Giraffe - Royal Festival Hall in Lambeth

This is always a reliable experience. I had the duck stir fry. It comes quick and was perfect when you just want something quick and easy. The Southbank can be a nightmare to find something reasonable especially if under time pressure. I’d definitely recommend making a booking, as it can be a hassle trying to get a table as a walk in. This is a busy spot. I was there on a cold night, and they have tables beside the doors - which are constantly being opened, so had to get moved table. It was a bit of bother, but was sorted, so again if it’s a cold evening make sure to request a table away from the door.

Warm and welcoming, even outdoors on a rainy day. Naresh, our server, was incredibly kind and helpful. Thoroughly enjoyed our coffees, smoothies and Prosecco, and will definitely visit again!

Ci siamo fermati per caso un sabato a pranzo durante la passeggiata che da Westminster arriva fino al Tower Bridge e ci siamo trovati molto bene. Anche se il locale era affollato, non abbiamo comunque atteso molto per mangiare e il personale è stato gentile e cordiale. Abbiamo mangiato due fish and chips ottimi!

What a car crash! There were queues at all other eateries on southbank. I thought hey, giraffe elsewhere is fine. Let’s go! Big mistake. The place is dirty, tables wobbly. Toilets diabolical. And that’s before we start on the mess they made with our order! They gave pork sausages instead of vegetarian. They messed up the burger order 3 times and still sent it with lettuce, gave up at that point! Missing chips. We had several people trying to rectify which caused more chaos as no one knew what the other was doing. It’s not like it was busy in there either! We had to ask them to remove service charge. After the complete shambles? Heck no am I paying you for rubbish service I know the screaming kids aren’t the restaurants fault but that put the nail in the coffin with them running around like demons. Most other places stop kids in after a certain time. I know where to head in future for quiet food! The only reason they’ve got points is because with allergies they were very thorough and went through every little aspect making sure I was ok. The server who took our order deserves credit for this.

Had a really nice family meal here. I hadn’t booked but they managed to squeeze us in. One of the waitresses even came over with stickers for the children to keep them entertained. Fast and friendly service!!!

The Bad News : Bland, tasteless food. Scruffy staff. Noisy atmosphere. The Good News : It is quick and cheap and the location is great.

restaurant was cold, couldn't take my coat off, service was sporadic, food was ordinary, everything smothered in shop bought sauces, no surprise but would prefer on the side,

The food was lovely. I didn’t get mushrooms or eggs and they substituted it with an extra sausage and hash brown which was really lovely as I didn’t even ask🥰 all the staff were so nice especially given that it was early Saturday morning. Our seater was super smiley as was our server - didn’t catch their names but I hope they know they made my day really great :) Like I said, the food was great and came out very quickly, and usually you might expect the food to be subpar if it’s fast, but the quality was still fantastic! Really recommend the smoothies they are LUSHHHH!! 10/10 hash brown too like the crunch? Incredible.

There’s a reason this venue is quieter than others on the SBank. It’s not that good! Uninspiring menu, not great service although polite. Wrong drinks being served, 1 meal from 4 being served first. Food cold. Cheek to try and charge 10% service charge!

Per mangiare qualcosa prima dei concerti del piano di sopra può andare: hamburger, bistecche e anche qualcosa di veg bio e fusion. Rapido, non particolarmente caro. Cucina passabile.

Food was amazing, the staff were attentive and on top of everything, prices were really good, the place was clean and service was prompt

Awful place, the food was awful - I had the Veg brunch - had no taste - very over processed food. Toilets were dirty. Everything was overdone or burnt. Spend your money elsewhere.

Terrible service. I had to get up and find the waiting staff, no sense of caring at all, cold atmosphere, feels like a chain

Wanted a bite so popped into this place before concert at Southbank. We were guided to a very small table very close between other tables and by the kitchen. There were other tables available and we asked to move. A pair had just left a larger table and manager point blank refused to let us have it even though that also had had only 2 people at it. It wasn't reserved and we told him we wouldn't be long but he just wanted to be mean. I ended up walking out. Didn't want to stay in a place that treated me so shabbily. Wont ever go there again. Didn't like the atmosphere.

