SiiP — Restaurant in Canterbury

Was out in Canterbury this afternoon enjoying the sun with a friend. We were discussing how the big brand coffeeshops that are scattered across town like weeds that want to adorn every corner, bookshop, supermarket or garage (you know who you are) offer very little more than something you can get out of a home coffee machine for 1/10 of the cost. They're noisy, expensive and I always get the feeling it's like a fast food restaurant that I've got to glug back my drink as quick as possible as I'm being an inconvenience to the coffeeshop and a cause of anxiety to that next person in line who is secretly thinking 'I hope someone leaves before I get to the front of the queue so I can grab a table'. Anyway, we decided to go for a coffee "off the beaten path" to quote my friend. The non-multi-gazillion-dollar-chain coffeeshop, or cafe I should say, ended up being Eleto Chocolate Cafe. I was looking down their drinks list and saw all the classic options of flat whites, mochas, lattes etc. until I came to two rather special looking drinks. You see I'm one of those that enjoys picking something I can't easily make at home when I'm out. And so, onto the drinks. They both had little photos next to them that indicated they weren't your standard. Firstly was a Vietnamese Coffee which came in a mini cafetiere type looking device. The second, which I opted for, was called Caffe St Eleto. It was described on the menu as condensed milk (won over already) with a double shot of rich coffee (the reason I'm still wide awake now at nearly midnight) and cinnamon (I'm a take it or leave it with this but the rest had me hooked so I went with it). As you can see in the photo, it came in a glass cup/mug/tumbler or whatever you call it and the layers of liquids were separated. I had a couple of sips as it was and it sure had a strong coffee #taste but it wasn't too blow-your-head-off-ish. I then mixed the liquids and oh boy that's when the party started. It was smooth, it was sweet (very to my liking) and unlike any coffee I'd had before. I have already considered going back tomorrow to have another. It truly was delicious and will be one I'm ranting about to people for a while!

The companion to my Caffe St Eleto at the Chocolate Cafe in Canterbury was a sublime chocolate cake. It wasn't your standard chocolate cake, it was called a Royal Ritz. It had multiple layers of plump cherries, chocolate and something I can only describe as Biscoff paste. It was served with an artistic drizzle of chocolate sauce to give it that extra show of quality. There really are not enough cafes and coffeeshops in the world like the Chocolate Cafe. It's situated perfectly a bit of people watching on the corner of Guildhall Street and you don't feel in a rush to leave. It's high quality, it's reasonably priced and it's a little bit different. It is definitely on my top recommendation list of places to get a drink and cake in Canterbury. Keep up the good work and don't...

never gave a review before,but I felt I really had to this time. I love chocolate so I tried to give this place a chance, several times.Every time I was very disapointed with this place! Every time we were at this place we were served by different staff, all of them got our order wrong every time. The first time I asked for a strawberry and chocolate milkshake mixed together and they gave me what looked like an only strawberry milkshake. When I told the waiter about this he went to ask and came back and confirmed it was a mixed flavour milkshake as I requested.after I tried it, it was for sure a strawberry milkshake! I then told a different waiter About this and he confirmed the order was wrong and they changed the milkshake for me. Another time we wanted to get the ice cream deal. Again they got it wrong and brought us the wrong flavour. Then they came up and said there was only one scoop of the flavour I wanted originally, when 5 min ago they had more than 1 scoop of it(the place had only another couple that didn't order ice cream) I was fine with having 2 different scoops.they came back and said that now there was no ice cream at all from the flavour I wanted originally! I have no idea who ate it!or how that happened in a few minutes with an almost empty place.another time they forgot the ice cream all together. On another occasion I ordered the mix chocolate and strawberry milkshake and they said they don't mix the flavours, (when they had done it a week ago and never said a word about not doing the mixing) my milkshake was mainly milk and water with a tiny amount of ice cream and flavour! It was very disappointing!!!when upstairs it takes a while to be served and we never managed to get the bill.each time we went there we had to make our on way downstairs to pay the...

I don't normally leave reviews, but my visit absolutely shocked me! I used to come here all the time before lockdown - the service and the general atmosphere used to be lovely!

I came back for the first time since early 2020 and was absolutely shocked with the whole experience. First of all, there is absolutely no regard for COVID safety - the waitress did not ask us, or any of the other guests, to sign in using the app or any other details. I was then told to go pick any table - most of the tables upstairs were covered in food and empty cups, while it wasn't even busy. I had to ask for the table to be cleaned!

Then, we were told to go downstairs to place the order. I don't really mind doing this, but it seems to go against what every other cafe is currently doing. Why have long queues when you could have your waitress just take the orders? I then waited 15 minutes for a latte, had to ask where it was, and didn't even get a 'sorry' or anything. It's not that hard to actually say a few words to the people who are paying for the coffee! I don't think the waitress even said any other words, other than 'here's your menu'.

To top it all off, the toilets were disgusting and no one had signed for cleaning them since the morning and I visited at 5pm.

I know how tough it is to work in hospitality at the moment, but I work in hospitality myself, and I would never want anyone to experience the service I...