Booking Hall Cafe in Braintree

Yummy food and beautiful setting

Very disappointed with the food on offer, massive thick doorstep sandwiches all bread and little filling. Not much choice of anything else. They offered to do "thin" slices for me but even these were thick. Could do with something with salad and real thin bread. Don't think I'll be going back.

Been here a couple of times. Lovely location and atmosphere. Staff are also very friendly and sandwiches are delicious and fair value. Not quite perfect, the queue just to order the food on both occasions has been quite long, 15+ minutes. Ice creams also weren't cheap, over £6 for a cornetto and a small portion of plain Mr whippy in a pot.

Funny how you leave a review and instead of it being replied too it gets deleted… Staff are rude. Even more so deleting reviews, I stand by my comment of once opening the sister company unfortunately this place as gone down hill - food is still lovely although miss the daily specials. Just wish the staff were nicer…

Great place to stop on a dog walk/cycle ride along the Flitch Way. Prices are quite costly but cakes and drinks are pretty good! They have good choice of seating outside or under cover. Staff are very friendly.

Delicious sausage sandwich. Nice, friendly service.

Was out for a walk on the flitch stopped for cake then again for some lunch 😋

If you're a bread-lover, you'll love the bacon sandwiches!

Great bacon sandwich, and slice of lemon blondie.

A great place to stop if on a bike ride or Sunday morning walk. Exceptional service, great range of food, drinks and lovely homemade cakes. The doorstop sandwiches are a delight

An exceptional service. We asked the booking hall to make 40 scones for an event and they came up trumps. The scones were warm and fresh on collection. They were all boxed perfectly so that they wouldn’t crush. And they were delicious. Thank you - they were the star of the show.

Great door step sandwiches great service.

On a stretch of the Flitch Way in the old ticket office and with plenty of seating outside, although none inside. The staff are friendly but sadly so slow at serving. I waited in a queue, four people in front of which only one ordered food, yet it took 20 mins to get to my turn. When my sandwiches turned up a further 15 mins later, they were unappealing. It's a nice stop on a walk, but the slowness of it all puts you off bothering.

We walked the old railway embankment (The Flitch) from Felsted to Raine, pushing the twins and badly needed a fine coffee and a bit of carrot cake and a pleasant place to sit and enjoy it. That is what was provided. I suspect that we'll do that again soon.

Super slow service and wasn't busy! Maybe needs more organising food was good and large amounts! Just need to improve service but will be back!

Beautiful surroundings but even better than that is that amazing food, especially the cakes and the really welcoming staff that always greet you with a smile. They have a great range of vegan options which is a breath of fresh air! Always a delight to visit, you won't be disappointed!

This is a gem of a cafe! We love to walk along the Flitch Way, stop for a drink and perhaps one of their delicious cakes before walking back to Braintree. Food consistently good and alwAys served with a smile. 5* and highly recommended.

We have visited the Booking hall Cafe a few times on walks and had takeaway during COVID. The cakes are incredible and the sandwiches have been great too. Always a friendly welcome service. It can get busy so be prepared to wait, but it's worth it!

Excellent place to have a break on a nice walk through the Flitch Way. Extremely friendly staff and exquisite food fit a lot of variety. Josh always have a new idea on traditional food. Keep up the experiments Professor!

I’ve been coming to this cafe ever since I was a little girl, I don’t live in Essex anymore but whenever I come back to visit I always come down for lunch or coffee and cake! The vegan and vegetarian food is amazing and the coffee is always great, Grace and Josh work hard to make the cafe and the plaza an amazing place for everyone. It’s also very dog friendly so a great place to walk to from the flitch or the discovery!

I have been frequenting the Booking Hall Cafe for many many years now, being on the Flitch way and being the halfway point for my weekend cycling along said route, the opportunity to have an extremely thick white crusty bread bacon sandwich with real butter, some sparkling repartee from Patricia and Company is in some regards the highlight of my twenty mile jaunt, the service is impeccable and surrounding are a delight, if I had children, the museum train carriage on sight would be a absolute boon. So want some great food, with great staff, why not pop on down. They will no doubt make you welcome

Great staff, always happy and friendly! Never had a bad experience even when busy everyone is super friendly! Perfect opening times!

