Redfox Coffee House — Restaurant in South Tyneside

I used to use this little coffee shop frequently a few years ago and it was lovely and located within the Garden Centre so nice for a wander around and some nice purchases to be made.

However…… I was really disappointed in my latest visit……

Cakes were small and not particularly great the Victoria sponge dry and tasteless, the fruit scone warmed up was lovely but came with a miniscule of butter and a small sachet of poor jelly type jam so what would have been a wow was quite laggy and let down with the butter and Jam (they sell lovely Jam in the gift shop a little spoon of that would have been amazing) I would have much rather paid extra for Jam and it been decent, it was such a shame to ruin the scone with rubbish jam. The price of the cake and scone was reasonable but that was obviously down to the size and dryness of the cake and the let down extras with the scone.

Coffee was incredibly small and pricey but nice it was illy which is one of my favs.

Tea decent and good price for size of the pot.

Toast dry and cold again with miniscule butter which I asked for more of and got a eyeroll.

Panini was fine albeit a little tasteless, the salad it came with had lovely peppers but leaves a bit saggy. Coleslaw nice.

Service really poor and why they leave the tray on the floor stood up next the the table is bizarre and incredibly lazy.

You have to get your own cutlery and sauces which is fine.

Attitude of lady prepping meals was stroppy, but lady on the till was...

Good coffee and food, in a garden centre location. Prices are a bit high, but then the place is a bit out in the sticks. Customers are asked to return their cups and plates, using the tray provided. On the one hand it might appear good to be asked in advance to do this, on the other, it simply translates to the business outsourcing the table clearing to the customer, so you pay good money and also do the clearing up. Staff still have to clean the table to ready it for the next customer anyway, so why not clear the cups too, and offer better value for money? The staff are presumably paid for a shift, they should also consider doing the work instead of expecting customers to do...

Absolutely love visiting red fox always has a massive selection for all interests but what made this trip extra special was we got to take our first child to meet Santa and it was incredible, from the second you walk through the wardrobe into Narnia to the moment you enter the toy shop the whole experience is magical and I loved how detailed it all was, the smile it bought to my baby boys face just melted my heart and it will be a core memory for the rest of my life, there's alot of Santas grottos and walk throughs but there's not many places like this so I highly recommend booking in advance and...