Garfunkel’s Restaurant

My girlfriend and I stopped here for a quick bite on our way back to New York from Barcelona. Easy to get seated, service was quick enough — I can’t really ask for too much more. To the person complaining below about the price of water… it’s expensive everywhere in restaurants in Europe, so it’s not surprising. Given that we got water poured for us, it was free…
The breakfast food itself was pretty decent, and I’d probably rank it about the same as Regency Café (which is where we ate our last full day in London). The British version of bacon is a bit heartier than American bacon, but it fills you up right, and they get the texture just right — not too soft, but firm enough to really chew without getting crispy at all. Eggs are pretty standard, and the hashbrowns were basically like potato knishes. Not like American hashbrowns at all, but they were decent.
All in all, it was a pretty satisfactory experience for airport food. I can’t speak for anything other than the breakfast food, but it was quick and reasonably priced (for British food). If I wanted a place to sit down and relax a little before a flight, I’d come back here.

On a quick layover on my way to Holland I was in need of some quality non-​airplane food. I stopped over at Garfunkel’s Restaurant and was underwhelmed by the service and food.
The server seemed to be out of his element and really stressed out. I can understand having a bad day but when it affects my meal, I don’t like it much.
I ordered a strawberry milkshake and English breakfast. I figured for around £14 that wouldn’t be a bad deal.
As soon as my milkshake arrived I through «could this get any worse?» It was pretty much strawberry flavored water. The consistency was close to something a sick baby would leave in it’s diaper and the taste was bland.
Luckily my meal was saved by the English breakfast that filled me up, was full of flavor and hit the spot.
Unfortunately the terrible service just ruined the meal for me. Sorry Garfunkel, I won’t be back.

Oy.
Unfortunately, this review isn’t based on the quality of the food at Garfunkel’s, since we didn’t quite get that far. I should have walked out as soon as I ordered a glass of water, was asked «still or sparkling?» and then brought a relatively expensive, small bottle of water. Not much irks me more that getting scammed to pay more for water.
Meanwhile, somewhere nearby (or in the restaurant itself?), a shrill alarm was being tripped every minute or so. Barely being able to hear ourselves speak and nursing the wretched travel headache + exhaustion, we decided that eating to the backdrop of incessant brain-​piercing noise might drive us insane. I had already spent the connecting flight sitting next to an otherwise-​lovely man who whistled the chorus of «Your Song» over and over throughout the whole journey. There was a good chance that the alarm might have turned me homicidal.
We politely explained to the server why we had to leave and asked for the bill. It arrived with two prices on it: £4.30 (printed) and £6 (written in). Heavy sigh. Even though I already knew what was going on, I asked which one was right and the server said «£4.30… but the service is not included.» Heavier sigh. So he added nearly 40%, double the American standard of 20%, on a check for two measly drinks in a country where tipping seems to be universally up to the discretion of the customer? Fuck off. Maybe it’s different in London than it is in Liverpool, I don’t know. And I am aware that it’s an airport and their sole job is to take advantage of the weary traveler. Any way it goes, it was excessive, greedy and sneaky. Not that I want to visit Heathrow again unless I absolutely have to (as the loveliness of Manchester Airport has spoiled me forever), but I’ll steer clear of this place if I am ever in Terminal 4 again.