The Great Court Restaurant at the British Museum in Camden

Decided to have afternoon tea here The tea is great .. the food also delicious. Comparing ... I do think you lose some of the mystique when contrasting with the environment of a classic English hotel. Otherwise, a solid choice.

The restaurant is very beautiful, and the service staff is friendly. You can book tickets together when booking tickets to Great Britain online, and you will get a slight discount. The special pork roll of the day is a bit too salty, the side dishes are delicious, and the desserts are also delicious! When you’re tired of visiting the museum, it’s a good time to enjoy some delicious food!

Had a lovely time, food was excellent, the restaurant had a fantastic atmosphere. We were served by Claudia she was a fantastic waitress and she was very accommodating to all of our allergies. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone.

had a lovely tea time, service was quick and friendly, would definitely come back!

This is an excellent location for afternoon tea if you're already spending a day at the British museum and are looking for a more laid back tea experience. Definitely book your spot ahead of time, especially if you're coming on a weekend. Several people ahead of us in line had not booked and were turned away. The tea and food were pretty much excellent (though we thought the roast beef one was a little bland). Come hungry, because they give you a lot of food. Our server was very nice, but it was a little challenging to get her attention when we needed to. The only thing we weren't fond of was the atmosphere. Since the restaurant sits just above the great court, and is open-aired, it can get quite loud in there. But, overall we had a great time, and I would definitely do afternoon tea here again!

I normally don’t leave reviews, but the food here was truly exceptional! Every dish was beautifully prepared, packed with flavor, and exceeded my expectations. Huge compliments to the chefs for their amazing work. I’ll definitely be back!

Great setting and the service and food were first class. A fantastic ending to our London trip.

We enjoyed a fabulous family lunch before visiting the museum and celebrated a birthday too! Lovely touch to receive a complimentary birthday treat - really made my daughters day! Very friendly and efficient service and the food was devine

I came here for the afternoon tea and the service was great. The manager was very attentive and regularly checked that everything was okay and if we needed anything. Would definitely go again

singlehandedly the best place I have been in London 💯 amazing customer service, fantastic! 🙏❤️

Best food in my life would highly recommend! Would definitely come again!

I recently had lunch at The Great Court Restaurant, and it was such a great experience! The atmosphere was cozy yet elegant. But what really made it stand out was the amazing service, especially from our server. Maisha was so friendly and welcoming, and she made sure we were taken care of the entire time. She had great suggestions for the menu and made sure everything came out just right. It’s rare to find someone who’s not only professional but also genuinely warm. The food was delicious, and I’ll be telling all my friends about it too.

Beautiful setting, varied dishes, impeccable service

Everything was so lovely i really enjoyed

Great experience for tea time. The decor was cute and the food was good - tart, the tiramisu, egg & curry chicken sandwiches, AND the scones! Was not expecting the service charge but it wasn’t too bad.

The seats are very dirty, and the glasses were dirty also. Considering the location and prices it was very underwhelming. The tea is weak, early grey bag in a pot. No ramekan for the cream with the Cream Tea. Would not recommend it to anyone considering all the great locations nearby.

Amazing service, had an unforgettable experience with the afternoon. Very friendly hostess and lovely waiter

The staff exuded unfriendliness and looked tired, it was towards the end of the shift after all. The only justification for this I find is the fatigue of the insufficient number of staff and probably the poor pay.

Couldn’t tell you how the food is. You need reservations but the restaurant is half empty.

The service was quite slow; we had to ask three times for a bottle of tap water, which arrived more than 30 minutes after we were seated. One of the cups had a unpleasant odor, and while the plates were aesthetically pleasing, one had a sticky stain. The food was decent, and the ambiance was nice, though the place was quite busy, as expected.

