The Terrace Eatery — Restaurant in London

Such a shame to have found that the usually amazing Terrace seems to have lost its way. I’ve been using this as my local for the past decade and absolutely love eating their delicious food al fresco in the midst of Kingston’s heritage apple market. The staff have always been friendly and chatty and I don’t mind spending a little bit extra for top quality scran in such a delightful location.

Yesterday they were busy as it was lunchtime when I stood in line at the counter. The staff making the food are visible behind the refrigerated line and seemed to be stressed and annoyed. The man behind me in the queue reached for the menu which was in a perspex frame on the top of the counter (to be fair in very small print) to try to read the extensive offerings. The staff member behind the counter shouted at him to put it back. We were all shocked and the man laughed at the outburst and good humouredly explained he was just trying to read the menu. She shouted again for him to put it down. The mood immediately shifted and we glanced at each other and felt like naughty school children.

The cashier was taking the orders and simultaneously making coffees and other drinks, so frequently stepped away from the register - I placed my order, paid the extortionate amount and she wordlessly stepped away before I received my receipt - having stood in the line for a significant period, I chose to return to my table rather than wait for it.

Our food arrived - sadly the order was incorrect. I explained and the waitress delivering it looked annoyed and asked to see my receipt. I explained what had happened and she seemed angry, so I followed her back in to the shop to try to clarify with the cashier - the cashier immediately started to argue with me, and then thought better of it and said she would refund me the difference in my order and what she had charged me for (£31.30 for two drinks and two half sandwiches). She slammed a two pound coin in my hand and told me that was the difference in cost between the two sandwiches she had charged me for and the two half sandwiches I had actually wanted.

I will certainly think twice before returning, which is a shame as I have been a regular for the best part...

Came here on a Sunday morning with two friends and had previously heard great things so was looking forward to trying the breakfast. We all ordered hot breakfasts at the same time, one meal came out about 15 minutes before the rest. Not a problem as we understood it was a busy morning, but then the next lot of food came out a good 20 minutes after and both orders were wrong. We had to send one back as it was missing extras paid for and my meal was completely incorrect. They then bought out the second meal and I was still waiting, not having been told at this point they needed to restart my order from fresh. In total I had waited around 45 minutes and received no food, I spoke to one of the staff to see if I could find out what was going on and they were dismissive and fairly abrupt and told me “The chef knows your order is wrong, it’s on its way” I felt very awkward and surprised at this response so I sat down and waited another 10 minutes. I went back in at this point and spoke to the same woman and advised her that I just didn’t want to wait any longer as both my friends had eaten and finished their meal and asked if it would be possible to just have the money back for the meal. I spoke to the same woman again, who did not explain or apologise, she literally pressed the money into my hand and said “£9.45?” And then walked off. The whole experience left a really bad vibe, no food and the woman who I dealt with did not seem to make any effort at all to amend the situation or help. I completely understand if it is busy that I would have to wait, however I feel that the staff were very rude and ambivalent. Having worked in customer facing jobs nearly all my working life I was really disappointed by this whole experience and I can’t say I would recommend...

We visited here today. We ordered a jacket potato for our daughter and asked to substitute cheese topping for hummus. The lady charged us £18. She didn’t inform us and only realised this after she took payment. Jacket potato on the menu is £8 or £10 if you eat in. When we asked the lady why she charged £18 she said humus cost more than cheese, hahaha….no it doesn’t!!! £8 more! Then when we asked why she didn’t mention she was charging as we asked to replace, she became very rude and said, ‘well I’m telling you now’ Since our 2 years old daughter was hungry I decided to leave it, other wise I would have asked for our money back or just left, I don’t think the rude owner would have given our money back anyway. The food itself was poor quality when it arrived, the potato was dry and did not arrive with any beans or salad. They took it back, we waited 5 mins for them to put beans on a potato.

The other poor reviews reflect how bad the lady who owns this place is and her disregard for her customers.

This place only survives because of its location and tourist trade. The owner clearly doesn’t care about her local customers or the quality of her food. As a local that’s a shame, we hope she changes her attitude or someone more competent buys her out. Fortunela cafe, next door is far better and customer service...