Magnolia Mews Bakehouse — Restaurant in England

Took my Grandchildren here for lunch on a Saturday. We found a large table inside and grabbed some menus from the counter, then we went up to order. It took ages before the first Cup of Tea came. Then a Coffee and finally the second cup of Tea. The tea was fine but the Coffee was cold.

Then we waited.

Eventually my Daughter returned to the counter and asked how long the food would be as the children were now becoming restless. Shortly after the kids meals arrived. There was half a sandwich, a small piece of Chocolate cake, some rather bitter Strawberries, a few juicy Raspberries, a hand full of Cheese balls, slices of Cucumber and some rather tasteless baby Tomatoes. This selection had at least one or two things the kids would eat but there were a few bits the kids didn't touch. My Daughter ordered a Mozzarella, Pesto and Tomato Panini with side salad and Slaw.(£7.95). My wife ordered a Tea Cake With Jam (£3.00) but when it came it had Margarine instead of Butter, No Jam and it was I'm afraid Cold. Her cup of Tea was long gone by the time the Tea cake arrived. Then the Breakfast arrived. The server apologised for the delay and we were then visited by some one from the Kitchen who asked if we had been offered complimentary drinks? Presumably this was in compensation for the delay. However, we never got any complimentary drinks and they didn't knock the drinks off the final bill. The breakfast was very good, good quality produce, well cooked and reasonably well presented, but alas, it too was only Luke warm and the pot of Beans was actually cold.

The knob of butter which had been put on top of the Toast had melted by the time it got to me.

It would appear they are victims of their own success.

Despite there being a lot of staff on duty they didn't seem to be organised and the Kitchen didn't seem able to cope with the demand, which is a pity as the food would have been good if it had been hot and served in a reasonable time. It was just way too late and cold. And if you offer customers a complimentary drink, you really should deliver. I have looked at other reviews and most people seem very pleased with their visit.

I can only think this was an 'Off Day' and things will improve. Sadly we won't...

Waited 35 minutes just to have our table cleaned . I didn’t feel very safe, menus not cleaned over or other table items. The tables weren’t socially distanced, nor was there a one way system . No track and trace system! Only received half of our order after another 25 minutes . Which was 2 hot drinks and 3 cakes. Drinks were only just warm. The lady with a brown pony tail was extremely busy so all aspects of hand sanitising / washing hands between customer contact went out the window. I felt sorry for her but she could not work in minimal pressure at all .. The other mature lady with short brown hair was no help at all, moving at snail place , having a chat to people rather than clearing dirty tables with old food which actually had flies gathering on it, we were there for 1 hour and half and the food was still sat there and it was somebody’s before us. 2 tables who came in after us had been served with food and we were still waiting for our cakes! Very disappointing , our first visit and won’t be returning. Staff need Covid training , need to remove a table or two to spread them out and hire an extra person if you can’t cope with...

Average at best, which is such a shame given it's position and potential.

Food came out in dribs and drabs, when I place a food order I'd expect it all to come out together.

Drinks were fine. Didn't try any cakes so can't comment on them, perhaps it's better if that's what you want? They looked nice.

The pancakes were pretty good. The cooked breakfast very average. The beans looked like they'd been microwaved/cooked to within an inch of their life, they were total mush. Sausages tasted poor quality. Bacon chewy. Bread was decent bread and hot which was good. But we'd eaten most of our breakfast by the time it arrived.

Then we went to the loo. It was filthy. Not filth that had built up that morning. But clear layers of grime behind the seat and dust or grime everywhere that had been building up for days. It was pretty grim.

We'll not return. Not anytime...