The Allotment Cafe - Tameside

Drove 30 minutes to visit today as we had heard good things and the menu online looked good. On arrival the waitress listed around 5 dishes that was not available on the menu (this is a lot considering it’s not a huge menu). Luckily she didn’t say eggs Benedict was unavailable as this is what I travelled for, however this was not on the menu given to us, but eggs royale was, I don’t eat fish so I politely asked to swap the salmon for bacon (as other dishes had bacon on), I got a blunt ‘No’, which was very confusing so we questioned it and she said due to ‘ratios’ of food in the kitchen (considering they didn’t have half of the menu, out of good will they should have honoured the change to keep the custom). I asked for a few moments to decide what else I wanted to eat as the waitress was hovering over me and I felt under pressure. She went inside and told her colleagues that we had ‘upset’ her, all because we asked why we couldn’t swap, we wasn’t rude about it we just didn’t understand how a small change could not be made. Then another team member came over and quite rudely asked what we wanted, so again we asked her if we could swap the salmon for bacon, she also said no, so I asked if I could have it without the salmon and add bacon to which she also said no and followed with ‘the chef has created the dishes and he wants to make it as it is on the menu’ and I said ‘I don’t eat fish’ and she then responded with ‘you’s don’t have to eat here if yous don’t want it’. We said that the menu online says eggs Benedict and her response was that the person that does the website has been on holiday and been ill, didn’t really seem believable. Extremely poor customer service, as you can imagine at this point we were highly frustrated with the attitude, her tone of voice was also disgusting. She then said we upset her team member which again we was confused why it was so dramatic when we was not rude to her, we just asked a simple swap question. If it was an allergy or food intolerance would they not cater for this either? As that’s the dish the chef has created, sorry but he’s not invented eggs royale so no need for the drama. I don’t understand how if I order a dish, I am not allowed to have something removed if I don’t eat it?? I was willing to pay extra for the bacon as it’s an optional extra on the sandwiches so the ‘ratio’ wouldn’t be out of proportion, they’d of just had some extra salmon in the kitchen. We had enough of her attitude towards us so we got up and left without touching our drinks, she went inside and loudly called us weirdo’s to which I then got angry and shouted at her, she came back outside and started shouting with me infront of all the customers. Never have I encountered this sort of service from any restaurant, such a shame as the location is lovely, just no people skills in the slightest and the menu (that isn’t online) is whack anyway.

Do not bother asking to swap or change anything on the menu. Unbelievably bad customer service. I have visited a few times and had no issues previously so recommended the cafe to my brother and his partner for us to visit together. They always order eggs Benedict anywhere they go for brunch, so before we travelled 30 minutes to get there we checked the website menu, which had eggs Benedict on. We sat outside as it was a nice day, unfortunately we were then presented with a different menu, with no eggs Benedict on. The waitress then pointed out that most of the items on the menu were not available. They did however have eggs royale on the menu and available (which is the same but has salmon on, not bacon . Neither my brother or his partner eat salmon so when the waitress returned to take our order, they requested to swap the salmon for bacon. The waitress just said no. We were all dumbfounded at her blunt response, so then questioned why it was a flat no (I have never had this happen at a brunch place before?! , the waitress replied that swapping for bacon would put their food ratios out in the kitchen so it just wasn’t possible. To us this made absolutely no sense. I then remarked that their website says they serve eggs Benedict so would they be able to make an exception. She said no again. I said that maybe they should update their website then. The waitress said “oh right then!!” while rolling her eyes and then abruptly left the table and went back inside. The ‘manager’ then came out and told us that we had upset her staff member at no point had we raised our voices or become rude so I am really at a loss as to why she was upset. She proceeded to tell us that the chef had designed the menu to be eaten exactly as is and swaps were not possible, then telling us to leave and calling us weird. She became quite confrontational and was shouting by the time we got up to leave. The chef had come outside to watch this exchange. It was quite embarrassing as the other customers looked on, and it all seemed to have erupted from no where. I have honestly never had such a bizarre encounter in a brunch place, or any restaurant anywhere I have visited. I find it very odd that a cafe on an industrial estate are above swapping out salmon for bacon on a classic breakfast meal… you’re not a Michelin star restaurant. Would this still be the case if someone had an intolerance? The customer is definitely not always right in this establishment! I would suggest going elsewhere if you want to make any slight amendments to the especially designed fry ups and bog standard breakfasts that they are serving.

Nice breakfast and cappuccino. Place was busy and we were asked if we were happy with a wait which was good customer service.

I feel like the main reason this place does well is more because it 's basically the only coffee shop/brunch place in Mossley. Don 't get me wrong, the food isn 't bad, by any means at all but it 's really, really pricey for what it is, and if you want anything adjusting even slightly it just isn 't going to happen. Swapping an egg for an extra sausage or even a tomato at this place is completely out of the question 'we don 't make swaps ' is what you will be told. There 's also no syrups for the coffees, so you can have your latte, but not with your fancy syrup (but you 'll pay the same price if not more, actually... Interesting/rather shocking fact: My mum, little boy, niece and I often go to San Carlo Gran Cafe in Selfridges for brunch, and our total for pretty much the same food drinks (which were considerably nicer in Selfridges, may I add actually amounted to £12 LESS than the Allotment Cafe. So, you can eat in a designer department store at a more affordable cost than you can a local wooden cafe in Mossley. I 'm not sure if the staff perhaps think this place is fancier than it is, but it 's nothing to scream about, by any accounts whatsoever. It 's convenient, but that 's kind of it, really. To summarise, food is good but nothing to write home about. Service is below par. The price for what you get (experience, comfort, service, food, customer service/satisfaction extremely expensive and unjustly so. You 'd be better going a little bit further and going to Kobe or Caffe Grande Abaco in Uppermill, instead.

Visited the Allotment Cafe for the first time today and I am so glad I did. I had one of the specials the ‘brunch burger’ which was delicious as was the coffee. All of the ingredients were quality and fresh. The atmosphere inside the cafe is lovely this place is a real hidden gem. We will definitely return!