Hainault Forest - 1856 Cafe — Restaurant in London

Food is really poor standard, I have visited 3 times so far, just to try it out and give them a chance before leaving this review. I have ordered a baguette on my second visit which is okay but really just ordinary yet over priced at £5 each, but the worst item is the jacket potato, I tried it on my first visit which they took more than 30 min to prepare and they served it luke warm with cold cheese despite me asking them to melt it, then when I asked them to melt it, they kept me waiting a further 15 min, yet it did was not melted.

Today, I have given them another chance and yet, the service has been terrible, unfriendly staff, they do not value their customers, it took them 50 minutes to serve a jacket potato.

When the chef finally called me to collect the order, we son asked her why it has taken 50 minutes to make a jacket potato, she was abrupt and said we have a lot of orders and if you want, you can get a refund. I was shocked to hear that she was talking like that considering she had brought out of food, but I was really surprised and so I said yeah I think I will just get a refund rather than having waited so long and then getting this treatment!

When I went to the till, the guy took ages to add the items to the till for a refund and when he finally added everything, instead of making it a refund transaction, he made it a charge and so I was charged again for the food!!!!! Oh gosh, it took him another five minutes to issue the refund. Really ridiculous. Appalling. Disgusting to say the least.

Rest assured, we will never visit again and will share this experience with everyone we know.

Just to put it out there, the chairs are filthy and the fabric chairs are utterly disgusting, with stains and terrible marks on them! Would really not even like to sit there!

And also, another thing to mention, the chef and the lady at the till said they were really busy and they have a queue of food orders, but that is honestly not the reason because on my first visit, the jacket potato took a similar amount of time, and it was an earlier time and there was only around 3-4 people apart from us, yet it took so long!

P.S. the global cafe is 10x times better! They serve proper hot food, including piping hot jacket potatoes with oozing melted cheese!! Also the guy is much friendlier than the staff in 1856 Cafe! I went there right after this appalling experience and had an amazing piping hot jacket potato with melted cheese oozing all over!

I would really avoid 1856 cafe...

I rarely leave negative reviews, but my experience at 1856 Café was so poor that I feel compelled to share it. From start to finish, the visit was a complete letdown. First and foremost, the customer service was atrocious. The staff were inattentive, dismissive, and seemed completely uninterested in helping customers. Simple requests were either ignored or met with attitude, and there was absolutely no sense of hospitality or professionalism. It honestly felt like we were an inconvenience rather than paying guests.

On top of the poor service, the prices were outrageously high for what was offered. The food and drinks were mediocre at best — certainly nothing that justified such steep prices. It’s one thing to pay a premium for quality, but when the quality and service are both lacking, it just feels insulting.

Overall, 1856 Café is extremely overpriced and poorly managed, and I would strongly advise others to spend their money elsewhere. There are plenty of other cafés that actually value their customers and deliver a much better experience.

Global Café is an absolute gem — the customer service is exceptional, with staff who are always friendly, attentive, and genuinely welcoming. They go above and beyond to make you feel comfortable and appreciated. The food is outstanding, fresh, flavorful, and beautifully presented every time. It’s clear that quality and care are top priorities here. I highly recommend Global Café to anyone looking for a warm atmosphere, great service, and...

Hainault Forest has a lot to offer, with its various facilities, however this establishment is truly the dirty on that diamond. After queuing up and paying for a single toasted panini, (the pre-packaged kind, similar to what you would buy in a Costa or Starbucks) I was handed a buzzer and told to wait, so I waited, and waited, and waited.. 20 minutes go by, still nothing. I enquire politely on how much longer it will take to warm up my panini, and was received with a rude member of staff explaining to me that my panini would be ready in 5 minutes. So I waited, and waited, went to the toilet, and waited, now 45 minutes have passed and I’m questioning my sanity. FINALLY, it comes out, the elusive panini, the thing I’ve been waiting what feels like a lifetime for. I hurriedly open it and take a bite, and I have to say, it was by far the most disappointing, ironically undercooked panini that I’ve ever had the misfortune of biting into. I don’t know if the “chefs” in the kitchen had been using friction as a method to heat this monstrosity up, but it would have had more colour if I’d left it in the sun for the 45 minutes (It was a cloudy day) At no point when purchasing this dreaded Panini did anyone explain to me the absurdly long wait time I would be expected to endure. To summarise, avoid this place like the plague, unless you’re looking to find a new form...