Can't believe we paid £72 (£36pp on line pre booked) for the equivalent of 2 sandwiches a a few bitesize cakes. The sandwiches were obviously pre prepared and kept in the fridge as they were cold and hard. The cakes and scones were good. We chose coffee instead of tea and slugged another £8 when we asked for a 2nd cup. Hello, for £72 you could at least do a coffe top up. The coffee was really good though. So with the £5 per person museum donation and the service charge we were welll out of pocket £100. Staff were lovely, helpful and service was great. Hope staff are paid well. Personally I felt ripped off. This was my first British afternoon tea and I expected something a little special...learnt my lesson.

The attitude of the staff was not very good and the table had stains on it. The food was delicious, but when I asked for a refill of tea, I was served something brewed in a used tea bag. I regret paying so much for afternoon tea.

Very quick and friendly service (I went on a Monday lunchtime). I used the 2 course meal for £26 that you can book through the museum. The trifle was the best thing I ate; everything else was beautifully presented but not amazing to my subjective taste. Nice ceiling view; very spacious

It was a strange experience. The starters were a disaster (we were 3 people). But the main dishes were very good. However, I found it very expensive due to this difference in quality.

came for lunch with the family at a friends recommendation and I must say, expectations were exceeded. Service was fast and friendly, the food amazing too, with the afternoon tea being a highlight. everybody loved the scones and pastries, which we were told are made fresh in house. and cant forget the view!

Poor experience. Service was slow, was misled by the sever on the size of the starters that led to wasted food and more money spent. Starter portions were quite large and when asked about this prior to ordering was told they were typical starter size.

Really expensive, food was not great. Sandwiches felt a bit stale and like they’d been sitting out. Coffee sizes absolutely tiny for the price. The quality of the food and amount just isn’t what you’d expect for £40 per portion for the afternoon tea, wouldn’t recommend at all.

First afternoon tea of my life. The food was delicious and the scones amazing. Also the atmosphere was super nice as well as the service. Super recommended 😊

Food tastes good enough. Tea set is in one-person size and so far so good.

It's inside the British Museum, so you can wear casual clothes, which is very helpful ☺️ The afternoon tea was also quite casual, but I enjoyed the well-balanced taste overall, and just looking at the wonderful British-designed tableware gave me a wonderful feeling 💓 The museum was very crowded due to summer vacation, but this space was very relaxing ✨

Great service, fast food time, lovely atmosphere for the restaurant.

The food was very delicious but the receptionist was kind of rude when she told us we were over time and when my mum specifically said the food was late she said that it was “impossible” for it to have been late in an hour plus she was staring at my parents so intently and told us that we had to leave in 5 mins since she thought there were no tables at least I think so. But there was LITERALLY a table right next to us, I don’t know what her exact problem is but I do know that nothing is “impossible” such as the food being late like it’s a normal thing. However, the waiters were very nice. And so was the food. Please try the kids pasta if you go. And try the desserts too.

It was my first trip to England and I was looking forward to afternoon tea here. The tea was delicious and the scones were also very good. However, I experienced racial discrimination from a black-haired female store clerk, which left me in despair. Even though I made eye contact with the female staff member, she went out of her way to stop by another seat, asked with a smile, "Is it delicious?", then came to my seat with no expression on her face, and simply left me without any explanation about the afternoon tea set. I feel very sorry that there are people who discriminate against others. Everyone at the other tourist spots I visited was kind, but the staff here had a discriminatory attitude. I recommend having afternoon tea somewhere other than here so that other Asians don't feel uncomfortable.

We had our first proper afternoon tea and it was very good.

Tasty food, great staff and very nice atmosphere.

We had made a verbal reservation for 2 p.m. at 12:30 p.m. (The woman at the entrance had also asked us the name and it looked like she had made an entry on the laptop.) When we came back at 2 p.m. we were told by the same woman that she was Although we were reminded that we had not made a reservation. We were completely perplexed and I still can't explain what the "misunderstanding" was. The woman at the entrance didn't let us talk about it and was very dismissive towards us. Therefore only one star.

