Toulouse Lautrec

A quirky place in an unexpected located. The ground floor restaurant is complemented by a piano bar and music room on the upper floors. The food is generally good if a touch on the high-priced side. Wines start at £35.

Wonderful little french place in the heart of kennington / edge of Elephant. It's family owned and run by 2 brothers who have somehow kept it going over the pandemic -thankfully - and for many years before.It has a classic menus and is also open for brunch. The French toast brioche is wonderful as are the small bites. They have lots of steak on the menu cooked in a variety of ways - never had it myself (not halal). There is plenty of fish on offer, well cooked and good value.What is quite different is the jazz club (bites etc on the 2nd floor) and piano bar (main restaurant). They have live music in the evenings with a different act on most nights (for a surcharge of £5 or £7 (weekends)).They have a full bar - biensûr! - but they also do mocktails ....a little limited but they will make one up if you have any ideas!!Def worth a visit!

***edit***We went back tonight and it is cost that the bad experience below was a mere blip. All tonight was fantastic and many thanks to Nolan and Team for recognising the issues and rectifying them quickly. Welcome back to our local favourites list!***precious outdated review***I don’t leave negative reviews lightly for independent local businesses, but this place really let me down tonight. We have eaten here dozens of times, and I used to class it as a real local gem - in fact I brought my extended family here on Christmas Day and spent over £1,000 in the restaurant, so I know this place well.However, tonight we felt embarrassed to have recommended it to friends. The front of house team were maybe overstretched, but the service has hugely gone down hill. No warmth, hospitality, or sense of service. We were constantly left feeling we weren’t looked after and it impacted our evening at every touch point. Some examples:-We were left without menus for 10 minutes when we were seated. There was no sense of urgency thereafter to make up for the mistake.- nobody checked if we wanted drinks when glasses were empty- when we did ask for a second bottle of wine (after waiting for the server to acknowledge us) we waited far too long for it to be delivered, because he was playing with the iPad system to put it through (he easily could have done after serving us)- after the live music ended the server disappeared and the dining room got very cold and the room filled with the smell of cigarette smoke (It later transpired the door to a terrace had been opened and I presume the waiter was out there smoking)- we had to flag down a different server from downstairs to ask for the bill and when we asked to reduce the service charge from £26 (table of 4) to £10 in view of the various issues, it took 10 minutes to get a revised bill - we expressed our dissatisfaction at having to wait even longer and we were dismissed (apparently the new integrated billing system couldn’t be overwritten at the table so we had to be further inconvenienced).- finally, we noticed on the bill that they add the service charge to the £7 performance fee now, not only to the food and drink, which makes absolutely no sense and inflates what is already a generous service charge percentage.Please bring back some of the old front of house team, or at least some of the warmth that used to make this a home from home for us.

We had a fantastic date night in the piano room. We had one bottle of wine, 2 x starters, 2 x mains, and 2 x desserts - the bill came to £144 with the music and service charges included. I thought the food was delicious, but found the portions were on the smaller side. The singers were amazing, we really enjoyed the music and the mood of the place. Lots of positive vibes and great service. Would happily go back.

There's no faulting the service and atmosphere at this genuinely charming restaurant, bar and jazz venue. You can tell it's a true home for regular patrons and I can see why with its focus on real musical talent and great atmosphere. The house wine was very drinkable and there's no doubt they care about customer service and the food they serve. Perhaps it's unfair but we had the impression the menu hadn't changed for some time, though of course there will be seasonal variations and my asparagus was nicely cooked. Generally though, the food didn't live up to our expectations. The prawn starter was served in a somewhat chewy vol-au-vent. That's the most middle class thing I've ever written. The smoked cod was nicely cooked but not as light and tasty as we'd hoped. The cassoulet was good traditional fayre but is that worth £16 in 2019? The fatty cuts of meat in a bowl of soupy haricot beans didn't convince me it was. French cooking is really struggling in a city filled with more diverse, flavoursome options. In all, the bill came to more than £80 which we didn't begrudge but it felt £20 more than we would have paid. We skipped dessert and left a little disappointed.

I drive down past this place quite often and thought ooh a Jazz bar/French restaurant" interesting combination. Went for an anniversary dinner. Very welcoming host

Amazing venue with superb live music! There is a restaurant on the ground floor, a piano bar/restaurant on the 1st floor and and a jazz club on the top floor. Get your tickets early as events get full quickly. The jazz club was superb, great sound, very relaxed atmosphere and lots of drinks and food on offer. Would definitely frequent it going forward!

My husband and I had our anniversary dinner at the piano room. Very cosy ambience and talented jazz singer. There wasn’t a lot of space though, but this was a minor issue.We loved the food. The starters were superb. The asparagus dish with poached egg had such fresh ingredients. The croquettes were very tasty as well.The mains were delicious, especially the Guinea fowl. The cream sauce was amazing. The duck confit burger was good too.Serving sizes were just right. Service was good, although there weren’t a lot of waiters to serve all the the tables. Nevertheless, we’ll come back to try other dishes as we love Toulouse Lautrec’s take on French food.

Went to see our friend who was starring in Neil & Teddy's Christmas Hamper Festive Cabaret on the 10th December 2023. Cosy place but cannot comment on the food as we just had drinks which I thought were a bit on the pricey side but we were there for the cabaret which was excellent. Would certainly go again."

Had dinner at the ground dining floor so can't comment on the live music. Food was decent and service was friendly. One of the only nice sit down meals in the area but slightly overpriced for what it is. Great for locals who want French bistro fare in Elephant & Castle.