Black Horse Cafe in Braintree

Always hit and miss not been here for a while and as I think the actual garden centre is great we'd try again. Once again poor serving staff that just have an attitude towards being at work and the kitchen always being closed. Yet the sheer amount of footfall never reflects a dip after 3pm to close the kitchen? Just a shame could be so much better if the staff generally had a better attitude.

This place was recommended, but we were very disappointed , our minute steaks were in edible, the leather on my shoes would be more tender. Told the waiter we couldn't eat it, no comment. Won't be back.

Really good place. Accommodated 12 of us for a surprise birthday breakfast with no fuss and really good customer care. Recommended.

Usually go here when walking or cycling in the area, for coffee and cake, or sometimes breakfast. It's attached to a garden centre but at the front, not tucked away at the back which makes it difficult if you're cycling and want to leave a bike. The place is always busy but they are accommodating if they can be, if you arrive on spec, and the food is excellent.

We enjoyed our visit here. Lovely ambiance & atmosphere. A nice choice of food & a great specials board. Its so lovely to see traditional home cooked food with good portions. I had trouble choosing between bubble n squeak egg & bacon, the pork & cider pie & beef stew with a fat dumpling. I chose the beef stew & it didnt disappoint, it was delicious & filling. Looking forward to come back again soon.

Always great breakfast here. The service is excellent, the food is freshly prepared and tastes delicious. We will be back.

Love this cafe and certain food is ok but on our last visit my husband had veg lasagne . Not impressed ,small portion,hardly any veg and way too much strong tomato sauce . Really didn't enjoy it . For my part I had a jacket potato . Please ,please stop doing that awful salad ,it's so stringy and gets stuck.in your throat . We both left most of it as did others we saw . It's just slung out of a bag with no thought . I shall avoid anything with salad there in future . Unfortunately you aren't allowed to substitute either if you don't like something

A great cafe for coffee and brunch. Loads of seating (both indoors and outside under cover) and a delicious menu.

First visit here and was really impressed. Quick to be served, food out quickly and fresh. Staff polite and helpful and very reasonably priced

We found this place by accident this morning when looking for somewhere to have breakfast nearby. We were a group of 8 and the cafe was busy but they found space to accommodate us. The breakfast was delicious, everything was cooked to perfection, and it arrived very speedily. The staff were very welcoming and nothing was too much trouble. We will definitely visit again!

Terrible, I ordered a takeaway jacket potato with Chilli and cheese at £6.95, No cheese as this is not on the menu and chef does not allow substitutions, Very little chill which was 5 bean veggie and a bit tasteless; no butter so very dry. I used to like this cafe especially when it was in the log cabin and have been going for many years to eat in and takeaway as my office is close, but now the standard of the food is dropping, you cant do substitutions of any kind !!. (I have never come across before anywhere !). The front of house staff try hard but the food is not as nice as it used to be, it is over priced for what you get and it is not so appealing anymore with a dictatorial approach to food choices, so sadly I wont be going back !

Manager or person in charge was extremely rude. Group of 6 cyclists got there at 9:30am in a Sunday. Just one table was taken and the first he asked was if we got a reservation. We mentioned that it would be a quick coffee and they gave us a table like a favour. Finish coffees and the same guy come straight to us. His words were: all finish? Thank you, you can go. For real? Don’t get why even having a bike rack outside cyclists aren’t welcome. Never again

Lovely place. Its already in my favourite place to go place. Food is good portion size and lovely atmosphere. They have kids corner. My little one was super busy playing and I had my breakfast in peace.

Rude / unwelcoming from management. Our cycling club (6) stopped here for a quick coffee and a bite, well we arrived at 9.15 to an empty cafe, and the the manager clearly had an issue with us turning up. Reluctantly Put us on a table and almost couldn’t wait for us to leave! Unwelcoming/ Rude and unfriendly, even the staff felt uncomfortable with the situation and rudeness of the manager. This is the second bad experience here and won’t be returning, I will also mention this to other cyclists and tell them to avoid. I think the guy running it thinks he is the manager of the Ritz and not a Garden centre cafe

Good food and atmosphere but it's populararity means it's busy and the service can be slow.