The museum atrium restaurant is where you can dine and have a cup of coffee when you are tired of shopping. It is recommended to make a reservation in advance, as there are many people queuing up on site.

To be frank, particularly for the price and the esteemed location, the afternoon tea was appalling. It was all dry, sandwiches had the tiniest filling in them. The deserts were clearly mass produced and bought in (suspect it all was to be fair), they were bland at best with no real appeal visually or to taste, your mouth just gets clogged up and you get bored of chewing. If you buy afternoon tea online make sure you are prepared with evidence as the staff take your booking but clearly know nothing about who's paid in advance and who hasn't. That said, the location is beautiful, the tea and drinks were very nice and it's something to do whilst browsing the fantastic museum. If you're a tourist looking for an afternoon tea experience, you'll struggle to do worse than this. It's not authentic, it's not good food, and you can get better far cheaper.

Booked the afternoon tea… maybe I don’t know what to expect, but nothing we ate stood out to me at all. The tea was nice (no tongs for sugar though) and the restaurant is beautiful, but the museum was very warm and stuffy on the 3rd level and sitting for a prolonged period of time was not comfortable. We were not checked on at all after receiving the tea, but the hostess was professional and friendly. The female bathrooms were awful. These were located on the second floor which is accessible from the restaurant. Unfortunately, they were better than those on the ground floor. The sandwiches had very dry rough edges and were soggy in the middle as though they had been prepared waaaaaay in advance. Like something I’d eaten in kindergarten. They also had little bits of egg salad and chicken salad that had gone onto the other sandwiches which I didn’t like (changes the flavor of each sandwich). The scones and cream were ok. The desserts were nothing to write home about, but the carrot cake and lemon meringue were ok. I was really disappointed and wished I had made reservations elsewhere. At 40£ a person, maybe order something else off the menu, or go to a more highly recommended tea room.

Title: Delightful Lunch Experience! Review: I had a wonderful lunch at the Great Court Restaurant at the British Museum today. The chicken dish was delicious, the crème brûlée tart was a perfect dessert, and the soda and cappuccino complemented the meal nicely. The service was excellent, with polite and accommodating staff, and the upbeat mood added to the experience. Though the price was a bit high, the overall experience was well worth it. Highly recommend!

Nice place, nice service, nice meals, what else? Need to book a table before, come 20mn before cause of security checkpoints to access the museum.

Food was bland and service is slow. If you’re going to recycle the sugar cubes from another table, maybe don’t do it in clear view of the customers? I would understand covered condiments and such but those sugars have been sitting out! Toss them and give people fresh ones! Afternoon tea is supposed to feel luxurious and not cheap! Only upside is being inside the museum, but I cannot really recommend this place.

The museum laments that British tea is so enjoyable! Delicious refreshments 👍🌹

I wanted to go to afternoon tea and went without making a reservation, but I couldn't get in as they were fully booked, so I made a reservation the next day and visited again. This time I had cream tea instead of afternoon tea. You can choose from multiple types of black tea, and drink as much as three teacups. The tableware and teacups were beautiful and pleasing to the eye. The scones I was looking forward to came out cold and were too dry for me, so I had to eat just one...(It's a set of two) The scones I had at another cafe were definitely better. I was really looking forward to the authentic cream tea, so I was a little disappointed.

After waiting for almost an hour, no food was served at my table. People nearby had finished their meal at the same time. After asking the staff twice, my food finally served. It really wasted my time. I am not going to come again.

Cream tea was perfect but there's one female staff who is a racist. She took orders except mine. She ignored me when I said "EXCUSE ME!" after several times we had eye contacts and she ignored them. Yes I am Asian woman. I'll never ever visit this place unless she works. Unfortunately(for her) I live in UK and I have many guest who would like to come.

Gotta give five stars. Food was a 4.5 but the staff is very polite and helpful. Totally recommend. Oh and the scones are heavenly

I went in for afternoon tea. The taste was average, but the scones were very tasty. I think it's worth taking advantage of the luxurious afternoon tea inside the British Museum and taking a break after walking.

