4 /5 Uland Wong: A great experience overall, but the food quality could be slightly improved, given the expense.
When we got here for 5:30 dinner, there were lines wrapped around the building of people waiting to access the Sky Garden observation deck. Fortunately, a reservation at Darwin gets you to the front of the line. You can pay an extra 10 pounds/person for a window table during reservation and we ended up with basically the best table in the house for the view. Very dramatic views of the Shard, London bridge station, and the south bank. The night we were there, they ushered everyone out of the observation deck (other than diners) for a private event and turned down all the lights. This gave it the perfect romantic ambiance and photo opportunity.
The food here is decent overall with good portions, but nothing award winning. They made a big show of my partners cinnamon allergy and how they would specially make the steak, but since when is that an actual ingredient in steak? We asked for one steak medium and the other medium rare, but there was no difference in doneness between them and both were a solid medium. The sirloin was tender but a little underseasoned, which the gravy helped with. They forgot to bring out our side spinach initially, but ended up comping us the dish, which was a nice gesture. Even with the freebie, the price was still 115 pounds, not including the reservation fee, so there is definitely a premium. The drinks had the biggest markup, with water and 2 teeny tiny sodas costing 13 pounds (i.e. 18 bucks!).
