Bents - The Fresh Approach Restaurant in Warrington

Our sandwich maker was lovely and welcoming. The food was good but expensive. However we were really disappointed to be told they wouldn't make our 1 year old fussy child a slice of toast. We asked 2 different people as I thought this must be incorrect, and were told they don't and can't do toast after breakfast by both staff. Surely at any time it's not too much to request a slice of bread to be put in the toaster? We had to cut our visit short and drive home to feed our child, which isn't great when we travelled for a day out!

AVOID IF YOU HAVE AN ALLERGY. I asked 3 different staff members if a particular dish had the allergen in that I am severely allergic to and was told no it is fine. However, the staff seemed very vague and not taking it seriously and I didn’t feel comfortable with how they kept saying no and didn’t actually check. When I went to pay at the till I asked to speak to a manager to check again as I am very over cautious. The manager then checked with the main chef and it DID contain the allergen. It is lucky that this day I felt I needed to ask again as it could have ended very differently. This is not ok for a dining place of this size to not take an allergy serious. I would completely avoid if you have an allergy.

Visited Bents today as I was meeting my friend for our monthly catch-up. What a treat it was - drinks were lovely & hot, food lovely & fresh, and the cakes were to die for 😋 All the staff were friendly, helpful & polite, and the cleanliness was out-standing. It's definitely our new monthly meeting place ..... just wish I was able to book the table we had for next month!

Overall nice enough, but its sheer size leaves it a little impersonal tbh. Tea was a little weak, and not nearly enough milk for the amount of tea given.

I've just bought a Bents cherry scone and black coffee. The coffee is always great as in the scone, this scone and the tray on display seemed to be lacking something. Always a gr8 pleasure to be here been coming for years but 3 x times gr8 lack of cherries sorry Bents 😞. I will be back of course.

Disorganised, inefficient, chaotic; I imagine year 7s having a better dining experience in their first week of secondary school. The food looks great but if you order a sandwich, hot food, and something from the children's menu as a family you end up eating food at different times - diluting the quality of the food and dining experience significantly. The cutlery is dirty and many, including myself, spent the first 2 minutes cleaning dried food off ours left from the last paying customers. For the prices they charge, it's just not good enough.

I went today and decided to have a meal with my wife. My wife just had a sandwich and cake and I decided to have chicken parmigiana. I have always worried about how long food is left under a heat lamp and today I got my answer. Don't get me wrong my wife said hers was lovely and it did look nice. Mine on the other hand was a little different. The fries were hot as they had just been made but the chicken just seemed warm. I didn't say anything as us Brits do but the chicken was dry and didn't really have much taste other than a strong tomatoes taste and some cheese. Cheese is cheese but the tomatoes seemed to be thick and rich. Either way I ate it and now wish I hadn't without being horrid. As a garden center they are amazing, but food wise, I don't think I'll try again. Don't get me wrong, I may be the one in a thousand, either I'm not trying again.

We have always wanted to experience sitting in The Fresh Approach Restaurant when visiting Bents, but never had until today because of the queues and prices. Today we decided to have a treat of a hot chocolate each; also maybe some soup for myself and a toasted sandwich or similar for my husband who hadn't had any lunch. Despite waiting until well after the lunchtime mass, it was still very crowded and noisy. Undeterred we carried on. I saw a simple carrot and coriander soup was over £8 which I thought ridiculous, and the rest of the prices were very much overpriced. Because of my need to eat 'little and often' and hubby having had nothing, we decided to share a children's Margaherita pizza. When we got to the till we were asked for the table number. There was no indication that we needed to do this. When we said we didn't have one, we were told (nicely) we would have to go over and find one and come back with the number. I got rather agitated as my blood sugar was going low and I said why is there no provisions for people with disabilities? I stated that to walk across and around trying to find a table for the number and back again would cause me additional pain to what I was already in. I got the impression the ladies really wanted to help but they were 'tied' to the position they were in behind the counters. We were on the verge of saying, 'Stuff it' which is most unlike us being in our 60s and 70s. In the end they did find us a table and number, and carried the drinks over (We would have much preffered the drinks with the pizza as by the time the pizza arrived, the already luke warm hot chocolates were nearly cold. We noticed that the drinks on the table next to us had been left by the occupants, so I think they may have had the same issue with the temperature. When the pizza arrived it was a big disappointment. As a pizza lover I do have the discernment as to what is good and not so good. The base was nondescript and tasteless; akin to one from an economy pack from Tesco. The tomato 'sauce' was actually tomato puree, definitely not a proper pizza sauce. The cheese topping was just that! Again a cheap cheese probably cheddar. It certainly wasn't mozzarella like a Margharita should have. There was no basil or sliced tomato on top, nor any herbs on (nor at the table to sprinkle on). Just because it was a children's pizza shouldn't mean you should economise on ingredients. To add to all this was the constant clanging and noise. I appreciate this can't always be avoided, but for the time of day it was excessive. On a positive note: The staff were very good and helpful; especially the 2 ladies who were cleaning the tables. Both noticed I was using a napkin for my slice of pizza and offered to bring over a side plate. Can't fault the staff. Would I return again? It would take some convincing as Bents are definitely not disabled or accessibility friendly. The fact the staff felt so reluctant to leave their posts to help, and there was no other staff to help said it all! Update: since my initial review I was contacted by Matthew who did everything to try and make up for our poor experience. This time things went much better especially as it was very busy. Staff brought our tray over and were pleasant and accommodating. A much better experience.

