Our visit to Sky Garde was very bad
Our visit to Sky Garden was one of the most unpleasant experiences we’ve had in London.We stood in line like everyone else, patiently waiting for our allocated time slot. There were literally TWO minutes left before entry. Two minutes. Yet one stupid and idiot security staff member refused to let us in as if we were trying to break the rules or sneak inside.What was even more shocking was the behavior. Instead of speaking professionally, she raised her voice at me and spoke in a completely disrespectful and aggressive manner. For absolutely no reason. Meanwhile, another staff member who appeared to be the security manager simply stood there and did nothing to handle the situation or de-escalate it.The lack of basic courtesy, professionalism, and simple human decency was astounding. This is supposed to be a high-end venue with a reputation to maintain, yet the way guests are treated at the entrance feels hostile and humiliating.After this experience, I would strongly advise others to reconsider visiting. There are plenty of beautiful places in London where visitors are treated with respect. Unfortunately, this is not one of them.
Arina Cosnicean
Very disappointing visit to sky…
Very disappointing visit to sky garden, Very over rated and the food was very poor in the Darwin Brasserie. I would recommend a free ticket to visit for the views but please don't spend your the money on food and drink, ripe off
Sara Oliver
A superb & stylish restaurant (Many thanks to our server Telmo)
If you only ever have one stylish restaurant meal in London then this is the place to be ! The Sky Garden Darwin Brasserie is fantastic. The food, the staff, and especially the views (as long as you pre-book a window seat) are the best. My wife Tracey has to follow a gluten free/vegetarian diet but this was no problem as the chef created a very tasty meal for her. I had the steak which was delicious !Now my wife and I (Mick) have to send a “Many, many thanks” to our server Telmo. He is professional with a really friendly manner. Thanks for looking after us and making our day really special. When we return to the Darwin Brasserie we would ask to sit in the same seats with Telmo as our serverNB for customers. The Sky Garden is close to The Monument underground station, and a 10 minute walk from Liverpool Street station
Mick
We had booked "Fenchurch Experience" at…
We had booked "Fenchurch Experience" at a hot day. It was quite crowded, loud and steamy inside the Sky Garden, which showed a lot of nice arranged plants. So we just had a look into the city from the balcony, where it was nicely windy.The Sky Garden itself was not air-conditioned, but Fenchurch Restaurant luckily was. The offered "small plates", which were not that small and which were nice arranged, tasty and s.th. special. Good cocktails served, the service was helpful and friendly.Sorry only 4 stars because it is a review about the whole Sky Garden.
Barbara G.
Very disorganized and expensive
The view is very beautiful, specially if you are able to get a day with clear and blue sky.However, it is not well organized. After you book a table they recommend you to be there 30 min earlier, so you can walk around and go through all procedures. When we arrived at the exact time they told us to do, the lady in the front desk said rudely that it was too early and told us to go check the place and come back at the exact time of our booking. When we came back to claim our table, we had to go to a huge que to do all the procedure again, which makes no sense if they tell you to be earlier to do all these. Also, the quality of the food and drinks does not meet the price range.Food and drinks are very expensive, but worst than that is the fact that it was very little quality. Majority of the food is already cold when served, bread does not look fresh, non-alcoholic cocktails with fruit flavor doesn’t even taste that much like fruit…. Also there is food extremely spicy, and no reference to that spiciness is made on the menu.
Rita Figueiredo
dont bother
commercial.visited 10 years ago and was absolutely blown away.this time i felt we were shipped through like cattle.given crappy wine in plastic glasses, and the whole place felt quite tacky and had lost its charm.we will definitely not be returning or recommending.
Beth
Unethical behaviour
Several weeks ago I booked a table for 5 in the Darwin Brasserie, Sky Garden. The table was booked for early April. Unexpectedly the restaurant cancelled the booking and when I called to question the cancellation I was informed that the venue had decided to accept a corporate event booking rather than honour their existing commitments. I suspect that from a financial perspective a corporate booking is more profitable nonetheless this behaviour feels unethical. Be warned a Sky Garden restaurant may accept your reservation however choose to disregard their obligations should something more profitable arise.
LIP
Huge queues & waiting times
It was raining today (not their fault of course) and we were sent away until 15mins before our slot. We waited in an interminably long queue with inadequate number of machines to process us. Once on the viewing platform a guy told me to put my umbrella down and shouted at me for querying the sense of this in the pouring rain. A few more guidelines and more information on what you are looking at would be great and possibly more of a garden than a jungle theme would help.
