Treats Cafe & Tea Room — Restaurant in England

Visited today with two friends and we were shocked by what we saw. First, the milkshakes were a complete joke. They were watery, bland, and tasted like plain milk. Not worth the price at all. But the real issue was the shocking lack of hygiene. A young female staff member with a rude attitude and totally unprofessional appearance was seen handling a cake with her bare hands, pressing her fingers and nails right into it. She did not use gloves or tongs. She just grabbed the food directly. This is a serious infection control breach. She did this while the manager was in the toilet, clearly assuming no one was watching. But we were and we have a video as proof. What makes it worse is that this kind of behaviour could seriously affect people with compromised immune systems who are more vulnerable to infection. There is no excuse for this kind of negligence in a food establishment. Her attitude was rude, loud and dismissive when we raised concerns. We will be reporting this to the local council’s food safety team. This is not just poor service. It is a public health risk. Avoid this place at all costs Kind regards

“Thank you for your response “however I stand by everything I stated in my original review as a biomedical science student I have a clear understanding of hygiene infection control and food safety regulations and what I witnessed in your establishment was completely unacceptable the staff member in question handled ready to eat food with bare hands pressing her fingers and nails directly into a cake without using gloves or tongs which is a clear breach of hygiene standards regardless of whether she washed her hands or not this level of contact poses a risk particularly to individuals with compromised immune systems your response attempting to discredit my concerns by accusing me of abusive behaviour is not only unprofessional but also completely inaccurate I have video evidence to support my claims and I will be submitting it to the local council’s food safety team for further investigation I raised a valid public health concern and was met with rudeness and defensiveness from your staff instead of accountability I will be escalating this matter as necessary and I encourage you to review your practices and training carefully to avoid putting others at risk in future thank you for your time. Much...

Visited the new treats today. I have never been before, but apparently, there was an upstairs version opposite. Greeted, told to just grab the table right in the doorway for two, all shiny new, pleasant surroundings but to be expected given its newness. Decor pleasant and cute teapots. We opted for cold drinks, diet cokes, glass bottles all good, and pretty standard for price point. I tried to order the fish brioche bun, but there was no fish left. Panic ordered the roast beef brioche instead, same as my husband. Drinks came first, all good . Not huge tables for two. When the plates came had to have a shuffle to fit them on. Looked ok, small dressed side salad and a small dish of coleslaw with the beef brioche bun....OK, firstly nice salad, pleasant. Coleslaw was really good and Creamy but the brioche.....it looked like it was straight from an Aldi packet,I get that a brioche is a sweetened bread, fair play,expected . However, the caramelised onions, just weren't. A caramelised onion is cooked down for its own natural sugars to soften and brown this was soft onion with sugar thrown in and it made it overly sweet and a bit odd, making the beef, flavourless such a shame. Secondly, guys....what's going on with your prices? Please note that I was looking for a light lunch, a sandwich would have been perfect but.....I don't think I've ever been in an establishment ever where you pay £9 for roast beef hot brioche, Have a salmon and prawn option for £10 and the price for an egg mayonnaise sandwich is £13?!? Afternoon tea for two people is only £22 for sandwiches, scone, cake and drink per person which makes it very good value! Had to go looking to pay and leave so not too attentive on the staff front. Please note this is strictly constructive criticism and I do appreciate how hard running a food establishment is, if you don't know what's wrong you can't fix it😊 also.....tuna? Is there a reason for it's absence...

From the warm welcome, prompt service and well cooked food the team here really deserve their full 5 stars. Their prices are good too, with clean tables and a good vibe, this is a nice place to visit. Just a note to visitors who have difficulty climbing stairs, there are a lot of stairs to negotiate but if you can manage these, you will be well rewarded for doing so.

Oh dear, on my follow up visit, some weeks after the above review - what a disaster! My dinner (on a Sunday - not a Sunday dinner as the owners response suggests) was tip top but one member of staff in particular made it clear my visit needed to come to an end by grabbing the teapot and shouting is it finished!!

Obviously my hour at Treats Cafe & Tea Room was up, they'd got my money and she had decided that I needed to move on. Disgraceful behaviour really, I'm sure she meant "please enjoy your time with us and we appreciate your custom" but it came out like 'Sod off' This was very obvious to other diners who raised their eyebrows at her manner and commented that she must have got out of the wrong side of the bed that morning!! So I won't be back, there are plenty of options available in Durham without the sauce of that waitress. Be warned, hold onto your cup or it's likely to be snatched away! Then they'll say you didn't really visit them at all, that it was...