Cafe Giardino in Thurrock - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

Lovely staff food is always delicious and fresh,never fails to disappoint.staff are very welcoming and friendly.food is super fresh

Excellent service, great coffee (Americano) and a superb bacon baguette. Nice atmosphere, staff friendly and very helpful

My friend and I go here every Monday for toast with extra butter which we ask for accompanied with 2 x decaf cappuccino. Service, atmosphere, value for money are good, welcome and service from all the staff is excellent every time

A large and busy restaurant, very popular. The full English breakfast is superb and good value for money, I also sometimes have a bacon baguette which is again good value for money and you can get a 10% discount card in the restaurant. Superb coffee. The staff are friendly and very helpful and provide excellent service delivery. Well done.

The staff are always friendly and efficient , with a great range of food from pastries to breakfasts and lunches that are always delicious .

We use Cafe Giardino most days for a coffee the staff are always friendly helpful and polite and do their utmost to serve you as quickly as possible nothing is ever too much trouble for them the seating area is always kept clean and tidy service with a smile 😊

This place is the best venue in Lakeside to stop anytime of the day, lovely venue, friendly staff who accommodate all your needs, good value for money for delicious coffee and freshly made food

I absolutely love this cafe. This is one of the very best cafes I've been in for a very long time I'd give it 6 stars if I could, portion sizes are supper large and well cooked in a clean friendly cafe. The staff are also so welcoming and helpful.

We visited the cafe today and had breakfast, with a drink. The staff are excellent at what they do, always friendly and helpful. the service was again first class . The food was prepared and served to us at a very high standard. My wife had a bacon sandwich, and I the Poached eggs served on avacardo with a pesto dressing on toast. We both had tea to accompany our meals. Excellent food, lovely prepared. The cafe was nice and clean and we always feel comfortable in the cafe. We hav e eaten here many times and always recieve excellent food and service.

Meeting up with a family member at Lakeside, we stumbled across this cafe and decided to eat here. Nice large quiet area for a chat and freshly made sandwiches with a wide variety of fillings served by extremely friendly staff provided a few hours to reminisce. The sandwiches (bread & baguette ) with fillings of Tuna Mayonnaise, Prawn & Egg Mayonnaise and a range of drinks really were delicious and packed with very tasty filling. At one point, the coffee machine was being cleaned and I was mesmerised watching the attention to detail being employed as every nook & cranny was cleaned. The attention to hygiene was noticeable on many occasions during our time there. True value for money from an excellent little cafe!

Bought 3 drinks a sausage roll and a tuna, corn & onion baguette. I received an egg mayo so when I returned it the surly woman behind the counter said to her older colleague, did she order egg or tuna and she said tuna. So she brings me another baguette with just tuna. It was so vile I couldn’t eat it! £28 wasted. Never again.

Was going to have a cooked breakfast here on 15/10/22. Despite the menu card on the counter showing a choice of how the eggs were cooked for a full breakfast when I went order I was rudely told “fried only” by a member of staff with a purple beard. His attitude and customer service was very poor. Needless to say no breakfast was not purchased here. Went upstairs to a small cafe in the Brompton Walk, where the breakfast and customer service was excellent.

Most definitely did not visit waiting above witnesses staff handle a jacket potato with gloves with beans and cheese, place in micro before sitting on floor hands and knees to clean and sort a cupboard. Same gloves on the floor to push up member of staff before they retrieved the jacket potat or and using the same gloves still top off with more cheese from the tub Another member of staff cleaned down the glass top straight into the section below Dirty clothes used to clean chopping boards behind the scenes all viewable from above. Will never use not recommend

No one finished the meal. Store bought fridge pack chicken in the baguette. Rock hard bread. Jacket potato hard. Bolognese had no flavour. Italian family that can’t cook! Waitress’s looked overworked, they worked hard and are the only positive of this cafe/restaurant. Only still in business because of the location. They do not care about quality. Classic Italian restaurant that would be on Ramsay’s Kitchen Nighmares. Terrible.

