The Garden Café

Perfectly ordinary cafe (not tried the restaurant part).. but could they be selling London's most expensive orange juice?! A glass of the stuff, according to the menu, is priced at £2.45. So there I was expecting either a good size glass of freshly squeezed, or a large glass of regular juice. To my complete amazement, the girl behind the counter grabbed a carton of ordinary supermarket orange juice (albeit organic) and poured it into the smallest plastic cup I have ever seen. Child size, basically. Maybe about 100-150ml. No ice, no slice of orange. And that was it. £2.45 for that! Absolutely incredible. I complained, but they didn't understand English very well, and just said that was what they charged. Unbelievable. You can buy an entire carton of the stuff for £2.45. Serious rip-off if ever I have come across one.
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Sarah D
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, June 10, 2008

DO NOT EAT, DRINK OR GO NEAR THIS 'CAFE'. I was utterly disgusted at this place. I eat extremely regularly and have written reviews for some publications. I stupidly booked a table here as a surprise for my wifes birthday a couple of weeks ago as I wanted to eat outside after being in the park and it ruined her day!!!

I emailed ahead several times to let them know I was planing a big surprise and got NOTHING back. I asked for seats away from the enterance so as to surprise my wife but instead my party were sat right in front as if to mock me in plain view and the surprise ruined. We sat down to eat and the service was criminal! The waitresses were ignorant, rude and barely could understand us or their own menu!?

It was no more than a average park cafe with resturant prices!!!! nearly £4 for a bottle of warm stella (only beer on menu) The food was awful, overpriced and badly cooked. Our waitress did not understand the difference between medium rare and rare steak??? On top of all of this as it got dark there were no lights!! We could not see each other and had to view the bill with light from mobile phones! Then as a final insult we were told that the park gates were shut and we would have to climb over???!!! We had two elderly parents with us and after much argument we had to leave by the kitchens!!

Ignore all other reviews this place is to be avoided. Unless you want a quick coffee on a summers day.
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Justin Blyth
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 0
Sunday, August 20, 2006

This was a great choice for a pre-theatre meal with my parents before heading to the Open Air Theatre a few minutes away.

The setting is lovely - great plant and people watching. It's not swanky at all, casual but well done and utterly unpretentious.

The service is friendly and attentive, although not highly polished.

The menu is small and simple but has enough to appeal to most. Starters were ok - asparagus vinagarette was well....asparagus vinagarette. The dull sounding baby gem lettuce salad was actually really rather tasty and the tomato soup was very good.

Mains were better. My steak was pretty a good cut and deftly cooked and the chips were first rate. Salmon and chicken dishes were equally sound.

A pudding of a Scottish cream and red fruit concoction was deeply unimpressive as it consisted mostly of cream.

The bill was about £100 for 4 with wine. All in all, a good bet if you want some low key alfresco dining in this neck of the woods.
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Gemstone
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, July 10, 2006

After Inn the Park another park cafe has gone upmarket. There is a take-way section which seems very successful but we ate in the restaurant proper.

As we arrived the receptionist offered a baby seat but after a 10 minute search she gave up. Both seats were already taken, not great for a restaurant catering for families.

We only ordered the mains and 2 child menus but after 25 minutes we were offered the bread (usually £2.50) on the house as food was taking a while. It finally arrived after 45 minutes not great when you've got 2 hungry children. Food itself was mediocre, my chicken overcooked and expensive at £9.

Not recommended
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Dutch_Food - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 4
Monday, May 08, 2006