Zafari Bar and Grill in Kingston upon Thames

We stayed at the hotel over night as we had a second day free pass. This is our second time at the hotel & restaurant. The food is overpriced £3.65 for a Capri Sun, I won’t go into too much detail BUT the reason I have given 5 stars for Service is because Ruby went above and beyond for me and my family at dinner. Ruby was extremely friendly and checking everything was okay with our meal (the food is basic and over priced) BUT Ruby was great! I really hope she’s get recognised for her hard work and excellent customer service! Thanks Ruby for looking after us

Unfortunately I must confirm the bad comments. The food is awful and very expensive.

After reading previous reviews I had low expectations for the food at the restaurant, however we were more than pleasantly surprised with our meals! £58 for 2 mains, 2 soft drinks, a side and a kids meal we thought was very reasonable, and the food was amazing! We had the Cajun chicken pasta and the pulled pork burger, both were filling and tasted lovely. The kids meal was peas, fish fingers and chips and was a good size portion, 3 fish fingers. Only annoyance was staff kept squeezing past our high chair instead of walking round the other tables.

Atmosphere, location and our waitor was great. Food was awful.. £96 for four people, two children.

Excellent food and every so much tq to all staff

Horrible over priced food, £15 for a pizza you can buy at supermarket for £3 also served by under 16yr old workers with no clue about customer service!! Avoid at all costs order urself a just eat!

Great service but terrible food! …we’re a family of five, so ordered a range of meals from kids burgers and pizzas to steak and ribs, but alas most of it left in the plate! …not a great experience!!!

Our waitress Willow offered exceptional Customer Services. The food was delicious and a great choice. Great atmosphere in the restaurant.

Lovely views over the safari however food and drinks were extremely expensive for what you actually got. Quite disappointing, 2 fish and chips, 1 thin pizza and 1 kids chicken nuggets (tiny portion) and chips, 2 lagers and 2 half cokes came to 85 pound!

I went to Zafari Bar and Grill for dinner last night, and I must say, the service was truly a test of patience. If you enjoy waiting so long that you start to question your existence, then this is the place for you. I think the staff went on a journey to find themselves, perhaps climbing a mountain, consulted a sage, and then decided to slowly handcraft each dish with ancient techniques. When the food finally arrived, I had grown a beard and discovered the meaning of life. If you're not in a hurry, bring a tent and camping gear. You might as well make a night of it.

Had a fabulous family meal whilst staying at the hotel. Setting was great looking out over the animal areas & the seats were super comfy! Food was delicious 😋 I have a very low fat diet at the moment for medical reasons, so had gone into the restaurant in the afternoon to ask if they were able to prepare me something. Member of staff was very friendly & approachable and got the chef for me to speak to, who said he could make me something without any problem. They recognised me when we arrived for our reservation later & he prepared a very delicious plain meal & consulted me as to what I could & couldn't have. ( My wee girl even stole some of my new potatoes as they were so tasty) My husband & daughters meals were fab too! The kids meals are great quality and great value for money...she said her burger was delicious! Thanks to the whole team & the chef who made my night away from home with a special dietary need a whole lot more enjoyable & stress free! Would definitely return if back for another stay at the hotel.

We booked the restaurant for our tea for 2 consecutive days during our stay at the Chessington Hotel and the food didn’t disappoint! We loved the pork ribs, steak and chicken skewers! And the serving is quite generous! Service is excellent especially Prinson who managed to serve rice (as I miss to eat rice for few days already!) instead of chips! Very nice atmosphere and great view of savannah from the restaurant! Fantastic restaurant that serves quality food. ❤️

The food was lovely and great service. The restaurant was cosy. Food portions were small though.

What a lovely place to eat. Lovely view, great atmosphere and really good food. Prinsons customer service was exceptional. Highly recommended.

Beautiful food and amazing sizes for the price you pay the quality is there drinks very pricey but food was delicious and definitely comming back thanks to the staff and chefs that cooked the food to perfection ribs fell apart and steak cooked to perfection

Unfortunately, Zafari Bar & Grill wasn't a good choice either. The food left a lot to be desired and the cleanliness of the plates and utensils was clearly an issue. The staff wasn't particularly helpful or attentive either. An experience best avoided.

At first we had a reservation and we had to wait almost 30 minutes for them to give us a table. When ordering we ordered pork ribs and skewer chicken and for dessert a brownie which we told them to bring at the end of the meal.The ribs were delicious and soft, but the chicken came cold and tough with a hot sauce which we returned because it was inedible. We changed it for salad with grilled chicken,which came with more sauce than chicken, plus the chicken was super cold and was never grilled. We decided to change it for fish finger and surprise, more than 20 minutes passed and the order never arrived. The wonderful thing about the whole brownie, we had to return it 4 times because they brought it from the moment we sat at the table and we had never finished eating to be able to enjoy the dessert.

