Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames
Ex Cellar

Ex Cellar

Surbiton, Kingston Upon Thames, United Kingdom, Kingston upon Thames

Wine • Cafés • Pizza • Coffee


"We were walking around Surbiton the other day and decided to go in. Note: the name on the windows was “Le Café du Vin but it is the same place from what I can see.We didn 't check online first. We were visiting the area and just walked in.We were lured in because of the name on the windows “Le Café du Vin and we wanted to get something French. (I’m French so I fancied a bit of Home food for a change … Only the whole Menu was Italian, with a bit of Spanish thrown in ! Not one thing on the Menu was French. At all. Maybe the toasts and jam? There were no pastries left when we arrived.Don’t get me wrong: I love Italian food and Spanish food (I’m half Spanish after all but why advertise this as being a French place and put a French name on the door when there is nothing French about it…aside from the wines on sale, maybe? I didn 't really look at them. Even so, one would expect that if the wines were French, so would be the food.. Nope. Even the jars of foods (olives etc.. on the shelves looked mostly Italian.I don 't get it. In South East France (Provence-Côte D’Azur there are also plenty of Mediterranean dishes with olives, olive oil, tomatoes, peppers, fish etc. such as Pissaladière (Type of Pizza without a tomato base : only onions and anchovies , Pan Bagnat (bread roll filled with Salade Niçoise , Pistou (similar to Italian Pesto soup, Bouillabesse, Ratatouille etc.. . This means they could still advertise the place as being French and serve Mediterranean food if that’s what they want to do. France is a big country with very different cuisines depending on where you go. It’s not all butter, cream and beef bourguignon...Food itself was OK/Average. I wasn 't in the best of moods so I went for something simple: eggs on toast. Nothing to write home about but OK. We were disappointed because the menu was not what we expected to find and we didn’t want to drive park somewhere else again so we stayed put.Suggestion: What about renaming the place “CANTINA ITALIANA” and advertising it as an Italian type place which is what it is, kind of? At least there won’t be any confusion …"

The Tree Stone

The Tree Stone

71 High Street, Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom

Meat • Cafe • Steak • Breakfast


"Being a regular goer to New Malden, I was curious about this restaurant but always had another place to go. But yesterday was the day. First impression was not great. As it was a Friday evening, the place was packed. We had a booking but...the staffs couldn't find a table and they probably have been happy if we told them we'll go elsewhere. And before giving us table, they were only asking if we intended to do a table BBQ or not. Being a timer, all seems be strange. Soon it made clear. This is an extended arm of next door butcher store. Customers for the tabletop bbq, need to purchase their favourite cut from the butcher next door and then bring them to the restaurant to cook it on the table top. Butcher had a good selection of cut in Korean style. Korean butchery is known for more detailed cuts and have varieties of speciality cuts for tabletop bbq like sec pork slice. We went for Wagyu sirloin, roll of marinated short rib aka Kalbi, and a pack of thin sliced short rib, came up to There is pp table setting charges which covers a tabletop bbq grill, types of Korean bbq sauces, side dishes, lettuce and garlic slices for wrapping. There is a restaurant menu to order popular Korean dishes like Jeon (pancake). But for us, it was bbq only time. We started with one chunky Wagyu sirloin. It was soft and buttery taste just melt in the mouth experience, superb! Thin sliced short rib had more texture but still tasty. And lastly the marinated kalbi was amazing. We couldn't get through all the meat so I came home with roll of beautifully marinated kalbi beef. Was the whole experience worth it? Definitely. The questionable welcoming service got better when I understood how they operated. It's DIY and I kinda enjoyed they left us alone. It's like eating at home (but no need to do clean up afterward). Most importantly, I enjoyed quality and variety of meat cuts. It's subjective matter but i felt was good price for a meat feast for two which incl. Wagyu and bottle of Cass beer. I will be happy to come back to this place very near future."

Queens Head Kingston

Queens Head Kingston

United Kingdom, KT2 5EY, Kingston upon Thames

Pub • Vegan • British • Vegetarian


"We stayed here for a weekend so we could visit Kew gardens and Hampton Court Palace. Its difficult for me to rate this place because most was great but some not so good. On arriving here we were greeted and checked in by a very friendly young man, he offered to take our bags when he showed us to our rooms. He explained how to work everything like the coffee machine and the great air conditioning which was a god send due to the hot weather. He was very knowledgeable of the area and took the time to talk to us. The breakfasts were delicious and we were served by a young girl on 2 of the morning who she was very pleasant and helpful. On our last morning a young man served our breakfast. The beds were comfortable with lovely crisp clean sheets. The shower was great with plenty hot water and lovely white fluffy towels. Toiletries are shared so I didn't use them. The free mini bar was an added bonus. The room had everything you needed for a short stay (Hair dryer Iron Ironing Board and a safe) Now the negatives: No shelf in the bathroom to put anything but we could live with that. Although the inside of the shower was clean the skirting around the shower and bathroom was very dirty with a lot of dust. The carpet was filthy so we kept our shoes on. I dropped a sweet that rolled under the bed and because I couldn't access it I pulled the bed and OMG! there was about 10 years of dust and debris under the bed I was gob smacked! The difference in colour was unbelievable. What a let down by housekeeping! Its a good job it was our last morning or else it would have put me off staying. Management need to be aware of this and housekeeping trained to do their job better or given more time to do a better job. The manager did not check us out or I would have mentioned it to him, the guy who served our breakfast checked us out. We stayed in room 6"