Park Life Café at The Swiss Tea Rooms — Restaurant in Amber Valley

There are certain things you don’t expect to do when you go out for a bite to eat: cleaning the previous customers table is one of them. Not once did the staff come over to wipe down any of the tables, this is a very poor hygiene issue. The food (when it eventually arrived) was nice but for £45, I do expect a bit of service. There were no knives available and I had to ask several times. I appreciate it was busy, but I have eaten in far busier places who have a handle on basic hygiene and service. When leaving, my children wanted some ice lolly’s, having already paid and eaten I asked the staff member if I could have the card machine to quickly pay and go. He said I had to queue again. Fine, another 15 minutes I did, but when I got to the front and it was my turn to pay the server had forgotten a chunk of the order for the person before me- and stopped serving me. At this point, I had to say something. I received a half hearted sorry which was quickly followed up with “oh but as you can see” Yes, I see the place was busy. But lack of hygiene and service is a big no/no from me. Judging my the other reviews, this place is a hit and miss. For those who have commented or poor or lack of service, this place haven’t taken the comments on board. To be fair, McDonald’s at least clean their tables with spray...

What a complete waste of money, never be going back here again. Ordered a flat white and as comfirmed by previous reviewer, it was going to be served in a tall latte glass. Never, never have l known a flat white to be served in a latte glass. Asked the server to serve in a cup and to make it extra hot. The coffee which was served was not extra hot, and l was served a cup of warm milk with a slight coffee taste more like a latte. I courteouly questioned the server who told me none of the staff had been barista trained, and they have been told to serve flat whites in a latte glass. Due to the absence of barista training l don't think he had any idea how a flat white should be made or should taste. I drank half of the coffee but just a waste of £3.40. Was going to order toast and butter but no brown bread only white, so l selected a toasted tea cake which was a good size but contained little fruit. Recommend anybody going to the river gardens to pick up a takeout coffee from Costa Coffee before entering and avoid this place. Also, just checked l was charged £7.40 for flat white and toasted teacake. On their website it says toasted teacakes are £1.95. Seem to have been charged £4 for my toasted teacake, really annoyed and won't...

I would not recommend going here if you have allergies or intolerances. None of the cakes were labelled so I asked the man on the till if they have any cakes that are dairy free, he looked blankly and asked the woman making the drinks if she knew. She told him to get the booklet out, so he did and flicked through for a few minutes before just handing it to me to look at myself instead. Under the cakes section it only had 4 cakes listed (2 x flapjack and 2x brownies) whereas there was carrot cake/doughnuts/muffins etc on offer. When I said it doesn’t list most of your cakes I just got a blank look so I said “I guess I won’t bother then?” And I just got given the price for the drinks, no ‘sorry about that’ or ‘I ask someone else’. I would not trust eating here...