There was no English Breakfast Tea for us to have, which is ridiculous when the product we want is TEA This Birthday treat for my 82 year old dad was spoiled because of this. My complaining to the waiter about this and also a very chipped plate was met with contempt as ‘it was not his problem’. I should have complained to the Manager but my father didn’t want me to. The food was ok. We liked the cakes. The bread and scones were dry to meThe sandwich fillings were good. I know the price for a cream tea in London is reasonable here, but there is lots to improve on. A British tradition at the British Museum should have pleased an 82 year old.

Service is top notch! I really enjoyed our waitress Claudia and her colleague Sadie :)

I love Sadie Mae Wilcox and Claudia Zoetmulder, amazing service from both of them. Queens.

Best to reserve over weekends to avoid disappointment. I had opted for fish and seafood and it was amazing. The catch felt fresh and the accompaniment was healthy. The starters were amazing. It was a warm day and they served freshly prepared lemonade as well. Service was excellent despite the busy hours. Would have preferred the normal panna cotta (rather than yoghurt). The only thing they can improve on is coffee. Would have preferred artisan or local brew.

My friend and I enjoyed our meal. It was a fresh and light meal. Thanks 🙏 and the place was fantastic!

A simply delicious afternoon tea in an exceptional location. A real pleasure

The afternoon tea was incredible.

This was a really delightful and unique place to have afternoon tea in London! Do plan ahead and make a reservation in advance as it can get busy. It was a terrific break and I had tea as my lunch, after I spent the morning walking around the museum. I loved the Burleigh china service and the selection of sandwiches and petite desserts was nice. The sandwiches seemed a bit nicer than the desserts. I am a vegetarian and they easily adjusted the sandwiches to meet my needs. The Lea Valley cucumber with the black truffle crème fraiche and the Portland crab with why the dill and seaweed mayonnaise were both lovely and tasty. The scones with Devonshire cream and jam were delicious. Of the desserts, the Guinness black velvet cake was the most delicious. The Yorkshire rhubarb and strawberry tart tasted lovely but was an odd color—the filling was a bit brown and unappealing. I didn’t like the carrot and quinoa cake or the English sweet green pea and lemon cake the flavors and textures seemed a little off to me. Tea at the Great Court Restaurant probably falls between four and five stars as the desserts could be better. Service was good and polite but did slow down as they got busier. However, the location is outstanding and very convenient if you are going to have a morning/afternoon at the museum anyway.

Went to this place for afternoon tea last year when we visited London, the experience was not as nice. food and the tea was ok, didn’t enjoy the service, it’s a rather busy restaurant, we waited quite a while to order to get additional utensils and I had to leave my seat to find a waiter for our bill because no one was around for at least 15, 20 mins. and the worse part is that even there are plenty of room/ space behind where I seat I got bumped into by the staff THREE times to the point that I think it was intentional( I moved closer to the table each time I got bumped yet still get bumped again )

Very good afternoon tea in this superb place. The service is impeccable and the waitresses charming. Book in advance!

It's a beautiful place to eat and the staff is great. Their afternoon tea leaves a little to be desired, they serve tea in a bag, and some of the buns taste industrial. They don't have a gluten free afternoon tea option, they do have a vegetarian option but instead of giving sandwiches they give small tacos... it's not the same. Lunch is fine and if you are gluten free and vegetarian they don't have many options. I recommend it for the site and the experience, not so much for the food.

Ignore the negativity, the afternoon tea in the Great Court is fabulous. The tiered finger sandwich, scones & cakes were super fresh and tasty. I defy anyone to be able to eat it all!

The location was right inside the British museum so get ready yo stand in line to get in, so plan your timing to restaurant accordingly. We did high tea experience here. No customization on sandwiches and the bakery items were just okay. Tea itself was pretty normal. Just did for experience and it was good place to take a break during long touring of the museum.