Grace Turner
We met two lovely security guards at…
We met two lovely security guards at the entrance and they were very friendly and polite. The drinks and food were okay. Will love to go back. Nice atmosphere in there.
Isaac Bediako Donkor
Nice views but horrible experience
The place is nice but you are really treated as they don't want you to be there. The attention in general and particularly the security is horrible, if you ask anything they make you feel an idiot. I don't recommend going there, maybe it used to be good but now is not a good experience at all
Juan Manuel
We booked the Darwin Restaurant
We booked the Darwin Restaurant, the menu and price could not be found. On arrival the price is £79.50p per person for a three course brunch with extras costing more money. After sitting for 10 minutes we cancelled and walked away. The place was little more than a nice café. I feel it's not value for money, feels like a tourist trap rather than an occasion.The outside Terrace which gives great views was closed with no information which adds to the disappointment.I feel if a place wants big money then the service has to step up to the plate and deliver. They wanted a £25 cancellation fee for us walking away.
Peter Hessler
Kelsey was amazing
Kelsey was amazing! She looked after my friend and me and offered us tons of helpful information.Lovely place to visit especially in the evening.
catalina anton
Great experience, great views
Great experience, great views. Booked in advance which is recommended as queue closed for non-ticket holders whilst waiting. Security well drilled. Didn't eat at cafe, just there for the views.
ScottCad
Wonderful day at the Sky Garden
I visited the Sky Garden today with a friend who is disabled. We were kindly fast tracked through security. Inside, staff at the cafe and disabled toilets were very helpful. We had a wonderful time.
Jenny Stevenson
Terrible
Not worth attention. Filthy, crowdy and noisy place without conditioning so you feel yourself like in a green house. Views could be good, but the terrace was closed. We're visiting Darwin Brasserie and it was simply AWFUL. Full of screaming children, tourists in shorts and everything looked and felt like in a cheap pizza. They DO NOT HAVE any water, literally no water in a menu!!!!!!!!!!! They offered tap water that they called "filtered" in a disgusting dirty bottle smells of fish. All cocktails were over-sweet, no taste but sugar. All food was over-salty! We booked in advance a window table, but still got one in a middle or we had to wait more than an hour. The price was enormous of 360£ for 4 second dishes and no alcohol at all. Absolutely terrible place
Kaitothewitch K
Worst experience yet in London
Very, very disappointing. Looked forward to visiting the sky garden and followed the guidance on line to book well in advance. Had a booking slot for a Saturday at 5.30pm, weather great so was excited to see the views. Firstly arrived at appointment 10 mins in advance of time slot to find large queue outside which was disorganised between general walk in persons and those that had booked. Eventually the security organised one side into walk in and one side to booked. We then continued to que for nearly 30 mins while security Swopped letting in between both groupings meaning there might as well have been one queue as there was no advantage to having the booking. Got inside and then queued again for security and once through security again queued for the lift. Eventually got to the viewing gallery floor to be treated with masses of people and a que for the small bar. After paying around £16 for each cocktail which were all extremely poor we went to go to the viewing balcony to then find out it closes at 6 pm every day including weekends because security only work to 6 pm. We sat down for a few minutes surrounded by people queing for the lift back down to then join the queue and the wait another 20 mins to get back down. I would strongly recommend avoiding going there especially at busy times or weekends near 6 pm, for something that has great potential to be enjoyed it is such a poorly managed experience that makes no sense whatsoever- to close a viewing balcony ( the key feature of your asset) at 6pm on beautiful summer evening is unbelievable, we basically wasted 1hr to stand in queues even when booked, again unbelievably badly managed. Needs a new manager to address and improve its protocols. So frustrating to see such a great asset badly managed in one of the greatest cities in the world.
Mark McClure
There’s a lot to unpack here….
