Stanmer House Cafè — Restaurant in England

Came here today for afternoon tea for my Mother’s birthday. This had been booked for a few weeks and we we really excited about attending. Upon arrival it was quite busy but I found a server and asked if we could be seated. She obliged and asked us to wait one moment while she took her tray full of dirty glasses to bar. I thought she was coming straight back but then starting pulling pints for people at the bar. I waited a few more minutes before I asked again. She finally seated us in a large room which apparently is where they hold afternoon tea. I was really shocked to find the layout as bizarre as it was. There was a table layout ready for a party of 15 in an hour and in the corner was our two person table on its own. This huge room with just two people in it pushed in the corner felt incredibly uncomfortable. There was a function going on in the room over which had a door that was constantly being opened with loud music and then people walking back and forth past our table. As I said it was just myself and mother in this big room with all these people walking past, it felt so unsettling. The lady who seated us happened to be the manager. When I explained how unhappy I was she repeatedly told me that no one else has ever minded it this way and this is just how they set out their afternoon tea. She processed to offer a free drink, which my mother took advantage of. When the first part of our food came out, which was nice I might add, people were just walking past staring at us. (See photo of the room lay out) the noise from the other room was so loud and it was really hard to enjoy being there. When I said I still wasn’t happy, the manager proceeded to say we could move to the bar area which I said I’d prefer. She did make a point of saying it would just be the same as in the current room, just us in a room. I explained that the other room was a lot smaller and was more cafe like and would be more fitting. We moved, the rest of the food came out and we did end up enjoying the rest of over reservation. The manager got my drink wrong and made out like i ordered it incorrectly, I ordered an apple juice, she brought me orange, it’s not difficult. It was incredibly busy as there were people complaining about the lack of food and poor service (something I just picked up on) we finished up and I asked if I could take the rest home, the manager kindly obliged and supplied us with take away boxes. I asked for the bill and before I could even put my card down to pay, she very obviously pointed out that she had provided us with a free drink and additional tea at no extra cost, I feel she was anticipating me asking for a discount which wasn’t the case, I was happy to pay for the food and told her I wouldn’t be leaving a tip for service. We got up to leave and the manager made one last comment for all to hear that “I hope you’ve been able to enjoy the rest of your tea despite needing to be moved, which no one has ever had a problem with before”. I was really exasperated by this point and just left and continued to hear her turning people away. The manager seemed so stressed and not in control of her service. She wasn’t overly professional, she had an attitude and made it very clear that she thought we were being awkward. I wouldn’t recommend coming here purely for the service and I certainly won’t be back. The food was nice but not worth the price tag for...

On this occasion, we didn't enjoy our visit here at all, for the reasons which I will outline below. The only reason I have given two stars, was because the waiter who served us was very friendly and helpful.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by a rather ostentatious set up - a roped-off entrance area, normally found at a nightclub, manned by a young chap, who was stood at a lectern. All a bit unnecessary, considering we were just visiting for a cup of coffee, we thought. He pointed us towards our seats, and let us know that our waiter would be over soon. We sat ourselves next to the fire, on the sofas, to warm up. Quite quickly, the member of staff who initially greeted us asked us to move. It was only after we asked for an explanation, that he said it was because there was a large group coming in. We thought that was a fair reason, but the delivery of the message was a bit blunt and unfriendly.

The atmosphere felt rather serious and unfriendly. There was a member of staff dressed in a suit, with a headset on (just like many of the other staff), who hovered near the doorway. I'm sure he was there to oversea operations, but it felt like he was a doorman! All rather stern and serious, and over-the-top, considering this is essentially a café, in a park, in Brighton, and the majority of the customers have muddy boots and are after a cup of tea.

The building itself is beautiful, which makes the rather elaborate and tasteless seats all the more disappointing and confusing. It was these seats that we were moved to, and we couldn't help laughing about how awful they looked.

The menu was strange, too. In the 'Mains' section, there were dishes that would normally be in the starter section, mixed-in.

Our waiter was friendly and helpful - a nice young chap, who told us he was studying at Sussex Uni.

I was unhappy that service was added automatically to the bill. I understand this is common practice in a restaurant for groups of 5 or more, but not in this context. Very strange practice. The only reason we paid it was so that the waiter could benefit.

All in all, it was a disappointing experience, as some of the staff were poor, and the venue seems to be experiencing an identity crisis at the moment. Would be much better if it was reverted back to a welcoming café, that didn't take itself too seriously!

We won't be coming here again whilst it remains in its current format, and suggest staying away if you're after a friendly, warm, laid-back stop for a...

I was given an afternoon tea voucher as a gift from friends and was very much looking forward to visiting stanmer house for the first time. We walked in to an overcrowded reception where we were asked if we made a reservation by what I presume was the manager, which we had, we were told to go through to the bar and they would collect us when they were ready- 20 minutes after sitting on a chair held up by an old book and hundreds of people in and out to use the public loo, a young boy approached us and asked what we were waiting for so we gave our name again and he disappeared. 5 minutes later, another boy who I assume worked there even though he was wearing a plain black t shirt and jeans -not the same uniform as the other staff members asked our name again and led us through to another room and showed us to a table to then be told by the manager that wasn’t our table and took us through to another table where we were sandwiched between two other tables centimetres apart. We had prosseco included our deal so 15 minutes went by until a young girl came over with no greeting just a ‘I’ll get you some prosseco then?’ Another few minutes she returned where she spilled most of the first glass. On booking this tea I told them we were both vegetarian and then reminded the confused manager when we were shown to our table to which he had it already written down on a clipboard, 30 minutes after being seated the young girl bought over the food to which she told us to eat the scones first as they were warm, I noticed the ham sandwiches and told her we are vegetarian....she replied ‘oh okay I’ll change that for you’ another 15 minutes slowly went by in which she returned with the correct sandwiches and now cold scones as they clearly just scooped the meat sandwiches off and replaced them which would’ve taken 10 seconds. We weren’t offered any more tea or drinks and 20 minutes went by and not one member of staff even entered the room to offer any tables any kind of service. I couldn’t be bothered to wait for them to offer a goodie bag of the cakes we didn’t finish so wrapped them in a napkin and left as soon as possible from the overcrowded noisy house. Would not recommend to anyone, maybe on a weekday with less people it’s a lot less chaotic but they clearly over book and cannot mange as...