Route 52 Cafe in Kingston upon Thames

excellent little cafe good food great service very friendly nice prices really clean and a 5 star rating

I decided to stop here for lunch before starting work in Tolworth as there didn't seem to be much available other than cafés down The Broadway. Since this one was the only one that didn't appear to be a greasy spoon, I picked this place over the others. While I wasn't expecting this place to be anything great, it didn't even manage to be average. The food is cooked to order here, which could be considered a good thing, but there does seem to be a significantly long wait time as a 20 minute wait in a practically empty café for a toastie is rather slow. The menu consists mostly of various kinds of sandwiches, although there are a few other items available as well such as breakfasts, soups, burgers, hot dogs and cakes amongst other things. Aside from normal sandwiches, things such as toasties and ciabattas are also available. Despite looking more like a diner in appearance, they also sell a variety of hot and cold drinks like you would find a in a typical coffee shop. While the menu here is pretty large for this sort of place, a number of the sandwiches on the menu are incredibly similar, with only minor changes being made between a number of them. Since sandwiches seem to be this place's forte, I opted for the breakfast toastie along with a strawberry milkshake. The milkshake's here are made with ice cream and they are incredibly thick, being almost as thick as pure ice cream. This led me to believe that very little milk is used during their creation. Despite the café's claim that no pre-packaged items of food are used, the ice cream almost certainly was. This tasted no different from budget strawberry ice cream, which meant that my milkshake was rather bland and the flavour didn't really like like strawberry, or even your usual strawberry ice cream at all. The consistency seemed quite smooth, but this was more than likely due to the use of a little milk during the creation of the milkshake. The inclusion of the milk, despite not much being used, can't have been a good thing for the already bland flavour either. The breakfast toastie contains egg, bacon, cheese, tomato and red onion. It also comes with a side of baked beans, although I replaced these with coleslaw. The bread on this wasn't particularly good as it had only been lightly toasted, with it only having been very lightly toasted, making it closer to bread than toast. There was far too much cheese used in relation to the other ingredients, which sadly meant that this was all you could taste unless you deliberately separated the other ingredients. The cheese was pretty average as far as cheese goes and there wasn't really anything noteworthy about it. The egg was pretty good as far as egg goes, with this egg remaining light and fluffy, despite having been cooked inside a toastie. Understandably, the yolk was hard rather than runny though, but there was still a nice flavour from it as well as the white. The bacon was also pretty good. It had been chopped up into small chunks and these had been cooked so that they turned slightly hard, which seemed to result in them having a good amount of flavour. Unfortunately the positives ended there, as the salad inside the toastie was really bad. The tomato was extremely watery and it didn't seem to have any taste whatsoever. Meanwhile the onion also had no flavour, despite the fact that it was red onion. I really like red onion as it usually has a strong flavour, so I was really surprised by how bland it was here. The coleslaw on the side wasn't up to much either. While the mayonnaise tasted really pleasant, being somewhat sweet, the cabbage was really hard, which really spoiled the enjoyment of the flavour that the mayonnaise gave. While not all of the cabbage was like this, the vast majority of it was. There was no problem with the carrots inside the coleslaw but, unlike the cabbage, there wasn't much of this inside. I had something of a mixed opinion about the service here. Instead of placing food menus at the tables, they are in a stack on the counter and they aren't immediately noticeable. I had to ask where they were upon arrival in order to look through one. The lady behind the counter seemed really polite and friendly and both members of staff had no problem replacing the baked beans, which usually come with the breakfast toastie, for something else. This might not be much, but some other places don't allow for any deviation from the menu and if you don't like something, you simply have to go without. Fortunately that isn't the case here, which is undoubtedly a positive. Unlike some cafés though, you are required to pay for your order up front at the till, although they do take your order to you, rather than making you collect it from the counter. As I only had 20 minutes before I ideally had to leave, I asked how long it would take for my food to be prepared. I was told that it would take 10 minutes as all of the food here is cooked to order. Since the remaining ten minutes was enough time for me to eat my meal, I went ahead with my order. However, the food ended up taking 20 minutes arrive, which is twice as long as I was originally told. This seems like an incredibly long time to prepare a toastie to me, particularly since only one other customer was waiting for a food order at the time, which was a bowl of soup. The wait wouldn't have been so bad if I was informed that it was going to take longer, but I didn't even receive as much as an apology for the delay. I was considering leaving for a while before it finally arrived, although eventually it arrived just in the nick of time. The prices here seem pretty average for this sort of establishment, with my breakfast toastie being around £5, while the other items I looked at on the menu, such as the burger were similarly priced appropriately. A side of chips costs £1.50, which is about what you would expect to pay. The drinks here are priced closer to £3 than they are £2, but this is also fairly standard for a café these days. Despite the fact that I felt my toastie was appropriately priced, I didn't feel that my milkshake was priced appropriately at all. This was entirely down to portion size. The milkshakes come in two different sizes, which are regular and large. I had ordered a large one, with the price difference only being 20p more. However, when the glass came out it was noticeably smaller than what would even be a regular sized one practically anywhere else. Due to this, there is definitely very poor value money to be found in the milkshakes here, particularly since they used such poor quality ice cream as well. This place seems to have gone for something of an American diner look, with various state flags, number plates and album covers adorning the walls. I'm not sure why they've gone for this look though, as the menu doesn't fit this theme at all. Perhaps the menu has changed here since it originally opened, but they have decided to keep the theme as it is. There are around ten tables in total, with seating being available outside. Most of the tables are designed for two though, while some are also designed for drinking at rather than eating, since these tables are much shorter, being close to the ground. The seating area towards the back of the café seemed to be quite crowded, with a larger table here taking up most of the space, while other tables are cramped in around it. The back area was also lit rather poorly and it was rather dark, unlike the rest of the café, which enjoyed the sunlight coming in from the outside.

Food and service is always fab. Generous portions and nice atmosphere. So child friendly too. A little hidden gem. It's the bar against which my children judge other places to eat.

I love this place the staff are so friendly and the food is always fresh, the tables and chairs are set out nicely and are cushioned so you eat in comfort... This is a diamond standard cafe so 5 stars all the way.. Plus those milkshake yum yum..

Excellent pot of tea and toastie shared with partner, whilst waiting for audio/sat navigation to be upgraded at SATNAV Surbiton.

Cannot fault this place visit it on a regular occasion on lunch from work, food is always nice beats any other place in tolworth! And the owners are lovely and friendly also! Definitely would recommend :)

I Come to route 52 on a daily basis for lunch. Spot on every time and would recommend to anyone looking for lovely breakfast/ lunch

This was a real surprise. Wonderful service, great choices. The ciabatta was superb and beautifully presented. Will certainly visit again when I'm next in the area.

Very nice little cade with friendly staff and excellent food. The Spanish Omelette looked excellent (I will have it next time) but the Panini and Ciabatta sandwiches are first rate. I will definitely keep this little place in mind next time I am in Tolworth.