The National Cafe

The best scones!
I believe the café is divided to two parts, one part for grabbing food and pay at counter; the other a proper sit down place.
Normally I’d go to the casual part of the café for a quick coffee, but it’s nice to go to the sit down café for a meal and catching up sometime.
I had the afternoon tea set there and it was much better than I imagined. First of all it’s a lot cheaper than an afternoon tea salon; second it really has the best scones (especially when they are freshly baked). Right amount of sweetness with great texture. I introduced clotted cream to my fellow Canadian friend there and now she’s addicted.
Great place to relax during gallery visits.

Overall, I didn’t have the most enjoyable time here. After being frisked by the security guard, the head of house was quite unhelpful. He didn’t provide much assistance when we were looking at the rather unimaginative menu.
When we did sit down, the service were slow and the waitress brought out the wrong food. The tea I had was below average, and tasted very bitter.
Perhaps this is a better place to go for more savoury food, but I doubt I’ll be revisiting after last time.

Very good treacle tart! Good service. A bit pricey because it’s in the gallery, but had a nice time.
Tea was also good.

Very poor Easter Sunday meal. Very quiet, yet drinks took ages. Bloody Mary clearly a pre-​mix and champagne flat. Special was mis-​discribed and came swimming in butter, poorly cooked. Stick to a burger and house wine if you must visit.

National Café has a nice ambiance you can take in, even if you’re just having a drink instead of a sit down meal. There are a few tables near the bar for patrons like us. As mentioned before, the service is shockingly slow and I’m pretty sure they purposefully do not look around so you can’t grab their attention.
Once you do grab someone, they are nice. Our finger food order was not correct and we were given it free, which was amazing. But given the price of drinks, it was very welcomed. You are paying for lovely ambiance in central London, but you should also not have to wait 15 minutes for a server and then 10 minutes for your drink in a not-​very-​big café.
And yet– I will be back!

I walked in. I sat down. I waited. For a while. A waiter walked by many times. Once he turned around and stuck a pose, then turned around and kept moving. Still I waited. It was tea time and it seemed like a lovely idea after checking out the Raphaels and Reynolds to sit and have a have a little something. But it was not to be. After waiting for 20 minutes I got up and left.

Sweet tooth heaven! Proper old-​fashioned British baking by Peyton & Byrne is served here (the food is theirs too) and is the perfect way to improve a rainy afternoon. Life is definitely sweeter with a lemony slice of treacle tart that is just the right amount of richness with a cup of builder’s tea. There is quite a large assortment of baked goods in the front and they all look wonderful.
The National Café is great and very welcome after a long day on your feet viewing the beautiful masterpieces housed here. I have been once for lunch and once for afternoon tea and although the lunch was good, the afternoon tea is my favorite.
Afternoon tea for one is £16 and is shareable but the portions for one are definitely for one. It comes in a pretty tiered tray, the top of which has some yummy sandwiches. The tiny salmon and avocado open face sandwich on some kind of crusty slice is delicious, as is the beef with mayonnaise. The cucumber sandwich is bland but not bad and they are all prettily presented. The second tier holds the perfect scone with Devonshire clotted cream and fresh strawberry jam, and is the reason I come! The jam is delicious and the scone is wonderful with everything combined, not too soft or hard and the fruit pieces embedded in the outside are light and actually nice (I’m not big on fruit in bread).
The last tier is the cakes, with a perfect tiny heart of Victorian sponge cake that goes so quickly and is delicious. The chocolate cake is rather fudgy and a little dry, so not my favourite and the raspberry mousse was well-​made but not to my taste. All together though I thought the quality was excellent and I really like it:)
For lunch, they start with bread that comes in a little red bread bag. It’s decent and sometimes warm, but nothing amazing. I tried the rump of lamb with vegetables. The lamb comes in slices with tasty streaks of fat running through them. It’s juicy and soft without being too tender, I thought it was pretty good. The vegetables were not very nice though and even the waiter recommended I order a side of vegetables to go with it even though the dish itself comes with some. The green onion was the best of the vegetables on the plate, followed by a carrot that tasted pretty much like a raw carrot, only softer. The sauce was just okay and the other vegetables I won’t even mention, they weren’t great. For the side I tried the horseradish mashed potatoes and it was good, not very spicy and better with some of the sauce from the dish.
The friend I went with let me try some of the burger, the advantages of good friends! The burger was made with really tasty mince meat and the triple fried chips were really tasty. It was a good meal, but the desserts here really stand out somehow.
My only caveat is that the service here is really bad. Whether’s its busy or not (and it usually is), it is very hard to get anyone’s attention. You can wait awhile to place your order and you may have to wait even longer to get your bill, so I would recommend trying to catch your waiter’s attention instead of just expecting them to come. It’s a nice place to sit and hang out though because they don’t bother you, which is surprisingly nice for such a busy place. It does get very crowded at lunchtime as well and you may find yourself overhearing conversations because the tables are so close together, but I enjoyed the experience:)
The National Café is one of the few similarly and confusingly named options at the National Gallery of Art, so let me clear it up for you. The National Dining Room is in the Sainsbury Wing at the other end of the museum and is fancier, and the National Café itself has 3 parts. When you walk in, you are in the first part, which is the self-​service cafeteria style café, which is where they serve the treacle tart and have a large assortment of baked goodies. If you walk further in, you will be in the National Café with a sit-​down menu and waiters which is where I had the afternoon tea, and off to the side is the Trafalgar Room, which is where private diners reserve for private meals.

