Booking Hall Cafe in Braintree

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 😁😋

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.

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

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++

Tasty food and great service! Always something new on the menu!

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!

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.

Nice walk from town and a nice watering hole.

Charming premises, lovely staff, delicious food and drinks

Lovely little cafe cake was delicious 😋

Interesting place with differing customers

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

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

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

Fantastic food, friendly staff, lots of seating available

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.

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%

It's a busy little place, but it's worth the wait as the cakes are gorgeous. We did not have a sandwich, but we saw some go past and they looked hearty door stops. Was lovely and relaxing sitting in the sun ☀

I always stop to buy food and drinks here at the end of my dog walk along the Flitch Way. Sadly they only serve 'doorstop' bread which I can't stand so the beans on toast and bacon sandwiches are out for me. I like their paninis though, vegan option too. Loads of cakes on offer including gluten free. However service is incredibly slow and normally I am waiting in the queue for around 10 minutes

Great coffee, amazing food, friendly staff, can get very busy !

Lovely sandwiches great coffee ☕️

Great food lovely staff, a real gem

I absolutely love this place, I have been coming for over 9 years, could sit there all day. The whole team are amazing, huge shout outs to J&G 🫶🏼

Great stop off along the flitch way. Home cooked food is always delicious! Very popular and you may need to queue! Welcome break stop though!

Quite expensive for what you get. I ordered avocado on toast but when it arrived unfortunately the avocado was thinly spread like butter.

Great idea, cafe in the booking hall, tables and chairs under a cannopy on the old platform was great, food and drinks also great.

Nice little place for a coffee! Light lunch is also good!

They sold me a cup of tea when they were closing. Nice place.

Had an amazing afternoon tea delivered this morning, the scones were huge and so delicious. The white chocolate ganache pot - wow!

The best sandwiches anywhere. Friendly staff and a nice place to have lunch.

Best toasted Sausage Sandwhich 😋

Vegan cookies and cream cake was one of the best pieces of cake I have ever had!!

No indoors seating, extremely cold day (2 degrees) outside seating area appears to be a stack of chairs and tables - no heat lamps, nothing - but i could borrow a blanket. 😒 reason: ‘covid’ where the entire indoors seating area was turned into a kitchen. British hospitality strikes again. All the posh hot chocolate and salted caramel bites won’t change my opinion now.

A great place to stop for a treat when walking along the old railway line ("Flitch Way"). The staff are friendly and the food is delicious. The pecan traybake was a highlight, with the addition of sea salt on top it was so moreish!

A bit chilly to eat outside but we wrapped up warm to eat cake (such a large slice I couldn't eat it all) With the background of train carriage and station it was a lovely elevenses and very popular. - a steady stream of walkers and cyclists queuing for their treat.

We went here on a rainy autumn morning, it was fairly busy with limited seating (because of the rain). The lady who made our drinks was lovely as was the lady who brought our food over. We had the salt beef reuben and a salted caramel latte. The reuben was really tasty and I think on a sunnier dryer day it would have felt like we could sit and relax a bit more. It was lovely though! Would recommend!

A great place to relax after a walk along the flitch way

Fantastic find after a cold morning of horse riding lessons near by, found this little gem with best sandwiches I think I’ve ever had! And the lady that served us was wonderful, interacting with my daughters also! Wonderful place 💓

A unique and interesting venue; an old railway station with railway carriage. Decent food selection and good quality food. Reasonably priced. I have only given four stars due to the carriage being closed for seating and we had to sit outside in the cold. No heating provided.

I love this gem of a place, you can enjoy great coffee and great food while sat in a classic train carriage. Highly recommended.

Always good value for money and polite staff.

Lovely place for a bit of lunch or coffee stop

Variety and the quality of the food all good, lovely friendly staff. Perfect when it’s shiny and sunny. Love being there.

A hidden gem of the converted disused Rayne railway station, which ran from Braintree to Bishop Stortford, now a walking route. Found this place by fortunate accident (Sat nav took me via a scenic route for a job) & thought wow, must go there one day. …less than a week my friend & I did! Tasty Sandwiches & cakes will tempt any appetite! Takeaway only, but there is a Gazebo with lots of tables & chairs, toilets & car park. Was made very welcome by all the staff, fantastic service. A must visit if in the area, especially after shopping at Freeport down the road. Thanks Ladies, see you again soon 👏

A little pricey but a nice place for a treat.

Great food and drink, friendly people and great value.

Very nice food. Fresh and tasty. Coffee was good also.

Great food served by lovely staff.

Great place for cake and tea, nice walk along the flitch with the dog, staff very friendly

Informal cafe. Chaotic service but really tasty food. Definitely a good place for groups and dog friendly

Fabulous. Great gluten free options and lovely coffee. Lovely stop along the flitch. The family loves it. Staff are very welcoming.

Outside undercover seating. Ideal nowadays. Very good menu.

Stopped by today just for drinks and was served by a very friendly lady! The cakes and food coming out looked fantastic so we’ll be coming back without a doubt!

Nice food, good train carriage with model railway for kids. Nice walk along railway track and nice litter picking initiative

Always good, huge portions, is very popular at weekends so expect a long queue but worth it. The inside seating is closed but they have a covered area on the platform, wrap up well for the cooler days.

Nice place stop for snacks and drinks.

Great local family run cafe. I live in the village and it's such an asset.

Good place for stop off wd dogs yummy

A pleasant sit, under shade if you want it, outside with lots of walkers, cyclists, runners. Good range of cafe food on offer. Nice coffee and a bit of history in this old station with a museum carriage outside.