Thyme Café — Restaurant in Sheffield

Arrived on Sunday at 14.00 with a booked table for 4 people and was told by the maitre d that we had been booked for the garden and there would be a 15 minute wait for a table inside. My mother had made the booking and hadn't booked the garden, with the only way to book for outside on Thyme Cafes website is to add a comment saying you want to be outside which she definatly hadn't. I suspect that they had bookings overrun or had booked too close together to turn tables and it would have been courtesy to have been told this rather than them blaming my mother. It was cold outside and not a pleasant start to the meal.

After sitting outside for 10 minutes we were seated inside. I suspect the kitchen was backed up as everything about taking our order took a long time. Drinks were taken seperatly to food, I suspect to give the kitchen another 10 minutes to clear the backlog of food orders. I saw 5 tables waiting for food and we waited about 20 minutes from being seated to place an order.

Service overall felt poor with long gaps between visits to the table, waiting for plates to be cleared. Had to flag someone down for the bill and was told we couldn't use our voucher code as it was '50% off roasts and desserts' menaing you had to buy both. Nowhere was this made clear on the text message T&C. The voucher read as if there was 50% of roasts and 50% off desserts. Some clarity needed.

The food was nice, bread starter to share then 3 roasts and a veggie burger. Roast pork was slightly dry as it was the end of the joint, beef was excellent. I found there was a lack of veg on my vegetarian roast with only 1 piece of broccolli. We then had coffees. Bill came to £114 for 4 people, 1 bottle of wine.

Meal overall took 1 hour and 50 minutes from start to finish. I like a relaxing meal on a Sunday but most of this time felt like waiting for service, not enjoying food.

Thyme Cafe used to be an absolute gem of a place and a real treat but this was poor. Not sure if they had overbooked, understaffed or there was a a one off issue like staff illness that they didn't want...

An extremely disappointing evening- we booked a table for 8.30pm for new years eve. On arrival we were barely greeted and after we were seated we were told that half the menu was sold out.

Whilst the waiting staff were generally friendly there was a general lack of enthusiasm and felt like you wanted us in and out, rather than being a welcoming place to celebrate the new year. It felt like everyone had signed off (inc the chef!), with friends of staff coming in and waiting around for them to clock off.

After managing to find something from the few items left, the dishes arrived looking frankly quite sad and pathetic, with barely anything on the plates for the starters with no garnishes, and no salad provided with the burger (and after requesting some salad - you charged £3 !!- it was a few leaves and whole cherry tomatoes with no dressing!!) Whilst the burger itself was alright, it felt like the whole meal was rushed and a bit of an afterthought.

I have been coming to the thyme cafe for years and it has always been really consistent and has a good vibe - unfortunately this was not the case and felt incredibly disappointing for a new years eve, we were in and out in an hour and a half.

It felt unfair of you to accept a booking for 8.30pm if it was likely you were going to run out of most of the menu. It felt like you were happy to take the extra money without providing the full service.

We were hoping for a memorable evening with loads of good food and a good atmosphere, sadly this was not the case.

We didn't complain at the time as we didn't want to further ruin an already really disappointing evening, but just wanted to make you aware so perhaps you might consider not taking as many bookings if you cannot cater for that many people and also not taking later bookings if there is a desire for customers to done and out so staff could...

Call me old fashioned, but all I ask from a bistro/restaurant is... serve me hot food, in fair portions that appears to have had a little effort put into it.

I've been to Thyme twice now, and on both occasions, they've excelled in each metric. You might laugh, but lukewarm food seems to be a trend nowadays, but not for Thyme — always piping hot, fresh and bearing the hallmarks of 'made right now, entirely from scratch... just for you... no warmed-up nonsense here.'

On each visit, I ordered form the set menu; going for the burger both times. Good lord. Huge! Huge, piping hot & tasty. The presentation is quite something, too... and that is what I mean about 'effort' — these guys excel in the areas other restaurants often overlook; final execution. Everything is so beautifully arranged/assembled on the plate (or board if you order a burger). Today, I ordered the Crispy Cajun marinated chicken burger and it looked majestic — not just huge, but meticulously presented. In fact, such was the display, that I felt as though eating it would undermine the chef's diligence and craft. I did eat it, of course, and the taste matched the sight — elite!

For dessert, I ordered the apple & blackberry crumble. In a word... otherworldly. Top 3 crumbles of all time, easily. The topping had bite and crunch, while the filling was chunky, smooth and sweet... but crucially, not sickly sweet. Beautifully balanced. Of course... it was hot, now warm, hot! Bravo.

Finally, the team — always friendly, always attentive, always make you feel at home.

Love this place...