jacos — Restaurant in Tendring

Edit 05/05/19: TL:DR be careful if you have allergies! Distracted staff member served my milk allergic toddler dairy milk.

Luckily her allergy is not anaphylaxis and therefore she "only" spent the rest of the day with stomach cramps, lethargy a late night trip to out of hours and a few days of horrific nappies.

I was asked to come back and review my review, so I did. I actually visited a few times. The cafe is much more buggy friendly again and the staff are still lovely. Vegan/dairy free white hot chocolate which was great and I kept going back for it.

On Sunday the 7th of April we arrived 25 minutes before closing but they were happy to serve us. Lovely staff member offered to make a babychino for my toddler along with our drinks. I explained that she was milk allergic and the staff member used soy milk which I watched her do, but then topped up the drink with dairy whilst chatting to her colleague. I double checked that she had used soy as I thought I saw her close the fridge with the dairy milk in, though I wasn't paying much attention myself to the drink prep as I didn't realise that they weren't finished with adding milk, she assured me that she had definitely used soy milk. We left 20mins later and very soon afterwards my daughter was doubled over in pain and spent the afternoon/evening feeling very sorry for herself.

The staff are still very friendly, but like with most food places, they are not very good with allergies at all, if you ask about food allergens you get told that they offer gluten free food (I'm sure those who have to deal with allergies are very familiar with this response to allergy questions!) though they are happy for you to check packaging yourself. But this mistake could have been very serious for a person with an anaphylaxis allergy. If you have allergies or dietary requirements take yourself round the corner to Waffle On on Jackson Road, they are very hot on the most common allergies, they know exactly what is in everything they serve and have an entire vegan/milk/egg allergy menu!

Original review: Great staff, really friendly. It used to be more open inside but now is a bit cramped, so not as friendly for those with buggies any more which is a pain as we used to go regularly for a coffee whilst the baby slept in the buggy before they reorganised it. Okay for those with allergies, lovely gluten free brownie and soya milk are usually available. The lunches are simple but good and filling, nice...

Popped in today, whilst waiting for someone to have a tattoo. Only wanted a coffee, but see this cake Courgette & Avocado they had there, sounded delicious & how right I was, just amazing, absolutely scrumptious to be honest. The coffee is probably the best I’ve ever had, you can choose from full breakfast to a sandwich, Panini’s, Wraps, Toasties, or even choose a hot meal like Chilli Con Carne, hot & cold drinks, cake’s & what a choice you have, awesome ambience about the place, just buzzing. No loud music, so you.can actually sit & chat. The staff are friendly, courteous and are there to tend to your every need. Price’s are not out of the way, as I say you pay for what you get, and here it’s absolutely perfect, So why not pop in and support a local run business, in today’s climate these small businesses need the public’s help. Well done to the owners & staff great service you provide for your community, just hope they repay by visiting 10/10 from me. Love ❤️ it.

Also buy a couple of raffle tickets for the hampers they have, as these are for a good cause Chidrens...

The loveliest staff. Welcomed be and my two dogs, gave the dogs some water, very polite. Ordered a sausage and egg jackmuffin, with a side of hash browns but was told they had just cleaned the fryer and it was not ready yet, was very nice food, only reason for 4 star was because there was mayonnaise in my muffin which I hate and it didn't state that anywhere so I had to leave the muffins and just eat the fillings. But as I was finishing the staff came over with a free portion of hash browns which shows class service. But definitely would recommend this place as ingredients were quality. Just a note to restaurant really don't add anything that's not listed on the menu as it will just cause issues. Great place tho and you should definitely visit...