This used to be a great place - ideal for families with a good menu cooked fresh. On our last visit, the kids got cold oven pizza (think Tesco standard) and some adult food was served cold and stale. Meat seems pre-prepared and reheated. The manager was genuinely apologetic and took some money off the bill, which we appreciated. But Giraffe obviously going downhill and moving to pre-cooked processed food for cost reasons.

I didn’t like the food too much cheese on pasta and pasta too dry carrots and cucumber tho was nice and the peas no dessert my milk was in a little cup🤔

Overpriced and poor choices for vegetarians. If you're one of the many people who are vegetarian as you don't like meat don't go to Giraffe Southbank. All the veggie options are with meat substitutes I ended up ordering the houmous plate at £7 as the...

Passable food presentation but lacks taste. Window seats along front are crammed in with little room. Tea, Yorkshire Teabags, is ok.

Cold, like really cold. Food ok as you would expect from this type of restaurant. Asked the staff when leaving why it was so cold and they didn’t know why. Looking at the reviews subsequently it’s a common thread

Food and service not too bad . The problem was the temperature inside of the restaurant, too cold . No one customer take off the coat , my child cried because of the cold . We asked and a waiter said the heater was broken...

Very poor, would not recommend. Poor service, restaurant was freezing cold with no customers taking their coats off to eat. Food was very poor quality and only luke warm. Would not recommend and would never go back.

Absolutely appalling meal followed by awful customer service. Visited with family during the school holidays. Food was cold and virtually inedible and had to buy alternative at the station! Had to leave the restaurant to catch train but emailed them after to complain. Received an...

Visited on 13th November. On a theatre break and found this restaurant on our walk from Tower of London to Waterloo Bridge. Crossed the bridge and saw the pink giraffe sign on the door. Very inviting. We hadn't booked, but would advise you to book...

Squeezed into the restaurant, tables close together and no room for grand daughters push chair near the table and had to leave by the door. Pressurised into placing the order and then the starters appeared very quickly afterwards along with a side dish for the...

Having not booked anywhere we were pleased to get in Giraffe. Despite a cold evening we chose to sit outside and there were heaters and blankets provided so we could watch the world go by in the Southbank. We chose to share a selection of...

Food was good. But when I booked I did specify that it was a birthday meal for my daughter. Do you think anything special happened? No!

Myself and my friend came across Giraffe, Southbank Centre, on our recent weekend to London. Although it was a very busy Saturday afternoon, 09/11/23, we were greeted, on the desk outside, with a smile, by a lovely young lady. She offered us a table inside...

Eravamo già stati qui 5 anni fa, il ricordo era migliore! Locale carino, in zona London Eye e ottimo per...

Went to girrafe this afternoon for lunch.We thought it would be a nice idea as we hadn’t been scince pre covid and we went to one location recently(post covid) and had a lovely experience there so decided to go to this one.We had a fantastic...

Not visited giraffe for many years, maybe not since Tesco owned them. Pleasantly surprised and an enjoyable experience. One of our sons ordered a meal that had a sauce on arrival he didn’t like. Our fault. Asked for another, without the sauce and was happy...

Have always visited here when we come to London for the day. Just wanted a quick coffee today at 10am. Wasn’t allowed to sit at a table for 4 outside as there were only 2 of us so shown a table under cover, which was...

The south bank is always very busy so don't stop here if you want fast service. The staff are very good but they are run off their feet, there are a lot of tables. Its a great spot though right on the river and great...

Lovely food, there were 12 of us & food all came at the same time, staff very friendly & accomodating to slight menu adjustments, only down side was 2 of the 4 ladies toilets were blocked..Perhaps a little more attention required..

Have eaten here many times in the past and always enjoyed it which was why I recommended it to a friend. We were seated promptly then had to wait over 25 minutes for our order to be taken, despite the fact there were lots of...

Dinner for three: service surly and frankly downright rude. Drinks order totally wrong and a filthy like from the waitress when asked to rectify it - correct drink then dumped in front of us without a single word uttered. Food: dry as a bone, two...

