Bella Boos — Restaurant in London

I have been to this establishment twice now for 2 parties, and both times were a shambles, the first party was so disorganised by the venue, the person THEY advised to do the balloons was late do to someone they knew having a baby, so the party goers arrived before the venue was properly set up, there was also no food or drink either so it meant people were running up and downstairs to get bits. When the food eventually arrived, no one came down to clear the area, nor wipe tables, plates everywhere, no fresh cups brought down (not enough given either) they just left everything filthy, and based on how much they charge we all said collectively we would never use it esp after how poor the customer service is. The bathroom gives off that waste abroad smell, the door didn’t lock and you had to walk through a side part to use it, which feels like a restaurant alley. The women who did the entertainment Keisha was amazing, I asked if she worked there and she said ‘no’, but she did do a lot of parties there, bless her, she helped try and clear the tables, move things around whilst the the staff did absolutely nothing upstairs she even helped arrange the balloons - which is outrageous, given she was paid purely to entertain the children. The food is grime and totally overpriced, lacking any variety, it’s a real ‘sweet tooth’ venue which is awful, we had two children with diary allergies and they offered no decent healthy alternatives other than a jam sandwich I mean what in the 1970s is going on there, in this day and age given the vastness of children with dietary requirements that’s all they offer. There is also NO diary alternate for ice cream other than sorbet, which again is lazy. They do not cater for all PERIOD. The colour scheme is sickly, did they run out of neural tones when decorating, a few of the boys said it was girly, also with the summer coming up who wants to spend their time in a dark basement. Having read the passive aggressive responses from a ‘family run’ business a suggestion would be to get your ducks in line as the place was dirty, tables sticky, softplay sticky, and that was on two different occasions, months apart… you claim to give gaps between for cleaning? What exactly were your staff doing as they certainly weren’t ‘rushed off their feet’, but they should have been if your venue has been hired out & tended to correctly, there’s absolutely no excuse as you close it to the general public, it’s just laziness, it just shows ‘we now have your money we don’t care’. It wouldn’t surprise me if most of the 5 star reviews were written by friends and family. Based on my experience on 2 different occasions I certainly do not recommend this venue at all don’t waste your...

I decided take my children there after see it from the bus. The play area is big enough and safe for under 5’s run around for long hours. There are divide area for crawling and small babies, not much available for babies play what I think is unfair as they pay same price as toddler. The staffs are helpfull and friendly. The soft area floor is stick, the toilet bin was over full of nappies, the toilet was not clean for children be used and the 3 hours we spend there I haven’t see any staff going downstairs to check the place, tables, people or whatever necessary. My daughter found a vape inside the soft area playing with other little girl, she’s 2years and half and asked me “what is it” almost putting in her mouth and being stopped by the little girl much older and told her “no it’s ieca”. the vape came from a man who was there and called every parent attention acting very weird, I saw parent leaving the soft play because of him, he was in “another planet” if you can understand me, I haven’t see him drinking any alcohol inside there and staffs mention he didn’t arrived drunk, he was only eating a cheese baguette and repeating several times to his very old daughters (I mean looks like more that +12) “I want eat people, I’ll eat everyone here. They all will be gone” what make my daughter very scared after listening it. He’s daughters was lovely, kind and very polite and no moment I see him behaving over limit with their or anyone there but he was falling on the floor, he don’t have power to keep his body stand up normal and he couple of times slept on the table. He fighter with his shoes using unacceptable words around young children. At no time staffs go downstairs to check the ambient and just noticed the man was high when he was leaving because he’s daughters asked for ice cream and fat milkshake and the staffs could see by the till how strange he was behaving (I can tell you was a bit scary). As anyone can go in and I had my children safeguarding at risk I would not plan to go back or recommend this...

The customer service is excellent. I asked for banana split but they had run out of bananas so a friendly assistant ran out to the local shop to buy some. The sundae was of a high quality. I had chocolate, mint choc chip and rum and raisin. The ice cream is better quality than most chain/national brand ice creams. The cherry toppings and cream meant the dish was finished off in the traditional way.

There are around 12 different flavours to chose from. It is nice to see a place selling traditional ice cream.

All prices are reasonable for the Hammersmith, Fulham and West London area. My banana split was less than 6 pounds and other options were lower compared with some local competitors such as Creams and Bears etc. Bella Boos shouldn’t move away from it’s traditional feel but one or two softer or niche options (like chocolate orange) would be welcome. Children of the target age group might expect more along these lines.

I have lived in London for many years, but my favourite ice cream brand is Wallings of Cockerham, near Lancaster. Inspiration for additional menu options can be taken from there (Google). Fouberts of Chiswick (and Fulham) and Udderlicious (West End) also offer other choices.

If you live in the Fulham Palace Road area then Bella Boos is definitely worth a visit. I live close by so will...