I went there with the family after spending a couple of hours exploring the museum. The special dessert was great– a pistachio rhubarb tart. The scones and tea were run of the mill.
Where they lost me was the neglectful service. If the service charge wasn’t included in the bill, I would not have left a tip. (Clever of them to add it in, so you have no choice.)
It was supposed to be table service, but after waiting awhile I had to go seek out the waitress to place my order. Then when they didn’t bring the tart we ordered, I had to get up to ask for them to bring that. Then when they didn’t come to the table to collect my payment, I had to go ask someone to accept my money. I think they were were neglecting my family on purpose (and we’re not that bad, really!).

Le café de la National Gallery est l’endroit parfait pour le pti déj: il ouvre à 9h, sert un Classic English Breakfast tout à fait correct et est très calme, très reposant. Parfait pour commencer la journée !

I must have walked past the entrance to the National Café about a hundred times without even realising it was here. So, it was a lovely surprise to have friends suggest meeting at this well-​hidden treasure.
The interior is lovely and Continental with high ceilings, dark brown furniture with red upholstery and subdued lighting.
The name does not do it justice, as the National Café is so much more than a place for a quick lunch or afternoon tea. We were suprised by the impressive food and wine menu and had a most delicious meal.
As we met fairly early in the evening, we caught the tail end of the afternoon trade, a few stragglers who met for a cup of coffee after the gallery closed. But we were the only ones to stay for dinner.
Rather than this being awkward, staff made us feel very welcome and comfortable. I must say that overall the service was among the best I have ever experienced in London.
I will add this to my list of top places to meet friends in town. For my sake I hope it stays a bit of a secret. For their sake I hope they come out of hiding and receive the attention they deserve.

I’ve only dined here once, to sample the currently available Jan Gossaert inspired Flanders menu …

… which I thought was delicious and pretty good value for money.
So, as for the less than glowing reviews listed here, I can’t comment but will say the following:
The café is gorgeous with its high ceilings and low key décor and would be an ideal setting for post-​gallery viewing chats over coffee and nibbles (or perhaps pre-​gallery fueling up). Yeah, prices are high (ish) but they do seem to be in line with the central London, touristic nature of the place. A range of cheaper options await beyond the National Gallery’s doors. If you’re staying put, expect to pay for the convenience, quality (not quantity) of the food and general nice vibe.

Date of Visit: 01/​30/​2011
From USA
Stopped by the National Gallery to have lunch with my travel partner. Boy, they really tucked this café away downstairs. It’s really just a run-​of-​the-​mill overpriced museum café (as they are in the US).
The only thing going for them, really, is their dessert trolley. Note to owners: I know cold water (with or without ice if a foreign concept, but it would help to have cold water available or at least ICE.)
Spent £9.10 for a sandwich, bottled water and a tart dessert.

Stopped by here for afternoon tea after spending well over an hour viewing amazing masterpieces at the National Gallery. This was a nice surprise because it didn’t exist before when I came here 4 years ago. The interior is impressive, it’s a nice handsome space with a subtle art deco accent, high windows, dark woods, and black polished floors. It looks more like a French brasserie. The ambiance is not stuffy, and is rather casual and cozy.
As a part of my little rituals, I had to have cream tea every time I visit England. It just seemed like a perfect time and perfect place to have my long awaited cream tea when I walked into this place by pure coincidence! The scone was served warm and fresh, accompanied by clotted cream and jam. Although it was still tasty, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn’t as flaky and dense as I wanted. I also prefer a more plain version without raisins in it. I don’t know what’s consider as proper scones, but that’s just my personal preference. Overall I had a pleasant time and I would love to come back again to try other things.

