Apothecary Coffee House — Restaurant in Rother

Had to wait 15 mins just for a tea. It’s doesn’t require the amount of work / time as a barista coffee. Just boiling water and a tea bag. I was asked twice while waiting if I’d been served. Presumably as my order had been forgotten about. When it came I enquired about my toasted sandwich. After a few mins was told “he’s just putting it in now”. I asked why it wasn’t done when I arrived. They didn’t say. So I politely asked to cancel it as I had a train to catch. I incidentally the only orders I saw taken when I was sat were for cakes which were on the counter. After I cancelled it, an older man who was presumably the manager approached me in a most unprofessional and unpleasant manner claiming “it’s being made now”. I replied “it should have been made over 15 minutes ago” and he became agitated and claimed the kitchen was busy. Again I will point out that I saw no hot foods coming out of the kitchen only cakes from the counter. If it takes over 15 minutes to make a cup of tea then I have no hope for anything else. I actually overheard the “manager” asking “where’s the earl grey tea” at least twice while I was waiting and at this stage I had not made any attempts to enquire or hurry them. Something obviously went amiss with my order but rather than apologise and admit they made a mistake they aggressively tried to bully me into paying for it. A younger person with less life skills may have fallen prey to this underhand tactic. If a customer is not satisfied then this should be taken on board with decorum and not attempt to overturn and strong arm into paying for something they no longer want and need. If you are a potential customer then I would have serious reservations about ordering if more than 1 table is occupied. Incidentally there were more staff serving and behind the counter than I have ever seen in a cafe. Even a big one. So to say they were understaffed will...

Awful awful place!! Went here for lunch but waited forever to even find a waiter or waitress, they took forever to arrive only to then have a tea that tasted like watered down perfume and staff were not helpful nor polite about how terrible it tasted just told me it was my fault for ordering it!!!! Bought a hot chocolate which was teeny tiny, also took ages to arrive but was edible I guess. Food also took forever to arrive. Staff were unfriendly and avoiding eye contact and even when I did gain eye contact 2 waitresses just ignored me and never returned to the table. Panini was nice at least but served just on it's own with poor presentation, my mum had welsh rarebit which was a door step with only one option of dressings for her side salad and then they never returned to ask how the meal was, and YET again spent another 20 minutes trying to get someone to give us the bill so we could get the hell out of there. To which I ended up asking the cook in the kitchen which was inches from my face, if we could get the bill, only to find out we had to pay at the till on the way out. Would have been nice to have been told this in advance so we wouldn't have been waiting so long and wasting further more of our time in that establishment!! Do not go here. You will waste HOURS of your day and pay out...

The cafe was inviting from outside, we were looking forward to an enjoyable lunch to celebrate putting an offer on a property in the centre of Rye. My spinach quiche arrived (on specials menu), the plate was overflowing with rocket salad, which I enjoy but not when falling off the plate. As I placed my fork into the pastry it just turned to mush. I enquired as to how it was cooked, the waiter (very polite and friendly as were all serving staff) explained that it was cooked, put in the fridge and then warmed under the grill (it would not have received a Hollywood handshake having such a soggy bottom). The cook came to see me and said, rather directly 'sorry that I felt that way, people travelled specially to eat their quiche, and that I would have to pay for it anyway.' I replied that I would not pay and could I have a panini instead, the same filling as my husbands. My family had finished and we waited, 20 minutes later a waitress came back and asked 'what panini would I like?' I told her to leave it and she took the drinks...