The Gardener's Rest — Restaurant in Scotland

The Gardeners Rest not the Gardeners best!

A wander along the road from the Lomond Hills Hotel is the busy Bridgend Garden Centre with a cafe inside, The Gardeners Rest.

We waited, and waited, and waited, I even went to the toilet before we were served.. and then our cutlery arrived...  Not filthy, but not what is expected, both of us had dirty cutlery, we won't mention the one cloth that goes around all the tables to clean them.

A small milk for me, and an Americano for the man.   It was a choice between Lentil or Potato and Leek on the soup menu today, Mark plumped for the Lentil.  He said it was OK, nothing amazingly tasty and could have been warmer.

A small macaroni and cheese for me, with a choice of chips, salad or garlic bread.  The usual Scottish style macaroni of white sauce topped with cheese.  It was OK, nice indigestion for the rest of the day.

This was what made the visit, rhubarb pie and custard. Verdict

Meh,  slow service and the food was average.  If going, stick...

Although the Gardner's Rest had 'Sunday Lunch with all the trimmings' available it is very much more a cafe than a restaurant. That does not diminish the service it provides. It's very much a cafe atmosphere and is great for coffee and cakes but also some staple meals.

The staff were good, attentive and knowledgeable although I didn't see many smiling during my visit. Perhaps the were focused on service delivery, if so it worked!

Food was ok and more than edible and my coffee was a tasty Americano, prices were ok too, the Sunday Roast was £10.95 each serving .

The Garden Centre it's part of is a bit pricey, aren't most of them? However it does have a varied selection of plants which are worth looking over.

Will I go again? Yes...

We went for brunch, the scones were very fresh and delicious. The waiting time was very long, but it was the last time we were here. 40 minutes to wait for scones, soup and traybakes, then to wait another 15 minutes for our hot drinks only for staff to forget the kids drinks, was abit annoying. They seem to be inexperienced younger staff, all of whom where extremely friendly, just slow as we heard a few others grumble on the slow service. Thankfully, once the food arrived, it...