The Place to Eat in Kingston upon Thames

Went here for a coffee. Stood at till to be served. Two staff at till. One showing the other something on till. Stood for ages to be served not one of them said sorry to keep you waiting or even noted that I was there. Then someone came behind me in queue someone from the back appeared and served him.i am still waiting. I left without being served. Staff very rude. Won't go back here.

You had to go one side for a tuna roll which was mainly doughy bread and not much filling. Lukewarm coffee. Then go the other side for a small piece of cake at an expensive cost. We will not go again

Lovely cafe in the heart of John Lewis, great for meeting friends for a cup of something (and sharing a slice of very generously sized cake!)

Really inefficient staff at the very busy tea and cake counter. Prime time on a Saturday. Come on guys, when there is a John Lewis reward offer for free tea and cake, why not use both sides of the servers and tell your staff to stop falling over each other and huffing, and get on with serving. Not impressed to see the tall young guy wiping his brow with the back of his hand, then using the same hand to serve cake to a previous customer; the young man with a reddish beard getting in everyone’s way, breathing heavily all over the counter: and the young lady with a dark bob trying her best but having to deal with dirty cups and saucers right in front of the till. Terrible

Such a shame, cakes, scones, everything on hand for a lovely break from shopping. RUINED by inefficient staff. Waited for ages to move through the queue of about eight people. Nobody knew what to do, except perhaps two young ladies. This is always like this. Please JL get it sorted.

Well, this was a surprise. Weak, tepid coffee, really poor service (lots of staff but they were all talking about how soon they could leave and managed to ignore the queue of 6 people for an age). Dirty tables; we could only sit looking at the river by cleaning one ourselves first. The spray and dirty cloth were handily set out close by. We used the spray with some napkins in full view of staff, no-one came to help or apologise. Our salad and wrap were tasty, but the staff were far too obviously interested in going home, and this was with plenty of other people who came behind us. By the time we had finished our meals, there were about 40 people there, at 4pm on a Monday, surely the staff should be used to serving at this time of day?

Expected a moister chocolate cake and wasn’t any option for a takeaway either which was disappointing. Other than that quite a lot of options with plenty of seating too.

Mid week lunch and although was early food was lukewarm. I really cannot understand how it is that John Lewis has managed to get awful reviews for the last four or five years all on the same theme of poor service and even worse food. I had what was described as a steak and ale pie it should’ve been named gravy pie as the meat was sorely lacking and the pie was served with awful red cabbage and pureed glutinous mash. Why the management cannot see that after receiving 50% Poor and awful reviews that something drastic needs to be done to improve the standard of this restaurant. It was not very busy unlike the store and maybe the main attraction is the view of the Thames certainly not the food or the staff.

Visited for dinner at 2pm. Ordered fish and chips at ten pounds ninety five. My fish was overcooked and dry as a bone. No flavour whatsoever. Arrived with a fancy overdressed salad to which i had asked for without. A very nice lady removed it for me but the taste had permeated the meal. I honestly cannot say it is worth the money.

We stopped here whilst shopping in the Bentals Centre. Wife had Childs Sausage and Mash and I passed on the Pork Belly as it was mainly fat Nice drinks and much better service the Oxford Street John Lewis

John Lewis really need to up their game with this food outlet. Their food is unappetizing at the best of times and poorly prepared and presented. They often 'run out' of dishes and seem incapable of providing even the most basic of meals such as fish fingers for the children. Cutlery and crockery is often not particularly clean and staff are unhelpful and unfriendly. Prices are inflated and much too expensive for the dishes they have on offer. Far from the 'Place to Eat' it has become my 'Place to Avoid.' There are much better food outlets within walking distance offering a much greater, more interesting range of food at much more reasonable prices.

