The Garden of Easton — Restaurant in Bristol

Having visited the Garden of Easton 3 times in a week I left the final despondent and disappointed. Your plants will only get you so far...

Visit 1 10am on a Sunday for a breakfast on my own, food was delicious and service not so bad, the turmeric ginger and lemon tea is a delight.

Visit 2 birthday breakfast 10am on a Saturday, first guest through the door we were seated upstairs near the kitchen. Five minutes after ordering via the QR code we were told they’d put the wrong QR code out but not to worry, they’ll arranged. At this point we asked if a member of staff could take a final order as the site wasn’t working and the rest of us had ordered, we were told they’d be back with the iPad momentarily, few minutes pass and we ask again, once again, awaiting the sacred iPad, nearly 15 minutes pass and the staff are clearly flustered. Our drinks are served and we request they take the final order the third time and ask if food can be brought at the same, met with nothing less than a grunt a begrudging member of staff takes the order and tries to order for the table, we explain the fourth time to not one apology or acknowledgment. 4 minutes later 3 of 4 dishes arrive.

This is where it gets bad.. food was hot, cold and warm in places. My egg looked like it was fried the night before and left to cure on a hot plate. Sausage was full of bone bits - please speak with your supplier, 4 in one sausage is too much. I didn’t eat the other my appetite was waning due to unappetising and painful-to-eat food.

We sat with our empty-ish (leftover cold bits remained) plates for at least half hour, the final member of our party ate their dish alone. When the member of staff came to clear the plates I said the food was cold and not enjoyable, again, no response, no apology but a mumble and a quick move to the kitchen.

Visit 3 Booked later that same day for drinks me myself and friends. New person serving us was friendly but service overall was terrible- empty glasses piling up, staff members staring into their iPads as they walk to the kitchen paying no attention to the customers. Serving more drinks directly alongside the all the empty glasses. iPads and service do not mix.

At both points on the Saturday I wanted to talk to someone about the service that we experienced. Why is there no front of house? No manager? No one keeping tabs on the staff? Staff have little time for your customers and considering their numbers this is appears to be a training/management issue.

Not allowing bookings on your busiest days means you fill your restaurant from opening and cannot cater to consistently timed flow of orders.

The venue is stunning and even the loo is worth a visit but honestly the service (or lack of) is enough for me not to return without some drastic improvements to the running on the place.

Side note: Patatas bravas should not be flavoured frozen fries for c£4, tasty but not what was ordered.

I’m more than happy to discuss the experience with management in greater depth if...

Hi,

My brother and I attended your venue this morning for brunch.

I can categorically state without reservation that it was the worst brunch, both in terms of the quality of the food, and the service provided by your staff, that I have ever suffered through in 6 years of living and eating in Bristol.

I haven’t made a written complaint to a venue for several years, but in this instance, the experience was so bad that I couldn’t let it pass.

Firstly, your restaurant was busy, so there was a queue at the door (totally reasonable; we get it) - but when we got inside we were ignored by the staff, receiving no greeting until eventually we were instructed to come to a table. The wait seemed odd, as there were several free, cleaned, and immediately available tables, but that is by the by.

We were seated upstairs at the table directly at the top of the stairs, and were again completely ignored for 15 minutes until we eventually stopped a waitress (so you can identify her; she was wearing spectacles, a uniform top she had cut the sleeves off, heavy piercings/jewellery around her nose and ears, wore braided hair and had black tattoos halfway up each forearm), who agreed to take our order - we ordered and were told to pay immediately (fine by us). When we asked why a service charge was added, and if it was discretionary, we were pretty agressively told it’s a standard charge and everyone pays it (before getting service?…), but that if we insisted, it could be removed. We asked for it to be removed.

10 minutes later, lukewarm coffees arrived, and there was a layer of small fat/oil drops visible in the surface of my Amricano, along with what I assume (hope, really) was a floating flower/plant seed… Pretty poor, not to mention weird

Food arrived thirty minutes later - far too long. Two cold “The Garden Brunches” with two emaciated, tiny, undercooked sausages, cold beans, undercooked cold fried eggs, and the worst quality bacon I’ve been served at brunch in Bristol on both our plates. Why serve hot food on cold crockery?

In addition to the terrible food and already poor service, no one asked us how our food was, if we wanted anything else - nothing - not one more attempt at service was advanced by your staff. And when we finished and made ready to leave, we were roundly ignored as we departed. No polite interjection to say “thanks guys, have a good day”, not even a “Cheers” and a wave.

Really, this was a truly awful experience - your staff were so rude and disinterested, and the food was truly terrible.

I hope you will take this email as a well meaning effort to give you genuine feedback so you can improve. I haven’t put this on TripAdvisor or the like as I think it is unfair to complain publically in the first instance, but wow, we are so disappointed with what we had to put up with today, and we really think you should share this feedback with your staff and let them know that no customer should have to go through this at any...

Short version: Ambiance nice. Service slack. Food variable – with an inability to poach eggs. Price hefty. Recommendation - Don’t go. Better food and service are available at half the price within a short distance elsewhere.

Long version: I thought I had posted this review previously. However, during a conversation last night, a couple of friends brought up their experience of the Garden of Easton unprompted, noting how poor it was – especially the appalling service (food not good either). Finding it such a funny coincidence, I tried finding my original review to show them, but couldn’t find it. Now I’m wondering if a business can have negative reviews removed? I visited the Garden of Easton about 18 months ago for breakfast with two others. The ambiance was pleasant, with plenty of real plants and a mellow vibe. Unfortunately, the mellow vibe didn’t last long, as we waited excessively to be served or even be given menus.

When finally served we ordered some drinks whilst looking over the breakfast menu. I was surprised to be asked to pay for the drinks immediately - on a pay as you order basis. It took a long time for the drinks to arrive, at which point we ordered our food. Another long wait followed, prompting us to order a second round of drinks, which took just as long to arrive. When our breakfasts eventually arrived, I was annoyed at the two poached eggs I’d ordered, which were as bouncy as squash balls (yellow dots). The waiters had the observation skills of moles – I had to physically walk to them to gain their attention. After another long wait, I received two replacement eggs – boiled, not poached – by which point most of my plate was already finished. I informed the completely oblivious waiter it was too late, but this didn’t seem to register.

I told companions I wouldn’t be providing a tip, especially as the breakfast was already overpriced. At this point I checked the bill, noticing a 15% (I think) service charge had already been applied - in advance! I was astonished a customer service tip could be applied ahead of the service being received, particularly as it was dreadful.

As discussed with my friends when reviewing the latest Garden of Easton reviews last night, I cannot believe this place has received so many 5-star reviews. I initially thought my visit might have been an off day for both the kitchen and service staff, but after hearing my friends' experience, I felt the need to repeat my review (not verbatim) -especially since my original one seems to have vanished.

I’m happy to provide the part of my credit card statement that shows the date of my visit to the Garden of Easton – definitely not a...