Fortnum & Mason: The Gallery Restaurant

My new favorite shopping spot in London. The bartender was wonderful and the food and wine excellent. This made for a fantastic birthday lunch. I highly recommend this restaurant for lunch or dinner.

Its a shame to say this but as much as like this reliable lunch spot, the past couple of visits the service has been so slow! My most recent visit I didn’t get my main course until 45 minutes after I sat down and it was just barely warm. In between that time, it took a longer than average time for the wait staff to approach the table and even longer to get drinks. It almost felt like they had forgotten. Granted it was the busy part of the lunch hour but on a previous visit I went during the after lunch crush, during the quiet time and the service was excessively slow as well.
Thankfully the food remains tasty and the service is polite, but the waiting time is too much and needs much improvement. No one wants a lukewarm risotto…

Came here for tea and cake. We were quickly seated, but it was sometime untill someone came to take our order. The room was *very* loud, not much of an ambiance, tables and chairs that wouldn’t be out of place in a greasy spoon in the suburbs. 14 pounds for a pot of weak tea for one + a pretty mediocre and unsightly slice of cake, served without any style on boring, battered china. Our order may have been forgotten since we had to remind staff to bring over our cake; we had almost finished our tea by the time it arrived. Served by two different waiters, one of them unsmiling; serving us seemed to be a hassle and I’m usually very forgiving when it comes to manners. Waited ages for someone to bring the bill. 12.5% automatically added.
Meh. I expected more from such a reputable place and have indeed had much better and cheaper elsewhere. Utterly unimpressed. Seven pounds for that bit of cake? I’m still shocked. No idea how this restaurant has so many high reviews for a level of service and food I would expect from the BHS café. Maybe the meals are better (taste and value) than the cakes. The shop itself is expensive but worth the visit, but I will give the restaurant a miss.

Having been silly enough to not make reservations at the Diamond tea salon on the fourth floor, I found myself lunching on the Picadilly tea during a recent stop in London.
It’s a pot of tea with an entrée and a sweeter option. I chose the roast beef open faced sandwich with watercress and the traditional scones.
The tea was the store’s famous Royal Blend, which was pure heaven! The only thing that marred it was a jug of cool, watery skim milk that came with it. I asked for actual cream. The server seemed surprised but he brought it tout suite!
The beef sandwich was perfectly seasoned with a horseradish jam that made it sublime.
The scones were complete perfection. Anthony Bourdain always says to always eat what a city does best. You cannot find anything like this outside of England. It’s really spectacular.
Service was a bit slow on a bustling Sunday afternoon but everyone had a great spirit, most of all the two hostesses who were completely accommodating to a single diner.
This was a great tea without a lot of hubbub.

It was a great place for lunch and tea. I had the steak sandwich which was open faced so not so bready. My friend had the steak and had trouble cutting it with the knife the gave her. Our waitress went missing and another server stepped in to help us. She was very kind and made sure we were taken care of.

Came here for lunch, seated immediately, menus and a server and water all around.
We ordered our starters and they came out quickly, as did the lovely glass of prosecco I ordered. Wonderful beginning.
Then it went to hell…
as we waited and waited for our food. No one came to tell us what was happening, and after nearly half an hour we signaled our server and asked for the check. Suddenly the manager appeared and told us our food was coming, but 5 minutes later no food, and we are out of time.
Lots of apologies and nice communication about this incident with senior management softened the sting of this crappy experience.
I’ve been coming here for too many years to remember, and one big slip up has not killed my appreciation for what they do here.
Enjoy!

Fortnum & Mason came to our rescue on a cold, wintry afternoon! I was taking my family on a lightning tour of London and as it happens with family, everyone needed different things. Fortunately, Fortnum had the answer for all of us.
Those of us who needed to warm up, were cozily ensconced at a table after a super short wait. My baby niece found a ladies private room upstairs to have her needs taken care of. My coffee snob brother was extremely pleased with the quality of his cappuccino. The whole table, including me, was happily tucking into warm scones with cream and jam. The scones were a bit crumbly and difficult to apply cream to (the cream was cold and hard to slather), but they were tasty.
I also tried a pot of the Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee, but found it a bit weak and lacking in taste. Considering how it is almost £10 for a pot, it really should have been stronger. My brother agreed with me, and as he has recently had it in Jamaica, was rather disappointed. The service was very good though and we all felt restored and ready to go back out in the cold and finish our day.

