Ronnie Scott's

i took my boyfriend to ronnies for his birthday meal and we had a very enjoyable time. the food was lovely. the best steak we have eaten (although very small portions for the price). our waiter was friendly,polite and helpful. he even bought out a surprise desert with a candle for my boyf. the main act and supporting acts were fantastic. and we were seated at a nice table with no one to close to us. only drawback is it got very empty in there very early. ok, it was a thursday night but it was pretty empty by 10.30pm.

Ronnies is fairly expensive but i would recommend a visit.

Tuesday 27th June and I'm back at Ronnie Scott's for the first time under the new dispensation. Membership has skyrocketed as have the entry fees - L25 for a standard week-day night and the promise that it could double for the top acts. Worse still, you have to cast-iron book with credit-card details in advance. I guess this is fair-dos as you don't want empty tables from people who just don't turn up, but it does prevent those old late night spontaneous visits. But the inflexibility goes further than that. To guarantee getting food you have to pre-book for a two course set menu which pretty much doubles your spend. No more cheap[--]- chilli (soaked up alcohol, kept you going till 3 am, job done!) but one of those trendy gastro-pub menus. Still, there are some upsides - the main act now gets one set startng at 9:45. This makes it a lot more feasible to go to Ronnies on a school night and not feel like you've missed out on half the fun by leaving for the last train home.

On the whole, the club looks good. Same old dim lighting, same old black and white photos of jazz greats on the walls. Pretty much the same configuration of tables except the bar has been moved from the left-hand side as you enter to the the back wall opposite the stage. And this is where you start to notice the Little Differences. 'Coz the bar isn't like a pub-bar anymore with waitresses in jeans and t-shirts pulling pints. It's like a bar in a Four Seasons hotel - all dark wood veneers and brushed steel. And then you realise that the staff are all in proper outfits and they don't look like they know who Stan Getz is. You could always get cocktails on the menu but know it looks like they might actually be capable of serving them. The tables don't have those kitsch red-and-white check table-cloths and instead of battered, fringed, table-lamps the new one look distinctly Designed.

We get to our seats are offered a choice of banquette. We can't do the first on account of the fact that it has less legroom than a charter flight. Sally Greene - the new owner - may have upped the seating capacity - but she's clearly counting ona short clientele! Next we order drinks from the all-new menu. It takes the waiter 45 minutes to bring them out and only after prompting. The guys sharing our banquette say the same thing happened to them.

We try to order food but are told that the kitchen is so busy we'll have to wait?! So, despite the overt shameless cash-in they are actually restricting the clientele from spending money by a combination of tardiness and policy! Anyways, after Nik threatens to eat the stage, we get menus and after another half hour wait try to order. Except no-one told us that the weren't serving a la carte - only the set menu! By this course, we'll order anything and do. It comes after another hour-long wait.

Nik's green-lentil soup is bland, stone cold and came without a spoon! His main was also tepid and bland. My leek and mustard crumble on mash was scalding hot (microwave) and tasted of mash but nothing else. The apple tart was okay - very stodgy pastry and a bit odd to have it served with apple sorbet rather than someting with a complementary taste. Needless to say, this whole process took a long, long time. By this point Nik was fuming and the sheer ineptitude of the service was distracting us from the marvellous music. He called the manager out who cancelled the food and drinks bill and sent over two glasses of indifferent champagne. In fairness, she handled the situation well but it doesn't disguise the fact that the food and service were pitiful.

Overall, I'll go to Ronnies if the acts are good but not on a whim as I used to. We'll monitor the situation. But so far it seems that they've turned an authentic jazz club into a sort of five-star hotel bar with above average music, corporate prices and [---] food and service. Hardly a winning combination. However, I put my faith in capitalism and hope that customers will vote with their feet. I know I will.