Disappointing, especially the cakes, for the price. Had to send all the coffees back as they were tepid at best.

Pleasant experience, the food was amazing and the chef Mark was really hospitable

I have never experienced anything like it in my life. My husband and I visited on Sunday with my mother in law. In all the garden centres and other similar establishments that we’ve visited have I not been able to order a toasted teacake! I was mostly confused by how different types of dishes had to be ordered from different areas. My husband decided on quiche with chips and salad, sounds simple enough. Unfortunately not, you had to get the hot quiche counter, go to the salad bar and order the chips when ordering hot drinks that would be brought to the table in approximately ten minutes. At this point, in my wisdom, I decided that a toasted sandwich would be a simple option. Oh no! Go to the sandwich counter, order the toasted sandwich and wait for it while my husband’s quiche is going cold, and I still haven’t ordered the chips or hot drinks. My mother in law opted for soup in absence of a toasted teacake. Yes, you’ve guessed it! Go to the soup area and get that. Finally, we have a rapidly cooling quiche, toasted sandwich and soup on our tray and go to join the queue for the hot drinks and those chips which needless to say I didn’t order in the end. Instead, he opted for a scone to enjoy with a cuppa after the cool quiche and soggy salad After eventually ordering the hot drinks and paying not far off £50 for soup, a toasted sandwich, cold quiche, a scone, a pot of tea for 2 and a cappuccino we sat down…half an hour after finding a table. The quiche at this point was cold, the toasted sandwich had definitively had its day. My mother in law was lucky that the very overpriced soup was ordered just before we got the drinks. She should be grateful that we didn’t order hers first! I commented to the staff members that in all the places that we visit regularly, I have honestly never seen anything like it. This fell on deaf ears but I’m assuming that it’s not the first times she has heard such comments. If you’re thinking of a visit here, I’d definitely advise you to have lunch before you go!

Normally I really enjoy coming here to eat but today was very poor. Firstly we ordered soup and it tasted burnt Probally because the bottom of the pan was burnt and continually stirring it in. It was too overpowering so I complained. There was no apology and after some time agreed to refund me. I'm sorry but at £8.15 a bowl I don't think burnt soup is acceptable. We also ordered sandwiches the lady serving us was excellent and greeted us with a big smile however we noticed the bread was stale and the cherry tomatoes soggy. This time we didn't complain I just hope this was a one off and not a recurring problem. I think had we received an apology I would not have felt the need to write a review. We were inconvenienced and could not enjoy the soup we were looking forward to eating. Finally I was never asked for my Bents card and j am sure I would have been entitled to a free drink or cake for my birthday unless they stopped doing that now.

Haven’t been for a while, ambiance fine nice place to sit in the sun. Service friendly and helpful BUT…had a sausage sandwich on white bread. Sausages undercooked , greasy and salty. White bread cut Iike a doorstop and too much butter. Flat white coffee in a tiny cup. Overpriced and greasy spoon cafe quality. Disappointing to say the least.

Dirty plates, expensive and disappointing. The salad plates were all dirty, when I asked for a clean bowl the girl at the counter kept picking them up one by one to find me a clean one and then gave up, they were all dirty. Not just a little bit either great chunks of something that looked like cheese. This place is not cheap and I would have expected a lot better.