Homemade, semi-rustic food that exceeded our expectations. It makes sense, seeing as the garden centre that envelopes the cafe is a very nice one. The bubble and squeak gets a special mention, as does the cheese scone. The pancakes were lacking in more ways than just the portion size, but there was still some charm in its sloppy presentation. It's run by a kind, accommodating team.

Usually a good experience but came today with our two young grandchildren and had an awful experience with dried up cake and no cookies for the children. Only had takeaway cups as too busy to offer usual cups. If they can’t cope with the volumes they should have so many tables. Very disappointing.

Absolutely fantastic breakfast! And a gorgeous atmosphere, me and my partner went for the farmers wife breakfast each, and thoroughly enjoyed it, the sausages were unreal along with the poached eggs however the bacon was a little on the dry side Not much could be improved on other than I felt it was a little understaffed

We had an afternoon tea. Staff were lovely and the food was delicious! Very reasonably priced too. We had a lovely time, would go again and would recommend!

Food was great staff were pleasant and hot food delivered quickly well presented.

Stunning Venue. Lots of parking. Free parking. Great customer service. Young friendly team. Highly recommended.

Brilliant food. Always a welcoming atmosphere. The blonde young lady is an absolute total credit to you, didn’t get her name.

Outside seating area nice, overhead heating. Unfortunately people walk through the seating area, instead of walking around.

Excellent as usual,2sandwichesand 2 bowls of chips,1would have been enough as the bowl was large,plenty of salad and crisps,

We visited this afternoon, 5 adults and a child had a lovely meal and the staff bent over backwards to help us. Absolutely brilliant service

Lovely quality food at very reasonable prices. Great polite service.

Lovely and clean. Friendly staff

Food was very good, service excellent, surrounding bright and clean could not fault it

Lovely warm and welcoming atmosphere. Great cakes too!

Food arrived hot and fast very clean great value for money

Lovely food, service nice and clean, friendly staff

Excellent food friendly staff good service really good garden centre Well worth a visit .🌞🌞

Amazing Breakfast Hot 🔥 staff Brilliant with a smile 💨💨💨💨💨

Served today by Sophie, it has been a real treat to find a dog friendly cafe. They only allow dogs outside but the area is completely under cover and very comfortable. We had such a warm welcome by staff, and throughly enjoyed a cream tea in the autumn sunshine. Will definitely be visiting again with Bluebell

Went for Sunday Lunch yesterday. Food was excellent, service great and overall this is the best value for money around!

Friendly service and amazing food.

This site is a hidden treasure. It has a very well priced cafe with good tasty food. It has a shop for equine equipment and a garden centre, which has a wide variety of plants and foilage. It's not as corporate as the more chain like garden centers at poplar or Freeport, but had better food (less mass prepared) and feels like you are supporting a local business, which is exactly what you are doing. Definitely worth a trip.

Good place for cycling to very good cake

Spacious, light and delicious food, staff are very helpful and friendly, excellent service, looking forward to going back.

Food excellent , spotlessly clean, well worth eating there

Updated now taken over by new management food is excellent service is fast and friendly. Gets very busy, you can book a head to reserve a table. You can use the qr code to order from table or go to the counter.

Great food, great value. Seem to be regulars now.

Only just discovered Oliver’s after being recommended by a neighbour, so thought we would pop into the cafe after plant shopping.We ordered a couple of sandwiches and sat outside and waited. The table next to us complained they had been waiting 1/2hr for food so instantly we were worried about ours too. Waited 45 minutes and went back to the counter to ask where our food was. The young lad serving wasnt very apologetic and he didn’t make us aware of any back log in the kitchen with tickets when we ordered which could have been said. My toasted ciabatta had hardly any Brie inside and it was mainly just cranberry jam- very disappointing especially after the long wait.I’m afraid we won’t be back, and the young staff need to improve on their customer service skills.

Lovely place to grab breakfast and/or lunch with a very wide menu but please consider getting the servers to take orders at the table, the whole ordering at the counter is off putting and also please get rid of the masks

Sweet location and good menu. Very reasonable pricing for quantity.Local ingredients always a plus. No seasoning on food or offered. Order online available via QR code but none of the multiple WiFi networks is for guests.Waiter delivered drinks with his fingers over the rim of the glasses where we would drink. But do love that it hires young people. A couple of tweaks and this place would be excellent.