Accommodating for a party of 7 on a busy Saturday afternoon. However, the poor waiter was like a deer in the headlights and had no clue of the basics of Waitering. Food was of good quality, but course arrived sporadically and some of the party...

Rude staff. Trying to hurry us aswe were trying to make our decision after just being seated at the table like we were ment to know the menu when we had no clue what to choose. Laughing at us because they were doing it deliberately...

Visited Thursday 12.30hrs sat outside with friends. Took 20 minutes to order a drink after asking several times. No cider available. I ordered swinging chicken kebab which comprised of a skewer with 3 cubes of chicken and some peppers. We were a party of 4...

This was extremely disappointing. The service was surly and the food dreadful. I had the vegetarian brunch. I don’t know how they managed to extract every bit of flavour from each item, but what taste remained was not nice. Rubbery sausage, leathery, cold poached eggs,...

Giraffe used to be so much better. Food quality not great - we had beef tacos and Caesar salad. Service was so bad - really slow and vague.

I recently had the pleasure of dining at giraffe restaurant with exceptional service provided by our waitress, Chelsea. She was attentive, friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. She went above and beyond in ensuring that we were comfortable and satisfied throughout our meal. Not only...

A lovely spot for lunch in the sun. We sat outside and despite being very busy our drinks order was taken swiftly. Food was hot and delicious,would recommend.

Family of five. Ordered five meals and five drinks. They brought the meals with such a delay that the first meal was cold by the time they brought the last. When I questioned this, the server explained that some of the dishes are quicker to...

Went here just after the pandemic, great service and food. Returned this week and the food was terrible, arriving with such a delay that by the time the first people ate some were still waiting. The salad we ate had the stalks of the lettuce...

We've been to this giraffe a few times, and enjoyed brunch, lunch and dinner there in the past so were happy to book for an early dinner today. We sat down at 4:15pm and they'd already run out of quite a few items. Firstly, they...

Horibble customer service, staff looking as they were forced to work (except for one girl that was actually nice). Toilets disgusting, dirty and clogged, when asked to help make them usable they passed the problem and left me waiting! No smoking area even tho the...

Very limited choice if you have a dairy allergy, basically only two meals left from the menu. Even the full English breakfast doesn't suit despite usually being a safe option elsewhere. Pretty disappointing from a big chain like this.

Had a nice enough meal but where did the menu go? We used to go to Giraffe a lot for their interesting and fairly extensive menu. The menu has shrunk to one side of a card and there was nothing of great interest on it...

We love Giraffe but haven't been in quite a while. What on earth has happened? Someone needs to get back in there and sort them out. The menu is short to the point of being hard to choose as it's simply boring. The favourites we...

They missed drinks off our order, then missed 2 sweets off too that came after everyone had finished. Apart from that it was just ok.

No point to book a table as they do not care. When arrived we were given very uncomfortable table for 6 and had to ask to change it. Poor customer service. Food extremely basic arrived in 5 minutes, which definitely was just microwaved. Avoid to...

Great food and atmosphere, had a bottomless brunch with a friend! Great value and great setting with a view of the river!

Lovely setting - we sat outside. Menu was simple but very good. Staff (many) seemed disinterested and lacking in energy. We waited a long time to give our order and had to’ catch’ someone. Very unfriendly - no joy - we were just nuisances it...

Fine for quick bite to eat but don’t expect too much. Stressed out staff, poor vegetarian options (just had bread & hummus), cold chips. Meat options much better & they were accommodating for our large party at a busy time which was good. Great location...

We didn’t enjoy this family visit at all, such a shame as the food was ok. The kebab with salad is ok, the chicken was hot and the salad was crisp, but nothing special. The Korean chicken is probably the best dish. The Katsu was...

I had attended this restaurant for just some sort of dessert. I ordered a apple crumble with ice cream. The ice cream had been served with it already melted and the apple crumble itself was not what apple crumble is supposed to taste like. I...

Hungry and after some lunch we spotted a Giraffe so decided on it as we've been to various other locations and it's always consistent with a great variety on the menu. Were maybe 3 or 4 other tables and at least 3 waiting staff and...

