During our visit to Epsom in Surrey, we made sure to stop by the Epson Social Food Hall. We had previously interviewed Peter Farrell on a podcast and wanted to experience the venue ourselves. We were pleasantly surprised by the variety of offerings, not just in food but also in entertainment and upcoming events. Alex even took a tour of the space. If you are in the area, we recommend stopping by for a bite to eat.
This is a nice new addition to the Epsom food scene and brings something a little different to other restaurants in that you are able to choose from a variety of different vendors to suit your tastes.
I’ve visited a couple of times and had the arancini from Sicily Streats (I highly recommend the large ones with Burrata) as well as a lamb wrap from Beyroots which was average.
You order at the vendor and most of them give you a buzzer to let you know when your food is ready. It’s card only which for most people isn’t a problem, but I have read and heard people wanting to use cash, so perhaps this could be an option in the future?
It’s a very loud place as there aren’t any soft furnishings to dampen voices so it’s very hard to hear each other when it’s fairly full, especially when the live music is playing. The toilets aren’t well signposted and they are mixed gender which I know a lot of people wouldn’t feel that comfortable with (plus there is a lot of empty unused space in the toilet block which would easily accommodate more toilets). And the seating feels rather unstable as the benches wobble a lot and don’t seem like they’ll last.
I’d also like to see more sweet options for dessert (we had to go elsewhere for dessert) as well as more non spicy options.
Overall it’s a nice social place to visit with friends and family with a decent amount of choice but there are some improvements that can be made to make it even better.
Today was our second time, todays visit
was different to last time. Only 4 food vendors remain from when we went at opening, very dark today, most lights turned off for some reason. No music playing live or recorded, most of the tables we looked to sit at were dirty and place not busy at all.
We had four dishes from the Korean kitchen, kids and I loved the boneless chicken with soya and garlic, also the Korean Corn Dog. Very tasty, hot and would love to have again.
The vegetable dumplings were ok, a little chewy, the loaded fries were ok too but didn’t taste Korean.
We had some churros from a different kitchen, the Cheeky Chicken. They took ages and place was not busy, we had to go and ask after them after 20 minutes to be told was on the counter ready but the buzzer had not been sent. They were warm, slightly greasy and the sauce was very odd. There were plain, no sugar or cinnamon on. Would not have again or recommend.
Hopefully some more kitchen come in soon. Sad to see it so empty already.
Edited:
Email sent as requested in the reply, but still not heard back via email. Over 1 week now.
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