It was nearly a hour before our food arrived but l do feel they are suffering with lack of staff due to covid over the last year

Great food reasonably priced good service

Literally the best breakfast on the whole of north Essex- you can not beat it !! We go most weeks and I’ve never come away dissatisfied! Highly highly recommend

Disappointed with our visit. Our food order took over an hour to arrive which was annoying as our 1yr olds were getting frustrated as they were hungry. We was told it would only be another 5mins but was closer to 15mins and the excuse we was given was that there was online orders in front of us. I would of accepted that excuse if it wasn't for the fact we saw people arrive after us, place their orders and still had their food before us.

We have been buying plants from Oliver’s Nursery for many years and will continue to do so. We tried their new cafe today. We’d booked a table for 1-15 and used their ‘napkin’ app to order our sandwiches. The order was placed at 1-20. Our drinks came quite quickly but we had to wait 50 minutes for our food! I’d spoken to the restaurant manger on a number of occasions and all he could say was that they were very busy! The sandwiches when they ultimately arrived were ok but they need to increase or at least improve the kitchen staff and the senior restaurant staff there need to up their customer service. I must say the young waitress who served us was very apologetic. Sadly we shan’t return until things improve.

We had a fab lunch here Staff very polite Really enjoyed will return I’ve had takeaways several times and always been very happy

Lovely food and a very nice sitting area. The staff made us very welcome. Very well organised. Would recommend.

Superb breakfast, lovely surroundings, pleasant service

We came across this cafe and garden centre on the way to one of our car deliveries today. We bought some allium bulbs and used the bathroom whilst there. They had a lovely selection of plants and the bathroom was spotless which is a fantastic sight in a pandemic! There was even ambient music playing! Just wanted to say how refreshing that is so well done 👏

Visited this cafe for a quick lunch. My daughter ordered the food on the app and paid. About 15 minutes later her hot chocolate was brought to the table and we assumed the food would follow shortly. We waited 50 minutes and still no food had arrived. The final straw was lunch being brought to the table next to us who came in about 30 minutes after we did. I asked the waitress if she could check on our order as we had been waiting 50 minutes. She came back about 10 minutes later saying the order didn’t go through to the kitchen! But you brought out the hot chocolate already I said. Yes but it didn’t go through to the kitchen. So we waited another 15 minutes for our food and I was pretty disappointed. My soup was in a tiny bowl and half a sandwich was just made from sliced loaf with a piece of fatty ham in the middle. There was no offer of a discount for the inconvenience or of a free slice of cake etc. Definitely won’t be returning.

We normally go for breakfast which is always excellent and very good value. This time, went for lunch and as it was a sunny day, we sat outside at a very pleasant table. My wife had a toastie and I had the lasagne and chips. Lovely crisp chips and very tasty and fresh lasagne.

Love visiting here. Covid measures are easy to follow & not a hindrance to the overall experience. Looking forward to my next visit

Went yesterday for for a very enjoyable lunch waitresses very polite and helpful will be going again

Regardless of COVID-19, food quality and service no way near as good as used to be before the extension. Much food obviously bought in pre-made although not advertised on menu like that. Better garden centre cafes nearby.

I really loved the cosiness of the previous smaller premises and the very personal service and cheery greetings and goodbyes.The new area is spacious, but cold in both atmosphere and heat! Tables are well-spaced, and mandates are being adhered to, but the staff were cold and aloof, service was exceptionally slow and muddled, and the items were just plonked on the table with no friendly exchange or customer service skills.The scones were light and fluffy, and there are no complaints whatsoever about the food/coffee, BUT the owners must add some warmth not only to the premises but staff training must be the top priority. Masks are a problem, and it's hard to read a person with this horrible barrier on their face, but the tone of voice and body language can still speak volumes. It'll be a while before I go back again sadly.

