ZSL Whipsnade Zoo Goodbye Cafes, Hello Restaurants at Whipsnade

[Arizona Docent]

Since we are broadening this topic to cover zoo restaurants in general, I will point out this thread that I started on the topic: Zoo Restaurants However that was back in 2009 so I welcome the fact that we are revisiting the topic on the current thread.

 

[Zia]

...the current Bristol menu offers just that - and at £4, at a “vaguely reasonable price”. http://www.bristolzoo.org.uk/files/download/5cfb8e038d59d07

I think there were, inevitably, teething problems when the restaurant first opened. On a recent visit, on a fairly busy Saturday, the service was cheerful, and swift. And, to be fair, on busy days I’ve sometimes stood in line waiting to be served for a long, long time.....

...and I will be really pleased if the revamped Wild Bite Cafe at Whipsnade continues to offer it as an option - and the River Cottage menu is not going to be considered the norm of what people want.

Our visit to Bristol would have been in late September so I'm not sure you could call it teething issues. Interestingly enough though, the menu showing on their website is definitely not the menu we were offered on the day. We were perfectly willing to give it a go tbh - but having been seated at a dirty table and then ignored for a good amount of time we went and got the same rolls from that specials menu you've linked - but from the coffee shack. It proved to be a much more efficient transaction and luckily it was a lovely day so sitting on a bench by the gorillas was an option.

I think of all the zoos we've visited, Colchester now has the best balance of different options available:
Food at the Zoo - Colchester Zoo

 

[Maguari]

If table service is efficient, and quick, then it should lead to a wholly better experience. At London, for example, if you want different sorts of food, you need to queue in different areas, juggle trays of whatever, queue again to pay, and then, with rapidly-cooling grub, start the hunt for a table. Far better to sit, order, then be served.

I’ve recently experienced such service in two animal-seeing contexts: at Bristol Zoo and at London’s Natural History Museum. In both cases, service was good, the overall time taken to eat was probably only very slightly extended, the cost was fine (not cheap, but what do you expect in such a context?), the food was wholly decent, and the experience was a great deal more pleasant than in the very functional traditional school canteen style of zoo eatery.

I think for me, the issue with eating on a zoo day is mostly time, and although it might not be that much longer in practice for table service, it's not so easy to predict.

If I'm in a queue in a self-service, I can very easily work out roughly how quickly people are being served and how long it will take me to get to the front of the queue. if there are multiple counters, as at London or Chester, I have the option of picking something faster-moving if needed.

In a table service situation, there's no way to know how long anything is going to take, so I'll generally just not bother at lunch - you don't know if you're first or twenty-seventh in the queue at any given point and could be in and out in twenty minutes or still there an hour later.

I agree with those saying that a choice is what is needed. I don't see a problem with table-service restaurants with more expensive food, if there is also the option of a cheaper cafe style place as well.

Yep. No problem with it as an option (one of which I will generally opt out!) but I don't think it should be the only option for hot food.

 

[Mrhinuk]

Having started this thread, perhaps I can provide an update based on our most recent visit with our grandchildren. The Base Camp Restaurant (formerly the Wild Bite Cafe) seems to work efficiently enough once you get use to waiting to be shown to a table and have negotiated ordering your meal using the electronic tablet found on each table. The staff were obliquing and the soup we had was very tasty, albeit that the portion size could have been somewhat more generous. Our grandaughter, being a creature of habit, wanted her 5 items kid's meall bag, however this is not available within the restaurant. To avoid disappointment (and probably tears) we asked if we could purchase this elsewhere in the zoo so she could consume it whilst we had our soup. The duty manager told us this would be in order, so I walked to the new Picnic Stop next to the train station to buy it. By the time I returned our soup had been served. It should also be noted that up to 11:30 the restaurant are happy to serve coffee as a standalone item (filter coffee only), but again has to be ordered via the tablet. As yet, we have not tried the somewhat more expensive River Cottage Kitchen, but can only comment that it never seems busy on those occasions when we have driven pass it.

Whether these revampted restaurants will prove to be a success remains to be seen. My biggest problem with them is the prices. Although the burger and chips looked very appetising, at £12.75 a throw so they should!

 

[littleRedPanda]

Although the burger and chips looked very appetising, at £12.75 a throw so they should!

Wow! I thought they were overpriced before, but would get them as I had membership. I for one am not in a rush to return to Whipsnade or London Zoo these days.

 

[overread]

Tablet food ordering sounds - well - rather impersonal.
Seems odd to charge high prices and create a restaurant type affair and then have pushbutton fast food style menu ordering. Especially since I suspect that you can't make many alterations or request your food be cooked a little over/under/specific through the tablet; which means any alteration or question regarding the order means you've got to flag down a server - so cost wise the restaurant pays for the tablets and the software to run their system and then still has to pay servers on the top (so its more expensive for less quality).

Makes me think its a distinctly British system of food ordering and a shame that they didn't take the chance to take a leaf from America or other countries where the menu is slightly less rigid or at least more open to catering for the visitors desires.


£12 for burger and chips is getting nuts though! Then again eating out anywhere has become very expensive, even tea and a scone can start to get toward £10 for two.

I'm honestly not sure if its reflecting rising food prices, rising wages or a catering system that is becoming top heavy bloated and thus requiring more cost to keep running. I can fast see society making a return to packed lunches at some point if the eating out prices keep crawling up.

 

[agnmeln]

£12.75 for burger and chips in the South of England?

It’s a bargain!

 

[BeakerUK]

This discussion continued over on the April Fool's Polar Bear thread, but I thought it would be better to post my response here instead.

Out of interest, I decided to compare the cost of a basic burger and chips at some different zoos around the country: (Not all zoos have their menus online, and I have only looked at some places)

• Whipsnade Base Camp £12.50
• Bristol The Hide £9.95
• Colchester Southern Kitchen take away (including a drink) £5.55
• Chester June's Food Court £7.25
• Edinburgh Zoo Food Court £6.95 and chips £2
• London Zoo Terrace Restaurant (no beef burger, but they did have a Chargrilled Lamb Mint Burger for £9.25 and a portion of chips for £3.50)
• Twycross Zoo The View £11
• Dudley Zoo Queen Mary Restaurant (No details of what is offered but they have a deal for two meals and drinks for £17.50, which does include fish, chips and peas)
• Yorkshire Wildlife Park Safari Cafe (Handmade Yorkshire Dales Gourmet 6oz Beef Burger Topped with Pastrami, Emmental Cheese and Gherkins) £12.95

I suppose I don't care much if zoos have an expensive restaurant on site. But I do care that they also have alternatives that are not expensive.

I am afraid, however, that Whipsnade is so expensive to get into that I am probably going to spend my money visiting Hamerton three times instead.

 

[agnmeln]

I tend to budget approximately £15 per meal on a zoo day because I would always want to have a drink with my meal and maybe a slice of cake or similar as well if there’s something nice on offer. It’s pretty much always a reliable estimate, both in the UK and abroad.