The Darwin Brasserie in the Sky Garden, London is not a cheap place to eat. You’re obviously paying for the location, but even so, at that price it’s not unreasonable to expect very nice food. However, when we visited last Friday night, the rib-eye (£28.50) was mediocre, the lamb (£25.50) quite chewy, and the tartare sauce served with the fish and chips (£18) lacked any bite (although the fish was nicely cooked). The triple cooked chips (£5) were distinctly “meh”.
Additionally, although the decor and surroundings are very nice, being in a relatively small glass box, it was very noisy, making it hard to hold a conversation with our fellow dining mates across the table.
On the up side, the service was generally politely attentive, if occasionally slow in some areas (e.g. the steak knives were brought to the table after almost half of the steak had been consumed).
Outside the brasserie, the Sky Garden itself I found to be disappointingly small, so if you’re looking to take advantage of a reservation to skip your lack of free garden ticket (and don’t want to wait in the walk-up line), do so knowing that you are going to pay substantially over the odds for your food.