The Palm Tree Bistro — Restaurant in England

Bizarre experience at this cafe today. Came in with my sister in law and our children, grabbed a big enough table and some menus. A waitress approached and snappily asked if it was just us two sat on the table, we said no and that we also have 3 children with us who were just looking at Christmas decorations next door. She snatched the menus off us and said they were Sunday lunch menus, and slammed down the correct menus. The cafe was busy so we didn’t take too much notice of this. We went to the counter to order, my sister in law ordered some chips and cheesy chips for her kids, plus a meal for herself and drinks. There was a basket of kids crayons and tiny colouring books on the counter (nothing fancy, like the ones you get in a kids party bag) my sister in law asked if we could get some, the waitress said no as she hasn’t ordered kids meals, my sister in law said she had ordered the kids some food, and the waitress snapped back that she hadn’t ordered kids meals (which are £9 by the way) so could not have the colouring. My sister in law said that’s fine I’m happy to pay for some colouring if that’s alright. The waitress then rolled her eyes and slammed the crayons down on the counter. She then proceeded to rant about this to another staff member for several minutes after we sat down, gesturing aggressively to the colouring basket as she did so 😂 I really do not understand what her problem was? My sister in law was perfectly polite, and was happy to pay for some colouring to keep the kids happy? But this seemed to totally send this waitress over the edge. She had a stinking attitude from the moment she approached us, which was a shame as other staff were polite even when she was trying to get them to join in with slagging us off. Having read reviews I can see she’s got previous for rolling her eyes at customers (this was a grown adult, not a teenager). It’s ironic that they have a sign behind the counter saying abuse to staff will not be tolerated when this staff members whole attitude and body language was vile. I would imagine she gets a lot of complaints and she is clearly not the right fit for a customer facing role. Certainly...

We were greeted nicely and most staff are polite if perfunctory. Very limited disappointing menu. It's been turned into a nice upmarket bistro which looks lovely, but very very expensive on the wallet and has lost its family farm appeal. It's a scale down on menu choice as well really. Cottage pie was my favourite now off the menu. Little choice and traditional home farm cooked fayre off the menu which is a shame . Ordinary bread and Toast no longer exists- that too has been taken off the menu. One waitress did not seem very happy at all and quite scowly pergaps caught her on a bad day. Ciabattas only. Brunch costs £9. Only comes on a ciabatta. It's ciabattas with everything. Porridge costs nearly £9. But not served after 11.30. Why not have it all day for those who cant eat fried or heavy? (We arrived 10 mins too late unfortunately.) Very small egg in the brunch tho everything tasted fresh and nice. The 'can do' attitudes have changed. A lot. Hit the wallet seems the order of the day. Average luke warm plain hot chocolate. The food is too expensive. Brunch meal also took ages to arrive and it wasnt quite lunchtime. (11.40) Didnt try the cakes but they look as nice as always used to. Probably shant return as too expensive for us unfortunately also too packed and noisy. Would like to see more traditional breads toast back on menu and cottage pie on menu as an option for those who miss it. A huge scale down on veg too. Such a...

This place before it changed was our go to most mornings to set us up for the day for our staycations....all I'm gonna say is why fix what isn't broken? Food is trying too hard to be something it's not (it's a cafe in a garden centre not a restaurant) it's over priced and whoever is cooking can't even fry an egg? (uncooked whites remained) The new interior to look at is lovely but on closer inspection (whilst waiting in my opinion too long for food) you could see the food crumbs from previous days under the glass at the edges. All in all disappointed will have to find a new regular visit for our breakfasts from...