Robins Tea House at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

We ate a big meal at Olive Garden before going there and midway through the walk the shrimp alfredo affected my lactose intolerance in a quite intolerable way!! You ever tried discretely havin' diarrhea in the bushes when all the bushes have lights on them? Everybody in the whole durn park laughed at me and I couldn't stop. I was like a Gatling G*n back there!!! Even the blind kids from the Lion's Club came and laughed at me while their parents decribed what I was doing. Worst Christmas ever.....

LGBG is like a Monet: beautiful and dignified from afar, but upon closer inspection, a giant mess. The garden does not treat its employees with fairness or respect. If someone goes against leadership, they are either fired or silenced into complicity. The work environment and leadership have become so toxic that the employees are now attempting to unionize. Instead of listening to their employees’ concerns, the garden has chosen to spend thousands of dollars on lawyers, union busters, and propaganda to discourage a “yes” vote for the union. Throwing your money into a dumpster would be far more dignified than supporting an organization that prioritizes silencing its employees over addressing their grievances. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend that anyone patronize LGBG until it decides to treat its employees with respect. I will also encourage everyone I know to do the same.

This was one of the best brunches we've had at Lewis Ginter. The food was great and the location was very nice. We've done a few in the past and by far the best selections. Was a little pricey especially for kids but we'd do it again.

Wonderful omelette station, juice bar, pastries, salmon and beef. I was disappointed in the waffles which were Rick hard and the chicken which was heavily breaded and hard as well. Kudos to the chef making the omelettes. She was great.

We enjoyed the Mothers Day brunch for the second time. My only issue is confusion over tipping. I asked and was given different answers two times as to whether a tip was included. If not, there was no way to add it. I believe it was clearer last year.

This was our second holiday brunch where a server never came to our table. I overheard the server tell another table that he had our table and never came over to see if we needed drinks.

To whom it may concern at Ginter; I took my niece to the Garden Café for dinner last night, and I have to tell it was the worst meal I have ever had in my life. I will NEVER return to Ginter again. For any reason. 1.My niece and I shared a Va Ham platter, which had no pickles, no Va ham (just slices from a picnic ham; I expected Smithfield ham), dry biscuits and tasteless pimento cheese. It was false advertising. 2.I ordered fried chicken with peppercorn/peanut gravy. It was extremely salty. The gravy was from a powder/packet filled with MSG and NO peppercorns or peanuts. The mashed potatoes were fake; flakes from a box, not real potatoes. It was pathetic, it was false advertising. 3.My niece ordered the gnocchi. It was the most horrible stuff I ever tasted. Dry, overcooked, texture was horrible. It wasn't gnocchi. There was absolutely NO sage and brown butter sauce. Mushrooms were good. Tammy, the server, took the charge for the gnocchi off of our bill. Again, false advertising. 4.My niece ordered a side of cheeses grits. They were horrible. I have never written to a restaurant in my life to complain about the food. But your food was so abhorrent, I am shocked, and really quite angry. You needed to hear this!!! There were only 3-4 other tables occupied at the time we were there; and that should have tipped us off that your food is horrible, and no one dines there. A fine institution like Lewis Ginter should be ashamed!

We went on Saturday January 7 at 5:30pm. It had rained during the day so when we arrived there was plenty of parking. We had a party of 7. Majority of us got the mock tail which was SO good. Our meals were also delicious. I think between the table we all had one of each of salads/entrees. Our servers were lovely and super helpful. My only complaint is that we asked for a to go box for the gnocchi and it ended up being taken to the kitchen never to return but that's ok! Great experience, yummy meal and then straight to the lights at 7pm.

Our server, Tammy was very attentive and pleasant. We observed and heard other staff being unfriendly and curt with other guests, and complaining about guests. Generally, most of the staff seemed very unhappy. The dining area is showing a lot of signs of wear and the Garden should consider refreshing the décor. The menu was limited which isn't unusual for events at the Garden but the food wasn't worth the price - one entrée (the pork tenderloin) was lukewarm and the other (striped bass) had no flavor. We're long-time members of the Garden and have enjoyed many lovely events and holiday dinners in the past. The food in the cafeteria has always been good and well-priced. We hope the Garden will consider a revamp of it's food service vendor for the holiday season.

We had a wonderful experience for dinner. Our service was excellent and our food was delicious, right down to the flourless chocolate cake! We loved ending our visit with a relaxing dinner.

We literally had to wait about a half hour on a surface street even to be admited to the parking area. There, the parking guides were very friendly, but couldn't help much. The general lighting of the park was delightful--whimsical, dramatic. The wintertime restaurant menu had nice variety of selections, but was very expensive. Service was moderately attentive. We had to repeatedly ask for various standard items. The food served was tasty but surprisingly small amounts. When the restaurant briefly partly filled up, we had to start shouting to hear each other.

The gravy for the chicken entree was not the peanut peppercorn gravy listed on the menu. By the time it got to the table, it was cold and congealed. The mashed potatoes were also cold. The short rib entree's grit cake and gravy were cold. It must have been sitting for so long that the grit cake was mushy. The vegetable listed on the menu was also missing from the entree. We had to get up to find an employee to ask for some of our food to be heated, and when the manager Charity) came to the table she looked disgusted- not by the food but by us because we asked for our food to be heated. While I understand that some mistakes can occur, at the price point of the menu.. We had higher expectations. She brought extra mashed potatoes and (still the wrong) gravy to the table. It was warm-ish but still not hot. After glaring at our table several times, the manager came back to fill only two out of four water glasses, even though they all needed to be refilled. The manager never apologized for anything and made our server do it instead.

We were very disappointed in our food. The portions were so small and over cooked. Literally, the kids meal had 3 times the chicken as the adult chicken meal at a 1/3 of the price. I was embarrassed when my family from out of town got their food. So disappointed.

Came here with a total of 3 people. The wait staff was charming, environment wonderful but the Chef must have been on vacation. My gnocchi was burned (which I didn't know was a rhing) and had no sauce (like none) served in a soup bowl. Desert was served in a Highball bar glass. Very strange experience. My companions dinners were adequate. The Old Fashioned was delicious but very, very light pour (one finger) which was odd for a close to higher end price.

We enjoyed our meal at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens Christmas light show! Our family loved the menu selections reflecting Virginia! They commented several times about how much they enjoyed their meal and how special it was to have dinner onsite after walking through the gardens! We enjoyed the quiet setting, and the service was excellent.