Excellent Cafe. Visited with my young children. Great choice of food for us all. Good value. Staff friendly with quick service. Playground is fab too. Will visit again.

I visited Chiswick House Cafe with a friend yesterday and was extremely impressed. The service was really good, staff were friendly. We had the lamb stew and a cheese toastie, which both tasted great. I've been there a few times over the summer and found it average at the time so was surprised to see such a change this time.

Clearly the initial reports and general feedback by reviewers has somehow been less than accurate. My experience of this supposed cafe is that much effort and a lot of cash has been spent on ensuring that the 'iconic' building is admired by minimalists aficionados. It should however be roundly criticised when discussing the purchase and enjoyment of light refreshment. The layout is appalling with customers needs being last on the interior designers agenda. The tills and counters are set at the back of a space more closely aligned to an Italian art gallery (complete with terrazzo tiling and ambient echo). What this means is that you cannot choose any cooked food until you get to the counter; if you do select a sandwich, crisps etc you stand in a tutting line for up to 25 minutes, clutching a tray (nowhere to rest it). When you are finally greeted by the very polite member of staff, it is often the case that they do not know the price or the time it may take to prepare hot food. The high prices (this being Chiswick) would be marginally more acceptable if you didn't have to spend so much time standing listening to other potential customers say 'this is ridiculous etc etc..' before finally walking out. My estimate is that the Chiswick House cafe is 25% under profit levels on the basis that discerning customers in 2010 will simply not tolerate this shoddy business planning. I live in a road immediately adjacent to the grounds and I will be taking my own packed lunch into the park future - I simply have better things to do with my time.