Closed at 1600... disappointing. Why say 1700?

Tasty food and great service! Always something new on the menu! Excellent service, the staff feel like friends.

Fantastic place set in a beautiful location full of local history. The food and service are always superb and great value as well, never had a bad visit

Beautiful place to stop and get a coffee and some delicious food! Friendly helpful staff and a great place to stop on a dog walk!

Lovely fresh food, always served with a smile! Would definitely recommend 😊

Really lovely cafe, staff are all friendly, we always receive great service. Excellent food and drink, love the cakes with such a great selection. Lovey clean setting great for all ages.

We are regular customers, we love to get out for a walk and more often than not, choose this as our destination! They do great sandwiches, great coffee and even better cakes! Staff are always friendly and it’s an all rounder for the family to enjoy!

Lovely food, great coffee and staff are always professional and friendly. Really cool location too. Only problem is deciding which cake to eat, they are all so good!

Great food, really nice coffee and excellent service.

Wonderful café. Lovely staff, great sandwiches and cake (gluten-free available - chocolate and orange was one of the best GF cakes I've ever had! ) and delicious coffee. Highly recommended.

We made this cafe a destination point of our long walk from Braintree. It was not the first time we tried. All the previous attempts were unsuccessful due to business hours which is completely on us for not checking the time. Anyway, this time we appeared there at 2.40. and were greeted with a phase that it’s almost the end of their shift. Well, has it ended already? No. So, what’s the point of saying this to clients? The girl at the counter gave us a menu but it looked like she was mad at us appearing “at the end of the shift”. Even though we said we wanted something easy like a coffee and a sandwich. We ordered two cups of coffee, two sandwiches and a piece of cake. The same girl asked where we would like to sit to later just shout out the name for us to come to her and take the tray. Again, I expected the food delivered to the table like waitresses usually do… I guess, not in Rayne. My coffee which did not have any syrup tasted sour. It was either terrible choice of coffee beans or bad milk. More chances, that it was the latter as I did not feel great afterwards. Sandwiches were great. I loved mine more, it was the one with pickled cucumbers and mustard. My husband had the second one on the menu. Both were great, served with crisps. The cake was very nice. A vegan raspberry cake. But the icing is extremely sweet. I just left it on a plate. In the ladies room there is no light… had to use a torch on my phone to use it. The atmosphere is really lovely there. 5 out of 5 but the service from the way a client is greeted to such details as toilet is poor. I am not sure we will come back.

Lovely sandwiches and cakes. They also do a selection of jacket potatoes which we didn’t try but they looked good too. And very friendly service too. We’ll be back !

This is one of those places that's best described as a Gem. Had the doorstep sausage sandwich and it was just that, a doorstep. Not a thick sliced loaf, this was two 2" slices of bread covering some of the nicest sausages I have had for a while. Well worth a stop and I shall be back when I am back in the area

Staff were very happy and friendly serving today, no food on a bank holiday but still a variety of cakes and sausages rolls! All looked and tasted lovely. Had tomato and cheese turn over with a chocolate cake and chocolate ganache 🤤 dogs were allowed outside too!

Conveniently located on Flitch Way for cyclists and walkers in old railway station. Affordable basic food and snacking options.

Good fresh food, nice selection of cakes. Very popular place. It takes a while to place your order if busy but worth the wait. There is plenty of outside seating, some of which is under cover.

Fantastic quaint little place! Excellent food

This place had the most amazing cakes! Worth a trip just for that and you get so sit on the old platform next to an old train. Very quaint. Great on a sunny afternoon.

