West Berkshire
Garden Centre

Garden Centre

Hay Lane, RG18 3AH, West Berkshire, United Kingdom

Fish • Soup • Coffee • Sandwiches


"My parents live local and have used this garden centre for years. They like the fish and chips. Average to me). Our last visit to the cafe was disastrous. Upon arrival, no hot meals, just overpriced sandwiches £6+ for a sandwich). It was 135pm and I noticed the afternoon tea for 2 at £14 with sandwiches, cakes and drink. Not bad value I thought. I knew it wasn 't 2pm but asked and was met with. It 's not 2pm I asked as there was no meals and sandwiches looked unappetising if they could help. No, it 's not 2pm . No budging. My mum went for some fruit bread and my dad was offered the last macaroni cheese. Meal). With 1 cup of tea and a coffee it was over £12. Ouch. Upon sitting down we noticed that mon-thur over 65 couldn 't have a meal with a free pudding and cuppa. My dad, 82 enquired. He was told he should of asked when paying and nothing could be done. We pointed out that the advert wasn 't on the counter just the tables so how would we Know? Sorry nothing could be done. Interesting customer service. The till ladies have little is empathy or customer service and just chat to ach other when tables, chairs, surfaces need attention. I 'm afraid until they get rid of the till lady this place offers very little in appeal. Her lack of customer service puts people off and I heard a few moaning about her curt customer service. The food was ok at best, nothing you couldn 't make yourself or buy cheaper elsewhere. The reason for 2 stars was for the garden centre plants, pots, other sections) If it was for the cafe alone, zero. Would I recommend it? NO, dreadful cafe."

Winepress At The Donnington Valley

Winepress At The Donnington Valley

Donnington Valley Hotel, OX3 0JT, West Berkshire, United Kingdom

Kebab • Cafés • Steak • Asiatic


"We were warned the night before that the place had gone down hill which we took with a pinch of salt, thinking the friends were just being fussy. We were wrong. Our booking was 9:30pm because the restaurant was packed apparently. We had a lovely drink in the bar and went down to the restaurant to find it pretty much empty. We were told to order starter, main and choose our dessert right away because the last kitchen orders were 9:30 so felt somewhat harassed. The starter of calamari was reasonable but the crispy chilli beef was literally a bowl of blackened beef rind, no salad garnish or chilli slices, just what looked like cremated rind which was terribly tough and chewy, piled in to a little bowl. We both thought we 'd play it safe and order the 'Dirty Chicken Burger ' which came with fries. It was massive but sadly lacking coleslaw (was supposed to be in it) and the chicken breast was again really very tough and dry like leather that had been reheated about a dozen times. The desserts were both actually ok but after the first two courses the tone had been set and our meal out ruined. It wasn 't helped by a complete lack of ambience bar one table to two very drunk ladies repeating themselves over and over to each other and a table of three to the other side of us 'F-ing and blinding ' throughout. The final straw was waiting for our taxi outside the reception where there were several piles of vomit from either people arriving back from races or leaving the very large 50th birthday party that was going on. I appreciate sometimes the kitchen can be overwhelmed when there are large events etc going on and things can 't always be perfect, but having had a lovely meal in the past here, this was a real let down. Never again."