Whilst I don't like giving negative reviews, on Monday we visited John Lewis and decided to have afternoon tea. The food choices are pretty good ihad the misfortune to strike a very rude man on the till. I had ordered English Breakfast tea, that came OK but when I asked for a cup he huffed and performed, slapping the cup and saucer down, then I said "milk please" that resulted in a worse display, slapping the jug down in some hissy fit. A very disappointing experience. So customer service ranking 1/10.

I cannot believe how dirty the cutlery was! The clotted cream wasn’t enough for the price. Te price is very expensive for the quality.

I've visited this cafe in John Lewis many times over the years when on shopping trips. It has the most beautiful view of the Thames from its huge glass windows (this is its absolute USP), and there are many window tables, so I've always found one fairly easy to secure. If not, I have never found a problem finding a table elsewhere, as there are plenty, for both fours and twos, and if I am there on my own, it is a comfortable place to be. It's the knowledge that I can always find a table, with great views if I'm lucky, plus its relatively calm ambiance, that has kept me going to it as a default all this time, but to be honest these are its only good points. The food isn't that great, and nor is the service, though this is not the fault of the hardworking, pleasant staff. Therefore after today's visit I have pledged to myself to try some of the many other cafes in Kingston, some independent, and some small chains. Firstly, choice is never great. The first section you come to is the cold food such as sandwiches, baguettes and salads. These are extremely limited in choice - they sit out ready-made on plates for you to take but they must get dried up due to this. Vegetarian choice is almost non-existent and portions look small. The second section is the hot food section - this is the section I usually visit. A reasonable range of standard choices are on the menu and are sitting out on hot plates for the staff to serve you, with replenishments coming from the kitchen behind. Today's visit reflected my previous visits for this - the wait time to be served is too long as there are not enough staff in this section, although I could see they were all working flat out and were exceptionally pleasant. This was at 14.30 and the cafe was not as busy as at peak lunchtime rush, so no real reason for this. This time I ordered the cheese and tomato quiche with salad. A small slice that actually came with the blandest salad you could imagine - literally just some leaves, some quartered large, tasteless tomatoes, and cucumber. The quiche itself, while being freshly made, just wasn't that tasty. The price at £6.50 was reasonable given the view and table availability, but I was still hungry afterwards! A more interesting salad accompaniment, with the addition of maybe some coleslaw or potato salad would make this a much more interesting and substantial meal. I'm veggie so perhaps those choosing the fish or meat options may be luckier, but I'm not so sure - I suspect adding a portion of chips is the way to go, but this would simply be filling, not interesting. Cold drinks are not kept in proper chiller cabinets, so are at ambient temperature, and there is a lack of glasses - the glass I took from a different section was warm as it was straight out of the dishwasher. Luckily, without my even asking, the lady on the till did offer to fill it with ice, which was a godsend and made it much more palatable. I suspect that that if you are visiting for cakes and coffee that the offer and experience would be much better, but I don't have a sweet tooth and would always be visiting for lunch or a savoury snack, and I think on this level it falls down. If anyone from John Lewis reads this, my advice would be that both the cold and hot food offer needs an overhaul, as does the way the service is run. I will keep an eye on reviews but am really not going to return unless the offer changes substantially - I am looking forward to branching out and trying other options in Kingston!

For a John Lewis restaurant/cafe, this place is below average. The hot chocolate wasn’t stirred and the person making it didn’t even seem to know how. Cake is really dry as well. Trays are dirty and sticky too. Don’t bother, it’s overpriced.

It's very easy to spend £50 on lunch in Kingston so this is a good place to eat to keep the costs down. There is a quiet seating area which we usually sit at if we don't want to be sitting around for long. The food is good quality and varies in options, there are sandwiches, salads, soups, hot meals to full roast dinners. There is a children's lunch box area which has a good variety of food on offer so we 'build' a lunch for my daughter. Quite often we will pop in for coffee and a cake or cream tea as the cake counter always looks good so its difficult to choose. The staff are always helpful and can't do enough for you.