Cold food! We Went In To the Restaurant We Ordered Burgers Guess What? COLD BUNS! COLD Bacon As well Me And My Family Will Not eat here Again!

Honest reviewer and I am quite picky (see my other reviews) but can honestly say that my family and I just had a really lovely meal, with exceptionally friendly service and it was reasonably priced. 1st point of note. Julie, the lady who initially served us was really friendly and took time to talk to my children. She had a lengthy conversation with them about Capybara's after noticing their cuddly Capybara toys. Absolute credit to the Chessington team. Please pass on our thanks if the company looks at reviews. 2nd point of note. The food was actually nice and the portions were sizable. I have had a poor experience with food at another merlin site. However this was good quality. Well done Chessington. The price to feed 5 ignoring drinks was £55. (£44 if you have a merlin gold pass). 3rd point of note was that the restaurant was immaculately clean, had a lovely atmosphere and was just generally nice. All staff were friendly that we encountered. Thanks Chessington for a lovely meal and delightful family evening

Just wasted £100 ...could have had a really good meal for 4 at that price. Food was not up to scratch the price. All very cheap food bland and for a buffet dinner absolutely rubbish selection . I should have realised when I see how busy the carpark and hotel is and how empty the restaurant was. If you want people to eat here serve good food ! Especially for what you charge ! The only good thing I can say is the staff member working tonight there was a few sorry I didn't catch he's name ( brown hair white guy a little stocky and a few tattoos) was absolutely brilliant with the kids absolutely brilliant staff member he went above and beyond and the children loved him...come on Chessington be like your staff!! do better ! Because without staff like that I would have gave a full zero

Waited over an hour and a quarter with two small children and no food arrived. No updates, nothing from the staff. We had to chase our drinks as only some turned up but not all, in the end we cancelled our food order and left to find something nearby. Chessington doesn't open the other restaurant and forces everyone into this one when it can't cope. Really put us off going back ever again and ruined a good day out.

Wow..one of our worst dining experiences to date...unfortunately everything from service, food, quality, atmosphere and price was all bad..£100 for a meal and wish we just ordered a dominos to the hotel..not the nest first impression. Staff training needs an improvement.

Well, the staff were cheery enough. That’s it. I saw that Guinness was £4 a pint, ordered one and then found it was £7.95. They had ALL the pricelists printed incorrectly. I paid it as it’d been a very long day. Decided to order the steak and ale pie. This arrived within 4 minutes but in a cardboard takeout tray, without cutlery. I asked if it could be plated as I was dining in (I wasn’t asked if I wasn’t, and had already ordered a Guinness). I was presented with a cold plate and cutlery, I’m not that picky but I’ve never been asked to plate my own dinner in a restaurant. Complained to front desk who said he’d talk to the manager. £20 + light, left the microwave pie and Guinness and ordered a takeaway. At least I know that comes in a tray. Just to update, the restaurant manager was a lovely chap and I did get a full refund and he promised to retain the staff. The future reviews will tell the story. For this reason I upgraded a star to 2

Staff were incredible, very friendly and welcoming. Their Margherita pizza was the best pizza I've ever eaten I am blown away. The restaurant was spotless and food came out very quickly. They even all came out to wish my son a happy birthday and sung to him. This is a MUST restaurant for anyone who is coming to Chessington. A massive thank you to all the staff and all the cooks for creating an amazing meal and experience for me and my family.

I would give a zero star if there is such option. Food is terrible! Burgers are burnt! Everything is overpriced!

Lots of reviews trashing this place but get real- it’s a resort hotel restaurant - food was ok/service was fine/ drinks were fine. Don’t come expecting fine dining and you’ll be fine too.

Despite all the bad reviews we were already booked in there and the hotel and I thought it couldn’t be all bad. Well I was wrong. Started out good with nachos and drinks. Then my husbands food came. Ordered another round of drinks. Waited for a bit still nothing. Finally asked where the rest of our order was. He was finished they said the ready was coming. 15 minutes later kids food came out. Daughter couldn’t eat the burger said it wasn’t nice. My food had still not arrived. At this rate we were all ready to go. No second round of drinks still no dinner for me. By the time it came it was so late 1 and a half hours after we arrived. BBQ chicken pizza with uncooked red onions. Was inedible. Please AVOID. We did not ask for a single thing just paid. Was a bit disappointed that even after the complaint they said nothing. Worst meal ever for £80

My food was average, but my partner left most of hers as it was tough and tasteless. Serving staff were poorly trained and amateurish. On paying our bill, neither the server or her manager were able to provide me with a printed receipt for my credit card transaction. They obviously make no effort because they know they have a captive audience. Very poor experience generally given that it wasn't cheap either.