This is the more casual, laid-​back, serve-​yourself sort of place than the National Dining Rooms.
It’s warm and comforting (especially on a chilly day), and full of chatter. You can pick up some tea or breakfast/​lunch.
It feels a lot more welcoming than other museum cafes I’ve been to. I feel like I can study here at any given time if i choose to or sit and people watch instead of stopping here to have a break from wandering around the museum.
Note to self, pick up a cup of hot chocolate before dashing out in the cold. Instant handwarmers is a must!

What a farce!!! The prices on their website are NOT the same as the ones in the restaurant — BEWARE.
We wanted to sample the Venetian menu after seeing the exhibition… prices on website said £16.96 for 2 courses lunch. But not the same on their menu?
Anyway they sent us upstairs to the Dining Rooms… of course there was no Venetian menu there… what a joke! And it wasn’t that good either.
I wouldn’t bother.

I love the National Gallery, so the idea of going for brunch there on a Sunday morning was a good one. The setting is as wonderful as you would expect — high ceilings, nice décor and a buzzy atmosphere as friends meet for breakfast. The menu looks impressive too — a mix of healthy granolas and porridge and what looked like incredible cooked breakfasts with eggs and sausages. But the breakfasts we were served were slightly disappointing. Maybe we ordered the wrong things, but our granola, yoghurt and berries was a let down. For £6.50 we got just a good portion of very nice granola, but then a tiny amount of yoghurt and only about 8 berries. Not quite what I expected. The accompanying smoothie was good, but again seemed overpriced. And £3.20 for 2 slices of toast was pretty spectacular. The location made for a good experience, but I think I’m still looking for my perfect brunch spot.

We had a selection of cold meats, which came beautifully presented on a wooden chopping board with a lightly-​dressed salad, some rye bread and some olives. My grandfather had a comforting bowl of macaroni cheese with cauliflower cheese and a bowl of heavily-​salted French fries. With a cup of piping hot tea, we had the perfect pit-​stop lunch after 3 solid hours of exploring the National Gallery.
The atmosphere is wonderful and I don’t think it is fairly represented on either the gallery’s website or in its literature. It is a very traditional, intimate space and is more Parisian bistro than gallery café. We found the service quite poor– the bossy waitress was too caught up with formalities and kicked up a fuss when I asked her to seat us close to the door on a table with comfy chairs (I was with my ill, elderly grandfather)

I visited this café for the first time recently and what a lovely surprise. Unlike the museum the café is very quiet and un-​touristic, and the experience was oh so very civilized.
The best part is the selection of the cakes, and you get to hand big your favorite piece from the buffet. Yam!
The dining room is next door but I have not tried that out yet. Just found the café and was happy to discover that it actually is an ok place to go.

The National Café is situated on the East wing of The National Gallery, in which you can enter from either the Getty entrance during the opening times of the gallery, or go from the St Martin’s Lane entrance.
The Café is open everyday (Mon– Fri 9am to 11pm, Saturday 10am-​11pm, Sunday 10am to 6pm) and is a welcoming place to enjoy breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner as well as a drop or two of wine and delicious cocktails from their extensive drinks list.
I came here recently with a couple friends for a spot of Afternoon Tea which we had in the National Dining Room where we were attentively served the whole time. If you feel like a slightly more casual afternoon tea experience, right next door is the self service Grab & Go room, where you can also have a selection of soups, pies, sandwiches and baguettes.
An Afternoon Tea set, in the Café is £14.50. We shared 2 between the three of us and it was more than enough, I even managed to take home a doggy bag of left over shortbread and a couple slices of sponge cake.
I had a mug of Earl Grey, which the waitress tentatively would top up with hot water from time to time. The tea set itself was interesting. There were the usual sultana scones, which we slathered with Jersey clotted cream and strawberry jam. There were the obligatory finger sandwiches, egg and cress, cheese, and a marmite one… and I am not a fan of marmite, and after biting into it not knowing what was in it initially, I realised actually how much I hate it. Its bitter yeast flavour surged through me, and I just wanted to spit it out. Aside from the marmite, everything else was good. I was happy to see that they even had a slice of banoffee pie, which I adore, and isn’t something you tend to see with a tea set.
Everything was delicious, laid back, and a great antidote when you want to get out of the bitter cold and fill yourself up with nibbles and hot tea.