Pavilion Bar and Grill — Restaurant in London

If you live anywhere on the tube and you haven’t got a membership to Kew you’re demented. Kew is a national treasure. Scrap that, it’s a world treasure. Even if you couldn’t give a monkey’s about plants or plant biology or victorian architecture, a more lovely walk in London is impossible to find. Burning the requisite calories to have earned a sit down at the Pavilion Bar and Grill won’t be difficult. Ingesting said calories once there you may find a little harder. The queue is long and only one person is taking orders at the till. I wondered if an acorn could sprout in the same time once planted but didn’t ask the server because I wasn’t sure she was an expert in that sense like the volunteers beavering away outside. The menu felt quite garden-y. A mainly veggie affair which felt good to eat al fresco in simple, smart, modern surroundings with a cafe vibe. I ordered a cauliflower steak with rose harissa, woodland mushrooms, mole sauce and crispy polenta. The missus ordered bbq aubergine, chimichurri, smoked pine nuts, miso and garden botanicals - whatever they are. Both dishes sounded like a level up from the usual cafe fare and we looked forward to them. The dishes weren’t a disappointment. They weren’t a resounding success either. Both were fairly well executed. Good textures, not bad looking at first glance. But on further inspection they were both a little miserable too. Not an abundance of anything. No great flavour explosion. Notenough ballast to satisfy a greedy guts who’s earned their fare after one lap round the park inc scaling the treetop walk. All a little limp. The aubergine had been hanging around a while. The sauces that accompanied the cauliflower squirted on a little clumsily and tasting a bit anaemic. Now if these dishes had been, say, £12, I’d knock the glasshouse on the head and make a bee line here instead. But at £18 a pop I won’t be rushing back. It did feel a little like they know you’re there now and it’s going to be a ball ache to find somewhere else to go. Forget about how glass makers have taken inspiration from Water Lillies, this lot have certainly learned a thing or two from the Venus Fly Trap. To be fair, you can enjoy the many splendours of Kew with your own picnic and that would be my advice. Theirs is a noble cause (Kew is a charity) and making up the numbers with some OK but overpriced food for hungry tourists is only to be expected. But for those who are in the know, there’s much better on offer outside the...

We went to the Pavilion Restaurant at Kew Gardens today expecting to see food on the menu that looked like those photographed on your website! Really exotic, exciting menus!

What a enormous disappointment! I think it is quite dishonest of you to display menus that you do not currently deliver.

We were looking forward to spending lots of money after a long lockdown and we wanted to treat our guests to a lovely 3 coursed lunch.

Your menu offering a ‘cauliflower steak’ ( completely tasteless) or a burger, is totally misplaced for the typical ‘Friends of Kew’ clientele.

You have this lovely setting, at the Pavilion, with lots of tables under the vines and absolutely nothing we wanted to eat!

Being told that the Orangery Restaurant at the other end of Kew Gardens offered something better, is no comfort to octogenarians who have staggered all the way to the Pavilion Restaurant, being enticed by the menu and photographs on the Kew Gardens website.

Excuses such as ‘Covid’ are no longer acceptable excuses.

If at least you served an appetising smoked salmon sandwich, good quality fish and chips, a nourishing soup, a beetroot salad, a goats cheese and leek quiche, a curry , a tagine, or even a cream tea or a Ploughman’s, that would have been fine.

The queue to place an order was so long we were unable to stand for so long, nor were we prepared to queue for 3/4 hr only to get a burger or a coffee at the end of it!

Unless you up your standard we, nor none of our friends will be spending money at your restaurant. This is such a pity.

Why turn away good and frequent visitors to Kew Gardens, who are willing to part with lots of money in return for an interesting and tasty meal? Please would you reply to my feedback informing me that you are going to make improvements to your menu. Thank you, Kind regards, JG and Dr. A. G.

Sent...

I was looking forward to having lunch at the newly opened Pavilion restaurant. It was a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. The good - the pavilion setting as you approach is superb: elegant,sleek, contemporary design in steel and glass, re-landscaped outdoor seating under the trellis vines; it breathed quality. The bad - once inside, disappointment set in. I stood in a long queue like in a motorway cafe with just one of three possible tills open. After waiting ten minutes my order was taken which included two glasses of wine. The two glasses were pushed over the counter, no tray and how to collect cutlery and napkins with my hands full? Very workaday and basic. I had to remind the till operator to give me my five pounds change. The ugly - the moderately pricey menu looked trendy but was disappointing. The grilled jerk chicken had no taste of jerk, the sweet potato was old and fibrous and the couscous had absolutely no taste, I could have been eating polystyrene granules. My espresso order at the end of the meal was forgotten so I had to remind the waiter. This is turning into a long review, partly because I love Kew Gardens and have long reflected about the poor quality of food served for an international audience of visitors. The cafe by the lake has raised the bar, elegant, table service, contemporary design and quality menu. The Pavilion is a missed catering opportunity and has an unconvincing business model which needs rethinking. Sitting in the dappled sunshine under the vines, I forgot for a moment its...