We ate breakfast, I have not eaten at the place to eat for a while as my last experience wasn't great, but we were in John Lewis and my son wanted some food so we thought we would give it another try.The best thing about this restaurant is the location it has lots of spacious seating overlooking the river thames and kingston bridge. However the food menu for breakfast was not very inspiring with not much beyond the traditional english, bacon roll, toast etc which is in the stone age compared to most of the other cafes in town. I tried to order a bacon baguette but they didn't have any baguettes which seemed strange as they were selling them in Waitrose which is in the basement of the same building. The queues and the efficiency of the staff serving and on the tills was very poor. Took me about 20 minutes to get a bacon sandwich, a coffee and pay for it!

Popped in for a coffee, primarily to feed my 4 month old baby. Franco (I think that is his name), clocked me straight away and offered to help. He ended up serving me my coffee and then carrying it across to my table of choice. Great service for a mum with her hands full. He then continued on to help other customers who would have struggled to carry a tray and their shopping / push their pram etc. Thank you.

Staff were very quick to point out alternate servery Voucher made it free Vouchers going electronic in November

The serving staff behind the hot food counter are always polite, friendly and efficient. The food are run of the mill crowd pleasers which is not a bad thing. When I am in the mood for quick hot food, I come here. As long as you're expecting the same quality as a restaurant then you won't be disappointed. Remember, it's more of a cafe.

This cafeteria looks down on the River Thames. I was there only for an afternoon Cappuccino and Blac currant Elton Mess. Both were excellent

This outlet is within John Lewis so one would expect much better! We were in the store so thought we would grab a quick lunch here as it was convenient and we thought it would be good. We grabbed trays and went around for a good look at the food, then returned the trays and left, as did the people behind us! Although there seemed to be a good selection of cakes they all looked rather 'tired' and dried out. I was going to take a brown cheese & ham mini-baguette, until I grabbed it with the tongs and realised it was dried out plus had no butter or sauce.

Stopped for lunch with family and although the cafe surroundings, especially by the window, are a little bit scruffy, the food was delicious.

Arrived at 11am for breakfast. Queue was very very slow. Had run out of many items despite breakfast running until 1130. Drinks are expensive, £2.65 for a bottle of orange juice

I regularly visit all JL stores and use the cafe at Kingston about once a month - mainly to have a scone and coffee which I always love. My partner has a cake. On Tuesday, 29th May, after a tiring afternoon spending lots of money in the store, we went to the Place to Eat at 4:30pm. Almost nothing left. No scones. No pastries. About 5 small unappetising-looking 'cakes'. The very nice staff offered apple pie or Victoria Sandwich, which they produced from a shelf at the back (already packed away), which we had. The Apple Pie was obviously 'manufactured'. The cake was not a Victoria Sandwich at all. it was a smallish square with horribly sweet icing on top with some squashed raspberries and sandwiched with synthetic cream. The sponge had the consistency of a cake mix and had an aftertaste which suggested it wad loaded with chemical additives. Our black coffee was very obviously nothing like as good as it used to be, but rather than taking it back at so late a stage, we left it. I spoke to a staff member on the way out. She agreed with me that the cakes were terrible and told me that JL were cost-cutting and had 'got rid of all their chefs' - and that cakes were outsourced to a factory somewhere. She said the scones are the only safe bet! (which is presumably why they had run out so early). So, never again.

Good: Some of the staff and service personnel is fantastic. If you manage to find a hot food to your taste, it would be good.

We went in for a coffee before a river trip. Parked in the underground car park. The lifts do not have any floor guide in them .

I visited for a mid-week lunch as I thought John Lewis would be a safe bet for lunch with my parents. The restaurant has good views over the Thames, but the range of food seemed limited, the quality was a bit poor for John Lewis and the prices were relatively expensive.

