Family Kitchen, Kew Gardens in Richmond upon Thames

What a terrible idea this is. We went in and found a table, my friend looked what to get and I stayed with 2 under-fives, then I went to order, couldn't find the wrap she mentioned, we had to order overpriced pizza at the hot food counter along with taco, gave up and went back to the distant table and my friend managed to order everything, paying cash, except my croque monsieur which was available on the hot drink counter. When the food was ready it wasn't brought to the table we had to go and collect it. It's a good job there were 2 adults or otherwise you'd have to either leave the toddlers alone or take them and all the bags over there. I complained about it at the time. Later on we went back to the icecream counter and they didn't take cash at that one, despite it being in the same space. Kids ended up covered in icecream and the washing station was out of order as were 2 of the toilets. So disappointing

This place is a complete rip off and anyone visiting Kew should either come prepared with their own food or eat at other available eateries. Couldn’t believe the abomination that was served and at that price! The total came to around £35 for cold barely cooked food for two - which when you factor in entry and other spending just isn’t worth it. Kew Gardens is a stunning place to visit however this establishment really lets it down. Save yourself the disappointment and avoid!!!

Paid £45 for 2 adult and 2 child meals. To call it school cafeteria quality might be a bit unfair on school food. Mac and cheese was a chewy, tepid mess, with a hunk of stale bread on the side. Cutlery was dirty. Managed to acquire some ketchup to go with the meal, but it looked like it was both translucent and had an ethereal glow. This place could do a lot better without breaking a sweat.

Food is very low quality, there were no proper cutlery so we ate with plastic cutlery, breaking down so easily. Very pricey for what they offer. Tables and baby high chairs are often not cleaned.

This is awful. Toasted sandwiches freezing in the middle. (Apparently if toasted the middle falls out, said your staff member in desperation) Ridiculously overpriced, staff try to face down customer anger. One sausage roll, 2 children’s sandwiches, 2 toasted (one side only!) sandwiches, some boxed fruit drinks : £51. Absurd. WHY CANT KEW GARDENS MANAGEMENT GET THE CATERING TOGETHER?? I have lived close to Kew Gardens for decades and never eaten a decent meal there, we understand catering is not your forte but do try harder!

5 staff behind sandwich servers and still a queue either end. Staff didn’t even bother dialling in. Asked for sandwich menu as the offer isn’t clear. Server didn’t even respond just asked a colleague who plonked a menu as far away from us as she could. Cup cracked so gave us another one with same tea bag but then split. No courtesy and less customer interest. Same at ice cream point 5 staff, 8 customers waiting, supervisor chatting to staff with back to customers. You couldn’t make it up! A world class venue deserves better caterers and a proper offer.

The places was dirty, packed, the hot food was cold, there was 2 long hairs baked in to the macaroni and cheese! Ridiculously expensive, had I have known it was gross I would have bought packed lunches! Bluey didn’t show up either! Awful overpriced stressful visit!

Customer service is not high on the list here. Considering the exuberant prices here, I would have expected much better. As an example, when trying to buy a pizza (that costs £15 for a small size), you can not pay at the till in the pizza area, you have to queue with everyone who is ordering hot food and wait for them to all be served their hot food and pay for it. I was told this by the person making the pizzas - I don't think I have met a less enthusiastic pizza chef in all my life. Certainly didn't install confidence in their ability to make a good pizza, dragging their feet, literally, not washing their hands after touching numerous public surfaces and grunting at me on how to pay and not offering any explanation as to why I could not pay at the pizza counter. Once the pizza was ordered, I was given a buzzer that would signinal when the pizza was ready. I therefore found a table and started feeding my twin babies. I soon realised that 30 mins had passed. I went to check and apparently some of the buzzers don't work - something the staff know, but didn't want to tell me. It was then implied that it was my fault for not coming back to check on the pizza. Unbelievable. I am a father of twin babies, there were 10 people in the whole venue, but apparently it's up to me to do more work here and look after the facilities failings. I had a refund issued. What a shame. One last thing, watch out for the missleading pricing - as an example, an americano coffee is advertised as £2.90 ( no other prices given on their pricing board). If you order an americano, just stating 'an americano please), they will serve you and charge you a very different price,. This is because the price advertised is for a small, and unless you state 'small', they will serve you a standard. They don't tell you this or advertise this. Come.on Kew Gardens, this is a scam.

Dreadful and overpriced. £6.50 for a bowl of soup and a tiny piece of stale unbuttered French stick. £8.50 for a kids fish finger and chips which was uncooked at the ends, and completely soggy on the bottom, and (gasp) £9.50 for an undercooked baked potato with no sides and a smattering of filling. Just unbelievably bad

Chaotic and disorganised We visited this cafe/restaurant on a weekday in the school holidays. The hot food queue was halfway though the dining area, so we gave up and decided to get a sandwich for 2 adults and 2 kids. There were no menus nearby. It took just as long to pay for the prepacked sandwiches. Multiple people waiting for coffees to be made and homemade baguettes and only 2 staff on the till. Next time we will take a picnic to avoid the stress. After our lunch I took the kids to the ladies loos, which were suddenly shut for cleaning. A big queue formed of young children waiting desperately to use the family/disabled toilet.

This is a bustling place with a captive clientele - there are relatively few places to eat in the Gardens, all of them run by Kew Gardens itself. The range of food is OK and there is a full-on pizzeria here: but the staff don't care much. Even at slack times, table clearing is dilatory - and it certainly isn't service with a smile. There is a charge of 15p for a take-out cup - until they decide that no reusable china cups are available - then suddenly reusable ones are fine and dandy and free. This is lip service to the principle - the place was almost empty when we were there, but still there were no china cups. Heaven help them if they are busy! The hot chocolate was good.