Park Terrace Restaurant

Beautiful ambiance. Friendly staff.
Came to experience afternoon tea here for the first time. Bread and desserts seemed very stale and were not very tasty. No refill on tea. Definitely overpriced!

Super angenehme und entspannte Atmosphäre fūr einen tollen Afternoon Tea. sehr aufmerksamer und zuvorkommender Service inkl. Erläuterung aller servierten Köstlichkeiten. Die Scones mit clotted cream sind der Hit. Anschließend kann man die Pfunde bei einem schönen Spaziergang im angrenzenden Kensington Garden wieder zumindest zum Teil loswerden.
Übrigens kann man die zur Auswahl stehenden Teesorten alle vorher riechen, sehr hilfreich: English Breakfast Tea als Schwarztee unschlagbar und als grüner Tee überraschte «Eight Butterflies».

The Park Terrace restaurant is situated in the 5* Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington. We were a party of 12; 10 adults and two children celebrating a good friend’s birthday.
We began the evening with cocktails. I was seduced by ‘Clapham’s Comfort’, a potent mixture of Vodka, Malibu, lychee and lemon juice, coconut cream and blue curacao. The barman sure knows how to mix a drink. It tasted as refreshing and beautiful as it looked and left me awash in a flush of pink.
There was ample time to browse the menu as ever, since a member of the party always runs late, and with the variety of choices you’ll probably need that extra time to make up your mind.
My starter of smoked haddock kedgeree was very nice, albeit the fish was rather ‘fishy’ for my taste. This was followed by Steak and duck fat chips. I was slightly disappointed. The steak arrived already sliced. I despise this. It gives an impression that the chef doesn’t know how to cook steak to the requirements of the diner. This could be forgiven if the ‘medium rare’ steak did reach the table that way, but from the ⁶⁄₇ pieces that arrived, only 3 pieces were medium rare, and the rest primarily medium to well. Although it was seasoned well, the steak itself was no more than a 1 cm thickness, so may have explained the overcooking. The duck fat chips were not crispy. Ideally they should fry these twice to get that crispy skin on the outside. If they had, the 6 pieces of potato neatly arranged on the plate may have been closer to perfection, rather than your average ‘cook at home’ steak frites meal when you don’t have the time to double fry your chips.
On to dessert. A warmed apple and blackberry crumble tart with blackberry ripple ice cream was my choice. Desserts can make or break my overall rating for a meal, and I’m pleased to say that this got me good. The tart base was crunchy and buttery just how I like (as opposed to crumbly which would have been overkill with the crumble topping), and the ice cream was dense and still firm (don’t you hate it when ice cream is brought to the table half melted!). The dessert of mixed berry soufflé was slightly undercooked and far more liquid than soufflé, but the flavour was divine. Another hit was the Royal Garden trio; a lemon tart, raspberry crème brulee and a toffee pudding. All bite sized deliciousness.
Next up came the cheeseboard. I declare now that I have limited knowledge of cheese, and my other guests even less so. It’s normally ‘cheese OR dessert’ (and no one ever chooses cheese!) but on this occasion we opted for ‘cheese AND dessert’.
The cheeseboard was laid out beautifully, with four different cheeses, quince jam, roasted pecans, dried apricots, red grapes and some sliced baguette slices and a homemade cracker. The camembert was my favourite — so creamy, that those in the party who had no appreciation for cheese learned a thing or two about it that evening. Reasonably priced too at only £4 per person.
A final course of teas, coffees and petit fours completed the meal. Fresh mint tea brewed in a teapot that could easily serve 2, and a delightful variety of tuile biscuits, brandy snaps, and plain macaron disks were delivered on a platter with a large rectangular biscuit etched with ‘Happy Birthday’ for the birthday boy. What a feast for the old man. He loved it. His wife loved it. His lil’ boy. We all loved it.
As a final note, I have to commend the restaurant for being child friendly. When a teething 5 month old had to be taken on a stroll to settle, they immediately took away the mother’s plate to ‘keep warm’ without us having to flag this, and it arrived swiftly on her return. They did all they could to make the meal as stress-​free as possible, were knowledgeable of the menu, and made suitable recommendations for the guests with dietary requirements. Patient, thoughtful and courteous throughout, the staff really are an asset here.
At £36.50 for three courses or around £60 all in including service, for a stress free dining experience where you know you will be looked after, then I can certainly recommend the Park Terrace.

I threw a surprise birthday afternoon tea here for a very dear friend yesterday, and could not have been more pleased with how it went.
I mentioned when booking that it was a very special day, and boy did the staff help us create a fantastic memory!
There were nine of us, so they gave us a small semi-​private room off to the side and paid us fantastic attention. They brought the cakes in with a candle and a huge biscuit that had ‘Happy Birthday” written on it, while the piano played Happy Birthday.
The food was lovely, we opted for the Royal Afternoon Tea, which started with strawberries and champagne, then went in to the usual sandwiches, scones and cake. The portions were generous and the food was fresh and delicious. There were about eight different types of sandwiches and they offered both a vegetarian and gluten free option. I ordered assam tea, which wasn’t actually on the menu, but was really really good. The scones were home made, light and they came with really nice cream, home made, very fruity strawberry jam and a pear and ginger preserve that was truly beautiful! There was lots of tea cake (fruit and vanilla) plus all the little delicate patisserie cakes that you expect at an afternoon tea.
We were there for three hours eating and drinking, having a brilliant time and really enjoying ourselves, and it came to £30 a head, including service because I had booked using
which gave us 25% off the bill.
I cannot recommend this place highly enough — I have had afternoon tea at most of the hotels in London and this won for service, reasonable price and great location (overlooking Kensington Gardens).
Top tip — we started off with a drink in the bar of Min Jiang restaurant up on the 10^th floor, which has beautiful views out over the gardens and London generally. It is open for lunch until 3pm, then reopens at 6pm, so time it well, but it is definitely worth a look!

What a fabulous place for tea. I was there mid day on Sunday and everything was wonderful. We were even able to watch the Olympics while listening to the live pianists, sipping champagne and tea and eating crumpets! Life doesn’t get any better.

We went on 5^th May after purchasing a Travelzoo voucher. Both the food and service were fantastic. Would happily go back again and pay without the voucher.

The interiors of the place are quite nice and spacious. the food and service on the other hand are horrible
staff are annoying when they haunt you to pay the bill and pester you when they completely vanish from all corners of the area when needed!
no one on my table enjoyed the food– not starter, not main and not wine or dessert
I spent an awful Friday night at this restaurant last week and will never go back again