Lovely coffee and you won't go hungry with the cake portions 😁😋

The clocks spring forward, you had a late Saturday night with friends and you wake up Sunday morning with an hours less sleep & an expectant 10 year old staring at you causing you to jump. It’s Easter, rather than a chocolate egg, can we go on a bike ride he says? Chocolate egg, breakfast & bikes out the shed before setting off with the dog in tow towards the flitch way. We join the flitch footpath at Braintree train station, opting to cycle approximately 1.2 miles of the 15 miles available. We firstly cycle to the nearby bmx track and upon spending 30 or so minutes pumping the track we decided to visit the Booking Hall Cafe. I remember years ago watching the train carriage being lifted in to position and I’m not really sure why we don’t visit more often? Rayne is a really nice village with that neighbourly vibe to it. The carriage being in situ and now filled with tables gives that unique feel and makes even just stopping to have a coffee as you walk by an experience. The staff upon our visit were very young and clearly helping out for the Easter break. I know what you are thinking, young kids with food, phones in hand and ignoring the customer, errrr no, not here. In actual fact the staff made eye contact, they spoke by both using and moving their mouths, they were polite, extremely welcoming and knowledgable of the menu options. My son and I ate a bacon door stop sandwich and washed it down with a can of drink. It’s a nice feeling spending time with your kids, especially in unique places that hopefully will as time progresses become somewhere they also stop by and remember having spent that time with you. I love it and sharing that moment with Ted this morning at 18:30 in the evening whilst writing this still has that smiley feeling. The prices here are not expensive and the portion size is huge, I was so taken back by this I only took a photo of half the sandwich as me being greedy got the better of me. The bread was soft and fluffy, the bacon warm and not fatty and the service was very quick. When I retuned my plate I was tempted by a slice of one of the cakes on offer but we declined before heading home however we will be back. Their was water on offer for the dog (Woody) I imagine it gets really busy here, especially as the weather hopefully improves. I feel like I’ve stepped back in time, The service = excellent. The quality of food = excellent. The menu options = excellent. The staff = excellent. The portion size = excellent. There was lots of seating, inclusive of a small kiddie seating area. I cannot recommend enough, best Easter ever.

Although it was a stormy day we sat under the canopy and enjoyed our toasted cheese, avocado on toast and coffee - lovely quality ingredients ie Monmough coffee Pleasant staff, even brought the food out with a cover to keep warm! Great value

Excellent cakes with vegan and gluten free options. Snack meals too but no indoor seating, a disadvantage in cooler or wetter weather. They have a sister cafe 3 miles away on main road with indoor seating.

Served by a rude woman. Been visiting for years & like to buy takeaway coffees on mine & husband's walk quite often. On my last visit, Saturday 17/02/24, I ordered 2 coffee's & slice of cake. Was served by a lovely young lady who took my order, no issues. One of the coffees was served by a different older/ middle-aged woman with short hair. I mentioned to her "thanks, just waiting for another coffee" and she responsed with "yea, well we need to make it first before giving it to you darling" & then proceeded to look through me to take the next customers order, dismissing me completely. How. Rude. I think I will be bringing my own filtered coffee from home from now. Thank you for the past few years

What a joy this cafe is fab location and the bestest doorstop sandwich!

It's great for a Sunday morning coffee and walk with the dogs. It does get really busy, so expect a wait for food and drinks, or get there early

Was served a barley warm sausage sandwich. Won't be visiting again.

Very nice place to go quite and nice to relax at mine you may be a lot busy in the summer

Stumbled across this lovely cafe serving drinks and lots of lovely cakes and treats, friendly staff, highly recommended and will be visiting again soon with family and friends.

For my daughter’s birthday she had a few friends around for afternoon tea. The sandwiches were lovely and fresh as well as all the other goodies provided. The Booking Hall Cafe even provided a gluten free option which we very much appreciated. Would definitely recommend to friends and family.

Great service and food. Always very friendly staff and such a great addition to the village. Couldn’t recommend enough!

A group of us cycled here and had hot drinks and some food, we sat at one of the tables on the old track bed. The service was friendly and quick, we will be going back sometime.

Stopped here after walking along the flitch way. Great selection of cakes and had a nice coffee. Great set up using old booking hall./platform.

First time, sunny warm day and a little busy but what a nice place to have snack. But don't choose the carpark as a navigation point. Cyclist use this to park then go on cycling trip along this old train line route. I'd choose the road just south of the cafe only a minute walk to the cafe. We'll worth a visit.

