. The ravioli (lobster and crawfish) seemed popular and looked good from a distance). Might ask for a window table if available and plan ahead for fri/​sat reservations.

We ate on a winter evening, and this place was dark; I had to use a torch to read the menu! There was a relaxed atmosphere up on the top floor and the service was really friendly, so we were happy to be there.
For starters, I had calamari, delicious. Main course was steak frites, no complaints whatsoever! Dessert, a banoffi pie. A reasonable size, and a third delicious out of three. We had house red wine and it was surprisingly good. I’d almost give this place five stars for a cheap and good French dinner.

I’ve been meaning to review this place for ages, as it’s a regular haunt of mine.
There’s multiple floors so you can usually get a table if you book ahead despite the constant demand. What I love about this place is the consistency in quality, and the lack of artificial light (candles only after a certain time) so it makes for a really cosy atmosphere.
My worst meal here was a Christmas group meal with friends. I hadn’t realised the set menu would be quite so bland, and the toast which accompanied my pâté was cold…
Still, I will definitely continue coming here for meals with my boyfriend, or catch-​up dinners with friends.

Don’t be fooled by the size of the downstairs room– the restaurant runs across several floors and has a lot of space. I came here as part of a party of 10, and we fit in very easily. The restaurant itself is nothing special to look at, but candle lit and simply done out. We each had a three course meal with drinks (wine), which came to only £26 a head, which is very reasonable. The food was served promptly and no-​one had any complaints. My steak was cooked rare to order and was really good. The starter was OK — a bit basic, but others’ looked really good.
Service was friendly and on the whole food and drinks were very good for the price.

Nice service, but poor quality food.
Had calamari and ravioli to start. Then canceled entrée order because the food was a major bummer.
Calamari: VERY rubbery (way beyond the natural chewy texture of squid we all love) and devoid of flavor.
Ravioli: Watery sauce, tough pasta and overall diluted flavor.
Don’t half step. This place is obviously quite popular and was VERY busy when we were there… so don’t let my review dissuade you from trying this place out.

Different and a very simple menu… in a good way.
I adore that there is no electric lights… just candle. Perfect for a date ;-)
Their menu is meant to be to French, though I would actually think it’s more French meets Italian.
Their prices are very reasonable. and their wait staff have a great talent of coming in, serving you and then leaving you to it.
I would recommend Le Mercury for date as a primary! Also for a small good group of friends that was a cozy nice place to have a great meal for a great price.
I wouldn’t go here for big groups or business meetings.

O Le Mercury foi o lugar escolhido para o jantar de Natal com amigas em Londres. Fizemos reserva antes, tudo conforme manda o figurino… e não nos arrependemos! :) O lugar estava até bastante movimentado, com ambiente aconchegante de luz de velas. Eu adorei!
O cardápio para a ceia estava mais ou menos definido — era possível escolher entre três ou quatro opções, que estavam perfeitas para todos os gostos, fossem os frequentadores consumidores de carne ou vegetarianos. E tudo muuuuito gostoso, claro!
O atendimento foi ótimo, todo mundo esbanjava simpatia, coisa que eu considerei extremamente especial por se tratar da noite de véspera de Natal. Tenho certeza que a qualidade deve ser similar nos demais dias do ano, por isso pretendo voltar se tiver a oportunidade. E o preço? Uma belezinha, senhores. :D

I can’t believe how affordable this place is. For a nice restaurant in a somewhat trendy part of town, most of their mains are under 10 pounds. I came here last week to catch up with a friend and was very impressed. The candlelit atmosphere is dim and intimate with very cool décor.
My friend and I decided to split a starter, Ravioli de la Mer, which was a lovely crayfish and lobster ravioli. It’s perfect for one person, but since we split it we basically got a bite each. I decided to order the Magret de Canard (duck breast), which was really good. I loved the garlic mash that came with it! My friend ordered the Selle d’Agneau au Romarin (lamb), which was also fantastic! For dessert, we each got our own. I went with the mascarpone cheesecake and he went with the crème brûlée. They weren’t amazing, but still good nonetheless.
I’d say it’s the perfect date spot without having the break the bank. Great atmosphere and most importantly, great food!

Je me dois d’ecrire cette review en Francais, car tout bon francais qui se respecte, cherche toujours un endroit ou l’on peu retrouver un peu de chez soi. Ce restaurant, est un juste un pur moment de bonheur, pour un prix minime, moule, fois gras, magret, entrecôte… et j’en passé, en effet, a £3 le starter, £6 le plat pricipale et a peine £4 le dessert, a ce prix la autant né pas se priver! Un petit resto a tester en amoureux, ou avec une bonne bande de copains.