We stopped here whilst walking through Kingston town centre. There was sandwiches and bowls of salad on display in the cabinet as you walk-in. We choose a sandwich each and ordered a Latte each to go with them. It was nice sitting where we could see the river outside. The sandwiches were nothing special, most of the filling was in the middle of the sandwich, so when eating the edges, there was nothing but bread, at nearly £5 each I thought they were expensive. It wasn't that warm around where we sat.

My third visit since summer 2017. Why do I keep returning? Because my hands are full of John Lewis purchases!

Went for piece of cake and cappuccino on Monday 27th November before starting my Christmas shopping.

Wonderful place to watch the world go by down on the Thames outside the windows. Food was OK. Coffee was good.

I have a John Lewis loyality card & now again they send you vouchers which might interest me. I have 2 offers that did one for a "Free hot drink & cake" of my choice. I had a hot choc( could upgrade & paid the diff if I wanted), but just had as it came & very yummy. I had rocky road cake cake with was yummy just like last time. There were queues, but it was lunchtime, but not enough staff on doing the hot drinks.There were plenty of tables & found one by the window as a great view of the river & boats going by.The tables were cleared quickly & everywhere spotless. My other voucher was for a facial or massage at Clairns Spa at John Lewis for half the price. I had a facial which was wonderful. Thank you Kirsty. I would recommend both places. Hopefully leave a review on the facial too. That's why I was there in the first place!!!!

Had lunch here. Ordered a Cave Aged Cheddar and Plum Multi-seed Roll at £4.50 and it was terrible. Very little cheese, chutney had soaked into the bread but worst of all the mixed salad leaves comprised of 3 very small leaves, which I could hardly see let alone taste. What a rip off! What's happened to the lovely made in store tuna and sweetcorn rolls they used to make. It would appear that John Lewis has changed their menu and it is now much more 'pre-bought/prepacked'. Cakes not so good as previous visit either - whats happened to the big sponges cut into slices? Additionally the cappuccino was weak and tasteless. What has happened to JL catering - are the issues in this store only or nationwide? Not what I expect of John Lewis?

We went to this restaurant for coffee. The restaurant is in a great location overlooking Kingston bridge and the river...

We went to Place to Eat at John Lewis Kingston after buying shoes at ground floor site where we had...

We wanted a cup of tea and chose this place Not a brilliant idea it was expensive for a pot...

This was my 1st time here for a cuppa & cake, sadly it could of been better circumstances as there had been an incident down on the ground floor. I was in the right place, but the wrong time when it happened, but I must say the John Lewis staff were amazing who came to my aid so fast.

Typical John Lewis cafe but with lovely views and free mobile charging, the latter will mean teenagers willingly sit with you to have tea & cakes here. Perfect to rest your feet after a busy day shopping.

Went there this morning for breakfast. Dozy boy on the hot counter shuffled up and said "Yer, what do you want?". I asked for a cooked breakfast with scrambled eggs. He replied "we only do fried". For a split second I thought they were filming an episode of Little Britain! Shocking customer service and attitude. I tried to speak with the restaurant manager who seemed conveniently oblivious to the poor service his fellow partners were serving up. If I'd found him I'd have said "Either train these kids properly or get rid of them". What a BIG let down for a John Lewis.

Nice but over priced, the food is lovely but well overpriced for what you get , I would return for coffee more than food in the future. About £30 for two pasta meals and 2 coffees with a bottle of water

Yet again my daughter & I popped in here for an early lunch while enjoying some retail therapy. It's always an oasis & the quality of the food is consistently good, & the staff always charming. However, clearly the management don't read TA reviews because the Caesar Salad is still served (artfully but untossed) in a bowl only just big enough to house all the ingredients. It's no surprise that even carefully trying to coat the salad with the dressing means inadvertently flinging bits of lettuce all over the table. Please serve this in a larger bowl! As in previous reviews, the slice of cake we shared was delicious but way too large, even for two hungry women. Would it be possible to serve smaller portions as well? Overall we were pleased for the change to sit, eat, drink & unwind before Round Two in the shops!