I visited on Friday with my daughter in law . I went to the till they weren’t busy after being served I asked the lady that served me for a glass or straw for my drink and also my change as she had shut the till. She started shouting wait a minute wait a minute, I had only asked her the once . I told her she was very rude and she continued to shout at me a member of staff that witnessed it apologised but didn’t want to get involved but knew she was wrong. I complained to the manager and asked him to talk to her I can only assume he did , the member of staff went to her lunch and came over to my table shouting she had a till malfunction and that’s why she behaved that way but continued to attack me verbally and wouldn’t let me speak. I told her several times to go away and leave me alone . I left my shopping trip and went home upset iv never ever experienced anything like this

What is there not to say about this place, my daughter & I stopped her for breakfast never again, the staff do not listen to what your ordering 3 time's i had to tell her what I wanted how hard is it asking for bowl of porridge & scramble egg with No Toast. We got our table & sat down waited for our order, the young girl came over with 2 scramble egg on toast we told her it wasn't our order & she stood there & actually Swore in front of using the F word me & my daughter just looked at each other couldn't belive what she had said, my daughter went & reported her at first th staff didn't care, we wanted to leave but they refused to give us refund, we got our food finally the order was wrong twice, I told the young girl her language was disgusting for what she said, on way out the manager did apologise for her language & would be having words with her. We will not be going back here not just because of that but the staff are rude & talk in there language while serving you so you haven't got clue what there saying.

Invaded here on the MIL's recommendation. Wife and MIL had the salad with baguettes both large portion with freshed varied food. BIL had the panninie which was stuffed and fresh. I had the macaroni cheese inside a baguette after haggling to get something not on the menu. Everything was delicious and the portions were huge. I can see why MIL is a member 😁

Service with a smile would be nice it is really not hard to do is it I talked to them they took my money that way it

WenT yesterday first time. After being ignored and spoken to rudely by the man serving my mum decided on a crayfish and avocado sandwich white bread. It was served as brown bread but there you go. My mum has now been vomiting all night. She has nothing else rest of the day so must have been this sandwich. Will not be going again !!

Nice coffee and %50 off Monday to Wednesday cheap and good atmosphere stuff working very hard and good attitude mostly I come in here to drink coffee and lunch very close to my house

Waited 15 minutes at the counter completely ignored the man cooking was shouting at his staff in his own language as they all seemed to be unaware of what they were doing I wouldn’t waste my money had a nice baguette in Greggs and at a better price

Gosto muito de ir ao café Giardino, boa música, comida de boa qualidade, sou fã do seu chocolate quente, do melhor e a nível de limpeza, perfeito, todos os os dias desenfetado

Nothing to write home about, but a convenient spot to stop for lunch. Fairly priced with fresh ingredients, the soup was tasty and all the food was hot. Disappointing flavour of the chocolate milkshake, but overall a nice lunch. Staff were friendly and helpful.

Wide selection of beverages and food is on offer at this ‘Under the stairs’ cafe. The more mature staff are friendly and welcoming and there is plenty of seating.

Had a bacon baguette and a flat white for brekkie. The baguettes had just been delivered and were fresh. The baguette was stuffed with bacon and the coffee was hot (unlike some places). Yes they are not the cheapest, but you pay for quality and the quality makes it good value. The staff are always very friendly and polite and provide excellent service delivery.

Over priced cold food with colder attitudes from the staff. I ordered macaroni cheese with garlic bread and salad. My first plate of macaroni came and it was cold. I told the waitress. She shouted across the restaurant to her colleague who shook her head. She gave me another out of the microwave which was also cold. I complained so she gave me back my first plate which was still cold. They continued to mutter on in Italian thinking I did not understand. I could not eat the garlic bread as that had been microwaved and was like rubber. Also not hot. My salad was ladened with oil. I asked to change it and the waitress nearly threw it at me. I had ate from 2 plates 1 of which was given to someone else. Definitely not coming back.

Staff are rude and rushed, bill was over £15 for a jacket potato and a sandwich. I had to ask three times for ice and a glass, bread was hard and I watched the staff take a piece of lettuce off my plate and put in the bin as I had not paid for a side salad!!!!!!I will never go here again - do not waste your time or money

Location is ideal for a pit stop for a tasty cheese and onion toastie. (On brown, of course)He staff are courteous, although the service can be a little slow sometimes. The food is always fresh and prepared to order.It’s not haute cuisine, but does the job.Generally a clean environment.

I use Giardino for breakfast when visiting Lakeside. The bacon baguette is stuffed full of bacon and is cooked really well. The coffee is really nice, actually prefer their coffee over Costa. I normally have a americano or a flat white and the coffee is reasonably priced. The service delivery by staff is excellent. Well done.

