Winfield - Merton

We visited the Wingfield restaurant yesterday. 2023 Championship opening day, as a treat. £110 each so not cheap. Pulled ham terrine, was actually a ballontine. Poached cod main course was cold on a cold plate. Cheese board had the preserve missing. Nobody realised ! Took 25 mins to rectify! Chef could not find the preserve. The cheese board came with grapes that looked a week old and the celery stick was not pealed! Very poor experience, very disappointed. Chef would not last 5 mins in my old kitchen!

My friend and I often book in for the Wingfield’s afternoon tea when lucky enough to be drawn out of the public or LTA ballots and attend the Championships. We did this yesterday [day one, 2023 tournament]. We had pre booked so were able to skip a quickly gathering queue up the familiar steps. We checked in [about the third lot of people there] and were told where our table was and led to it. There was an issue with table positioning which, after an elongated discussion with three different people, was resolved to our acceptance. After a short wait, the orders were taken and a few minutes later, our afternoon tea arrived. It had all that was on the menu, though I didn’t like the fact that we both paid the price for the afternoon tea but the 4 cakes listed on the menu were “shared” between the two at the table. I believe if you pay full price each, you should have the full quota of cakes each. Additionally, the menu includes strawberries and cream, though when I queried where they were [as they weren’t brought with the rest of the stuff], the young waitress didn’t think they were part of the afternoon tea. I put her right and they were duly brought to the table. The cost of the AT has gone up by just short of 50% since 2018. Whilst recognising everything is going up and what we all have to endure in the shops in the modern day, I feel nowadays when leaving the restaurant that for the price, it’s not bringing as much feel good and satisfaction as it used to do. This was the most disappointing aspect of what was otherwise a great day at The Championships.

The tickets for this year were ' ' re balloted ' ' as many were unable to take up their 2020 allocation. We ere offered and accepted Men 's Final, which we were lucky with in 2019 too. A very special treat again as we dined here in 2019 and thought the experience was extra special, so again for 2022. A warm welcome the ambience is just superb, service was with ' ' Bronte ' ' who looked after us throughout always topping up my ' vino ' ' Starter smoked salmon, Main Sea Bass, Dessert Lemon Tart, then Coffee. Beautifully presented, and delicious throughout. The Brass band played below too. Yes Yes is is expensive, sometimes in life we owe ourselves a treat or two !!!

We were advised by a friend to book the Wingfield for lunch and we were not disappointed. It was a hot day and we were so thankful we arrived in good time to be seated on the terrace. The food was excellent, portion sizes were just the right size that you didn't feel stuffed and the wine was free flowing. The waitress we had was lovely, very friendly and efficient. We enjoyed it so much we returned for champagne afternoon tea.

Having been lucky enough to have tickets for Centre Court on the first day of play, we decided to treat ourselves to an afternoon tea for two at the Wingfield Cafe at Wimbledon. We also did the same in 2018 however this year it appears cost cutting changes have happened and standards have slipped. Disappointing!