Don't tell a soul, but I'm keeping this quiet about the scrummy Fish and Chips that are here. If you read this, go and have a try. Then report back!

Stopped in here for lunch today and have to say I was very disappointed. There are 3 counters for different foods ... a good idea as it splits the queues? we went for the hot dishes, which was limited to Quiche and salad, Christmas Turkey or Sausage and mash. I went for the Turkey, my partner the Quiche. Once served, we had wait a few minutes to get to the till and then find a table .... which was difficult due to people bagging tables prior to queuing. So when we got a table, the food was pretty cold. The turkey meal was dry and the veg awful. My partner quiche was fine all be it broken up as it was the last slice. Service was friendly and polite but not good ... had better in the canteen at work!! Should have had sausages!!!

We have always considered M and S Coffee to be very poor, but regret to say that yours wins hands down- it is dreadful. Our order, which we naturally assumed would be eaten and drunk together, was a disaster. It consisted of one cup of mediocre Cappuccino, two cups of Latte and three rather weary Danish Pastries. The Lattes were served in very large cups, which were half full of a very doubtful liquid which was virtually cold. These were sent back to be replaced by two smaller cups of Latte which were hot, but which tasted of nothing, and certainly NOT COFFEE. In the meantime our daughter had finished her Cappuccino so the experience was dire.May we suggest that you should consider sending your staff on a Barista Course, and using more coffee of a superior grade. Are things any better at Waitrose? Dare we risk it?

Popped into The Place To Eat inside John Lewis, Kingston for a quick lunch. The restaurant is self service with separate sections for pastries and hot food. We arrived at 11:30 just as the menu changed from breakfast to lunch and went for some quiche. The majority of main meals were around the £8/£9 mark. Food was perfectly OK, although nothing special, but having to collect your own cutlery and condiments in packets made it rather too "caf" for what I would expect from John Lewis. Seating was also rather challenging and we found ourselves having to share a table. The river views are good, but it was rather too busy to fully appreciate them. Overall, OK for a quick refreshment or lunch break while on a shopping mission, but definitely not a destination in it's own right !

I'm sorry for all of you out there who think that John Lewis can do no wrong but this "restaurant/cafe" rates as pretty dreadful on most counts. The food is poor, it's expensive, it takes ages to clear tables and yet it seems to be rammed full nearly all day.Starting with the food, pea and ham soup at £4.95 was bland and tasteless with lumps of poor processed ham and a lump of stale grey bread which I suspect had been cut several hours earlier. A piece of banoffee pie cheesecake at £3.50 tasted as if it had been made out of cardboard and plaster of paris with no toffee or banana flavour at all. If you wanted a glass of water, then plastic jugs were available with flimsy plastic cups for self service.Getting to your table, you had to clear it yourself and find someone to hand the tray to who was less than enthusiastic to take it from you.Yes, there is a nice view of the river but the same view can be seen from countless other places in the town who won't charge half the price and that doesn't justify any rating at all in my opinion. However, whilst as many people support this place as they do, why should they bother with upgrading their offering for mere members of their devoted public?They can count me out.

Been disappointed at last 2 visits but this was much better. Nice window seat overlooking the Thames and a full English breakfast. 10 items to chose from including a slice of toast - decent quality if a bit expensive. One of the items I chose was mushroom and I got one small one so had another so that was 2 of my picks which seemed tight. Otherwise mostly cooked fresh and very tasty

As always here, the food is great but little niggles let the place down. I have commented before & to the JL staff that it would be helpful to serve the Caesar salad in a slightly larger bowl so it's possible to toss it (it is presented in an artfully arranged way). As it is served now, tossing means lettuce flying everywhere. Customers in front of me touched several salads before moving to choose something else so I asked for a salad from behind which I hoped had not been touched. My daughter & I shared a HUGE slice of cake after our savouries, it was almost too big for the two of us....we would prefer smaller portions so we could each choose our favourite cake. Staff, as always, charming