Waiters ignoring our requests (billing No. 10426 SARA B)

The better of the two restaurants at the Chessington World of Adventures Hotels. If your going to book for food, then definitely come to this one of the two. Breakfast selection is really good too. Lots of options from full cooked breakfasts, to continental selections. Worth it alone for the breakfast. Best way to fill up for a day ahead in the park

Unfortunately,..for .our first visit, it was very disappointing... A very serious coordination and communication skills needed... Our bridal shower was truly frustrating, from the start.... Please, please please 🙏... Improve the service... Apart from the beautiful views, the fantastic zoo... that made it for a very stressful "celebration"...

Here you can have breakfast with a beautiful view.

Surprisingly good, served fast, tasty, though temperature of different parts of the dish was a bit different. I.e. gravy was cold on the pie, but the pie was very hot

Food was very yummy, waiters nice and polite. All my food arrived very quickly as well. The ambience is very nice, even though there should be some kind of shutters on the windows, since every one was blinded by the sun. Very noisy, but that's to expect with all children there. But all in all a very pleasant experience!

Great experience, food was good, served by Aaiza she was fantastic, all staff we encountered were superb.

This could be a really good place to eat; amazing view of the reserve and a nice new bright and airy building. Food is surprisingly good quality as well for an amusement park. For me, service completely let this restaurant down. Everything seemed difficult, from getting a table to ordering on the app to asking for additional things (such as extra cutlery or a jug for tap water). Prices are what you'd expect for an amusement park restaurant; but because of that I'd expect there to be a certain level of service. Ordering from the app would be easier if the app/page allowed you to do everything (for most items you can't add custom notes or ask for some ingredients left out). It was also March so it seemed like a lot of the staff were new. For example, one gave me wrong information rather than checking with a more senior member of staff. Bit frustrating.

Good variety of options to suit all tastes

AVOID !!!! Expensive pub grub wish I never bothered meal for 2 adults and 3 small children with drinks came to £138 and quality was poor

Terrible. Have to order through an app, that's really helpful when you have no reception. Food was average at best, came wrong twice. Asked if I wanted desert 30 seconds after mains were delivered. Finished main course, then the drinks finally arrived. Wish I never booked it.

Absolutely awful service! Ordered chocolate brownie for my daughter, we waited for more than 45 mins after our mains but it never arrived. Staff members were not helpful at all.

Absolutely awful. Have to order through an app so very little human contact, quoted 45 minutes wait though food arrived within 10 minutes. Completely over priced, cheap, tasteless frozen food. Pizza was covered in sauce and soggy, garlic bread was two slices of frozen baguette, Peri chicken lacked any flavour at all. Even the drinks were a Rip off, my son ordered an orange juice and it was tiny considering the price. There is a Pizza Hut delivery & couple other take aways approximately 5 minutes drive from this place, wish we knew this prior to our booking.

Worst customer service I’ve ever received, manager doesn’t have any common sense, bunch of kids working at the restaurant have no clue, over 1 hour to receive food, 30 mins for drinks that we ordered before the food, wouldn’t sit me and my family next to each other as it’s “ too much work for them “ even tho the place was empty, said we couldn’t go outside to eat as there was a safety issue, yet no signs or tape to close off this “ safety issue “ and allowed others to go outside, racist power trippers who don’t have a clue about standard customer service or any trading standards for that matter! Will never go again, fix up your staff and sack the little blonde boy manager, doesn’t know the first thing about being a manager. RACIST, awful Experience!!

Terrible service, disgusting food, worst staff I’ve ever seen in my life. Wait an hour for drinks and pre cooked Iceland food.

