Inn The Park

I'm thrilled to be able to buck the trend here.

Having read the comments here, I was slightly trepidatious about taking 26 people to Inn The Park last night. All worries were completely unfounded. The service was stellar, we had a section of the terrace to ourselves including a beautiful view, and the £20 a head barbecue menu was decent value (including salads, meat, and pudding).

A very enjoyable evening in what must be one of the prettiest settings in London.
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Jen - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, September 12, 2007

I feel that all the bad comments have already been written before, but why not share my experience?

I think this would not be an awful place, if only they charged half of the price!

I went there for a team lunch with colleagues:

- food was not bad, but steak and coffee came luke warm... definetly not good value for money;

- the view from the inside dining area is great, but the room is quite small and noisy: this area is shared with the cafeteria, plus there was a constant smoke of burnt food coming out of the open plan kitchen;

- my boss was unhappy and decided not to pay for the service: the staff is so careless that nobody asked him why...

So, was it a bad lunch? No. Would I go back and pay £40 for the same experience I could get at cafe' rouge? No!!!!
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Alby - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 1
Friday, August 24, 2007

Location; beautiful, staff; polite and helpful, food; OK, value for money; MY GOD WHAT A RIP OFF. We thought we would make use of our Sunday and visit a restaurant, one of many, that we have promised to visit and some point during our existence: Inn the Park being one of them following the newspaper reviews. The weather could not have been nicer for a Sunday morning breakfast. We ordered the pancakes, toast box and my partner the full English. After kindly being informed that too many people were now in the restaurant we may have to wait a while for our food (.....it really wasn't that packed) our breakfast came about 15 minutes later. I nearly fell off my seat when I see the full English, a measly bit of streky bacon, one small sausage, a hard fried egg (requested soft), a slice of black pussing and ONE mushroom for £10.50. AND it was lukewarm! We had to laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation and the fact we had spent a week looking forward to this atrocity. The toast box consisted of 2 pieces of 'cold' toast sliced in half. The pancakes, in their measgre defence and to dilute my winging, was tasty and I thought £5.50 was reasonbale enough. I think this is a hit and miss with what you get on the menu but the portions are small and please DON NOT ORDER THE FULL ENGLISH - we left their hungry!!!
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Monday, August 06, 2007

There's been a few differing reviews on here about Inn the Park - from terrible to excellent. But the the park is lovely, so we thought we'd try it for ourselves. The setting is really nice but we unfortunately didn't get a table on the terrace (i did request this in my email booking) so we ended up inside, which means you could be anywhere really. It's definitely the main reason to come here - the food is variable and way over priced. I think it relies on tourists as I doubt many londoners would give it a repeat visit especially because for the prices they're charging you could get some excellent food elsewhere. The portions were pretty small, don't come with anything. My waiter didn't recommend sides so I literally had a single fishcake as my main!! The menu is quite limited too. As for service I found although they were pleasant (none of the snobbyness mentioned here), it was slack to say the least. it took an age to get our first drink and even longer for our food order to be taken. In a nutshell, its trying too hard to be something it isn't - charging haute cuisine prices but generally serving standard fare in a sub-standard way.
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katie hart
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Booked the place for lunch on the Saturday - thinking worth giving it a try as at least there are some positive reviews below.

However, the experience is not great. the staff was inattentative. When we asked for recommendation the answer is simply "everything on the menu is good" while looking impatient. We are also surprised but the few choices for lunch and disappointed by the vegetarian dish.

It took them more than half an hour to bring the main course and even longer for the dessert. at the end, the staff couldnt even split the bill for four of us and coldly asked us to do the maths for him.

All in all, good location but bad service and food is definitely not value for money. I dont think I will recommend the Inn to any of my friends. However, the staff at the cafe (for take aways) are very friendly and helpful.
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F Deiranton
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Sunday, July 15, 2007

Having booked this restaurant for dinner with my parents, prior to reading the reviews posted here, I was understandably nervous about what I was letting us all in for.

I needn't have worried. Obviously the fantastic setting on a sunny evening helped enormously, but the food for all four of us was excellent. We gave the menu a thorough going over and there wasn't one duff dish amongst them. Starters of crab on toast, smoked egg and crispy bacon, summer salad were all cleared enthusiastically, as were mains. There was a new section of steaks on the menu that I hadn't been made aware of on the website and they, again were all very good idea.

If I have one minor criticism it was that the service did slow down a little, and plates were not cleared as quickly as I would have expected, but apart from that, it was delightful. A really lovely location for anybody wanting to eat alfresco but with the added bonus of a covered roof just in case our unpredictable "summer" continues.
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CDE - London
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Friday, July 13, 2007

The service is brisk and a little inattentive, but made up for by the food and the location.

At breakfast you have three choices each of various posh bacons, eggs, sausages etc. and they are delicious and very well cooked. The toast, jam and marmalade are particularly good.

Try to get a table outside by the flowers and the trees and you will have a lovely start to your summers day.
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George C
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 7
Sunday, June 03, 2007

The food was very good, it's great when you can eat quality English food. The atmosphere was very romantic, the backdrop of St James' park is a very good attribute. The Service was very slack when we were here. They appeared to be shortstaffed and there were casual Cafe staff acting as waiters.
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Walerón - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Sunday, April 01, 2007

I had the most lovely meal in the most romantic of settings helped by the spring like day. The manager Ian was delightful and attentive although a very busy lunch.

The Calves liver was delicious and my boyfriend's chips were THE BEST. I cant wait to go again in the evening.
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Sally Gaywood
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Friday, February 16, 2007

I had a birthday lunch here last sunday and what a way to see in my thirtieth year. The food was fantastic and the wine plentiful. The staff were really friendly, helpful and patient considering they were rushed off there feet when the weather suddenly brightened up and the place got packed.

I would definitely go back
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Sheriden Jones
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, January 16, 2007