Stokes Lawn Café — Restaurant in Lincoln

We went to the cafe as a party of 3 in order to have an afternoon tea. This, like certain other menu options, did need to be pre-booked. The staff were welcoming and friendly. The food, which arrived within a few minutes, was served in the traditional way on a 3 tiered stand. There was a excellent selection of sandwiches, savouries, tiny, tempting cakes and warmed scones and the portions were generous. There is a choice of tea or coffee; all of us opted for tea, which is served in Japanese style iron tea pots. These are charming and pour well but it is perhaps worth noting for those with arthritis or children in the party that they are heavy for their size and, although the handles remain cool the rest of the pot is very hot indeed. The cafe is quite spacious and there are also tables and umbrellas outside. The decor features recycling in a major way, from the old coffee sacks used to cover the chairs to the re-purposed piping that now supports shelves. The more you look the more you see. Probably the most notable feature of all, as long as you look up, is the life sized killer whale made of car bumpers and old coffee machine parts which hangs from the ceiling. We obviously did not use the menus that day but there was a good variety of food and also a fairly extensive list of teas and coffees. The toilet area is immaculate and there is a separate mother and baby/disabled toilet. Access to the cafe is good for the wheelchair bound and less mobile as it is all on one level and close to the (pay &...

Stokes is a bit of an institution in Lincoln and until recently I’ve held it in high regard. I’ve visited the previous two Sundays and both times I’ve been encouraged to use the digital ordering machine (not sure what else to call it), the first visit I declined, possibly not the greatest idea as everything took so long, it became frustrating. The second visit I decided to use the machine to order as everything was so slow previously and despite feeling that the prices (4 breakfasts and 4 coffees best part of £70 and only 1 full English in that) I wanted to get my food within a decent timeframe. Then various, frustrating errors occurred - the whole order not being correct and somebody explaining only the food order printed off, not the coffee order and upon receipt of the food they don’t bring knives and forks, it’s more of a canteen vibe where you get your own from a condiments and utensil station, not really a premium product in my eyes, then when collecting cutlery, they were out of knives so I had to find someone then wait for knife delivery. For me, a place like Stokes lives and dies by the quality of it’s service and reducing human contact absolutely takes that away, not having cutlery at the table or delivered with food makes such little sense with the prices you’re charging. I can only assume the premium in price comes from the location because it’s not the service (very little human contact = lack of service) or the quality of food, which was no better...

I made a reservation for my grandaughter and myself for afternoon tea. Something we love to do and were staying over in the bailgate. Upon arrival we were asked to wait, which was no problem, however, other customers after me who hadnt booked were taken to tables. We were taken to our table then the sandwich/ cake stand was brought over. I was suprised that we werent asked about sandwich choice or told what the fillings were until they reached th e table. My grandaughter is 8 and didnt want cheese and pickle or some sort of fish paste with cucumber she did have the ham. The scones were lovely, as were the macaroons. The other choice of 3 cakes was slightly obscure. A cherry, syrupy overly wet tray bake cake that neither of us ate, something like a chocolate ball truffle and a completely unappertising green and chocolate creation, which when she tried it was so stodgy it stuck to her teeth. Maybe its because i expect a more traditional selection. This felt like we were served random items that were left,as there were next to none on the counter this was supposed to cost £27!!!! I did receive the government scheme so it was £13.50. Dan who waited on us was truly lovely and gave my grandaughter a brownie to make up for the cake situation. I understand it was a hot, busy day, i was just very dissapointed as id booked 2 days of her favorite things and this was just a bit of a let down. Completely overpriced when paying...