If you haven't had a John Lewis Fruit Scone with butter and blackcurrant jam you haven't lived - although the Southampton branch of John Lewis has the best scones.Coffee is great here too.At other times there are good sandwiches and hot meals all in the best possible John Lewis Taste.Well done John Lewis

My wife, 5 yr old daughter and I dropped in for an afternoon snack at around 3.00pm today. The place was very busy. As a consequence of this, there was a shortage of teapots (I kid you not, I overheard a staff member explaining this to a customer)! This translated into a, totally ludicrous, 20 minute wait in the queues. Was the snack worth the wait? Well, my Victoria sponge cake was lovely, my wife's Victoria sponge muffin was lousy (too dry), her tea was okay and my Cappuccino was a remote facsimile of the real thing (and not a good one at that). Our daughter had a packaged fruit juice and packaged biscuits, which were predictably fine. Prices okay, staff polite but there can be no credible justification for the delay. Won't be coming back here unless struck down with amnesia.

It appears there are two listings for the same place.Went to John Lewis coffee shop on the top floor. The customer service was dreadful, there were seven staff doing all the same stuff and it was confusing, as three people asked my partner what he wanted, and drinks were being made without customers knowing they were waiting. Before I sat down as my partner waited to pay I told the lady serving that I wanted a hot chocolate without marshmallows.My partner said he was given jasmine and breakfast tea when he wanted breakfast tea, and he wasn't given any milk to go with his tea. My hot chocolate tasted like hot water with little evidence of chocolate flavour and had marshmallows which I hate in it. We also made the mistake of ordering cake, my partner had the white chocolate and raspberry muffin which he said was dry and not pleasant, I had the chocolate cake which looked good but was dry and not very nice.Will not be coming here again and would not recommend it.

We went here for breakfast for the first time; the options are very selective given the price which seemed a bit much. The service was very good and attentive and the view overlooking the Thames was great but I am unsure if we will return as the fact that the food was ok but nothing special , please have more variety in breakfast options and add items in the 6 item breakfast section to make it more worth while, i.e more egg options and have smoked salmon as a item?

Called into The Place to Eat in John Lewis in Kingston upon Thames with my wife for a coffee and piece of cake. I have never come across such a disorganised bunch of assistants in all my life and can only assume that it was there first day. This experience has let this store down which we have always enjoyed shopping in. The only saving grace of this self service cafe is the river view if you can get a seat near it.

Nice views from this self service cafe in John Lewis. The Thames and pleasure boats pass by for those seats with a river view. The furniture is basic and functional rather than comfortable. The food servery seems to have plenty of staff but is strangely inefficient and slow. Excellent pot of tea but cakes and sandwiches rather dry. Overall a reasonable spot to refuel whilst shopping.

Had lunch here recently. The place is a typical department store restaurant/cafeteria. There is a fair amount to choose from including sandwiches and hot meals.We opted for the sandwiches. They were really quite large and my tuna and cucumber was difficult to finish. Very tasty though. Lots of salmon on the wife's sandwich as well.If you are lucky, try and find a table with a view of the river.

We are original vegetarians, and not the modern day confusion that passes for vegetarianism. We eat dairy produce but neither eggs nor fish, nor goat product.We sought an options for salad but were told only goat cheese version was on menu. The server asked her senior if she could take the goats cheese out and sell the remainder. To our amazement the ignorant of her senior was to insist that we either took what was on offer or we could do without. We went without.The tables were not cleared. We had to move a tray on the table onto an adjacent table. Well done catering manager for not doing your with the ineptness of ignorance.Would I visit them again? Only to wind them up, as my white turban and grey beard was deemed offensive by the senior management, which was then extended to us by the serving staff. John Lewis, this is the second time I have visited the same place - the last was over 10 years ago. Same old same old.Why don't you have the courage of placing an entry restriction on Turban wearing Sikhs from your establishments?

nice cake, helpful staff, but a very poor and neglected store.From basement car park, to cleanliness of lifts,loos and floors....nice product displays,but back to basics please....