Lovely fresh food served & plenty of choice, very clean & staff lovely

Good lunch on Valentine’s Day, but, the value was good but the price point was high. The beef was incredibly hard to cut, the potatoes were amazing, and the unknown purple vegetable had some weird taste (as well as the lettuce). Overall, I would come here again but not so often because the price point is incredibly high. Edit: *the lady at the checkout was looking at the credit card reader pin

Superb place for brekkie inside bends

Not good. Very slow, disorganised and haphazard way of serving food. Having been to Bents many times, and enjoyed the garden centre and Christmas decorations display, the experience of eating at The Fresh Approach today was appalling. When greeted at the entrance we were told we had to order soup from one counter, hot food from another counter and hot drinks then pay at another place. Completely haphazard and disorganised. I had to send elderly relatives around the counters, one got lost. A staff member rescued her and guided her back to our table. Obviously distressed she was upset. I stood in a sandwich queue for 25 mins and found that I could have ordered the soup, the drinks and paid all in one place! We all ate at different tines, our coffees were cold and the whoke experience was bad. Get some staff that know what they are doing. People around me were all saying the same as me. Very poor experience exacerbated by poor staff knowledge. Do better next time!

After many years visiting Bents to eat and bringing visiting relatives for breakfast today - not impressed with the service we received , ordered food for 5 adults and one toddler when the restaurant was relatively quiet. After several other customers around us had been served their food - after arriving later than us and having finished our hot drinks -I went and asked where our order was and in fairness to the lady who was front of house she was very apologetic however the staff at the hot food counter were quite rude ,first claiming they didn’t have our order and then producing it from under the counter stating omelettes take a while 🤷‍♀️.. (2 omelettes ordered not 5) £60 for breakfast for 5 and waiting 30mins with no apology … I am sorry Bents but this is not acceptable customer service clearly not important anymore

Fresh approach-- not so fresh! Ploughman's lunch, dry bread, dry sausage roll to the point neither could be eaten. The small amount of ham and cheese where good. The serving staff ignored me and only served me when I asked at the sandwich counter where did I order. On the plus side the staff who greet and the cleaning staff where lovely and work very hard. Overall an experience I won't be repeating. It's a shame, the other cafe is usually very good but was closed today. UPDATE So after speaking to the lovely manageress.I was offered a complimentary lunch which I took advantage of today. I must say it was a BIG IMPROVEMENT. The place was exceptionally busy but it looks like my comments have helped to sort out a few issues. Keep up the good work and I now give you a 4*.

We regularly visit Bents and it's restaurant, but it is becoming increasingly chaotic with each visit. Today I could only describe it as organised chaos. If you want a sandwich and cake you have to join 2 different queues, if you want soup and a main meal you have to join 2 different queues. If you are be buying food/drinks for several people you end up having to join several different queues, meaning it can take ages to get just a couple of items. Today we opted for coffee and cakes to save moving from one queue to another. I can honestly say that the carrot cake (£4.95) was the worst carrot cake I have ever had. It was incredibly dry and tasteless. I would have taken it back and complained, but I could not face battling my way through the hoards of people moving from one queue to another and just genuinely not knowing where to go, that I didn't bother. I just left the cake. I really think this cafe/restaurant needs to have table service to save the chaos. It's getting to the point where we will visit the garden centre, but not bother with refreshments, which is a shame because it used to have excellent food and be well organised. The only good thing today was a decent latte..

fantastic place for a bite to eat. bit pricey but delicious…especially the lemon meringue pie! chicken caesar salad was lovely too. my friends quiche was a bit of a let down for the price…tiny salad garnish,tiny tub of tasteless coleslaw and a few new potatoes on the side. quiche was supposed to be goats cheese and mixed peppers…she found two pieces of pepper in it! this is a self serve restaurant so anyone visiting with mobility issues will struggle and will have to ask for assistance.

Friendly service, tasty food include cakes and portions are great 👍

Visited again today and the experience was very similar to before. Overpriced and under portioned. Pancakes very good but cooked fare lacking flavour. Penny pinching attitude to menu and food prices difficult to justify given combination of food and drinks available. Won't be returning in a hurry. Given how busy the restaurant was today compared to previous visits it appears we were not alone in this assessment.

My friend and I went for lunch today and couldn't fault anything. I would like to praise one of the waitresses, Leah who is in training was excellent. She is a young lady that is a credit to Bents. Well done Leah

Cold over cooked food high prices.

If you want bad service and cold food go to bents. This used to be such a lovely place to eat now it’s just poor service with miserable looking staff after being sat at the table we finally got someone to take our order Two of us ordered fish which was cold and tasteless the presentation was much nicer than it tasted will not be going back again as you definitely don’t get value for money and the service is shocking

Such a shame as this used to be a fantastic place to eat. The last couple of visits have been poor. My most recent visit was yesterday. We booked online but the queue to get into the cafe was over 30 minutes (this was the queue for those who'd already booked, not for walk ups) I managed to get us in a bit sooner after speaking to someone but it was still a long wait and quite a bit later than the time I'd booked. Drinks alone took 20 minutes to arrive and food was another 10 minutes. It was almost impossible to get the attention of any staff members. The food was as tasty as ever and we did enjoy it but as an experience it wasn't great as we had small children with us who can't understand all the waiting and got quite frustrated. I hope things do improve back to previous standards, I've been visiting Bents since I was a small child and I've always loved it, it's such a shame.

