Inn The Park

A friend and I had lunch here yesterday, and it was a thoroughly horrible experience. We arrived 15 minutes early for our table, but were told that wasn't a problem...well they obviously decided they weren't going to serve us until after the time of our booking, as nobody even approached us until 25 minutes after we were seated, and that was only because we called someone over as they passed us...he made the excuse that everyone comes at the same time for lunch...but that's not an excuse in my book...

our food eventually arrived 55 minutes after we were seated...the hand cut chips were cold and the side green salad was less than i'd serve to my 2 year old...

when we finally got someone's attention to get the bill, it came back with 2 wines at a higher price than had been asked for...my friend had ordered 2 rose at £4.75, but we were charged 2 at £5.00...now whilst this might only be a difference of 50p, we'd had such a rotten time that we challenged the waiter...he went away and asked what wine had been served and told us not to worry, we'd had the more expensive wine...we explained that that wasn't the point, we had asked for the cheaper one, so that was what we were going to pay...he then went away telling us NOT TO WASTE HIS TIME! then the bill came back £5 more than when it went to be adjusted by 50p! i now wish we had taken the service charge of the bill...

horrible, horrible restaurant
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3 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 3
Sunday, October 02, 2011

when a restaurant can't cook bacon both sides and the poached eggs sit in a puddle of water you know things are not going to be better...Expensive, vague staff a badly cooked (easiest food to cook) breakfast.
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ruby
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, September 28, 2011

I don't normally write reviews but having eaten in many fine establishments i feel a sense of duty to warn people about this establishment. I can honestly say i have never eaten in a worse place. Its a fantastic location, service is mediocre but not particularly bad and atmosphere is fine although somewhat sterile. However, the point of this review is to point out how utterly awful the food is. My lunch companion compared the food to school dinners, and to be fair to dinner ladies across the land, i feel its an unfair comparison to the 1000s who feed our children with a limited budget each day. The slow cooked lamb was so fatty that there was hardly any meat and was tasteless. The purple sprouting broccoli wasn't purple and extremely "al dente". My colleagues Rib Eye Steak was very chewy that he struggled to cut through it, the plate was swimming in grease and the sliced new potatoes appeared to have been overcooked (re-heated), burnt and again, seemed extremely greasy.

Absolutely awful.
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2 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, September 14, 2011

This restaurant is one I have been meaning to visit on a number of occasions a friend had previously recommended it to me.

This time I came with two other friends who equally had not been before and from their comments they enjoyed it as much as I did

The first thing you notice is the setting, right in the center of St James park, so would be hard to beat at the best of times. Then the atmosphere Is very relaxing with tables being filled quickly in two's, three's and even larger parties. Also there was no pressure to order the serving staff were very attentive though when you did decide to order and the service continued to be good all through the meal. The bonus on top of all of that was the food which was delicious. I and one friend had the slow cooked lamb for our main course. it was delicious and very tender, literally falling off the bone. The starter, spicy whitebait was equally as good , I thoroughly enjoyed them also. Finally I had the cheese board. Of which the selection was enough after being almost filled up by the previous 2 dishes.

I would recommend, to anybody, this venue and have every faith in saying that they would not be disappointed.

I intend, when I get the chance to go back again soon.
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9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Lunch for 7. Sat outside in nice weather.

Starters were fine. Chilled tomato soup was lovely as was smoked salmon and pea and lovage salad. Took time to arrive, but the service was very pleasant, especially the Nepalese guy who was a delight.

The mains arrived and then it nosedived. The veggie in the group didn't fancy organic spelt for a main, so asked for the farmhouse salad starter with the Scotch quails eggs, but not the black pudding. That element had been removed, but there was flaked pork, scratchings, and what were actually quail scotch eggs. We said we'd keep it and he'd have another salad. I wasn't asked how I'd like my roast beef, and it came up brown. My local steakhouse manages to provide roast beef in varying shades. The rest of the meat courses arrived, then the roast potatoes which were completely cold. They were taken back along with my beef, but everyone else was left to stare at their cooling dinner for some time. I asked for the manager but "he'd just gone home".

The spuds came back. "Very hot, be careful" said the waitress. They weren't, but tepid, so we ate them. My beef returned now cooler, and browner. This is just incompetence. It's a tiny and very straightforward menu and there were plenty of staff.