I really had high hopes for this place but it seriously disappointed from the moment we lined up. It started with the lady at the front of the queue opening with «Yes?» It was like pulling teeth to tell her we wanted a table for tea and cake. Not mention, there was a short line and at least 8 free tables for more than ten minutes and queuers being completely ignored.
Delicious high quality scones, lovely tea, appalling service with miserable staff and overbearing liqueur flavours in the carrot cake and Victoria sponge cake. I will be back to visit the shop but that’s about it.

We did the «less fussy» afternoon tea and had a wonderful time. The food was delicious and beautifully presented, the service absolutely impeccable. We will definitely return when we’re in London.

Impossível resistir a entrar nesse nada modesto e pomposo shopping center que está no mesmo lugar desde 1707. A tradição secular aliada ao elegante endereço de Piccadilly Circus reflete-​se nos preços. Além da belíssima bomboniére e dos chás (o que são melhores, os sabores ou as latas?) no piso térreo, ali você também encontra o restaurante The Gallery. Não é barato mas o serviço e a comida são excelentes. O cardápio oferece o trivial britânico, e tudo é sazonal, fresco e/​ou orgânico. Serve brunch o dia inteiro e almoço a partir das 11:30. Mesmo estando num local tão chique, o restaurante não é exatamente sofisticado, não tem dresscode e dispensa reservas. Muito muito agradável. O garçon foi tão simpático que ao perceber minha dúvida cruel entre duas sobremesas, trouxe a que eu não escolhi de cortesia! Só lá vi isso acontecer. Quem gosta de lugares bonitos e bem cuidados merece essa visita.

Fortnum & Mason has always been my go to place for a cup of tea in the afternoon after a hard day’s touring in London. Tea is great and food while not inexpensive, is not unreasonable. Only drawback is that it can get very crowded. So, breakfast might be a better option than high tea.

I went one weekened without reservation (big mistake) but I was ravenous and needed a bite
they offered me a place at the bar and I enjoyed the live music, service and food.
and I became a fan of this place
the following time I visited that place I was with y sister and made sure that I have booked a table
we ordered afternoon tea and waited for over an hour to get the order! and after all the wait we received partial order !
I was hoping that maybe the rest of the food is on its way– but after 30 minutes of having the food on the table nothing more was served.
we tried to find a waiter to ask about hat is going on
however once we found a waiter in sight we decided to ask for the bill and not rescue asking about anything in case it will take eveb longer
the bill was around £50 for two afternoon teas !
I told the waiter that we were only served half of what we ordered
and he got me the manager
at this point I was so embarrassed as I kept bragging about this place in fornt of my sister — and we were both disappointed
the manager appeared and was so apologitic– he said that because this is not the standard of the restaurant we should not pay anything
yes we had one afternoon tea for free at Fortnum and Mason
and I am a fan

One word… POSH. Marvelous spread of goods ranging from wafers, chocolate, tea, jam, etc… everything I bought here was cherished state side.

Been wanting to go here for years, long lines! But arrived at 2:50 and waited 15 minutes and it was so fun! Welsh rarebit not what I expected but marvelous. The tea well enjoyed and the repast more than we could eat. The clotted cream/​butter delicious! Service European, but fine. Everyone should do this at least once in London! And though we were there for Tea, the Fortum and Mason IPA was wonderful!

What’s so special about Fortnum & Mason? Is it the fine detail they pay attention to uphold the best customer service or is it the way the aroma of different tongue pleasures waft in the air? Of course not– its simple! its what we make of it. We as customers have brought every establishment to its heights– well that and the queens royal visits. The bottom line is– its fabulous to see that quality of service– the genuine customer satisfaction is seen to.
The food– well– the food of course was excellent and served to high perfection. Were you expecting me to say anything less? If so why?!
Its a special place… it allows for your imagination to run off with you. Im sure cinderella would love it.

The Gallery Restaurant is located on the ground floor of the posh Fortnum & Mason department store. When my friend suggested that we go there, I was afraid that it would be ludicuriously expensive for lunch. Actually, it ended up being quite reasonable. I had «The Gallery Sausages and Mash» for £12.50, which came with complimentary bread (choice of raisin, white, wheat, and rosemary). My friend had the spinach ravioli for £11.00.
Both dishes were pretty good. Nothing that sent me into culniary heaven (hence the 3 star review), but it was combined with a nice atmosphere and spot-​on service. There’s a set of windows along the back wall that face a quiet alley with sunshine streaming in during the lunch hours.
They’re not too busy on a Wednesday, which makes it a great option for a business lunch too.