The Atrium Brasserie At The Kingston Lodge

My friend and I booked an afternoon tea at this well established lodge in Kingston. The tea was not cheap, but we were happy to go because of the pleasant and old fashioned atmosphere. However, apart from the little sandwiches, the scones had been microwaved and hard, the brownies were dry as dust and the meringues just store bought and not fresh. I wrote to the catering manager saying how disappointing the afternoon had been. I received no reply. I then wrote to the manager of the lodge, again explaining what had happened. Still no reply. I wasn’t looking for a freebie, but just wanted an apology or explanation to show it was a one off. But the fact that there was no reply at all shows that the problem goes a lot deeper than one afternoon tea. I would avoid the Lodge if you want to have a proper tea or dinner, there is obviously something systemically wrong here.

I frequently visit Kingston Lodge with my daughter to enjoy tea or coffee in the bar area. I have always found it to be lovely, so when my partner's birthday came around, we decided to have a family meal there to celebrate. Upon arrival, I inquired about dining in the restaurant even though we were not staying at the hotel. Unfortunately, we were informed that there was an event taking place, so we could only eat in the lounge area. As we were enjoying our meal, a staff member approached us and insisted that we pay immediately. I was taken aback and questioned why, to which they explained that because we were not hotel guests, payment was required at that moment. Despite expressing our desire for dessert and more drinks, we were still required to settle the bill then and there. I reluctantly had to pause feeding my one-year-old daughter to retrieve my card and pay halfway through our celebratory meal. I am extremely disappointed to have been treated in such a manner at a place I had previously thought highly of and believed to be free from racial stereotypes (especially in 2019). I can't help but feel that this was an issue because we were the only black patrons in the restaurant, as none of the other groups of non-hotel guests I spoke to had experienced the same treatment. My partner and I even picked up a wedding brochure, only to put it back due to feeling unwelcome. This experience has left me deeply disappointed.

My wife and I decided to try the Champagne Afternoon Tea at this restaurant. The staff at the reception were welcoming and assisted us to our table. However, the rest of the experience was disappointing. Tea was served without asking for our preference and the sandwiches were served cold and covered in clingfilm, which we had to unwrap ourselves. There was no explanation of what we were served, although it would have been nice to know. Overall, it was not a pleasant experience.

We had the most fantastic day here celebrating our sons wedding. Initially I had reservations about the hotel venue, the price seemed to be to good to be true. I was sure that we would have to compromise on something somewhere I couldn’t have been more wrong. Before the wedding, communication was excellent and questions answered thoroughly. We wanted a couple of extra bits done for the bride and groom and the hotel accommodated all our requests. The staff were exceptional, really exceptional. They could not have done anymore to make everyone feel welcome (Kate and Andrea were especially brilliant) water jugs and drinks were replenished. Every detail looked after. Everyone that I spoke to said that ‘the wedding must have cost a small fortune’. This must have been down to all the smaller details being so well taken care of. It seemed as if nothing was too much. The food was lovely, presented beautifully and the environment well planned out to accommodate all aspects of the day. All our needs were catered for and the evening food buffet just kept being restocked. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this hotel for any function, and look forward to booking another special event there in the future. Well done to all involved, and thank you. Ps I cannot comment on the accommodation as we did not stay there overnight.

I was expecting an excellent experience based on previous reviews but I’m afraid we will not return. Firstly my colleague’s cup was dirty. When we were ordering the waiter couldn’t remember what types of tea were available and had to get the box of sachets to show us. When the food arrived I just couldn’t believe it. The jam was not individual pots but rather was plopped into a stainless steel gravy boat, as was the clotted cream which was served like ice cream balls in an identical gravy boat. The scones were dry as dust (may have been frozen, certainly didn’t taste fresh). The sandwiches were made with thick cut bread and the cucumber ones with the white bread were clearly made with the end of the loaf as the staff had made a bad job of cutting off the crust. In the middle of the cakes were little pots of berry coulis with a clotted cream topping. When I asked the waiter what it’s was, I was told it was jam! My colleagues said the brownies were dry (one actually poured jam over it to try to improve it). The lemon drizzle cake was nice. We ate most of the sandwiches as we we hungry having skipped lunch in anticipation, but we left most of the cakes. We certainly weren’t invited to take any home (not that we would have). Maybe we were unlucky and it was a bad day in the kitchen but I’m afraid next time we will go elsewhere.