Most of us had the cheeseboard. The board was daintily dressed with 4 Carr's water biscuits, 5 thin slices of drab, yellowy apple, a tiny bit of crumbled walnut, and 2 of the 3 advertised English cheeses. 2 tiny little dried slices of a brie so thin you could almost see the grain of the board through them. 4 pieces of another soft cheese each about 1/2 the size of a sugar cube. The disconnect between what you see before you and the £9.50 they have the brass neck to charge for it, is almost jawdropping.

The Nepalese guy appeared and asked how things had been. I told him and he said he's take the potatoes and service off the bill. That wasn't good enough, and it was only because he, and the staff had been so nice that I didn't haggle. Even with the reduction, it hadn't felt like a £330 experience.

It's location ensures it's popularity, but we'll be taking a picnic next time.
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TrevGo
5 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 1
Monday, August 29, 2011

Inn the Park was a miserable experience. This is Oliver Peyton earning a fast buck, not Oliver Peyton the discerning food critic who demands a high standard of quality food with flavour ! My summer salad was made up of bits of sweetcorn, and peas (save them for the kids) and awash with dressing that I got no other flavour than oil and the lamb was under-cooked and under seasoned with very little flavour. I may have got more pleasure out of eating a cheap wet flannel with a few 'heat-lamped till we die roasties' and some gritty rainbow chard hardly cooked. Beer wasn't chilled, service appaling and a high chair that looked toxic !

Organic it may be but good food it ain't.
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Jo Hopwood
1 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 1
Monday, July 11, 2011

I just wanted to send mail to pass on my congratulations for a fantastic evening we had at Inn the Park last thursday.We had high expectations before the meal and these were truly surpassed.

The food was incredibly tasty and fantastically cooked. The service was professional,yet down to earth and relaxed. The overall atmosphere was warm and enjoyable.

A real delight-the best place weve been in London for some time. We'll be back!
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8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Friday, July 01, 2011

Great food but what is the point if you can't enjoy the eating experience because of the truly terrible service:

We ate lunch here one Sunday with our two children. The food is sublime but the service is one of the worst I have experienced.

After being seated with menus, we were left for over 15 minutes before we caught the attention of a waitress. We ordered food at the same time to avoid waiting again only to be told items on the childrens menu were not available - not being told when we were seated and given the menus was annoying.

We had three courses. Time between finishing one course and getting the next was over 30 minutes.

No water was brought to the table - orders were taken incorrectly. Again we had to ask for our dessert order to be taken since we were sick of waiting for spontaneous attention. We did not get served by the same person once during our meal.

Ice cream arrived except my own - after another 15 minutes and another reminder it arrived (the rest of the family had eaten theirs). Forget the cup cakes for a joke gimic - our children got given cup cakes but no one cared enough to listen to the jokes they had prepared.

Many people all around me were complaining, grissly steak, poor service too so it wasn't just us that were dissappointed on that day.

Overall a very disappointing experience - we came out of the restaurant nearly £150 lighter and feeling really let down - what a waste of money!
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Sherria Hoskins
2 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, June 25, 2011

I went to Inn the Park St. James' on a quiet weekday evening.

We both ordered steaks, ketchup, bread, a glass of wine, a beer and table water. The ketchup and bread never arrived, despite reminding the waiter for them both. The chips tasted like they had been reheated, and had a smokey flavour like roast chestnuts (I do like roast chestnuts, but not with a steak). We decided against pudding due to our orders not arriving, and when our bill was brought to us I pointed out it was wrong, as we'd been charged for water and it didn't add up anyway (apparently this was because beer doesn't show up on your receipts). I asked for it to be corrected (to at least remove the water), and it came back wrong again. When I pointed this out you waiter then said, "****, I've brought you the wrong bill again". The steaks were very nice, and the view of the park (which is really why we went) was nice, but the rest of the evening was a massive disappointment.

Evidently from some other online reports (including almost all comments on Foursquare) this isn't an isolated incident. Indeed, the man on the table next to us appeared to be sending his food back as well. I was going to mention this to the greeter / maitre d' on exit, but nobody was to be seen (and the maitre d' who we spoke to on arrival appeared to be eating at a table on your veranda alongside several other guests and I really couldn't be bothered to make a scene).
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Rich B
2 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 1
Monday, May 09, 2011

I was there last Monday after a long time without visiting St James Park. There is now an ice cream van at the entrance of the restaurant. Burgers are also sold there and, despite being a little expensive, both, burgers and ice cream, they are worth of it.

The best, the waitress: Fast, attentive, and constantly smiling despite the constant costumers' flow.

The worst: It is located just next to the container where the restaurant staff throw the glass, making a really disturbing noise.
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Désirée Eadalé
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 8
Friday, April 29, 2011