The Grand Café — Restaurant in Oxford

Yesterday I decided to have lunch here. It was expensive but it was a treat for my birthday. The young girl who served us was polite but i don't think she understood english very well. Twice i asked for a fruit scone but I didn't want it heated up. Twice it arrived heated up. I asked to speak to the woman who seemed to be in charge. She was rude. I explained that I wanted my scone cold. When she took it away she stood at the counter and spoke to the other staff members about me. She wasn't even discreet. I asked for an earl grey tea which was really unpleasant. When i asked the young girl she said it was earl grey. It didn't taste like earl grey to me but apparently I am stupid (according to lady in charge telling the other staff member) . Anyway, i asked for the bill when it arrived it said that my tea was actually gunpowder green tea ! I knew it wasn't earl grey. The woman in charge came over when I questioned the young girl about the tea. The woman was so rude. Her attitude was really bad and the constant looking over at me and the couple next to me who also had had problems with their order aswell was really uncomfortable. She also was quite rude to the young waitress and spoke to her in full earshot of the customers. Anyway, i refused to pay for the tea and I also refused to pay the service charge. Peoples attitude really makes a differnce because although the young waitress got the order wrong she was polite and apologetic. The woman in charge was so very unpleasant and rude. The scones were delicious but 13.95 for a sandwich with a few crisps and a lump of coleslaw was expensive. I wasn't even offered a fork to eat the coleslaw with, i had to use my teaspoon as when i asked the young waitress for a fork she just walked away and never came back with a fork. I am sure there are better places to...

Over prized, low quality, service with a frown, in nice architecture.

So we went there for afternoon "high" tea. They do charge £29 per person for this, including a glass of "Champagne". Which was of questionable quality in itself to start things off. The sandwiches were okay but the amount was not what I would have expected in a tier for two when going for tea. When we politely asked for seconds, we were told there were non to be had. The patisseries, instead of the two each I am accustomed to when going for Afternoon tea for two, were only one (tiny) item of each. The scones tasted mostly of baking powder and the jam was less tasty than a regular Bonne Maman. We did not see any of the staff smile once, our waitress especially and overall felt that we were a huge imposition on the staff, daring to come in a mere hour before closing, interrupting their cleaning. Unless directly addressing the staff, we were completely ignored. Our bill included an added £5 gratuity we decided to ignore in turn, as there was nothing really the "service" made us feel grateful for. Our waitress however felt compelled to tell us that the we had stiffed her on the bill.

The Witch, the wardrobe and the audacity of that .........

My partner was nice enough to politely inform her that a gratuity is a tip to be earned, which she had not, so we did not need to pay it. Which was corroborated to her by her manager, which was the best part of our experience at the "Grande" Cafe in Oxford.

In summary, I cannot recommend it for anything unless you want to experience the quintessential tourist trap experience, in wonderful, historic...

Awful experience! It was not the first time for us at the Grand Café in which our expectations were not satisfied. But in this case, the experience was horrible. We went there with some friends who were visiting from abroad with the intention of sharing an afternoon tea in this famous café in our city. We arrived there walking from the centre at around 5:30pm (after having checked on internet that the closure time was at 7pm). As soon as we walked in, the waiter told us that they were closed. We were surprised by this reply considering there were people seating inside and the sign on the door was saying “open”. They told it was quite and so they decided to close, there were many tables with people sitting. The waiter waited for us to turn around to speak to our friends and proceeded to flip the sign and then said “as you can see, we are closed”. We then called the manager for an explanation and the situation was even worse. He said “this place is closed. I personally flipped the signed one hour ago (?????). I don’t know what you see on internet. We are closed”. The impression was that thye didn’t want us there, possibly because we had three children? We told the manager that the waiter flipped the sign in front of us, but he slammed the door and went away. This was unacceptable and humiliating as it happened in front of friends whom we specifically took to see this famous place, it shameful to see that the Grand Cafe is run by incompetent and rude people who are ruining the name of a popular Oxford’s spot in front...