Holywell Tea Chalet — Restaurant in Eastbourne

we visited the chalet on a hot Sunday afternoon stroll. it's a lovely walk along the pictures prom heading towards beach head. after a fairly long walk your confronted with this cafe and some toilet facilities. upon entering the cafe as you can imagine it was pretty busy with a long que coming close to out of the door. a fridge is located at the front of the que along with a good selection of cakes and pastries that all looked pleasing. all is well until after a good 15 minutes a female staff member shouts 'cash only no cards'. this brings the que to disarray and the now Luke warm drinks can't be purchased. que screaming and crying kids after being told they cant have a drink on a hot day after a 30 minute walk. nothing like placing signs around the entrance or even the fridge to save the 15 minutes of wasted time. feedback was given and all credit to the lady, she provided us with some iced tap water, hence the 2 stars instead of 1. poor show from staff for when placing a sign at the entrance could prevent several unhappy customers. Initially gave 2 starts but we returned during lockdown in April 21. An organised que system and food presented well and quickly....

I found it chaos & rowdy due to unruly kids screaming while I was waiting in the queue. The lady could not hear me because if the racket.

I disapprove of people taking tables which are limited, before they order and/or paid for anything so when Ive ordered ( as I was solo), I cannot get a table as it was packed. This is despicable and goes on alot in Eastbourne. I did complain & have a few times in other cafes.

It was rowdy outside due to badly behaved kids chasing the birds & dashound dogs yapping constantly.

Don't come here, if you want somewhere quiet.

Also dogs are banned inside the cafe accept guide dogs which I approve of. Its not hygienic.

I tripped up over a small dog wrangling through the tables while I was carrying my tray of food and got a mouthful of abuse from a dog owner but demanded another drink paid by...

Food was lovely and coffee was great, although the only choice for a vegan was a flapjack!! So one member of our group went hungry! Food was forgotten, no egg came with the breakfast, when questioned they were to be honest quite rude, we found the staff to be rather rude throughout, we asked for mayonnaise but was told to get it ourselves, (even though they were still bringing food out) we entered the exit door to get the mayonnaise as there was a queue the other side and was told off for it! We were a group of ten, and asked for all the food to come out together but came out in stages and some were finished when food was being brought out. Such a shame as the food was lovely but service let it down! We spent over £120 on food and drinks and I think service with a smile and appreciation...