Now reopened inside and out. Redesign is lovely, and it's spotlessly clean. But it needs to think about organisation. Have the menus where they can be seen before queuing to order (though that will change - thanks Boris!). Very slow service. over 1/2 hour wait for a sandwich and we had to ask for our drinks twice - and they still came after the food! Numbers on the tables might help the staff deliver the orders too. Fork and knife required with sandwiches and please ask what condiments are wanted. I assume it was a busy day as it was quite full (socially distanced). They're certainly following the Covid regulations well. Sandwich was also very nice!

Disappointing. Disposable cutlery and crockery ... understandable because of Covid, but not pleasant. Not taking part in Eat Out to Help Out scheme as they are technically a takeaway either though you are sitting at a table. Won't be returning until they return to pre Covid ways, which were excellent.

What a transformation...great place to have lunch with my mum and friends.The staff are very attentive and friendly . Strongly recommend this Cafe

Not as good as it used to be. Very cold and impersonal now. Staff not engaging with customers like they used to.

Have been a regular visitor for a number of years. I was quite excited to visit the new premises but oh dear what a disappointment. The new cafe is stark & cold not cosy & homely as it was before. The staff were not their normal friendly selves either. Table service has gone so you need to queue up & pay so no cheery goodbye, see you next week at the end of your meal either. Coffee & cake was delivered to the table without a word & the staff were to busy to speak when we left despite there only being four people left in the place. I like to support local businesses but I wont put up with poor customer service. Perhaps if I had ordered a bottle of wine & afternoon tea or a roast dinner things might have be different. Sadly I think it will be my last visit.

Very friendly food very good and a generous portion

It's ok not huge and not open for hot food late. Menu ok best bit was the homemade cakes x

We last visited in 2019 just before the changeover of staff and were a little concerned to read one or two recent critical reviews. Why did we worry? We visited yesterday, 13th February, at about 12.30 when it was quite busy but received our meals within 10 minutes. The parsnip & ham bake and potato skins with cheese & onion were really tasty and filled us up. My concern that there were no 'traditional' desserts was soon dismissed when I saw the home-made cakes. They are enormous, fancy and tempting - I had coffee/walnut which was delicious and huge. I later saw the red velvet cake and am determined to try that another time. It looked amazing.At all times we were made to feel welcome and were asked if all was satisfactory on several occasions. Well done Black Horse and we shall return with friends as soon as possible. The new, much larger building next door should be open sometime in March and we look forward to that experience with much expectation!

We like the 'new' Black Horse. We received a warm welcome, the food was delicious and served within 10 minutes. The staff checked all was ok with us several times and were anxious to know we were happy. Top marks! We shall return asap.

This is a must for everyone. we had a beautiful breakfast and staff were 100% helpful thank you

Ten of us just dropped in on the off chance and were made most welcome. Good food and drinks. I recommend it.

Excellent coffee & food. Very clean & friendly atmosphere

Very nice coffee,and breakfast, just a bit cramped until they move nextdoor

Very good. Excellent service and very nice hot food. Have visited several times and have always had a nice meal. Looking forward to the opening of the new cafe in the spring.

Book a table and when arrived they had reserved a table but said if we wanted to move to a bigger one they were happy. Very nice to be asked. Food and drinks were excellent and we had a variety of hot food and sandwiches. Nothing was to much trouble. Very reasonable cost. For a family of four adults the total bill was just over 35 pounds.

Lovely waitress but very unwelcoming “boss” in the kitchen on account of 2 incidents. I was looking forward to visiting this place but would certainly never go back

This was a very good experience. Lunch was delicious and they catered for my food intolerances without fuss.

I've dietary needs and they were very helpful

As it was my partners birthday we called in for breakfast instead of our usual afternoon tea & cake. Really enjoyed the scrambled eggs on toast, they were perfect. Partners full breakfast looked wonderful as well. I love this little cafe, we did wonder what it would be like after it changed hands but its still great. I think I had better return in the not to distant future to try lunch.

Super friendly hideaway with a choice of veggie sausages and soya lattes, but the secret's out and they are busy, busy! Happy to wait a little longer for the good food in their cosy cabin.

