Elephant — Restaurant in England

Pleasant coffee shop serving decent coffee at a competetive price. They do serve more interesting drinks (beer) which i have unfortunately not yet tried. There is a good selection of cakes and sandwiches in a chilled cabinet and the latter i have seen getting heated up in a panini-type press behind the counter.

The overall appearance is good. It is modern but quite cosy feeling and right dead centre of the parade offering great views over the estuary and into North Wales. Parking outside is poor-average though thats hardly their fault - at peak times that road is VERY busy !

For a bonus star, they're dog-friendly which is always good in my book (but perhaps not others).

All seems good... However. I found the staff to be rather inattentive and lacking in observation in that i was stood at the counter and the three girls behind were gassing on about something or other. It seemed it wasn't until there was a pause in their conversation did i get an albeit friendly "oh, hello, etc..."

I was informed their card machine wasn't working - no problem, i had cash. A few minutes later i went back to the counter to get another coffee for a late arrival of our group only to be told, once again, and by the same girl, their card machine wasn't working. Forgivable perhaps, apart from the fact it was relatively quiet, and i was decked out in full hi-vis cycle gear ! Lol.

The lad who brought the coffee over barely managed an acknowledging grunt.

So, products, facilities, views and being dog friendly are good. The staff let this visit down - though reading other reviews, maybe they were having an "off day" as generally people...

It pains me to write this as I've previously really enjoyed this place. I've been going every month or so since it opened all those years ago and was once the proud author of a 5 star Google review for it. But things have changed and I can no longer stand by that review.

I guess I've just had more 'misses' than 'hits' lately with Elephant. Tables take an age to clear and you are often left with the previous diner's leftovers sat in front of you for a long time (often, even if you ask a member of staff to clear it). Several times I've just cleared it myself and left it on the counter when it became apparent we were being ignored.

The food is usually very good, but today we had a lemon drizzle cake that was exceptionally dry inside (i.e. no drizzle at all) and when my other half mentioned this to the staff, they couldn't have been less bothered. The guy just looked at him like he had three heads and didn't offer any sort of resolution. I kind of expect that in a big city chain coffee place, but not here. Also, £4.80 for a tiny smoothie (maybe 250-300ml) just seems quite stingy.

I guess the feeling I am left with, is that when you are spending close to £30 in a café setting, you expect the basics to be done well and treated nicely if there is an issue, but that just doesn't seem to be the case here any more. I'm not sure I'll be...

Hi, we walked to Parkgate yesterday and popped in for something to eat. We had the distinct impression things weren't going well as the was a lot of disharmony between staff and plenty of crockery banging. When my wife tried to order food she wasn't dealt with in the most sympathetic understanding manner, to be quiet fair she was disappointed in how she was addressed. As a result we went somewhere else.

You will notice that I very rarely leave negative reviews as we have our own business in hospitality and feel that things are difficult enough at the moment, but if the owners or managers are unaware of issues then they can't really do anything about it.

We wish you well in the future and hope you resolve the issues that were quite evident at the time.

We will however be back as this is something we have never witnessed before and really...