Finch House Cafe and Bakery — Restaurant in Tonbridge and Malling

Visited here on Saturday, placed an order for two flat breads and two latte’s. Sat down at our table with our lattes looking to enjoy our flatbreads and after 10-15 minutes and still no heated flat breads. I decided to see what was happening, as we would’ve liked to have eaten them with our lattes and was informed that it will be there in a minute. After about another 10 minutes one turned up, so I went back to the counter to ask where the other one was, to be told that it’ll be heated up and be sent out in a minute. After another 10 minutes and still no second flatbread, I returned to the counter to be told this time that we had only ordered one despite having a receipt quite clearly saying that we had ordered and paid for two. She said “you only gave us one to heat up”, basically accusing us of lying and that they would have to get another one out of the cold cabinet. So, after another 10 minutes we received the flatbread we ordered, which was slammed down on our table by the waitress with no apology. We asked to see the manager and was informed he doesn’t work at the weekend and he will be returning on the Monday. I informed them that I worked and would be unable to come in, so I asked to see the person in charge, who came over and listened to what I said and informed me that they were very busy and had very young and inexperienced staff. I was very polite as just I wanted to give my feedback… We were given two lattes for our inconvenience, but alas no apology. Very disappointed, as we have regularly visited this cafe...

Went in for a late breakfast. Loads of veggie options but only one vegan sandwich (carrot and houmous which is a bit uninspiring) strange as they offer milk alternatives (oat/ coconut/ almond) for the coffee but then not for the porridge. They have so many sandwiches/ paninis/ toasties that are veggie but they all have cheese! I also noticed no gluten free options at all for those needing this. My partner was not keen on the carrot houmous sandwich so he didn't eat but the veggie food I had was good. Lots of seating room and facilities for babies (high chair/ changing toilet). Staff were friendly but if you have allergies/ intolerances or are vegan they don't seem able to prepare a sandwich or croissant without one of the set ingredients - it's all pre-prepared so what you see is what you get. There are vegan/ gluten free options over the road in a cafe called Basil so I would personally go there...

On 21.04.22 much better service than a year ago (which I wrote about on here): friendly and much quicker. By accident they gave me a large flat white rather than normal-sized but didn't charge. However it was too milky. The friand was fresh and delicious - just as it should be. The bacon buttie was tasty (and helpfully came in a foiled bag) but I'm not sure the roll was buttered, which to me is quite an obvious thing to do.

However they didn't ask me if I was eating in or taking away, so they had to move the friand from a plate and put it in a bag; they didn't put any serviettes in the bag and the coffee then leaked. You would think that would be a basic thing to put in a takeaway bag.

So they've still some tweaks to do before I'd give them...