We found that there were only a couple of choices for lunch on the counter. The quiche was tasty, but it was accompanied by just a few leaves! The tea & cake was fine. If you were lucky & able to sit by the window, the view of the river was lovely. The Patisserie looked a better bet!The loos were in another part of the store.

This cafe in John Lewis is my Mother's place of choice to stop for tea - I really do not know why anyone would go there.The staff are in the main are painfully slow and disinterested. The one expection yesterday Saturday p.m. 14 November 2015 was a chef who was doing his best to help everyone - he was cheerful and helpful but clearly up against it. I asked the passing manager a question and he clearly saw the customers as a nuisance and was brusque in his reply.On yesterdays visit there was no crockery, queues out of the cafe and staff just sort of milling about achieving nothing.I understand it was a busy Saturday afternoon but I have had the displeasure of having to accompany my Mother to this cafe several times this year and it is always a disappointment. It is overpriced and the staff appear to need good happy leadership. A great disappointment John Lewis.

Friday 21st August, mid afternoon decided to take a break from the hussle and bussle of shopping in Kingston we decided to have a breather and a coffee. We were in John Lewis so we headed for the cafeteria.We ordered 2 cappuccinos and 2 slices of Bakewell tart, all came to £11.80, bit pricey, but worth it the cake was yum.We found a clean table by the window and sat down to enjoy our coffee and cake and the view of the river and the the boats going up and down. It was a sunny day and there were no blinds on the window and no air conditioning so we soon started to get rather hot so we moved away from the window.Think we chose the right time of day to visit as the place was nice and quiet.

V nice properly hot coffee but there were drips of coffee around the outside of the mug which made it look unappealing. I liked it being in a mug though. Service was unfriendly - I felt like an annoyance. Not the first time I have felt like that here and it needs to improve particularly for loyal customers. Great warm cheese scone.

I hope this is the name of the café in John Lewis, with the riverside view. It's a lovely venue and the cakes and coffee were delicious. But on a sunny day, the amount of glass/window makes it very, very stuffy. No air con! And, don't sit by the waitresses' clearing station - they make so much noise...Staff in the service area were either very charming or quite grumpy. But the view is great and the food and drinks very good.

Situation in John Lewis Riverside, this bright and pleasant restaurant is perfect for an informal catch up with friends. Coffee/Tea/Glass of Wine or Beer, Scone/Cake, salad sandwich or a cooked meal the choice is good. The scones are probably the best in Kingston. Children have a section with a pick and mix of goodies to choose from. The staff are very helpful and if you prefer your salad on a plate rather that the ridiculous bowls they use, you just need to ask. My only criticism is the lack of children's size portions in hot food. You can't get a child portion of soup which is such a shame during the cold months.

Arranged to meet a distant relative at this mutually convenient place. This is a cafeteria style restaurant, which had a good section of hot and cold meals. The décor was very clean and functional. The food was obviously aimed to please the typical John Lewis shopper, rather than numerous students from the local university. The counter service staff where very friendly. Although we arrived just before noon, tables along the window, with a view of the river, were very much at a premium.

There are many eateries in Kingston, but The Place to Eat within the John Lewis shop is one of the best for a quick snack or hot meal whilst you are out shopping. It is not a gourmet restaurant but offers very good food that is tasty and reasonably priced and served on a buffet basis. We have eaten there many times and sampled lots of dishes, all have been tasty and well prepared - just what you want as a hungry shopper. Bearing in mind we have never had a duff meal there, I would recommend this restaurant to anyone shopping - even a coffee and a cake at The Place to Eat can be a pleasant break from trudging around the shops in Kingston. If you are lucky enough to obtain a window seat, you also have a pleasant view overlooking the River Thames.