Visited Giraffe, Southbank in March. Very busy more than usual. Unfortunately, our young son accidentally spilled his juice everywhere. A very attentive and patient member of staff, Cameron cleaned it up without any fuss. His patience and professionalism was very much appreciated. He also ensured...

Visited here for breakfast before going on the London eye and really enjoyed it. It’s perfectly placed for getting something to eat before visiting some of the local attractions especially as we were seated and served quickly. My experience here was positive I found the...

I think this restaurant is terrible.I waited half an hour for 1 drink to find out that it was 50 ml. The waiter asked how many glasses there were when there was obviously 2 people and then didn’t even know.Also the toilets are despicable there...

Dropped in with out a reservation. Nice table and excellent service. Dealt with allergies correctly. Food & drinks came promptly and were good. A lot of staff, and well managed by visible supervisors.

Wished I'd looked at the previous reviews before booking, I'd assumed because I've liked other Giraffes I'd like this one, but it was a horrible experience. I entered and stood in the doorway waiting to be seated but in reality being ignored by several members...

We turned up with a large group on NYE 25 minutes before the restaurant was closing for a private event. Despite everything going on, the staff found us seating, took our order and didn't make a mistake. Bravo and thank you!!

The prices are way too high for the quality of food, 12.5% service charge for cold chips and food not delivered at the same time, it's not asking too much because there were only 2 of us. I'd not go again to any of these...

Pre-booked a table for a birthday celebration and regretted it. Venue us freezing with staff and customers wearing coats. Service slow and sporadic. Mains arrived but side orders missing and they arrived 15 minutes later. Staff tried to clear plates while still eating. Long wait...

No heating inside (in below freezing temperatures!) No one told us this when we arrived so we’d already ordered by the time we realised it was freezing! I asked if they could put the heating on and the waitress said the heating has been broken...

Stopped here for a quick breakfast whilst waiting for trains. They were quite busy but the building was freezing - most diners and even some of the staff were walking round with their coats still on. The service was extremely quick but I wouldn't call...

After a short wait for our table we were seated but we were forgotten about and had to ask a waiter to take our drinks order. They promised to “send someone over”. After another 5 minutes a lovely waitress arrived and took both our drinks...

Went because our friend is vegan & the website had vegan options. Website showed onion rings as vegan but table menu did not - we asked the waitress & she really didn’t have much of a clue & really didn’t seem to care. Apparently the...

Summary: Staff insufficiently trained to handle food allergies, aggressive manager who treated a customer with allergies as an inconvenience, inflexible and inconsiderate Allergy Policy. I had a very challenging experience at this Giraffe restaurant last Saturday evening. My waitress was polite, but insufficiently trained to...

We had veggie breakfast (£11!) and child’s pizza. Both grim - cheap ingredients, cooked and presented in a slapdash way. Pizza soggy and oily, veggie breakfast plate swimming in a layer of tangy water from the over-vinegared poached eggs. Yuck. Just yuck. I just can’t...

Crayons all over the floor, food all over the floor and black stains on the sofa and dirty all over the sofa and really smelly toilets

Long brown hair in my Caesar salad (my family and I all have short blonde hair), toilet blocked and overflowing with wee, stale nachos. Yuk!

Food was good and the cocktails a good price. However, we had to ask for everything, Where's the missing food, cutlery, sugar, drinks. At one point I asked one of the several waiters who'd been serving us for something and he just replied 'I'm on...

Horrible experience!! I booked it a month in advance a table for 4 families ( so with kids) at 13:30, we arrived 10 min before to the booking and my table wasn't ready so they asked me to wait. 10 minutes later we show up...

After a positive experience in January 2022, we were looking forward to eating here. Took a long time to be served while some staff standing doing nothing & all looked like they didn’t want to be there. We had to ask again to give our...

Very disappointing visit, restaurant has gone down hill since last went a few years back. Jam - packed tables, stressed over-worked staff, tiny food portions, average food quality and very overpriced. My burger and fries wasn't much bigger than the kids meal and when i...

