Carson's Tea House — Restaurant in Wealden

As a frequent customer of Carson’s Tea House, I’ve always appreciated their welcoming atmosphere, varied menu, and reliable service. I’ve previously left a positive review and often recommended the café to friends. I enjoy trying different dishes to explore their offerings—but unfortunately, today’s visit was deeply disappointing.

I ordered Carson’s Vegan Breakfast (£11.50), which included wilted spinach, flat mushroom, tomato, baked beans, bubble and squeak on toast. What arrived was shockingly underwhelming: a portion of basic baked beans, oily mushrooms, one small tomato, and a bubble and squeak patty barely 5cm in diameter, super thin and soaked in oil. The presentation was poor, and the overall value felt under £5 than the listed price. I genuinely felt sorry for vegans if this is the standard offering.

My husband ordered the English smoked dry cure bacon sandwich (£8) with avocado as an extra. Without the avocado, the sandwich looked dry and boring; no garnish, no salad, just bread and bacon. For the price, it lacked both flair and substance.

We both left feeling like we’d eaten in a dull, underfunded school canteen. I quietly shared our disappointment with the waiter when she brought the bill, asking her to pass our feedback to the manager and the chef. Sadly, she said nothing in response, absolutely nothing, not a single word! She just handed over the card terminal and walked away.

For comparison, The Deer Park Café offers a Garden Breakfast with spinach, avocado, hash browns, tomatoes, and sautéed mushrooms for £10, and a thick cut bacon sandwich on artisan bread for £5.95. The difference in quality, presentation, and service is clear.

I truly hope this feedback is taken constructively. Carson’s has been a favourite of mine and I’d love to see it maintain the standards that earned my loyalty in the...

Visited today just after 11:45am with my family for a light lunch. When we arrived there were two free tables that had just been cleared and I asked to sit at a specific table and the server quite abruptly said to sit at the other free table. We went along with it as our child was getting hungry.

After 10 minutes our food and drink order was taken. We had some difficulties trying to get our child a plain bacon sandwich as part of the child's lunch deal. We have done this in the past! However, today we were told by the server that we could only have a toasted bacon, brie and cranberry sandwich from the adult menu as it's difficult to make changes. I personally didn't think missing several ingredients off an order and not having to toast some bread would be an issue? Eventually this was resolved though.

20 minutes later and the 2 sandwiches arrived, excellent quality as usual! However, this was the last time we received any table service. We tried to get the attention of the servers on a few occasions to no avail. We then observed customers sitting outside having to come in to request their orders be taken, it was relatively busy but there were 4 servers who didn't seem to give any table any attention after serving food and drinks. I gave up trying to buy a second drink and popped over to Waitrose as I couldn't get anyone's attention.

Over an hour had gone by now and we still had empty plates and cups on our table. I ended up having to leave the table and walk to the front counter to ask to order some cake. We got these to takeaway as we had been in the cafe a lot longer than expected. 2 sandwiches and a slice of cake should not have taken over an hour and a half. It's a shame as the food is wonderful just let down by the...

When I arrived (as a lone cyclist), the cafe was only about a quarter full, and I was directed to a 4-seater table. After more than 5 minutes, no-one had come to take my order. But a couple who arrived several minutes after me were approached before me, to take their order. After eventually making my order, and a few minutes after having been brought a coffee, the cafe had started to fill out. A party of 3 people arrived, and the waitress brought them over to my table and asked me (in front of them) if I would mind moving, so they could sit at my table. There were plenty of seats outside (and the weather was reasonable), but they didn't want to sit there.

This is the first time in my life I have been asked to move table, having already been seated and (part) served. Strangely, the couple at the 6-seater table weren't asked to move. I declined to be moved (the table I was being offered was right next to the counter, with a constant stream of people walking past). I then had to wait another 10 minutes till my food was finally brought to me - so a total of 20 minutes for a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich.

It was a very uncomfortable experience for me, especially as the trio who had temporarily been seated outside were regularly glancing over at me. Clearly a lone cyclist isn't a priority for this cafe - which won't be a priority for me when I am next passing through...