Shakespeare’s Globe Christmas Party Venue

Oh what a charming place to have dinner! The Swan has gorgeous views of the Thames and is the perfect location for a delicious dinner with good friends, family you actually like (don’t bother taking your monster-in-law), or someone you love dearly (don’t bother with a first time Tinder date, I mean you can obviously but I would recommend coffee first). The service is excellent, perhaps a tad over-enthusiastic—they are your Girl Friday and ready at your beck and call, but nonetheless much better than you often find at places of this quality. They are just the right side of friendly without being intrusive. Now the food—the food was divine! So divine in fact that I failed to remember what we ordered specifically. However we started with a delicious beetroot starter with thinly sliced radishes, green pea shoots, and burrata cheese! I mean just look at the thing! It’s a piece of art! I had the puff pastry with spring vegetables and the pastry was flaky, tender, melt-in-your-mouth and the vegetables tasted as though they had been picked fresh that morning. My friend had the halibut and I wish I could tell you about it, but given the happy human noises he made while eating it (and the fact that he wouldn’t share) makes me assume it was lovely too. So if you have made it this far in this review, then well done, and do try the Swan! You will not regret it (okay you will if you take family members you dislike there, but I did warn you).

Dined here with my teenage son as a walk-in on a Wednesday in August between our tour of the Globe and watching Macbeth. It was busy when we arrived so we could only be offered a sharing table or (slightly uncomfortable, as they were low down) sofa seats initially but we were pleased they were able to accommodate a walk-in at a busy time. A couple left shortly after we arrived so we moved promptly to sit at a table for our meal. We made staff aware we had an hour to dine before the show, so they took our orders promptly and the food took no longer than 15 minutes to arrive. Everything ran perfectly, staff were very pleasant and polite and the food was delicious. Prices were in line with expectations for the location and reasonable given the generous portion sizes. Overall a great experience in the middle of our great day out!

We dined before catching a play at The Globe and luckily came on a Sunday - the roast Scottish sirloin special was a hit! Others in our party opted for other menu items and the two and three course prefix menu and a few cocktails was perfect right before the show. Timed well, good presentation, and priced fairly. Some opted for tea before the show but we decided on dinner. We had better meals elsewhere in London but the service and convenience if you are timing it to watch a Shakespeare play at The Globe means we'll happily be back.

I met some friends for afternoon tea here next to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The view from the second floor was beautiful. Our server and supporting staff were attentive and very kind. The scones were amazing, the tea was incredibly vibrant and delicious as were the sandwiches. The variety of deserts were all very tasty. I know many visitors like myself want to have the "Afternoon Tea" experience and I was not disappointed, you won't be either.

Went for afternoon tea, had the Hamlet inspired afternoon tea (classic afternoon tea). Was good but became clear it was not created as a journey but more felt like someone ran away with making Hamlet inspired food, sandwiches were nice but couldn't taste the extra ingredients, scones were light and fluffy but not enough cream to sege two people. Cakes were the most disappointing, no fresh item to cleanse pallet, lots of chocolate, became a bit sickly. Atmosphere was close and noisy, didn't help give the afternoon chill vibe. Tables were close together- so close the waitress tripped on a chair leg and bushed into a gentleman trying to enjoy his food. View was good of the Thames but open windows made it noise with the roadworks/maintenance. Decor was lovely felt elegant. I was super impressed by the sommelier. However, the waitress was clumsy and poorly trained. I weighed up if I was over expectant considering it's next to the Globe, but decided her attitude, mannerisms, professionalism was poor for what seemed a simple task. She dropped he pen during our ordering which could be forgiven if she didn't them drop it again while she served the table next to us (pen and order pad this time), and then dropped cutlery while clearing a table half an hour later. I struggled to hear and understand her as she told us of the order options because eof the closeness and noisiness of the place. All in all I think it was a nice treat, not worth going again though. Food was ok, tea was nice, cocktail was lovely. Atmosphere would be ok for a cafe, but pretty poor for a restaurant/lounge elegant place to stop.