Wonderful addition to Canada Water. Both Al fresco eating area outside and inside have modern botanical decor. The live music is an ultimate seller. The farm is such a unique thing too! The food was really good! I think the place is fantastic. Big +++ for making it accessible too!
But as it has only just opened up, I imagine it still gathers feedback, adjusts to the area and fixes teething issues. I have a few suggestions to make the place even better!
Canada Water has A LOT of children. It's a magnet for parents of little ones. And you have Minecraft thing just next door. And CW doesn't currently have much in a way of a place where you can have a coffee as an adult and unleash your kid into some safe play area. I appreciate it's an adult focused venue in the evenings. Just a thought, but if you had the space and means, would be cool to add some kid activities or games during some of the day. Could be simple books, crayons, paper, colouring books etc, or even something like day time events for kids on occasion? Better still, some play area outside so the parents sipping coffee outside can have an eye on them.
As this is not central London and mostly residents, there are probably a few more people who cannot drink here (lots of pregnant women, people who will drive over taking opportunities from the big parking space, people who can't drink for health reasons). Lean into this a little. Addition of mocktail choices or 0% beers would be really welcome
I sat on one of the sofas next to vertical farm. While it's super cool to sit there, after maybe 5min the bright purple light was hurting my eyes a little. Maybe you could add something on the windows next to sofas to darken them a little. That might have just been me though :).
Speaking of the farm, while I see lots of people being curious, walk over and admire it, nobody knows what we are looking at. I think some boards, either stack to the glass or next to the crop beds, would be useful, to explain what crop it is and when it'll grow. It would be cool if people could visit it at some point too (though please only do this is it wouldn't jeopardize the farm of course! I'm not an expert).
The cafe could have a bit bigger selection on the weekends (I appreciate on weekdays the cafe turnover might be slower). But on a sunny weekend morning, it would be nice. The cafe could be a little bit brighter during the day too. I like the dimmed ambience of the rest of the venue for the evenings, but day time cafe is more inviting if it's bright :).
Would you consider blankets for people sitting outside or heaters? People love outside seats but spring evenings and mornings are still a bit chilly.
Would be amazing if you had some board games for people to play with during the day, or even evening! Many pubs do, but they tend not to have room for it. You have these amazing large tables! Heck you even have room for people to play twister!
I LOVE the live music and upcoming schedule. But as it's usually from 8pm in the evenings, prior to 8pm might be cool to have a karaoke or a comedy night on occasion too. I appreciate that's a very risque proposal so feel free to totally ignore it as I can also imagine it flopping completely!
I don't think there are desserts selections (I might have missed them if so). Lots of people with sweet tooth in the area :)
I think there is someone asking people for feedback outside the door. That's a great idea! I think some people will have ideas so open feedback will work for them. But some might not have ideas of top of their head. If you had some prefilled questions, or particular bits you're interested in scoring (for instance based on the feedback from Google Maps), it might be more fruitful on some people.
The prices are a bit on central London level. I appreciate it's expensive to run a big venue like this, but maybe consider some promotions, happy hours etc. to make it more feasible for some of...
   Read moreRead this: Disappointing !!!! 1.5/5....... Was really looking forward to corner corner opening in CW but it didn't live up to what I had hoped. So went today full of great expectations and walked in and you can feel immediately the place suffers from any kind of atmosphere... entrance and everything unwelcoming!! , not sure with all my experience how that can be fixed because I looked at the space and felt this needs a lot of work...:( ., anyway....so bought two tacos one for Tanya and one for me ....both were extremely disappointing and extremely mean helpings in what they gave for the price... c'mon!!! If people are paying that price, send them home satisfied!!!!. Also there is no choice on the beer menu for anything apart from one type of beer per type of beer !!!! C'mon, give something to choose from.... please!!!! Then Tanya went to buy a cocktail and mocktail ... they had neither!!!! She doesn't drink and was left with no option!!!! Ffs . what a terrible opening weekend for any business if you're trying to impress people, ... Well...you didn't, you just looked rushed and ready to put your hands in my pocket.!!!!!.... It gets worse....Some guy had a dog sitting on your sofa and a lovely lady in the seat beside was horrified....cant blame her when she had a newborn in her arms...her fear and my hygiene worries... Well I ran out of here..!!!hungry and £40 pound's lighter.
I wanted a decent beer and some food so we headed over to leadbellies across the pond instead.... the prices were normal, had a good choice of drinks, had mocktails half the price and the food and atmosphere was 10 time's better there..Anyway , corner corner....friendly service but that's about all to report. I will go back and check out the jazz and DJs albeit with Little beer choices and report back..., hopefully with something more positive but not sure if it will just be aesthetics š¤š¼ great for CW but hopefully some major MAJOR tweaking must be...
Ā Ā Ā Read moreWe were so excited to go to see how it will revitalise the area. The place was completely packed so clearly we werenāt the only ones excited to check it out. There was nowhere to sit and the lines to order food and drinks were very long. I canāt imagine this level of chaos will be a daily thing, most likely people just excited to check out the new spot on opening night. The space can however accommodate a lot of people though, so I can imagine some lines are here to stay. I was disappointed with the ambience - the lights were very bright and felt like a hospital canteen. It also gave music festival vibes but the worst elements of it - long lines, too many people, disorder, and music that isnāt to my personal liking. The mocktail prices were completely outrageous at Ā£9.50 - this is way above market price in restaurants and pubs. I was surprised that it was so full of kids and families especially when the jazz started - which is to be enjoyed in a chill and relaxed atmosphere not with kids running wild everywhere. It would be good if they can change the vibe from day to night that would indicate itās time for kids to leave. It was also way too loud to enjoy the music - it felt like a food hall with some music in the background.
It has some potential but Iāll probably wait a while to go back and see if any improvements are...
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