I agree with previous review. After 45 min wait for a table, we spent 20 mins queuing for sandwich of very inferior quality which cost almost £10. Definitely not to be repeated.

We went to Bents for a meal - five of us. When we got there we found there was a waiting time of 45 minutes. Then we got a txt saying our table was ready. That was in the cafe. When we wanted a meal. A lovely waitress called Julie was on hand. She was absolutely wonderful- she sorted a table for us in the restaurant and was so helpful in getting us organised with menus, etc. I think this lady is a marvellous ambassador for bents and she reallly went the extra mile to ensure we were fully satisfied. Full marks for being so helpful.

Bents Cafe, it felt like the place was operating with one arm tied behind its back, lots of staff standing around not doing much. Those that were serving seemed to be getting mixed up doing each others jobs, lost the count the number of times I was ask if I needed hot drinks. I Had to go back to the main counter several times, missing a pot of tea, no sugar , cutlery and salt only available on one bar serving tea and cakes, not the one selling soup, sandwiches and salads. For the prices charged which are similar to other garden centres, and farm shops, the attention to detail and and making customers feel welcome was sadly lacking. This was felt more so when having to present my receipt at the other counter collecting the soup of the day, I showed my receipt, it was then taken from me and inspected even closer, then the member of staff looking back at me as if I was attempting to obtain something I hadn't paid for. I shall not be returning anytime soon. The scones on the other hand were lovely.

Awful visit today, such a shame. We waited for an hour to be seated, we were told it would be 30 minutes. We ordered and paid on the app and was told food would be 30 minutes. We waited for 40 and then chased up our food, apparently our order had not gone through. The girls in the cafe offered us a drink at this point. Shortly after the manager of the restaurant came over to explain to us, we told her how long we had been waiting and she rushed off to chase up the food. It arrived Shortly after but honestly wasn't worth the wait. Greasy fish goujons and luke warm vegetables and quiche. We expected the manager to return, to at least check on us but nothing. Left feeling very disappointed and unlikely to return .

Great Restaurant with a lovely manager Been twice now and both times the food was exceptional . Had a little query about my main course and they sent the manager over she was absolutely lovely and so helpful I would employ her any day .Sitting overlooking the lake is beautiful . cant fault it .

Went yesterday with 2 friends for afternoon tea. Beautiful location overlooking the lakes. Excellent food. Experience made all the better due to our waiter Kirzan. He was so helpful and put up with our mithering with a smile. Truly could not have been more helpful. We loved it all.

It's okay but the food has become very expensive. Booked a cream tea for 2 which we have had before. Last year it was £25 for 2 people. Now it is £40. How on earth can they justify that price increase, especially seeing as the quality of the cream tea has decreased.

Great place to go even in these difficult times.

Love this place! Food is delicious!

Love bents! Not sure how anyone can complain, miles better cafe than other places in the area! I love their baked potatoes and toasties and the cherry scones & jam to die for 😋😋😋😋😋

Personally, it doesn't warrant a star. Wrong food. We ordered a turkey with roast potatoes, ended up with turkey on ciabata with chips, plus it was cold. Won't be eating there again.

close to europe style 👍but Overprice!!!

Overpriced, poor customer service and more chaotic than a high school cafeteria

Lovely food, great shops. Almost a day out! Meet up with friends.

Do not order a sandwich here if you are vegetarian. I watched the staff make a meat sandwich in front of me. Gloves on, scoop meat onto the bread, spread around with hands and then put meat-covered gloved hands into crisp packet and salad leaves bowl to get these to add to the plate. There is no way that the crisps or salad leaves were now not contaminated with meat.

As ever, the quality of the menu and food was excellent, it changes (the menu) from week to week, but is as good as any decent restaurant, no compromise, no cut corners, and the sweets to die for, so hard to choose, a really good dining experience, sometimes gets busy, but then it is popular!

Egg bacon on brown toast is to die for. The bacon is lean and thick cut.

Really didn't think much of the food here. It's greatly overpriced and poor quality.

Just had lunch here at bents garden centre and restaurant,and I am quite disgusted with the infestation of fly’s in the dining area. I think you need some form of pest control.

Good food but weathered around the edges. Needs revamping in some parts of the eating area.