Lovely place, tasty food and very very nice staff

My mum and I went to the Black Horse Cafe today for lunch. It's the first time we'd been in there since it changed hands. It was not a relaxing experience. We were packed in like sardines! We couldn't even sit comfortably at our table, Mum and I had to sit at one end of it. The tables are so close together, the people on the next table were stopping us using our table fully. I ordered a double decker club sandwich and mum ordered a paninni. We are creatures of habit and always have the same food. When my sandwich came up it wasn't toasted. I tried to eat it, but it was too doughy. I took it back up to the counter and told the waitress....she informed me that a double decker club sandwich is never toasted.....I told her that it says that they are on your menu! It was brought back to me, one side was toasted the other was not! I couldn't be bothered to tell them again! Mums panini was more like a toasted baguette. I mentioned this to a waitress who told me that they do not have a panini press, but a new panini oven!!!! I've never seen a panini look like this! Plus the ends of the "panini" were rock hard!!!! Mums crisps look like someone had trod on the bag, lots of little tiny pieces! The chips were luke warm! The stainless steel tea pot and the knives and forks were not polished, they had all water marks and smears on them. As did my glass! We had no menus on the table, the table had not been cleaned, the salt and pepper was over one side of the table, the condiment holder was off to the other side of the table with the brown sauce laying on its side! There was no presentation. We decided not to stay for cake, quite honestly, we couldn't wait to get out of there.

Great cafe friendly staff who offered to fill my water bottle

So glad we stopped by. Delicious breakfast, especially the thick toast! Excellent coffee and all the staff were incredibly kind and friendly. Spent ages staring at the cakes, will have to get some next time - they looked amazing!

Having passed this way several times before I did not realise there was a proper cafe there. But on this occasion we went in and it was wonderful, very clean, very nice, great staff and happy ambiance.

I took my client out for a treat lunch last Tuesday . What can I say ... the staff were friendly and extremely helpful ( my client has Parkinson’s and those girls went out of their way to make sure he was comfortable and had what cutlery etc he needed )

Me and my partner went in yesterday for lunch and what a shambles the man out front who served us was clueless moving dirty plates and cups onto clean tables! We nearly gave up on our food we waited 45 minutes and it wasn’t busy either I’m really disappointed in our experience and will think again before visiting

Popped in for lunch and oh dear.. waited over an hour for a jacket potato!! what has happened? Not as good as it used to be

A warm and friendly place to eat pity it's being run by a new company .

Great food, lovely atmosphere and wonderful staff. Thank you.

Very busy, Food choice excellent, new cafe building will definitely improve business.

Good variety of cooked food at reasonable prices. Staff very pleasant and efficient.Recomended.

As a cyclist it's one of the best cake and coffee stops. Friendly staff.

Been here several times, great feel inside just like a mountaintop coffee bar, lovely coffee but the only thing that lets it down is the service slow

I have visited this cafe many times and up until today was pretty happy with the service, quality etc.

We are regulars here, we love the food and the service. The saddlery and garden centre next door are fabulous and this is the perfect place to come for breakfast or lunch. Even when it’s heaving service is always spot on, staff are always smiling - even when dealing with particularly entitled/rude customers like today. We had the misfortune of witnessing one individual being particularly rude to a member of staff and I have to say they dealt with it brilliantly, I’m not convinced I would have remained so polite under the same circs. Thankfully the clientele is generally lovely and this was the first incident of its kind we have ever witnessed here.

First time in my life I've had fish and chips that were inedible. If you take the cheapest ingredients and deep fry everything to within an inch of its life and you could replicate this at home. Also, £1.60 for a can of drink!!!! It's a shame as the greenhouse part is very good.

Very busy at lunch time, managed to get a table, food delivered to table in no time at all. Great food, Great price. Lovely thanks.

I use the Black horse cafe for my take away lunches. It can be a little busy at times but that's testament to the success of the place. Not a huge menu but plenty of choice and the cakes are always very tempting. Sadly I don't get a long enough lunch break, as it's so close to home and work so I've not sat down to eat but the menu is larger and more varied.

I visited the cafe for lunch last week with my Mum. I had a lovely sandwich and then a slice of Victoria sandwich. Mum had ham, egg and chips.I come here regularly and the cake never disappoints! The service is always polite and quick too. Can't go wrong for lunch!