Willows — Restaurant in London

Thank you for the best birthday, Willows!

As it was my 30th birthday, I wanted to host something a little different and decided on the private hire option at Willows after having been before for brunch and dinner. I honestly can't thank Tom and the team enough for the perfect evening!

The co-owner, Tom, has helped me plan all of the details for months and was always so helpful and fast to respond to me. So many of those at the party commented on how all of the staff on the evening were so lovely and friendly! Throughout the evening, the team kept me updated on when we would sit for dinner, asked when I wanted to do the cake and generally just made sure the evening went smoothly and all 41 guests were looked after.

All of the food and drinks were delicious, and there was so much food to share! I opted for the sharing boards for starters, then for the main course we had sharing plates - 4 dishes I had pre-selected. As the new menu had just been released, the team had us try a 5th new dish on the evening, which was such a lovely touch! I pre-selected 3 cocktails to have one the night (in addition to the great wine, fizz and beer list), which everyone loved, and the staff were so efficient and took drinks over to people are they enjoyed the food.

In terms of decor, everything was beautiful! When I arrived, the staff had worked so hard to ensure the tables looked great, set with candles and flowers. The team even printed out the birthday menus I made on Canva and had these ready at everyone's seats - this was such a big help and saved me on printing costs. I had come with balloons and a few other birthday bits that the staff all helped me set up.

Everyone had the best evening, and I cannot thank Tom and the Willows team enough for working so hard to help me have the best 30th! No detail was spared, and everyone post-party have said how impressed they were with the space, food, staff and drinks! I would 100% recommend Willows as a private hire and can't wait to be back soon for food...

My son goes to school near Willows and I love Willows but there are a couple of things that drive me mad.

The opening time is really inconvenient for me, I would come to Willows a lot more if it opened at 8.30 then I could come straight after drop off. In the summer it’s not so bad but in winter I usually end up going somewhere else. There have been a few times when I have come straight from school and just been waiting in the cold and the staff were in the kitchen and they could have let me wait in the warm but made me stand outside in the cold. Don’t love that.

Secondly the WiFi drives me completely insane. It is one of those terrible popular that constantly drops out and you have to re-opt into. I think that type of WiFi connection should be banned in 2024. Can you swap to a regular guest network with password? Please!

These two factors combined drive me completely nuts and often I choose to go to other local restaurants when I would rather be at Willows.

The service is also pretty poor and slow.

** edit review in response to reply. The response from Willows is laughably hypocritical. The owner comes in work from the restaurant. Have seen this first hand. Many people come in during the day to eat and work when the restaurant is not even half full. Just give them functioning internet or you wouldn’t have even those customers. Are you saying you can’t afford internet? This...

This is our third visit to Willows - we've previously had brunch which has always been excellent. We wanted to take a friend there, so booked for the evening. Service as ever was impeccable - shout out to Artur and Theo. We chose a four starter board of fennel salami, mushroom pate, caws teifi cheese, and sausisson. All amazing flavours, but the mushroom pate was to die for. All served with bread, marmite butter (no, really, it doesn't taste of marmite!) crackers, and the most amazing pickles. Following that, we picked four main courses to share, of the steak (cooked absolutely perfectly, but do be aware that's rare - you'd probably need to mention it if you wanted it well-done), boquerones (never had them before - utterly delicious), the caesar salad, and the baked Baron Bigod; oh.my.life. it was heavenly. I stuck with bottled beer, but my wife and our friend went for the cocktails - superb by all accounts. We did get talked into sharing a dessert - not that it was a difficult decision, and went for the gooseberry fool. As expected, delicious. My wife and friend were going to share a dessert wine, but it was that good they ordered another glass! All in all this wonderful little place goes from strength to strength - the emphasis on quality food and outstanding customer service makes it an...