The Lillies Café — Restaurant in Basildon

When deciding where to go for lunch with my friend and our mums, we stumbled across ‘The Lillies cafe’ the menu looked nice as there was a lot to choose from and they had a selection of vegan options for my friend however when we arrived there was little customer service which continued throughout the whole time we were there, they didn’t have any of the vegan options that were offered on their menu and could only offer her a plain jacket potato or a bowl of chips. When ordering my friends mum was asked if she’d like salad with her wrap which she did and when it arrived she had a tiny bit inside of the wrap and no salad on the side which she’d been offered. We were only given a time slot of 1hr 30 minutes which is fine however they were not hugely busy we sat for a long while with our empty plates in front of us, we were not asked if we’d like any more drinks or if we’d like a dessert and were instead given the bill without asking for it and told to “look at the bill as the slot is nearly over”. It’s such a shame because we’d have probably spent the afternoon in there however due to the experience were cut short and went elsewhere. I wouldn’t go...

Fantastic cafe, great service and very good food. We were served by the lovely Frances who was so friendly and attentive, nothing was too much trouble and our drinks order was taken just after we sat down. Frances was back within a few minutes to take our food order. I had eggs florentine which was lovely, my only suggestion would be to use fresh spinach rather than frozen but it was overall a very good experience. We sat outside in one of their pods which would easily seat six people, they have a very efficient heater and lights and it’s all covered in with thick polythene with a big zip, so cozy and private. Would be great for a business meeting as well as for a family outing or for a couple like us. The bit where you drive in seems a bit shabby and the parking area could do with some smartening up but I think that is down to the garden centre. Thank you for a fantastic lunch, we’ll...

Went to Lillies cafe for first time today at lunchtime, we had booked a pod with our neighbours, quite frankly the whole experience was a disaster and definitely wouldn’t recommend or go there again. The fish and chips my husband had should never have left the kitchen, probably rejected by another customer and then reserved.Absolutely disgusting and no way was it cod as we had been told. My pie and mash was served 20 minutes after everyone else had their meal and mine was just warm, obviously been left and forgotten about. And finally had to go into the cafe and ask for our cutlery. Staff not very enthusiastic and sauce bottles were dirty the whole experience was not pleasant. A complete and utter waste of money. Had my husband and I been without company we would have complained immediately. Lillies. Cafe really need to up their game in all areas of...