The Lemon Tree Cafe — Restaurant in South Norfolk

Would have given no stars but no option for that. The young girls who worked there are the only ones that deserve the stars.

Me and my partner decided we would go out for lunch today and try the lemon tree as it always looked busy and thought it must be a good place to go. We parked up which was 2min walk away from the lemon tree. Me and my partner sat outside, we did not even get acknowledged by the staff we were there, they saw us as they were walking past us serval times serving other customers. We chose pretty quick what we wanted and we just ‘guessed’ we were to go inside and order, lucky we did as we would have been waiting a long time. I’m vegetarian so I ordered the vegetarian lemon tree (veggie breakfast) and my partner poached eggs on toast with a coke and a cappuccino. We finally got our drinks after a short wait and then before we knew it our carpark was nearly up (60mins parking) and still no food. With 20mins left a staff member asked what bread my partner wanted with his poached egg?! and then another 10mins his finally came out and then mine which was the wrong order, they gave me a meat breakfast. The young girls were super lovely but our carpark was nearly up and that meant my partner would have to eat on his own and I could not reorder as it would not come out in time. (Don’t get me wrong even if we did have longer on the car park why would we go out for lunch together and then have to eat separately) we where polite and they did offered a refund on my meal but I don’t think this is good customer service because they should have offered us both a refund. My partner then got to speak to someone in charge who frankly dismissed the terrible service. Looking back at other reviews we are not the only ones who have this experience. Won’t go back. We left with our stomachs empty and we even left without the refund on my meal because we just wanted to get out of there. Lastly They offered to doggy bag my partners toast and poached eggs which is a complete joke! Also 15mins before we left a couple sat next to us and they received their food within 10mins which looked like a breakfast. I think they forgot about us. They also said they were busy so not their fault the food took ages and the wrong order came out. Excuses for terrible service!! Don’t waste your precious time or hard...

My Sept 2020 Review gave 5 Stars. Today's review is a whole different story.

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I would like to say that this review is in two parts, because it would be unfair of me to review the food in the same situation as the service. Being a loyal a regular customer of the Lemon Tree and I look forward to having breakfast here, every time I’m in town, which has been about 10 months ago because of COVID. The breakfast here is excellent, perfectly cooked, along with wonderful coffees too. So, this pace would still get 5-star review. I’m sorry to say, where the Lemon Tree is letting itself down and will only lead to its loyal customers leaving, if things don’t improve very quickly. I know I was running late, but I did phone the café ahead to say I’d be 30 minutes late. On arrival, the place was disorganised and had to wait for our table to be cleared and cleaned, which is not an issue. The problems started when I asked for a menu and was told that they couldn’t find any, how can you lose menus? Finally, after some searching one was found. After deciding on what me and my guest wanted for breakfast, was the dilemma of whether they were still doing table service, or we would need to go to the till to do my order and pay. No one said anything when we sat down. After a wait, I went to the till to place my order, which arrived after time. While eating our breakfast, I asked for another Flat White coffee and some more toast. The coffee arrived, no issue, but they completely forgot the extra toast and to put insult to injury, they wanted to charge me for the extra toast which I didn’t received. I understand from speaking to other customers that they had a wedding group that turned up and they were busy, luckily when we arrived, it had quietened down and truly not over busy. So please if you want to keep me as a customer, please improve on your service, otherwise its going to ruin a good place to visit and from other reviews this appears not be the first time.

My Sept Review

Excellent Service. Wonderful Breakfast. If you're in the area then you need...

Used to be a good place for a coffee and a cake on a weekend but has gone downhill rapidly. The teenage waiting staff, whilst pleasant enough prove particularly useless as service staff and the quality of the coffee served is pretty poor. Lavazza? More like Asda Economy Blend! Their lattes are absolutely awful, so weak that it is hard to imagine they have used any coffee at all. A review on Trip Adviser stated the following last year: "My main beef is with the coffee. The Lavazza brand is proudly displayed and they seem to have all the right equipment but their coffee is so weak that a latte is no more than warm milk. I can't believe that anyone serving has been on proper barista training". It would seem that they have not improved in the meantime. Finding a good coffee house is getting harder these days, however avoiding the bad ones is easy...