Enjoyed my first visit today, greeted and served by friendly staff and found the food to be fresh and of a high standard. All in all a pleasant experience and would not hesitate to return. Thank you 😊

Excellent cafe on the Flitch way, brilliant food and lovely area

Have been coming here for several years on & off. Food prices might initially seem a bit steep but trust me, you get what you pay for & it's well worth it! The clucking club is beautiful every time without fail 👌 Staff have always been friendly/polite even when it's very busy. Outside seating only now but it's covered for various weather conditions. A lovely pit stop on your journey along the Flitch Way, even if it's just to stop for a drink or a gorgeous home made cake.

Been coming frequently to this place for a couple of years now. Every meal ive ever ordered has been brillient. Staff are always very proffesional and pleasant. I Always order the clucking club which words can not do justice. Possibly the best thing between two peices of bread. Lovley place and atmosphere. 10/10

Sitting at a table on the platform outside the beautiful old Rayne station building, overlooking a carriage from bygone days. What a wonderful way to spend time with family and friends. The café offers a decent menu, with drinks and cakes too.

Disappointing. Food was Ok but I really cannot understand why my friends suggested here

Fabulous food, reasonable prices.

Friendly staff, and lovely doorstop sandwiches. Gorgeous choice of cakes. Ideal for a long walk with dogs. Seating is all outside but there is cover should it rain. If you fancy a change then do try here. You will not walk away hungry.

Heard good things about this cafe so whilst camping nearby we visited here on Sunday 27th August. We both ordered a sausage sandwich on doorstep bread and a coffee. I was really looking forward to it. But unfortunately it wasn’t nearly as good as i expected. The bread was indeed thick but this didn’t add anything to the overall sandwich. The sausages were ok but like warm. The very least you’d expect in a sausage sandwich is freshly cooked hot sausages. Not a lot to expect!!! I left half the luke warm sandwich and most of the bread. Such a shame such a simple thing could be so hard to make. A bit more effort and this sandwich could have been amazing. The coffee was also a disappointment. It tasted more like an instant cappuccino from a packet. So much foam and not much drink. Overall not a great experience. Although the train and station element was really nice. Hopefully from this review they can start to turn out hot food instead of warm.

Nice location. On a good day it's probably really good. However, bacon that was once crispy and now allowed to cool had acquired the consistency of chewy cardboard, slow slow service and kitchen staff with frighteningly long nails to add to the list of hygiene violations visible at the window when ordering. Would be nice if the tables were clean. ***UPDATED one year on: still filthy from the filthy uncleared tables alive with wasps, to the grubby cutlery to the greasy smudges on plates, thumbs in cake slice because the plates aren't big enough, it's just a dirty operation. Very very slow service allows you time to contemplate the hygiene.

Love it here, well worth a visit, the bacon sandwiches and cakes are amazing! Well worth a visit if you are on a walk down the flitch!

Been many times although, unfortunately, our food had been missed last time we went - after asking, they quickly made it up in a takeaway box as we were then leaving. Lovely, friendly staff. A++

Brilliant place to stop and have a coffee and snack. Lovely staff and such a pretty setting

Great wee place, sitting outdoors, friendly staff and very generous portions. The salt beef sandwich a firm favourite

what a beautiful place to stop and have a coffee and cake after a lovely walk

Just a very unique place to stop and have a chat and a coffee with some cakes

Great place for a break when using the Flitch Way

Absolutely love this place, and such a little gem. More tables have been added since last year, so there is much more space to sit down and soak up the unique space and enjoy the delicious food. We came for lunch this weekend, and the food was so good. I had the special - bbq pulled pork and double mozzarella toastie, on doorstop bread with burnt ends. It knocked my socks off! The meat was tender and delicious, full of flavour, and the bread was toasted to perfection. This was followed up with a fresh, homemade peach iced tea, and a selection of cakes - we went for a rainbow cake, chocolate orange loaf, passionfruit and mango cake and a caramel shortbread. All of which went down an absolute treat with the family. This might be a small venue, but the food options and quality are spot on, and the owners really squeeze the best out of this opportunity. The staff are lovely too, and they even asked if we wanted standard bread for my little ones cheese on toast. Always going over and above. Thank you for a beautiful meal and perfect afternoon!