The bread for the afternoon tea was dry which spoiled the sandwiches. The rest was fine, but dry bread isn't what you would expect in a special tea and the price.

Frederica and Jacob what a two jems. Great service, great food!!!

Fantastic location, great food!!!

Great service would easily recommend to anyone will definitely be coming back!

We took the Afternoon Tea, delicious very rich and the staff is very nice ❤️

Avoid if you can. One of the worst restaurants I've been to in London. The food doesn’t taste like anything. The portions are small and WAY overpriced. The service that we had was lousy. Waited for 10 minutes for water after reminding the waitress about it 3 times. She was too busy chatting with other colleagues. Barley risotto looked more like a soup, than a risotto, and the taste was bland. The fish in Fish & Chips had about a dozen of bones in it. All the sauces were under the chips, so the chips were soggy and not crisp. The salmon main dish was the size of a tablespoon and was overcooked. Next time when we're in the museum, we'll try Pizzeria. Surely it can't be as bad as this place.

Afternoon tea was good for the price. I really like the scones. They were buttery and and not dry at all. I also enjoyed their hot chocolate that came with the afternoon tea. Service was good although a little slow. Doesn’t seem like they have enough staff for the area. I like their other entrees as well. We ordered the duck leg and the ribeye and they were both great (even though they were pricey). It’s definitely a pricey restaurant for its portion size and quality, but it’s really convenient since you can get lunch and check out the museum after

I ate lunch on 31 Jan 2024. Dreadful fish, dreadful chips messy plate with lemon sitting in the sauce. Apple Crisp was horrible mess of nothing.This used to be a restaurant with good food. There has to be a new chep. Fire that person immediately.

great discovery of a British style vegan afternoon tea inside a wonderful museum.

Food bland and tasteless. Sauce overtly salty. Women's toilet used by men openly, dirty with urine all over the seat with occasional droplets of blood.

My boyfriend and I wanted to eat sth after all the walk inside the museum and the worst mistake we had was to eat here. He got a sandwich+dessert+drink promo that made him so sick we had to miss the experiences and money of our booked tickets for the rest of our visit in London. The meat used was in bad conditions and intoxicated him. He hasn’t stop vomiting since then. Very poor conditions of the quality of the food. We lost our tickets to the Nutcracker that was so important for us, supposed to be my birthday gift, and the wembley stadium tour. Really upset, disappointed and sad for this.

First time in London and first time having tea service. The food was very very good. The clotted cream and scone were the best bite of the day. We did experience some difficulty with staff. It could have been avoided if I had known I would need the reservation/receipt for the prepaid tea service either printed or on my phone. Since I didn’t have a roaming data plan and the wifi at the museum was bogged down, it took awhile to download the attachment/pdf receipt. In hindsight I should have screen shot it (as I did with the tickets), but I truly thought they would have my reservation information by using my last name. They weren’t super friendly about it so I get the feeling it happens a lot. Lesson learned. The tea service was very touristy but I highly recommend it.

It was pretty busy. I would recommend making a reservation before visiting the museum if you have control what time you will be there. If not you may want to head to the restaurant first when you enter the museum to get a reservation slot for 1-2h later in the future and go through the exhibit. The the reservation time will be a good chance to sit down and rest.

We were bravely turned away by a rather unfriendly “host” who insisted that eventhough the place was at 40% capacity, all tables would be filled within the next 30 minutes. I found that rather hard to believe but fine. It did make me not want to eat or spend anything at the British museum which is rather unfortunate. A good deterrent vs having too many customers though.

A pleasant location for lunch whilst visiting the Museum. Menu is ok. Food we had was very good. Although, I’m not sure tartar sauce hidden underneath the chips and the fish is the best way present the fish accompaniment. Sadly our waitress Claudia wasn’t very attentive. Happier chatting with the chefs and fellow colleagues than serving on tables. She was ‘transactional’ in her demeanour than friendly. She needs more training in customer service. To top it all a 10% service charge is automatically added and the receipt states ( that’s after you’ve paid !) the service charge is optional. So there no motivation for Claudia to be any different is there?

