The Cake'Ole — Restaurant in England

This used to be one of our favorite places, the kids loved the mini afternoon teas (which they have now stopped doing) and the food was always hot and fresh. One of the managers is always really lovely and helpful and went out of her way to help me arrange a little get together for my step-daughters birthday, acknowledging the fact that we were regulars. However the day of my daughters birthday has ruined my perception of this place. First we were treated like we were trying to get something for nothing, they denied all knowledge of the agreement made with the other manager, and said they would need to call her to confirm I was telling the truth. the assistant manager on that day was so rude when I asked if I could keep my daughters cake hidden somewhere so as not to spoil the surprise and when I said the children (all between 7-12) would like to sit on a separate table to feel special, the manager then commented saying “we are not babysitters”! I’m perfectly capable of supervising my own children from an adjacent table! The afternoon teas were so sparse they didn’t even have half of the usual contents so we had to then buy more sandwiches and our tables food took so long the kids had finished theirs before we even started (and they weren’t even busy). It is so sad as this has always been our favourite place but the managers on that particular shift lack basic manners and customer satisfaction so I think we will eat somewhere...

The decor is nice, the food is fine and the young lady who seated us and took our order was very pleasant, but oh dear this place has really gone down in my estimation, mainly due to the attitude of one older female staff member. We had to suffer Stasi style questioning when a large sandwich was brought and I said it was a child's sandwich that we needed. She took it away then came back saying, 'but did you specifically say you wanted a child's sandwich, did you, did you say a child's sandwich...?' Goodness me, what an aggressive attitude she showed infront of our three young granddaughters, who we'd brought out for a holiday treat, not to be scared and put on the spot by this nasty lady. Bottom line is all three girls put their own orders in, with the 9 year old saying please may I have a cheese and ham sandwich and some milk. A child put the order in so common sense might suggest they wanted a child's sandwich! Anyway, rather than upset the girls further we accepted the sandwich which was then brought back to us. As you can imagine most of the sandwich was left on the plate - especially the parts where the mustard was lurking. It's a cafe that we and the girls have always enjoyed visiting but sadly we won't...

So reviews on here show a mixed bag. As a family we’ve eaten here before. Having 4 grandchildren with us , cannot say we had any issues although we were sat on the outside. Main gripe is the policy on hot water. A decent cafe serving loose leaf tea in teapots would normally provide a separate pot of hot water. On requesting one here we were charged 50p for hot water in a milk jug sized vessel. This request was made for two reasons. Firstly my wife drinks tea on the weak side and secondly the teapot arrived very quickly after ordering . In actual fact the teapot arrived at ten minutes to two and by ten past two the food had still not arrived. My wife will drink during eating but I do not swill my food down with any form of drink, preferring to drink after the meal. Consequently the tea had gone cold and stewed and the small pot of 50p hot water had long been cold. Turning to the cheese and pickle sandwich. This came as a triple decker, the lowest deck being a lettuce leaf. This seemed pointless and added nothing to the sandwich which was , in fairness , quite enjoyable. Polite request to management, have a rethink on charging for hot water when serving teapots . Young waitress did offer free...