Afternoon Tea - Kingston upon Thames

My friend and I have booked a afternoon tea in this well furnished lodge in kingston. the tee was not cheap, but we were happy to go because of the pleasant and old fashion atmosphere. but apart from the small sandwiches, the scorpions were wavy and hard, the brownies were dry like dust and the meringues bought and not fresh. I wrote to the catering manager and said how disappointing the afternoon was. I didn't get a reply. I then wrote to the manager of the lodge and explained again what had happened. no answer yet. I wasn't looking for a freebie, but just wanted an apology or explanation to show that it was one. but the fact that there was no answer at all shows that the problem goes much deeper than a afternoon. I would avoid the lodge if they want a real tee or dinner, there is obviously something systemically wrong here.

I often come with my daughter to kingston lodge and have tea/coffee in the bar area. I thought it was nice, so when it was my partner birthday, we decided to celebrate a family dinner. when we arrived, I asked if we could still eat in a restaurant, although we were not guests of the hotel, they said that they had a event so that we could not eat in the restaurant, but we could eat in the lounge area. we were halfway through our meal when a worker came and told us we had to pay now. I was shocked and asked why and they told us that it was because we were not in the hotel, although I had asked if it was okay to eat. I explained that we want gloomy and more drinks, but he insisted that we pay there and then. I didn't have to feed my one-year-old daughter to get my card out and pay half the money away by our feast. I am really disappointed to be treated at a place where I thought was so beautiful and against racial stereotyping (like most places in 2019!) I assume that was a problem as we were the only black people in the restaurant, I asked other groups of people in the restaurant who were not guests when they had experienced this and none of them had. I and my partner had even picked up a high-time brochure, which we were not welcome to eat in the facility due to the assumption that we were not welcome. really disappointed.

Couldn't fault the two evening meals breakfast that we had. Particularly enjoyed were the goats' cheese and beetroot starter, the spare ribs and the duck. No complaints about the shared dessert either.

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.

Breakfast was very good. It is self service and had the usual full English. I had at least one meal here while staying at the hotel. The food was very good, I had steak, but it was very expensive. The service was very good.