The Food is shop bought Iceland garlic bread LIKE WHAT and my Mum and Dad Got Burgers and they was COLD i love chessington but it is bad restaurant DON'T COME HERE

We had a table reserved Suddenly no one could take the order and every employee said I didn't have the order I had a hand in distributing tasks to them To the point that one of the employees asked her if we could order and she said no After a lot of effort and a long wait, one of the employees came and took the order They started looking at us with strange looks. There was something wrong with us to the point that I doubted myself and sat looking in the mirror of my mobile phone. Then, as soon as they took the order, all of a sudden all the orders came in, and we didn't know what to eat first I ordered a refrigerator steak that tasted as if it had been cooked in the refrigerator and was heated for me. The order came without a knife and I had to wait for the steak knife to be brought to me. For tomato soup, the soup is pureed tomatoes The mac cheese is delicious, but it lacks salt and there is no salty one on the table There is ketchup on the table, but it is empty and nothing, just decoration I liked the onion rings As for the dessert, it was very delicious and I liked it. It was apple pie, vanilla ice cream, and a caramel sound, but the dessert was served to us without them taking the plates. The whole time there was an employee standing close to us, looking at us in a strange way The restaurant in general is of average quality and their service is slow and poor One of the employees apologized for what happened in a nice way They sat us at a table next to the kitchen, and the restaurant was empty why all that !!

Delicious food and lattes and friendly helpful professional waitresses.

Quick service off an app delivered to your table. Said waiting time was 45min but we had food within 10. Piping hot we ordered the wanyama burger and chicken burger 15£ea

Make sure you have your phone handy for the ridiculous phone ordering system. Chessington's way to employ fewer staff leaves a very bitter taste, especially at their overinflated prices... You'd be better off ordering in.

Great quality of plates and wines were also amazing! Will surely come back soon..

Good atmosphere and food was served very quickly. Absolutely huge and excellent portions for the soup, mac and cheese, and burgers. Both the soup and the burgers were excellent, but unfortunately the same can’t be said for the mac and cheese.

No expense is taken in this place. You are literally getting contract, mass catering done at the very cheapest it can be cooked and served at. An extremely limited selection at breakfast scrambled or hard boiled eggs, bacon, dry veggie sausages or burnt pork sausages, a cheese and two types of meat plus your usual kelloggs small packets of cereals and packets of cold, dry pastries. Coffee is completely undrinkable and juices are invited to be served in glasses not much bigger than thimbles (maybe they worry you might drink too much). Like most of the eateries in this theme park, you are a captive audience with nothing else to go to for an alternative.

Average food very expensive beer selection very poor no English beer at all

Ben Was amazing , he sorted me some hot sauce when it wasn’t on the menu and the food was absolutely amazing. Really enjoyed our family meal.

We had the misfortune of eating here 23-24 September. The menu was restricted due to covid, 6 mains only. What could go wrong? Everything ! The food we were presented with had clearly been reheated in a microwave, it was vile ! With only 20 or so families to cater for and a reduced menu there was no excuse We had a starter, a main to share and a kids meal and it came to over £60 ! Onion rings that are stodgy , chicken burger that was beige and like eating a flip flop, bacon inside that was 90% fat and a semi stale bun, how can you mess it up so much If your staying in the hotel please eat elsewhere, we were sick for 2 days following. Positives - the social distancing was very good and the cleaning standards high, but the food was utter tosh. you think you were a captive audience but you should really go out - a few pubs just down the road -please dont eat here.

Would just like to give a shout out to Mark who waited our table for the evening. Service was spot on and he made sure we had everything we needed, as well as quickly resolving a small issue with my wife's dessert AND giving us another extra dessert on the side as an apology (fair to say I was completely stuffed afterwards!) Only thing I would knock is the amount of kids running around unsupervised. I know this is mainly down to the parents, but the staff need to step up and seriously tell the parents that kids running around and climbing up the furniture wont be tolerated. Other than that a great meal that we really enjoyed!

This is a complete joke. We waited 45 mins at the bar to order. Completely useless staff and understaffed place. Don’t come here

Food was satisfactory for a what is supposed to be the better restaurant but I considered the menu prices were expensive and we had to wait a very long time for our food. On the other hand the breakfast included in the cost of our overnight stay was good hot and varied.

Cold seating area around bar. Automatic doors letting cold in all night. Breakfast is cold, needs a microwave oven. Plenty of choice aslong as you like your English breakfast cold.

Pretty good food, and surprisingly reasonably priced

Brilliant hotel, especially in themed room

Fab! Plenty of different breakfast choices and drinks

Surprisingly good food for a restaurant within such a larger hotel. Good variety of choices, but not much vegetarian or Gluten free. Service is interesting as so many staff speak no English at all 😮 not easy for them.

Very family friendly restaurant. A few minor points I feel could be improved on. The restaurant is quite drafty, the service was a little slow but I felt that was the kitchen more than the serving staff. They could use more servers though. However ours Becky was very pleasant and overall the food options and quality of food was very good! Would definitely recommend this place for families.

Waiter was brilliant. Kept the drinks coming! Food was better than expected. All in all very enjoyable dinner.

