Sara's Tea Garden — Restaurant in England

I have been here many times, the atmosphere is lovely and the staff very nice. However, something worrying happened the other day that prompted me to leave a review to protect other customers. I ordered from the vegan menu and asked plenty of questions to our waitress, as I have been on a dairy free diet for my daughter who is breastfed and has a cow's milk protein allergy. I made clear on multiple occasions that I couldn't eat dairy and also made sure to ask if the garlic aioli contained milk, at that point I opted for the vegan maio instead. When I ordered the milkshake, I asked for it to be made with oat milk. When the food arrived, I asked a different waitress if the cheese was dairy free and she told me that it wasn't and took it away. Then she came back and told us that the milkshake we already had contained dairy. At that point I bursted into tears as I had been religiously dairy free for more than two months to protect my little girl. The senior staff handed everything gracefully, they profusely apologised and let us have food on the house. However, my daughter has been unsettled all yesterday with an upset tummy and this morning a rash has appeared on her skin. What if I had been the allergic one? What if my daughter had been old enough to eat there herself? I am leaving this review to encourage the restaurant to train their staff better when it comes to allergies and food intolerance in order to protect the public, nothing else. I hope they wrote everything that happened in their incidents book and they...

I arrived with oReo, my Cocker Spaniel after a long walk and in need of some much needed refreshments and waited to be seated. I was initially greeted by a young waitress and then almost immediately ignored as a bigger party had arrived behind me. I asked for a table situated outside and therefore under the marquee and was told that there was a table but needed to be cleared. I once again was ignored, as her attention then turned to the group that had arrived behind me, asking are you the party of... whoever...only for their reply to be no...but they then asked for a table for 6. I decided to move past the waitress, as she was talking to them whilst leaning to the side looking past me. Once seated I remained there completely ignored by other staff, whom were waiting the other 2 tables next to me. I waited for over 30 minutes and not once was I approached, neither was any effort made to have the table cleared.

I have been here before, it was quite a while ago though, and the service then was just OK at best. However this time, it was absolutely atrocious needless to say I will not bother coming here again and waisting my time.

If you are running a restaurant business then I would recommend that your less experienced members of staff be restricted to just waiting tables and not manage your front of house greeting/ignoring...

Lovely place to sit and people watch at in old Leigh. A broad menu, mainly cakes and lunches. Dog friendly too! In fact, they have a dedicated menu just for our four legged friends. Mine always get a chopped up sausage and a bowl of water. I was here recently and could here a passing dog whining and barking. The owner called out "she's OK, she just wants to call in for a sausage and I don't have time today". so even the local dogs know and love the place!

It is always good to frequent and support local independent businesses. They are a part of the community as much as you are. It's a place to say a friendly hello, exchange some news and just have a chat. So much more needed in these more socially isolated days thanks to the global pandemic. This is the new normal now, so while you can order stuff online, don't forget to keep your local businesses alive. You'd really miss them when they're gone. Not just for the convenience, but for the quality and as I mentioned social aspect.

The internet means you can get almost anything online, but you can't do the people watching or browse the counter and find something interesting. Let's hope these businesses survive. It is us to us...