I am not tight and I expect to pay a bit more for food at a shopping centre. But I was not prepared for this!! They charged my daughter £6.45 for a bowl of cucumber, tomato and onion (mainly onion). It was a choice of up to 4 of the salads for this price but my daughter only wanted one as she didn’t like the others. They only in my opinion put one serving in the bowl but had my daughter chose any more there was not enough room for £6.95’s worth of salad in the size of the bowl that was offered. They also charged £1.95 for a can of Diet Coke. Absolute daylight robbery! I will never go there again.Just to add to that they are so miserable. You don’t even get a smile!!

Stopped here for lunch and waited 20 minutes in a short queue the woman who was serving had to make all the drinks and serve and take the money so causing a long wait I ordered a coffee and a sausage sandwich which came to 7 pound it arrived very quickly and I found out why when I bit into it they had microwaved the whole sandwich including the bread hence soggy hot bread and the sausage inside was so hard I couldn’t chew it as it was horrible so I took it back and had a tea cake instead Not good at all will not eat there again

We stopped here for a spot of lunch whilst shopping. Was very expensive for a cafe and we won’t be going back. I think the sandwiches are around £6.50! We had sandwiches and a jacket potato with chilli con carne. The potato and filling were allowed to get cold whilst my husband cued for our drinks and to pay and it was not very nice when I did get it.

Was in lakeside shopping, thought we'd have a lunch, decided on cheese and beans jacket potato and ham and cheese panini, both were hot tasty and delicious, will definetly return and have the salad bowl, lots of choice, staff were very friendly and happy

Use it mainly for breakfast and coffee. The bacon and sausage (or just bacon) baguette is superb. Great coffee.

Good service and good food and coffe to start the day before shopping at Lakeside. The hot breakfast was very nice and the staff was kind enough to bring it to our table with a smile.

I sometimes go to Giardino at Lakeside for breakfast. The bacon baguette is superb as is the bacon and sausage baguette. I have also had the full English breakfast which is also very nice. The restaurant is situated in the middle of the mall and is open from about 8.30 (sometimes earlier). The staff are very friendly. Well done guys.

Every time our family comes down to Lakeside , we always come here as its a lovely quaint cafe with a good variety of food. Salad bar always looks fresh and tasty as well as the hot meals and sandwiches. Staff are friendly and always on their feet to serve you. Never had a bad experience so always come every time :) :)

Ncie selecton of food, slightly confusing system and food can get cold while you are waiting for coffee and to pay

Sometimes stop by on my lunch. Good selection of food however it's very expensive for what it is. The staff are always smiling and happy which is a bonus

Have eaten here twice, first visit was for breakfast. Ordered 2 English breakfasts, they came up dry and shrivelled and you could see they had definitely been reheated in a microwave after being previously cooked, we hardly touched our plates. Today thought we would try lunch £5.45 for a prawn sandwich, the bread was so hard and stale it was inedible, thrown away! The woman serving stunk of cigarettes after just coming back and taking her coat off, not good in an eatery. Below average and overpriced, will not visit again.

My husband & i have been twice now for Paninis and drinks ,very nice ,staff are pleasant and the place is clean. Nice to sit and watch the world go by .

Good food and never have to wait long! Enjoyed a lovely avocado salad! Generous helpings! Would love to know what they put on the couscous salad and what they put on the pasta salad?

Went there with my wife for a late. Comfortable sofas, very clean place. Everything is on display. Menu is good.

Lunch here yesterday. Husband had very tasty panini, I had salad. You get to choose what you want from the salad bar. I added grilled halloumi.... 3 tiny slices, so thin you could see through them for an extra £1.50 which doesn't sound a lot...

Almorcé aquí mientras pasa el día en el lago. La comida era excelente, como siempre, pero había un poco de confusión sobre los pedidos, ya que estaba muy ocupado - Todo salió bien al final incluso regresar más tarde en el día para una merienda antes de volver a casa.

Buen lugar para reunirse con amigos. Posición central en planta baja. Comience el día con un chocolate caliente y un pan tostado. Traviesos pero agradable

Have visited with my dad and partner a few times. The food is so flavoursome my dad loves the curry the spag Bowl is my fav! Recommend anyone to try

This is a perfect place for Italian inspired lunch. Sit down, relax and watch all the shoppers rush past while you enjoy some Italian

Situated in the middle of the shopping mall on the ground floor. A great buzz and good location for people watching. Comfortable seats, Lovely milkshakes for grandchildren and delicious coffee. Always a favourite stop when at Lakeside

Nice place for a good coffee and a Panini without the trouble of travelling to the food hall. Good value and good fare.

