Heavenly Desserts Colchester — Restaurant in Colchester

The first time we visited (early last year) was incredible, but it's gone downhill and the last few times we've been haven't been great.

It was my 30th birthday and we had table of 10 at a fairly quiet time on a Tuesday evening (maybe two other small tables of customers there). We discovered they now have an app that required you to pay a 40p service charge just for the pleasure of ordering your food. No option to swap or exchange anything (I left a 'note for the kitchen' to ask to exchange my gelato flavour - it was ignored and depsite me raising this with the waitress and being promised a swap, it was never honored). My friend ordered a vegan hot chocolate on the app, she was told 10 mins later that they didn't have it and would need to choose something else. She asked for a refund instead as there was nothing she could have of similar value to exchange for and was told that they couldn't give her a refund. This was ridiculous. After going away and coming back, turns out they had 'found' some vegan hot chocolate... seemed odd and I'm hoping they hadn't fobbed her off with regular hot chocolate.

Two of the vegan waffles we ordered apparently wouldn't cook properly as the batter was too sticky, so my friends had to order something else 30 mins after initially ordering.

It took 40 mins for a tap water to arrive.

Desserts arrived anywhere from one hour after the order, to not at all. One of my friends ended up having hers made up (after it was forgotten) and took it home.

It took over 45 minutes for an ice cream sundae to arrive which was then offered in a take away container as they had no jars left (most other tables in the restaurant still had the old plates and jars left dirty from previous parties).

I felt really sorry for the waitress as they only had 3 staff working and more and more deliveroo and just eat drivers arriving (which apparently take priority over customers dining in), but equally, to not know that you could refund and to forget various things etc means that something needs sorting.

The food was nice when it eventually arrived, but not worth the wait and stress of missed and wrong orders.

Overall a disappointing 30th birthday evening out. We've given it several chances now and it's not improved. We'll be finding a different place...

Would give half a star. Where to start, waited to be seated a lady in a purple north face top looked disappointed that we had walked in, other servers stayed seated at the back. Waited 10 minutes to be asked what we would like, all staff can be seen with McDonald bags, all of the tables haven’t been cleaned up and staff are just sitting around with no sense of urgency. Restaurant looks really untidy and really unprofessional. Maybe being open till midnight is not the way to go if the staff cannot be arsed to work and want to sit around getting paid to do nothing. Half the staff not wearing uniform if there even is a uniform as I write this it has been 10 minutes since we ordered and no sign of our order as staff have decided to carry on their own conversation and cuddle each other. Don’t get me wrong it must be nice to “work” in this kind of environment but not when you have customers waiting. After 15 minutes we have been given lukewarm water which we didn’t ask for. Other half went to pay and waited as staff finished their conversation. Payed by card and declined the option to leave as service was not worth a tip they literally did nothing and the waitress gave her a dirty look when declining this time. Food was fine took 20 minutes overall when staff could be bothered to make it. One member of staff was sitting on the desert counter which faces the entrance. Very disappointed as the last few visits we have had poor service and we thought we would try again tonight but unfortunately we will not be coming back. Don’t recommend

Update other half is gluten intolerant, and is now currently unwell...

Let me just say this first that this review will not stop here and I'll make sure this will be heard everywhere else because they gave us a discriminating treatment. I gave a star for the food which I have to say is good as per desserts standards. Unfortunately, as opposed to what everyone says, the service is not exactly impeccable as they say it is. Or maybe because the waitresses favored them more.

First of all, one waitress seem to be clueless about lactose intolerance. We had to ask for a vegan menu for one of us because he's lactose intolerant. The waitress was being asked about things but she obviously have no idea what she's talking about. That was the longest order taking of my life just because the waitress doesn't understand what's going on.

Second, we were still enjoying our time chatting between ourselves. Two different waitress approached us asking if we would like our bill and if we will pay in cash or card. So damn rude. I did NOT see them approaching other tables for the same thing. Only us. I felt like they were rushing us. I didn't feel welcome. We decided to pay because this treatment is unacceptable and we just want to leave. But after paying, another waitress approached us if we're paying in cash or card. That is just terrible service right there. What I did notice is our table is the only non-white table during that time and like I said, I don't hear them approaching other tables asking for the same thing.

Terrible first time experience in this place. The only saving grace is the food which isn't even that great. It's good....