Spruce on Wellington - London

The Spruce is such a change from Wiilies Cafe - had gone to this Cafe on many occasions. The new look is very clean and nouveau, although for the first few minutes, it felt very chilly due to the air conditioning, but once the meal arrived, the chill was minimized.The restaurant has a very intimate feel due to the few tables, which we found wonderful. As with all restaurants that we have had the pleasure of dining at, the noise level was a tad on the loud side....we have noticed the newer and some of the newly renovated restaurants, leave walls, floors etc., bare without anything to dull the sound somewhat. The Spruce has at least put up heavier fabric curtains which brought the din down a couple of notches. We still were able to have a decent conversation, which was nice.My spouse and I had the full course - appetizer, entree and dessert. I chose the Londonlicious menu - a wonderfully plated gazpacho, Baramundi that was nicely crusted, placed on a tomato purée, 'pearls' with a tomato salsa, then a creamy smooth vanilla gelato. My spouse enjoyed a Scallop appetizer served with wild mushrooms and a delicious sauce, Muscovy Duck plated two ways, then shared the gelato with me. We each had glasses of wine...my first glass was a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand (slightly fruity and clear), then we had a Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia- both wines were a compliment to the meals. I finished the meal with a fairly strong coffee, nice.We will definitely be back. Thank you Chef Waite, your partners and very professional staff, for a wonderful evening.

Finally made it to Spruce on Wellington last night after hearing people rave about it for months... and what a great experience. The food was fantastic, good wines to choose from, and the service was helpful, friendly and professional. Will definitely be back!

The Spruce on Wellington is off to an excellent start. Having said that, they do need to tweak and refine a few things.The menu is interesting and inviting. The wine selection is decent. The food was excellent, and the service was good.We enjoyed the seared scallops, foie terrine, beef tar tar, beef tenderloin, and the duck.We look forward to returning soon.

We have now been to the Spruce on about five occasions including lunch and dinner. Such a wonderful restaurant. This used to be Willie's Cafe, a London lunch institution. The new owner and chef (always the best combination), is slowly upscaling the restaurant in decor and offering a small but superb menu. He tries to change the menu has the local food changes, so you are guaranteed a revamp of the menu as the seasons change. Everything on the menu is good. Service is superb and all the staff are friendly. Because of hard surfaces in the restaurant, as the restaurant fills, it can become noisy. This seems to be true of all the better restaurants in town (Abruzzi, Wolfe of Wortley, etc). You must try the White Gazpacho! It is f-ing awesome! When the Spruce first opened, they were a little slow. We despaired that they would close before the word got out. We were there last night, and the place was full. We are very pleased for the owner and staff and wish them many years of success.

We were a table of 7 and there was a table of 8 as well and all other tables occupied ( at lunch). It was so noisy that we could not even hear the person sitting across from us- not a good experience for one of our group that is 90+. Please buy some baffles and try to correct this problem.The food was hit and miss. (Londonlicious meals tend to be poor- we should have taken that into account). The soups were absolutely amazing- especially the cucumber gazpacho. The beet salad was really nothing but a pile of greens with 4 or 5 pieces of beet, no feta and not enough dressing, The omelettes were the strangest that we have ever seen- flat, cheeseless with mushrooms simply tossed in after the omelette was cooked, If this is the "modern" way- it was disappointing. The burgers were on the dry side. The women who ordered them were not impressed, (But to the defense of the restaurant- who orders a burger in a "fine" dining establishment. Take them off the menu.) We ordered two desserts to share ( there were only two choices and they were excellent. The decor is confusing. I know that Waite's father crafted the "spruce" tables but really they do not belong in place that is markets itself as "modern". Whatever happened to tablecloths and linen napkins? Our table service and staff was efficient (we were there early) but the table of waited forever for their food,