GRO Coffee — Restaurant in Great Britain

This is one of the worst eating establishments in Ayrshire. For starters, all of the so-called “organic” ingredients are purchased from Tesco. The cakes are displayed uncovered on the counter and it’s very much style over quality, as they are all dry and bland, and due to being uncovered, they generally have insects flying around.

The mural to the owners dog… really? That’s embarrassing, and no, the general public do not “heart” Joey Gro, your family dog? It is an eyesore of a mural to display in a cafe.

The menu is quantity over quality. I gave Gro another chance recently (having been a few times when out with others when it initially opened, not really through my own choice), and the menu was on a sheet bigger than A4 and had way too many options. With a menu that size, there is no chance you can specialise in any dish. Lo and behold, this assumption was correct. I ordered pancakes and they were very bland despite being topped with yogurt and berries.

We ordered coffees and some water for the table, and the glasses we were given for the water were dirty. When we asked a server for clean ones, she took them away, and the replacement ones honestly weren’t much cleaner. By the time our dishes arrived, there still wasn’t any sign of our coffees. We tried to ask the server but she walked away after slamming the dishes down, and we had to ask another server nearby instead. We had all but finished our dishes by the time the coffee appeared, kind of fruitless at that point.

Two groups were seated nearby us while we ate. By the time we left, around 20 minutes later, they still hadn’t had their order taken nor had any servers been in their direction.

To top it off, when I went to the toilets, there was only toilet paper in one stall. A staff member came in and not only went to a paperless stall, but also left without washing her hands? When I exited the toilets, I saw her behind the counter handling cakes!! I don’t believe she would have had enough time at all to wash her hands. I suppose the cakes are already unhygienic enough being exposed to the elements and to customers out in the open anyway…

This company is well known for having a high turnover of staff, and it’s no wonder when you hear how they are treated. It’s also no wonder that they don’t do a good job, because they have no morale to do so.

In Irvine, I believe it only does well because of its location. And in Ayr, it seems to be that it’s spacious and I suppose well decorated. I think Gro only succeeds due to a lack of many other choices in Ayrshire. It’s certainly not due to the quality of the food! Disgusting, dry, bland,...

Unfortunately GRO has gone downhill over the past year or so.. the food used to be amazing, however the quality and service has dropped markedly..

This morning I had the ‘local hero’ - the bacon was not crispy as described and was at best, flaccid.. the black pudding was rock hard, the potato scone was saturated in fat, and the bread was poor quality.. it all felt like it had been pre-cooked and left aside, and re-heated at the last minute.. it wasn’t however hot, and whilst brought out very quickly (as opposed to the last 2 visits where we’ve waited ages for food), all leads to it not being freshly prepared, which I would expect for paying nearly £50 for 2 brunches, 2 coffees, 2 juice, and 1 cake..

The coffee was nice, and well made, although my wife’s caramel latte turned out to be a mocha by mistake, and we had to ask for drinks to be brought out, which hadn’t arrived by the time our food had..

The cakes are as massive as they always have been and are good..

The service was fine on this occasion, as I say, we have on the past 2 occasion waited up to an hour for food, which didn’t happen on this occasion, however was generally inattentive, which is probably as a consequence of the number of covers they try to cram into the place compared to the number of staff..

The place itself is nice and in a great location in the harbour area near to the beach, with plenty of parking on the street, and with a lovely garden with a covered section and play area for kids, where we sat in the sun with plenty of space for the 2 of us and our 2 dogs.. there wouldn’t have been enough room inside due to how many covers they squeeze in..

After having been numerous times in the past however, we’re verging on the side of not going back again.. the quality and effort seem to have dropped too far to justify the £40-£50 we’ll spend as a couple, and we’ll just go for brunch on the Southside of Glasgow where we travel from before going to the beach with the dogs, where for the same price there are so many places where the quality is far far higher.. almost like what it used to be at GRO.. a shame really as it used to be a...

Had to wait 20 mins for the table, but few other options about so waited as it seemed the place to be. Trendy decor and huge cakes giving lots of insta opportunity to youngsters , but noted they seem to snap ,drink and leave quickly. Lots and lots of dogs in the cafe, everywhere ! had to literally climb over some big hound just to get to loo ! Dog owner just laughed he's tired after his walk and left huge hound sprawled across toilet access. so beware if your not a full on mad doggie person or don't like pong of wet dog or doggie bad breath and doggie smells as you eat ! We ended up boxed in by dog walkers and wet dogs who said it's a fab place they drop in with their wet dog after beach walks to dry off over tea. Not so great for other normal diners though, or their attire ! Who wants to eat in a hairy smelly kennel ? Dogs sat up on couches and soft seats ,eating off tables all ignored by staff. despite signage saying dogs only on the floor. Yuk!! We did NOT stay for cakes or coffee but found another cleaner cafe way down the street .

Id recommend this place ONLY if your Dressed for gardening or dog walking or have wet dog soaked from a beach or river walk , staff seem to adore dogs ! Literally dogs can do what they want ! Staff seem to like humans and hygiene rules way, way less. My recommendation ; Avoid if your not totally doggie bonkers.

P.s. I have dog , two actually ! I'm not anti dogs but so many dirty wet dogs behaving "badly" in such a wee cafe. It was more dog...