Kingston Lodge Hotel London, Kingston Upon Thames in Kingston upon Thames

Only one Barista, so service a bit slow

Worst buffet in a long time. Dried up rice , little taste in the foods , not much choice , only 2 desserts. Weekday lunchtime , cheaper , waste of money . Not coming back. Scores On The Doors Official Food Hygiene Regulations - this joint scores only 3 out of 5. Good places score 4 or 5 out of 5.

Ibby the manager recommended the quick munch bowl. Lovely food. Hidden gem in Bradford. Absolute legend.

The Antelope is a large, comfortable, classically furnished pub, with a spacious garden. Good meals, eclectic range of music, all on vinyl and is staffed by lovely, friendly people and attracts a broad variety of custom. They sell a wide selection of interesting and ever changing beers, plus beers from Big Smoke's own brewery in Esher. Always a nice experience! This is a comment about Big Smoke, as opposed to the pub: I've keenly supported Big Smoke pubs and beers since they began, but I've not had the same enthusiasm since they ruined one of their best beers- Solaris Pale, a couple of years ago. Without dissecting the flavour profile, it was a wonderful beer, with huge popularity, so surprising they could give up on it, it always featured on my visits to Big Smoke pubs. The replacement for it is a totally different beer style; I couldn't get on with it and felt it was inferior and having chatted with many others, of varying tastes, ages etc, this seems to be the general consensus! I think their reasoning was something to with being quite an expensive and operationally more complicated beer to produce, for what it was and incongruous with the American type pales, they were mostly brewing. Still- Non-sensical, given the massive quantities they were turning over! Ultimately, it's their business model but what really annoyed me was the continued use of the name. Having built up a massive following and they having put a lot of money into the branding and copyright of the name, they didn't want to give it up. However, I think to continue using an established and loved brand, to sell a totally different product is quite dishonest and misleading to customers! Sorry for the rant but that's why I'm not as into Big Smoke as I once was!

Tastes like my friends mum used to make, this type of authenticity is so hard to find in London.