There’s a lot to unpack here. We first visited Sky Gardens in October last year - we had an early breakfast and enjoyed watching the sun come up and the fabulous views. Lovely staff too. Liked it so much we went back for dinner. Roll on June 24, we treated our friends over from the US to a visit and booked lunch in the Darwin Brasserie. Big mistake. We could only book an 11.45am slot and it felt a little early for lunch so we hoped for a brunch menu but there was no brunch options. It was a very hot day (reaching 27 degrees) and given the early timing and the heat, with a day of walking ahead of us we weren’t up for a heavy meal. We initially ordered olives, bread, gazpacho, fries, a prawn salad, chicken, wine. Apparently that wasn’t enough of a choice and we were interrupted by the manager to say we needed to order a full main each or be charged £25 per head if we decided to go elsewhere. We changed our order under duress - I can tell you it’s not nice being force fed food you weren’t really up to eating. Plus they had no olives anyway, the pork was already off the menu, no decaf tea, no earl grey tea - who orders in the produce for this place? The biggest impression came from the attitude of the staff - there is an arrogance here not often found in catering, especially with the current climate hospitality finds itself these days. Don’t begin to think you are a welcome guest in their establishment - given its popularity there’s plenty folk behind you waiting for a table so it’s evident you’re not important and they just want your money. And the food? I’ve had better that’s for sure. There’s no wow to any of it, it’s standard fair. I could probably cook it myself at home. I’d say its worth booking breakfast and enjoying early morning views as that is a pleasant way to start the day and you might be lucky to get a nice server. Other than that, meeeh - bare in mind there are fabulous places to eat all over London and other places to get a fabulous view. Shame, because I had happy memories from our first visit last year but now I have sort of seedy, grubby feel about it. Money making impersonal machine churning out standard fair. Yeah meeeh.
Isabel B
Rude, unprofessional security guy
My visit to Sky Garden was marred by an appalling display of unprofessionalism by the security staff. They were not only rude but also resorted to shouting and invading personal space, making the experience deeply unpleasant. One individual, in particular, seemed intent on exacerbating the situation rather than diffusing it. Such behavior reflects poorly on the establishment and severely detracts from the overall enjoyment of the visit.
serkan şekercioğlu
I strongly do not recommend Fenchurch…
I strongly do not recommend Fenchurch restaurant. They spoiled my anniversary. I arrived 10 minutes early and was told to wait outside. Emma was my waiter at first, but she went on a break and did not have the common courtesy to inform me that Daniel would be replacing her. I waited over 40 minutes for the main course and over 20 minutes for dessert. When I complained to the manager, Prathmesh, he rudely told me to wait another 20 minutes. When I paid, they brought out a single dessert and attempted to wish me a happy anniversary. I explained everything to manager Arther, but all he did was apologize. I was hoping for a pleasant restaurant experience, but instead, I received worse service than I would at a fast-food restaurant.
Privet
Awful young lady on the door
We attended the Sky Garden on Tuesday 5th March. Our appointment was for 6.30pm. We had booked the bar for drinks.The whole experience was marred by the young lady on "the door" outside. She was rude and dishonest and left myself and my wife frustrated and upset. Here's more details regarding what happened..Our scheduled appointment time was 6.30pm in the bar. However, the email had said that we could attend 30 minutes earlier in order to have a look around the Sky Garden prior to being seated.We arrived at the doors at 5.45pm and the gentlemen explained that they were very busy and asked politely if we were okay to wait 15 minutes (which wasn't a problem at all).So, we had a look around the gift shop across the road before returning to enter the Sky Garden at 6pm.Unfortunately this time we got a young lady who seemed distinctly disinterested and didn't even look at us as we approached her. I explained that we had a booking at 6.30pm and showed her our ticket on the phone."It's not 6.30pm though is it?!" was her retort (she was extremely curt and impolite in the way she spoke).I explained that the email said we could enter 30 minutes earlier as we wanted to have a look around the garden."Well, it's not even 6pm either". I looked at my phone and it was 5.58pm. I said "It's 5.58pm? Does 2 minutes really matter?"She then raised her voice quite loud, put her palm towards my face and said... "Sir!! You are being abusive!!"I was taken aback. I said "What? I'm not being abusive?"She then raised her voice even louder and said "You are being abusive!!!"She then asked her colleague if he would swap positions with her - she whispered something to him which I didn't catch but I'm sure it was an attempt to get us barred from entry.He came over so I started to explain "We weren't being abusive to her" and he just rolled his eyes and said quietly "You're fine sir - just go in".What was both frustrating and upsetting was that she had obviously deliberately tried to get us barred from entry - by raising her voice and mis-representing the situation. I thought this behaviour was both despicable and disgusting.I presume (following her colleague rolling his eyes at her) that you'll know exactly which employee I'm referring to that was working on that date/time as people like that tend to have a history of sub-standard behaviour.This really marred what was supposed to be a really nice 50th birthday treat.The service inside was excellent, as was the ambience, I've also scored the Food with 5 stars although we didn't eat anything but, what I saw looked very nice.Unfortunately, due to the chance of encountering that horrible person on the door, neither of us will be back.
John T