Nice walk from town and a nice watering hole.

Lovely spot and the staff were really friendly but my smashed avocado on horrible cheap white bread was truly tasteless with zero seasoning. A shame and I will try again because it was so friendly.

Charming premises, lovely staff, delicious food and drinks

Lovely little cafe cake was delicious 😋

Nice food, reasonably priced, and friendly staff. A nice relaxing place to eat

Interesting place with differing customers

A lovely walk down the flitch way is only ever made better with a stop at booking hall cafe. Always friendly and food and coffees are always delicious

Worst cup of coffee I’ve ever had the misfortune to encounter. Basically boiling water with frothy milk, possibly with a dash of coffee, could not drink it and would have taken them back had it not been for the queue. I’ll take a flask with me in future, really disappointing and not cheap so total waste of money. Won’t make the mistake of stopping here again.

Great staff, excellent food, lovely location. No complaints from me.

Twice we have come here now lunchtime and evening, and twice the train has been shut.

Love this place for a walk along the flitch way and cuppa afterwards

This very popular cafe is all outdoor, with a canvas covered area at one end of a sunny platform, and some benches on the rail level. There is a very good off road cycle way running past. No menus at all outside on our visit, just one on the counter so I enclose a photo of it. The cakes are lovely, as are the staff. Very good value menus. There is a disabled unisex toilet on the platform. The downsides for me were; hot drinks are in paper cups ( no good size pot of tea),  the benches outside are filthy and look like they are never cleaned, and the service is slow and shambolic. This may possibly be on a weekend only, with inexperienced staff working. But on a sunny day, if you are not in a rush, this café is well worth a try.

Fantastic food, friendly staff, lots of seating available

We often eat at both the Booking Hall Cafe and Cafe Plaza, which are also both highly recommended. This weekend we had an afternoon tea catered for 18 people. I can't thank Josh and Grace enough! The food selection was top quality and more than plenty to go round ( most people took some home). Everybody commented on how delicious it was! Easy to book and customise for our personal requirements, also supplied GF options. Delivered in good time and very well presented. Will definitely be using their catering service again! Many thanks!

Would recommend, very nice sandwiches. Nice place to go for lunch.

Always love visiting for a nice chat and a lovely coffee while walking my dog.

This is always a good place to stop on a bike ride for a drink and a cake. I like the fact it's an old disused railway station as this gives it a unique character. There are tables both under cover and in the open to choose from depending on the weather. The staff are always friendly and helpful. The only reason it's not a 5 star from me is that compared to other cafes we use I feel the cake choice here is a bit more limited.

I had quite possibly the best sandwich (their version of a club sandwich) I've eaten in the past 12-18 months from here. Served by a charming and lovely lady

Really good food, I had the sweet sausage and the cheese on toast. Large portion size and great quality. Nice staff too, although queue was 30 minutes and food another 20 which was disappointing as this is a good meeting point for a long walk/cycle so do not expect a quick bite to eat.

If you are in the area stop by, great meeting place with nice walks in all directions. Food and drink very well done. Thank you.

Good quality food, however service is slow and seating is limited. There's a small covered area for rainy days (not fully covered so likely to still get wet) and they have the coach, although I haven't been in there.

I do like it here - service is slow, but location is fab

Hidden gem. Friendly staff and excellent cakes. The food looked amazing too.

Great place to stop off from a bike ride or dog walking for a cup of tea and cake!

Do not just walk past. Stop and have a cuppa and a slice of 🍰. Beautiful place to just watch the world go by.

I've used Booking Hall café several times. There can be a bit of a queue at peak times, but it's worth it! Terrific café for cake (very generous portions) and delicious coffee. Multiple cake and cookie options, plus sausage rolls. Super friendly staff. Good value. Plenty of seating space.

Fantastic huge doorstep fresh bread, thick cut bacon sandwich, bloody great coffee, fantastic service. Would recommend 100%