The Barn Garden Centre & Cafe Stanway - Colchester

Imi T.

The Barn has the best plant based menu in terms of garden centres in the area! It's nice to see fresh, healthy options on the menu and not just endless sandwiches. I had the Buddha bowl and it was absolutely delicious! I highly recommend for anyone wanting to try plant based, would be great if they could offer even more options in the future 😊

Judith

Met some friends, which we normally do here. Our table booked for 10.30am for breakfast. We had to chase at 11.45am for our food. We were told they were very busy! We were told that they will not substitute items on breakfast now (you have to have exactly what is on menu). Our first 2 breakfasts arrived at 12 but took another 5 minutes for remaining 2 meals. Food not as good. Poached eggs hard, mushrooms chewy. Will not be going back.

Lizzie H.

Been coming for years, but the last few visits the staff have been unfriendly. Food is great. Atmosphere and decor is excellent. The staff just don't seem to have time for you anymore. Too busy, and one waitress snapped at me when I asked her to order a drink (We had been waiting over 10 minutes after being taken to the table, and no one came over).

Susana

The food was good, the place is very nice but the service was not up to par. I would like to think it is because of the stress of the time of year. I must say that I still recommend it.

Andrew C.

The Barn cafe is located at the garden centre, there is seats both in the main cafe area, seats just outside in the indoor part of the garden centre (but sectioned off as part of the cafe) and also seats outside (when the weather is good!).

We visited on a Monday, expecting it not to be overly busy - but actually it was very busy and we had a short wait so they could get through some of the orders. Once seated we got served fairly quickly.

The menu isn't massive with a few lunch type options available. We went with the Chicken and Bacon wrap and got a side of chips to share. Certainly not the cheapest lunch, but it was nice. The cafe was still busy as we left... so certainly seems popular.

Zoe K.

Booked a table and arrived early to be greeted and seated. Efficient and friendly staff. Order taken as soon as kitchen opened, food arrived quickly and was delicious! Certainly recommend and return if was driving past. Thank you

Charlotte B.

Enjoyed a lovely breakfast at The Barn with my friend. The waitress was very kind and gave us a choice of table, we chose the garden area which was beautiful and peaceful. We were served quickly and the food was great. I wish the Barn breakfast had hash browns and more baked beans but it was still delicious! We tried waiting for our plates to be taken but the waitress didn’t come over for ages so we stood up to go and pay but the waitress rushed over to bring our bill over, so think she had forgotten about us. But that was the only minor issue.

Yasemin O.

Came here for breakfast a couple of weeks ago after a friend recommended it, but was really disappointed with the service. When I asked if I could substitute the bacon in my meal, the waitress immediately said substitutions weren’t allowed—before I’d even had the chance to ask for something specific. She told me I could remove the bacon (with no change in price) and pay extra to order something else on the side.

What really frustrated me was that just a few minutes later, the same waitress allowed the woman at the table next to us to substitute her bacon for exactly the item I had wanted—but was told I couldn’t have, without any issue. It felt really unfair and inconsistent, especially as I'd specifically asked and was told no substitutions were possible at all.

My iced vanilla latte was also brought out wrong three times before I finally received what I ordered.

It’s a shame, because the café is local and came highly recommended, but the inconsistent service and lack of fairness left a bad impression.