We ate ysterday (18.10.2019 , at 7 p.m)wonderfull dinner in Safari hotell bar restaurant.there was a plenty of different cultural food example Indian cusine.Big, big thanks to Sebastian for your excelent food and customer service in restaurant. Also Vera, I like to thank you for your friendly and professional way of working in restaurant. Best wishes miia,petri and twins siiri&sofia.we really enjoyed !

Great view of nature where you see wildlife roaming around from the comfort of your chair

The breakfast could not be faulted. However the evening meal was ruined by having to wait 2 hours between starter and main course.

1 Star because 0 isn't an option. Took over an hour for 2 out of 5 meals to arrive. Nobody offered any reason leaving 3 kids hungry. Loads of servers but none were willing to talk to customers and the 1 chef was clearly overworked. Awful awful awful. Don't waste your time.

Ridiculously slow service. If you want to spend half a day just ordering and waiting for food, this is the place to go. Very few options in the menu, but the food is tasty.

I love this place because is my work place and I will do everything what I was learn in hospitality industry to make the guests happy

Food fairly basic our server was very attentive

Tasty food cooked very well. Prices as everywhere else. Very helpful staff. Also close to where we were staying.

Food is ok, service is just ok too. Much better value for money anywhere other than here.

Pretty great food whilst you enjoy your stay very attentive staff base clean and enjoyable decor

Service was good. Everything else was okay.

Excellent service and very accommodating

Best Merlin resort food we've had. Issues with service.

had breakfast there, poor food standard. grilled mushrooms were literally hard boiled with no favoring.

Didn't try the food, but a nice bar with decent size outdoor area with views of the animals in the park. Very pleasant on a warm summers eve and nice, if a little small, in the bar indoors should it be cold

Very disappointed. Turned up at 5:30 and they had "No availability" until 9:00pm despite 90% of the restaurant being empty as I stood there. Turns out its because they'd closed the other restaurant... Good move Chessington! The waiter at the laptop was very patronising, could do with some customer service skills. We went down the road to the Shy Horse instead, great service in a lovely pub.

Celebrated my 50th birthday there. Terrible quality steak for the price. Other meals in party very average. Breakfast following morning very tepid cold plates and no fried egg. Image of place fantastic actual product poor value for money

Lovely place to bring the family

Lots of chips with every meal and decent food.. we had a little problem as gravy came out cold but they quickly sorted it out. Breakfast was lovely aswell lots to choose from

Really good food and great views of the animals

Food was good and freshly prepared in open kitchen so you know it's clean! Staff friendly but was busy so few basic things like a spoon for desert were missed but that's me being picky.

Came for lunch. Staff were dissorganised and didn't seem to know which tables food was going to. Food quality low, but in line with the price. We had to wait over half an hour for food. I don't understand why given the number of staff working. Our daughter's meal came with desert. Had to ask where her desert was twice. Don't understand why 3 profiteroles tool 20 minutes to turn up. Not happy, won't be coming again.

Ribeye steak was delicious. Emily was lovely. Really enjoyed the nachos. Good Times!!

Great place to eat good atmosphere

For staying over, it's the place to go for dinner. The views are amazing and the food we ordered was delicious. Should be 4 stars because of the price - as much as it's nice food, the price is a little on the high side. However, we can't fault the service though. Without asking the waitress (Sophia) asked if we wanted to move so we could be away from the kitchen, we didnt mind but she suggested you'd see the animals outside better and moved us anyway! She interacted every time she came to our family and as we have an autistic son, she went out of her way to offer his food (bread & butter only) if we wanted to free of charge. Just shows with fantastic service and a caring attitude, it can turn 4 stars into 5.

Delicious food and great staff, cant fault a thing

Lovely place for lunch with an amazing safari back drop. Also great service. Thanks Mark

Excellent décor, lovely staff, could do with more variety at dinner

Very good service food was excellent

The meal we had there was brilliant

Staff were friendly enough but the food was awful

Great choice of food, lovely surroundings

Service good. Food OK even if it did take 2 hours from sitting down to finish eating as was a long delay. That said they did give us complementary olives whilst we waited. Prices not too bad

Too expensive for the quality of food in the buffet.

Zafari bar and Grill was very nice. I stayed in the hotel with my family and we had breakfast here. It was a buffet breakfast offering lots of different foods including cereals, fry ups, fruit and yoghurt. Continental foods such as hams, cheese and pastries. The character came down to meet at breakfast and there is a lovely view of the animals on the safari. It's best to book a time slot as it does get busy.

Food is overpriced for what it is, limited range of lagers, usually busy, but the best thing is sitting outside in summer and seeing some animals etc.