Service was friendly but slow. Pudding took a long time to come. Food wasn’t great. The chicken wing starter was nice enough. The halloumi was over cooked and for some unknown reason they deep fried the flatbread! Horrible. Burger mains were ok. My chicken kebab...

Painful. Slow service. Helpful but not actually interested in helping staff. Food not in any ways the quality Giraffe portray or that anyone can be bothered to take pride in. Struggled to make the best of a bad job. Menu is so reduced and the...

A catch up with friends, with Southbank a convenient location. Booked in advice which was good as the restaurant was busy. Menu options were good. And that is where the good experience stopped. Service was slow, and not very friendly. Food was ok without being...

Staff offered freebies in exchange for 5* reviews – 75% of our party accepted. In truth the food came fast, was good, and included a gluten-free menu.

We were shown to our table and asked to e moved away from the door. My friend had the burger and I had the chicken katsu curry. Both were nice. The service was quick

I went with a friend for dinner. We were ignored by the waitstaff for a long time, before my friend went to the maitre d' and politely asked to be waited on. The portions were tiny and the service was terrible. Never again!

Great food, excellent server, and convenient location. Exactly what we needed for a small, friendly catch up with 6 friends. Delicious strawberry smash mocktail drink too.

This is our second visit to giraffe - the last time was on catching an early flight out of Heathrow on a family holiday where we enjoyed a feast at bout 6 am - more than 10 years ago. We live in Gloucestershire and there...

We visited late afternoon. The temperature outside was 28°C. The water and cold drink were served at room temperature. Ice cubes were provided when we asked. Service was quick. Fish and chips were okay. Caesar salad plus £2 extra for halloumi, only included 2 slices...

I used to go to Giraffe at the South Bank regularly ten years ago and used to love it, so I thought it would be nice to go this week on my trip to London. I couldn’t believe how much it had changed. I was...

Despite a sticky table we had a good brunch here with a three generation family. Friendly helpful staff and quick food service. Great spot on the Southbank with indoor or pity seating options. Clean toilets.

I went there for a quick dinner with a friend. Not that much choice on the menu for vegan. Meal was decent, fair value for the money in central London location

This was the second time I came to this restaurant! The first time it was great, the service, the food everything! What was my amazement this time, on vacation in London I wanted to go to this restaurant of which I kept a good memory,...

One of our party has coeliac’s and cannot eat gluten. We checked with the restaurant staff and they said that the chips weren’t gluten free but the burger and bun were.. We therefore ordered without the chips but requested a gluten-free burger. The server then...

Breakfast here was awful, unless you enjoy an over cooked breakfast, plus the toast comes over butter with not choice of doing so yourself.

Called in for breakfast and should have turned around when we noticed there was only 1 table with food on it. Took forever to take our order then the food came out 5 mins apart (only 2 of us) mine arrived cold. Asked for the...

We chose this restaurant as one of our party had eaten there before and he is very fussy,we were seated very quickly as a party of 6 but were moved as we could not have a high chair at the end of the table.The table...

Called here on Sunday morning for breakfast and was really pleased. Sat outside and plenty of space and tables in a nice relaxed atmosphere. Eggs benedict were great and tasty and plenty o vegan options. Coffee and drinks came straight away and the service was...

Amazing food and drinks. once we ordered 5min later our food came out and it was delicious. if your coming from the states I would definitely recommend it!

The only reason why this place get any stars st all, is because our waitress was supersweet! The food was not warm, the portions very small, the smoothie was lumpy - and EVERYTHING was extremely overpriced. Portions were so small, only our 2 year old...

This restaurant chain, particularly it's menu WAS great. It's drastically gone downhill. The menu seems to have been cut by a 3rd of what it was. Lacks the Veggie and Vegan choices it once had. They were out of stock with two drinks that were...

Went for breakfast today and can honestly say was underwhelmed by the food. I had the Moroccan Breakfast and whilst it was ok there was little in the way of figs or hazelnuts. But tasted ok. Hubby had the strawberry and cream pancakes high should...

We absolute love Giraffe as a chain usually but this was our first experience of the southbank restaurant and it was really disappointing. The cocktails were really unpleasant (essentially just soda water), the food was really bland and tasteless and the service was pretty slow...