New Ground Cafe - Newhall — Restaurant in Harlow

This is our local and we've been let down before by last minute cancellations on our bookings over the years because they've decided to close early. However tonights meal was an absolute joke. We sat down at 7.30pm and were instantly told they were turning off the coffee machines so there were no hot drinks. 30 minutes later we were told they were doing last drink orders (at 8pm when the website states they close at 11pm). The lack of awareness and customer service is unreal. I've waitressed for many years and on the slowest of nights we would never make people feel unwelcome and ruin their experience. I will definitely not go here again. My experience is not unusual as many local people I know refuse to even buy their coffees due to waiting times/lack of customer service. Really disappointed once again.

Update: Its disappointing you stated my comments were 'untrue'. 'Unfair' is your point of view, however 'untrue' is not the case. I can categorically tell you both myself and my friend were told there were no hot drinks (very shortly after we were seated and your cctv, as you mentioned you checked, will see this). To me it's irrelevant if the machine is deep cleaned or turned off. The drinks are unavailable. In fact, we were told there were 'last drinks' full stop whilst we were eating. I do not eat meat, therefore I didn't order the wrong meal from my perspective as I would never order meat. I ordered a meal (which after being served meat) I checked the menu and saw you had a dish with the same name, except one was 'vegan'. I hadn't noticed the meat one on the menu as I looked for vegan straight away. Therefore, if you have the same name for a dish, I would expect the waiting staff to ask is it vegan or beef. I'm extremely disappointed that you replied to my message stating my review was a lie. Yes, you're correct I understand the difficulties in hospitality, I also understand the importance of people's experience and ours was so disappointing both myself and my friend were slightly shocked (as you'll see on the cctv you mentioned you checked). Hopefully other customers won't feel as...

A real shame that I feel the need to write this review. I've visited New Ground before many times and have enjoyed the food.

I am a vegetarian of 25 years. Today I noticed there was a bit of bacon on my plate - mixed within the food - despite having ordered a vegetarian breakfast. I can count on one hand how many times this has happened in my lifetime. Obviously as soon as I found it, I was unable to continue eating the food. What does it say about an establishment when you are finding bits of meat in a vegetarian plate of food?

I immediately informed a member of staff (lady with pink hair) who was shocked and incredibly apologetic, as to be expected. What I didn't expect was to be then be told a few minutes later:

"We've removed the price of your breakfast from the bill, but the owner has asked that you still pay for the extra vegan sausage you added"

Almost laughable really. What an absolute joke. Paid for the added extra along with my partner's breakfast and the drinks and then left. Surprised that the owner felt it was appropriate to ask me to pay for part of my breakfast, after serving the food with a bit of bacon mixed in.

Will never be returning. What a disgusting attitude...

An amazing hub for the community. The opening of New Ground Cafe has connected all of our communities, my area of Mulberry Green with Churchgate Street, Newhall, Church Langley and other parts of Harlow.

Myself, friends and family now walk through all of these areas many times a week... always stopping at New Ground along the way. It is a place where there are always friendly, familiar faces, good food of the highest standard and great coffee. It reminds me a bit of the show 'Cheers' where everybody knows your name (showing my age now) 😂

Yes, we sometimes wait a little while for food or coffee (no more than we do when we queue in Costa or similar) because everything is made fresh and served using the only fair system of ‘first come, first served’…. and is always worth the wait. Their staff are nothing but lovely and we go back time and again, on the understanding that sometimes our order is ready immediately and other times not.

So, I would like to say thank you. Thank you for taking the risk to open such a huge venture, using your own funds, time and energy to create such a vibrant, edgy space that is now the heart of our community....