The Courtyard Cafe At Harewood - Leeds

We decided too start out day with a nice cup of tea There was no one in when we arrived Waited and waited for someone to take our order When the young girl did arrive it was not service with a smile The drinks was good and we sat outside Found a dry table if someone had taken time to wipe the rain away motor people would have sat there

As vegetarians, we found ourselves with very limited options at this restaurant. We tried the chickpea burger, served in a soft white bun, which was decent. However, the chips were the worst we have ever had - burnt and unpleasant. The lack of respect for customers shown by serving such poor quality food was disappointing. The supposed kimchi was missing, and the only vegetables provided were a few slices of cucumber and a small piece of lettuce. Overall, our dining experience was unpleasant and we will not be returning. It is a shame, as Harewood House and its gardens are beautiful. The setting deserves better quality food.

£4 for a scone? Really, guys? You can definitely do better than that. It put a damper on our visit. Other historic houses in the area don't charge anywhere near that price.

This review is solely about the cafe. I have written another review about the exhibition in the house. We went as an extended family of 7, 4 adults and 3 children: 10,5 and 1 on 11 December. We are members so go quite frequently. Booking was mandatory for the exhibition so they knew how many people were booked in and if they knew their business should have been able to guesstimate how many of those would eat in the cafe. How wrong can you be! At 12.30 they had one child’s grab bag lunch tuna. We asked if a ham one could be made up and were told they didn’t have any ham! How difficult is it to have ham in a kitchen, at Christmas. There were no children’s meals that our 2 would eat available. We had to buy an adult meal for the 2 older ones to share, as they had run out of most of the children’s meals, not ideal. There was a good choice of adult meals though some had sold out, bad planning again given they knew how many visitors were coming through the gates. We settled on the burger of the week which was lamb and very good. The straw that broke this camel’s back was that they had run out of metal cutlery. We had to eat with wooden cutlery, have they tried to cut a burger with wooden cutlery. Please invest in a pub glass washing machine, clean sans sterilises really fast! Fortunately we always take our own baby food wherever we go! Come on Harewood the pandemic is over, people was to go out again, get your act together and get back to your pre pandemic catering.

We arrived at just after 4.30, having had a dreadful experience at the Muddy Boots Cafe (also a Harewood Houe cafe) we hoped for better here. The staff were cashing up, even though the cafe is meant to be open until 5, and they offered only take away teas and no cakes at all. We walked away, thoroughly disappointed by Harewood's catering offers and their staff, who just can't be bothered.