The Place To Eat, John Lewis Cardiff

Called in for a Coffee and had a Toasted Bacon sandwich. Very enjoyable and the Bacon sandwich was very Good value for money.

It’s December and John Lewis is unusually busy with customers. Even the cafe has a large amount of people , fantastic given that the restaurant normally has the ambiance of Cocoon The Sequel, with a gaggle of pensioners eating scones. The high footfall on this day represented a marvellous opportunity to entice returning customers with culinary delights. Instead you have the usual signs of an establishment which has given up trying. “Are you closing down?” asked one customer, pointing to the unused central aisle. “It’s been closed since covid” was the response. The counter was pretty much empty, a bit of soup, a sandwich and “some fish at the back if you don’t mind waiting”. This is not the way to attract returning customers. It wasn’t a case of simply having sold out. It was 12.30 and there was nothing on offer. New management required.

Very very slow service. Nowhere near enough staff. The person who was making hot drinks was also taking the money so we queued a long time with our hot food cooling down. Definitely won’t be returning

This cafe restaurant is on the top floor of John Lewis in Cardiff. The views are fabulous and the clientele tend to be older (think Cocoon, the sequel) unless it’s half term when it becomes crèche like. The staff are extremely well trained so polite and helpful, they go above and beyond. The food what little there is available is often very good. The cakes can be fantastic, the coffee excellent. But therein lies the problem. In an attempt to avoid wastage (I assume) the choice of food available is often pitiful. What little there is looks great but this will become a self fulfilling prophecy of decline if they can’t present a few choices, regardless of wastage. Today the only vegetarian option was a slice of quiche accompanied by a pitiful looking dry salad (straight from a supermarket pack). At £8.95 this did not represent value. A shame, this restaurant could be wonderful but it’s stuck in a catch 22 situation at the moment and screams abandon ship.

I called in mid afternoon for a pot of tea. There were 3 members of staff hanging around the drinks/till area. When I arrived there was a male customer complaining about having been given a tea pot with an old tea bag string in the spout!! When asked I asked for a tea and stood back to wait. There was a lot of chatting but I assumed my tea was being made. Another lady came along in front of me and ordered a tea and was served immediately!! I was then asked again what I wanted and I just said that I had previously ordered tea and had been waiting but as they obviously didn't want to serve me I was leaving. I will never ever go there again.