- Fabulous location
- Over-priced
- Not as child-friendly as I was led to believe
- Address:
The Garden Café
Inner Circle
The Regent's Park
London
NW1 4NU - Telephone:
020 7935 5729 - Email:
info@thegardencafe.co.uk - Nearest tube stations:
- Baker Street
- Regent's Park
Use Journey Planner to plan your route by public transport.
- They don't recycle:
When the tables were cleared the glass bottles were just dropped into the bin. - Regent's Park Photos
- Open Air Theatre Regent's Park
- A Midsummer Night's Dream Review (Open Air Theatre)
The Garden Café is in a fabulous setting and attracts a lot of visitors simply because of where it is. But I wonder if it would do so well anywhere else? I had to wait to be served by a member of staff who was disinterested in doing her job. When she could be bothered to take my order it certainly wasn't 'service with a smile'.
I decided to just have tea and cake and sit outside. There are two seating areas outside the cafe: one for restaurant diners and one for those using the 'cafe' side. I asked the surly assistant for help carrying my tea and cake to an outside table as I was pushing a pushchair. She didn't respond but did reluctantly pick up my order. I asked her to take it to a table with a parasol, which she did but left me unable to get to the table. (The gap a single person can get through and the gap needed for a buggy are not the same thing!)
A cup of tea cost £1.30 which is an acceptable price for the location, but a chocolate brownie was £2.75 which was somewhat ridiculous. I had chosen not to have lunch in the restaurant as I thought £8-10 for a salad was a bit steep.
Maybe I'm missing the point which is the fact you can dine in the center of Regent's Park, but I really don't see why that should allow The Garden Café to offer such unfriendly service. I have no idea where it's got its reputation from for being child-friendly!
