Cma By Mateusz Gessler - Warsaw

Avoid. Over priced. Pretending to be top class. New money clientele. Excellent piano player. Otherwise not impressed. The Gessler brand should be a warning not an endorsement

We were looking forward to our visit to this highly rated restaurant. Our daughter had recently eaten at one of Gessler 's other restaurants snd had a fantastic meal. On arrival we were offered a choice of tables, we chose a table by the open kitchen being keen amature cooks ourselves. We noted the extremely laid back atmosphere in the kitchen, but while unusual at that point we were not particularly concerned. Drinks were ordered and arrived promptly with water for the table. Followed promptly by a fantastic bread basket which raised our expectations greatly. This is the point that we began to notice the 'stress ' under which our waiter was working.......bread basket demolished, glasses empty, no food.....my husband proceeded to retrieve our own wine from the ice bucket, which brought our waiter scurrying to our table. The restaurant appear to be trying to provide a silver service experience....but it falls short on many levels. There are not enough staff to provide that level of service and perhaps if it was not expected we would not have been disappointed! The starters finally arrived and were good. The beef tartare was okay...minced, not chopped as good beef tartare should be and the bread: meat ratio was off, but tasty. The veal cheeks were very good and the trout tartare was flavourful, although I thought it was a little salty. We had high hopes for our main course, but we couldn 't have been more disappointed. There were problems with every dish. While my husband 's steak was delicious, although more rare than the medium rare ordered (not a problem to us), his jus had obviously caught in the pan and had a burnt taste. My duck had a lovely crispy skin, but was overcooked. The balance of the dish was terrible....sweet duck meat with sweet apples and an over reduced sauce that you could have eaten with ice cream. Fortunately is was so reduced that it was impossible to pour out of the jug so I was prevented from completely ruining my meal with it! The mashed potato had an alarmingly grey appearance, screaming of peeled potatoes left to the air! The chicken supreme was okay, but very overseasoned even for my Mother who likes her food on tbe salty side. The fries looked fantastic, but were disappointingly soggy and limp. Finally, the worst dish was the pumpkin kopytka with cheese. It was frankly inedible. The kopytka was over worked and overcooked. Tough, rubbery with an unappealing colour, you could have bounced it off the floor. The sauce with the cheese was strangely sweet, flavoured with large pieces of mint....just vile. We all tried the dish and agreed that it tasted terrible. We refused to pay for that dish as it was impossible to eat. We made our waiter aware of our issues and he was very apologetic. We noticed that the waiting staff were becoming increasingly frustrated with the kitchen and words were exchanged, discreetly but obvious to us sitting right by the pass. We began to feel that the attitude in the kitchen was apathy rather than a laid back atmosphere. We gave the kitchen a last chance to impress with dessert. A pretty poor selection....no dessert menu or time to decide....we went for blueberry cheesecake and the chocolate cake that us supposed to be a Gessler signature dish. While nice, we had better cheesecake in Cafe Nero and the chocolate cake was actually a torte, but pleasant with a nice crunch.....not particularly impressive as a signature dish for a supposedly talented chef though. Not a cheap meal either. We could have spent much less and eaten far better. Our daughter left hungry!! Our overall opinion was that it is overrated and trading on a name and the reputation that comes with it. They need to raise their game significantly to meet the expectations created by the marketing!

Excellent quality eating. the service is impeccable. we will certainly be helping for second as it was. they are flexible enough to be able to absorb food allergies and intolerances. good wine selection. dog-friendly and child-friendly, but on a noble art and wise not tasty, we do not care about art and wise.

Kochamy Mateusza Best place

We enjoyed a very tasty lunch. all the dishes we shared were wonderful delicious creations. a comprehensive wine card and bar as well as a great helpful staff. very nice, comfortable atmosphere makes this restaurant a simple choice to dinate.