Really disappointed, quality of products, frozen fries, very compact cake, and an incredible price for what is offered!

Truly perfectly prepared. Served piping hot delicious, lovely sauce and flavors… JUST Right! Thank you 🙏 staff, proprietors chefs servers and excellent service specifically by Sergiu! Bravo 👏what a lovely place to enjoy such Royal ambiance.

The place would be an ideal choice for enjoying a quintessential afternoon tea experience or a three-course lunch within the stunning British Museum atmosphere. The Afternoon Tea menu offers a selection of sandwiches, scones with Cornish clotted cream and Wilkin & Sons Tip tree strawberry jam, and delicate cakes along with the choice of flavored tea/Prosecco.

il faut réserver, service parfait. Plat chaud et bon. On mange à l étage sous l acropole

Afternoon tea was average and quite expensive. Good advice to buy three sets for five people. Noisy setting due to the domed roof of the British Museum. Do NOT go for times after 3 PM as the staff leaves at 4 PM and it is no longer possible to make additional orders.

Maybe if I had something different from fish & chips, I could've had a chance of having something that is actually tasty.

在大英博物館內的餐廳，傳統英式茶，加上一份特別的點心，服務生有效率也很貼心。

This was a great restaraunt at the British Museum. My favorite part was the lemonade and the Brocollini and Chicken. Together, that was a wonderful experience. Only downside is the noise, which makes since for such a big tourist attraction.

Friendly welcoming atmosphere with attentive service from the waiting team, the afternoon tea cakes are pretty damn cute. Great wine and cheeseboard 👌

Nice place to chill. Didnt need a lunch reservation.

Great ambiance and setting. Very polite and attentive staff, food was well presented and affordable. Definitely will go back.

Great food, amazing coffees, fantastic service

Really good restaurant. Afternoon tea really worth the money .

Beautiful cream tea enjoyed in a lovely setting. The staff were very friendly too!

Ristorante nel mezzo del muses, ottimo cibo e personable accommodate

"My experience at the British Museum BENUGO’s restaurant was truly delightful. I opted for the 3 courses meal and also indulged in the afternoon tea. Each dish was a burst of flavors, but the lemon tart stood out with its perfect balance of sweetness and citrusy notes. Furthermore, the variety of options and the quality of the food exceeded my expectations. The reasonable pricing makes the experience even more satisfying. I highly recommend this venue for anyone seeking an exceptional culinary experience in the cultural heart of London."

Amaising Afternoon Tea service, really worth the money and really good service.

Super great space and great service, so handy for the museum and good value compared to the area.

The food was delicious, service was great!

It remains an extraordinary place to eat. Besides the beautiful museum, this place in the vast atrium is also a place to be overwhelmed. And the food, too, actually delivers. It is a nice change between traditional English choices and some modern ones—more than worth a stop.

That’s nice to have a lunch on Saturday.

We were a group of 3 that came here recently for afternoon tea. I love that their afternoon tea is £30 for one serving and that was plenty for us to share. And we just got extra tea pots. We didn’t want to be filled up with too much afternoon tea stuff if we each got a tray. You can add additional items as you like. I would highly recommend this place for afternoon tea.

Ferme à 15h ! Personnel fainéant... dommage, l'endroit est beau, la déco réussie. Mais malheureusement, quand le client-touriste est captif, on en abuse assez honteusement.

13/9/2023. London with Leng Great court restaurant is big, we booked high tea together with museum tickets 2 weeks before. The service is great, handsome waiter checking us out a few times if everything was alright. The sandwiches must have been laid out on trays too long, the bread is dry . The fillings are unusual to us, interesting. The scones are also cold. It would be nice to heat up a bit just before serving.