Gravlax Cafe & Bistro — Restaurant in Mid Sussex

Having had a bad experience with the Wolfox in Brighton (very rude, snooty staff) I wasn’t delighted to be going to the one in Haywards Heath, but decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. Well, it’s even WORSE.

The staff all looked like they were recently bereaved or walking the catwalk for Gucci when we arrived. Sullen and unwelcoming. The restaurant was ‘fully reserved’ despite being half empty and the tables never filled….but they managed to ‘squeeze’ us in the corner.

Despite having add on items on the menu I wasn’t allowed to have only eggs on toast - ‘ we don’t do food like that here’ I was told by the waitress in mourning. I won’t bother with food I told her.

One of the four of our party decided to order food (the rest of us were too miffed with the service to date), and for his ‘eggs only for those who have 10k followers on Instagram’ - it took a grand total of 45 minutes to arrive. Delightful.

We all went up to pay at the counter. ‘I had an Americano, can I pay please’ I said to the sullen chap, and on hearing this he didn’t look up, said how much it was, held out the machine and said nothing else as I paid and went to leave. ‘Erm, thank you’ I said…to that he still didn’t look up. Nor did the fellow sullen Instagrammers as we walked past….

Perhaps they just don’t like it when you’re post Parkrun?! Didn’t fit the bill. Didn’t have a blow dry. Sorry Wolfox we...

The decor here is beautiful however that sadly was the only redeeming feature, oh and the head waitress was very friendly. Initially we assumed it was child friendly as they had high chairs but no kids menu. We should have realised there was a problem when we arrive as it was practically empty with only one other table taken, to whom the waitress was apologising as we sat down. There were a lot of staff but we still had a very long wait for food, all apart from one not great! The young waitress got our very simple drink order wrong to start with and then couldn’t tell us which was apple juice and which pineapple, I had to taste them. Myself and my son in law ate a breakfast, there was something very odd about the mushrooms which tasted old and dry, the waitress didn’t know the difference in the field and farm breakfasts so muddled our orders. My daughter and grandson had pancakes which were very heavy and stoggy, my grandson ending up eating my toast. This was an expensive meal hence the review, we were all so...

edit recent update: overall unhygienic and food quality depreciating. No rules for waiters and cleanliness within the cafe. Looks like they have turned it into cowboy style place rather than a relaxing atmosphere.

Old review: We live in Haywards Heath and have been here multiple times. Amazing coffee and healthy food.Good addition to Haywards Heath. The staff is amazing and always welcoming but there are few times now we have been turned down by a male staff (with a French accent - not sure if he is bad cop of the cafe :D) we don't understand why. Every time we walked in his presence he has denied us seats or even coffee in the evening. This is really bewildering as we have been there other times and served coffee at the same time by other lovely staff, also other times the staff has been very accommodating and generous. I am just pointing this out because a staff member is spoiling the overall...