The Palm House — Restaurant in England

Visited here for the first time and last time.

Upon arrival tried to ask the serving team if we could take a table I spotted in the play area or did we need to book or do anything extra to go in the children’s play area e.g. book etc. I explained that I hadn’t been before so didn’t know the process. She said yes but wouldn’t be able to clear it until someone was free. I got the impression that would be a while. No other information was given. To be clear no other customers were even waiting at that moment. So it did not seem busy.

I don’t think this was rude behaviour it’s just felt really uncomfortable because I’m used to businesses wanting your custom and giving you some guidance on being there. Again I don’t think that she was purposely being rude. I think it’s a lack of training. Which is a management issue.

I felt as though us being there and asking for things was a problem. It certainly wasn’t a customer focused experience.

We cleared the table ourselves and I wipes it down with baby wipes.

My food order was really poor. My Jacket potato wasn’t right. It was either just a dodgy potato or it had been nuked to death in a microwave and was white and powdery. The other one I ordered for my children was fine. So I thought I could just show them and ask if they can swap it and also pop some butter on it. They (I think the manager) were defensive that it was fine but they did it. But the one I got given back had had all of the insides scrapped out mashed with butter. Because it became clear the customer was always wrong. I lost confidence in the food and just ate the potato skin.

The hygiene of this place is way below the standard you would expect from a food establishment. I could not believe the state of the floor. Especially around the till and display fridge. It can only be described as grime. There is no way that those floors are properly swept and mopped each day. I’ve attached a bit if a photo from one I took of my child. If these areas are like this I dread to think what it looks like in the kitchen.

The one plus side was that our children enjoyed playing with the toys. Just made sure to give their hands a...

Hi So looking forward to visiting The Palm House play area with my 2 year old Grandson after reading such good reviews. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. The floor area infront of the playroom was absolutely filthy...not a good start. The pleather sofas inside were dirty across the top of the back of some of the sofas which were sticky to the touch..basic hygiene..a daily wipe over with discinfectant had not been done. Obviously this is an area where babies, young children and adults are constantly using so these areas will become dirty, but that is no excuse for not doing a daily wipe down especially during a Covid 19 Pandemic! There was a beautiful big plastic type castle with a little slide which my grandson played in but resulted in both of us getting sticky hands. The selection of preschool toys appeared well played with and many were old but in good condition, but once again because of poor hygiene, these toys felt sticky and unclean. The lovely red bus was a tiny tots dream to play in but this also appeared to need a good discinfectant wipe over. We ventured outside but found several of the lovely playhouses/princess castle/apparatus had a substantial amount of rubbish shoved into the inside corners. One wooden playhouse had a broken slide which made me wonder if any of the outside toys have been regularly checked or maintained for wear and tear and safety. Many young children were playing on some of these apparatus. Some of which were made from a type of plastic and others from wood. Surely regular safety checks and hygiene checks are a necessary requirement to young childrens health and safety? Of course, it may be that the owners are unaware of the concerning condition of the toys inside and outside, but surely very young children up to five years of age, who are playing within this environment are entitled to play with clean and well maintained toys and apparatus? Sadly we will not be recommending or returning to this play area as I do not feel it is somewhere suitable for babies or young children. Photos were not taken as I respect the privacy of parents, grandparents and...

Saw this place has great reviews and a great play area for children so was looking forward to go somewhere were we can eat and chill out.

To be honest, not somewhere I would be happy to return to. The conditions was dirty, looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for a while, the tables not been cleared, so ended up clearing them ourselves and wiping the tables down, the floor in the children’s play area was filthy and a staff member spilled milk over one of the stools and carpet and only used one blue cloth to clean it when a carpet cleaner would be needed to prevent the growth of bacteria and smell.

The food was okay, I ordered a panini that either came with crisps or a salad so I choose the salad but all I received was a couple of leaves, a slice of cucumber, a plum tomato and one red onion ring. Not the salad I thought I’d be getting especially with the price you pay.

The staff I interacted with were lovely but someone needs to go around and keep on top of the cleaning and clearing of the tables ready for the next group of customers. If it is busy, which on this particular day it wasn’t, then I think staffing levels needs to be evaluated to ensure basic health and hygiene are being addressed.

I’m reading the rest of the reviews and if you are rating this place lower than a 5 star (which it has the potential to be), you will receive an aggressive, defensive reply. Whoever is responding to these reviews needs to be sacked or at least go on a training course on how to take in feedback and respond professionally. Businesses learn from the criticism and always ask for feedback on how to do better but I bet if someone was to talk to the manager or owner of this place, it would go in one ear and out the other.

To sum up, by all means, go and have a visit and if you have a great experience then you have caught them on a good day but just be cautious that this high standard they believe they hold...