My wife and I had Chicken Escalope roll and a chicken sandwich and they were very dry and tasteless! The tea was fine but the coffee was horrible!!The staff are not trained on first contact with customers however their service level got better as we was ordering!!I am sorry because I am sure with a few quality control procedures and customer care training it would be a cafe!!

I chose halloumi salad and my sister chose bacon sandwich. The halloumi was like plastic, it had clearly been cooked earlier and reheated. The bacon looked vile and had also been reheated. When we complained they refunded the money for the sandwich and salad without argument. It's not cheap and it ruined what should haven a nice treat. I think they should have refunded all the money. Disgusting, I wouldn't have served it to a dog.

Visited for lunch, my tuna baguette and lemonade cost £8, this is steep as the baguette was no different to that of the likes of Pret and they only charge £3 v £6 here. The kids lunch box was ok value wise £4 for a sandwich, drink and piece of fruit.Have to say service was a bit disorganised and chaotic at times. I say quite a few kids boxes coming back as the content was incorrect. The queue moved slowly and I think the staff were just trying to juggle too many orders at once. It took 20 minutes in all to order and receive my sandwich.Seating area is nice.

We stopped for a light lunch during Christmas shopping at Lakeside - this was our first visit to Cafe Giardino. We asked for two tuna melts on ciabatta and two flat white coffees. The guys behind the counter took our order without a smile or any acknowledgement. We went to the till and were asked for £17 - this order would have cost just over £12 in Costa. It wasn't until we received our coffees that we realised they had not asked us what size coffee we wanted, they just made us "Large" and charged us accordingly. The coffee came in a cumbersome mug and tasted like a badly made nescafe coffee, definitely not a Flat White. When the tuna melts turned up, they were wet. Literally water was dripping onto our plates from the tuna mix as we were eating them. We left our coffees and sandwiches half consumed and vowed we would not waste our money there again. I suggest you do the same.

popped in at teatime because nearby pizza hut was so full we couldn't get in and was in hurry for the cinema. The fact this cafe was empty was a clue ... we ordered a baked potato with chilli con carne and baked potato with avocado and crayfish, and a pineapple smoothie. Was surprised with a baked potato with baked beans and cheese and no pineapple smoothie from the waitress who did not understand english- which made sending it back difficult. She arrived back with the ordered baked potato, however they bulked up the avocado (the most expensive mix) with a heap of lettuce in the hot potato - most disappointing. And they managed to bring the smoothie. There was only another couple in the entire cafe - so they weren't over-stretched. Disappointing. Expensive and I shall avoid this place in the future. Is suggest you avoid it too.

Popped in for lunch with family, food was supposed to be hot, chicken served up Luke warm and other parts were stone cold. Coffee was very bland. Sorry won't be coming back definitely low quality and quite pricy for what was served up

Visited today for a bite to eat service was very poor we had spaghetti was ok but had bits of raw red onion in it I think that was from a piece of cutlery from some other salad ! Garlic the butter was not even melted properly had to take it back also had chicken escalope which was supposed to be HOT but was barely warm so had to take that back !! Was not happy also had a chicken/bacon /sweet corn roll was just ok not very tasty !! My latte was very poor very very bland in flavour don't know what type of style this cafe is supposed to be but it's defiantly not Italian !! £26 I would have expected a lot better in quality of food won't go there again !!!

Ordered one crayfish n avocado sandwich on brown bread was asked three times if I wanted a baguette (1.50 extra) a firm no. Did I want side salad!nooooo the tuna mayo sandwich on white bread went same way. Both of these where put on plates and left on counter while we queue for coffee. Ten mins later we get to till and order our coffees my sandwich then got picked up and given to another customer who had the sense to say it wasn't his. We then got our coffees and a tray with a food number on it....! When I asked what the number was for as our sandwiches had been sitting on counter for ten minutes I then had to point out what ones belonged to us....! By this time I was about to have a row. My partner then paid n we sat down. To be honest not the best sandwich soggy lettuce coz mashed in with avocado and I think I had about four crayfish tails. All in all not the best choice and considering this cost us £18 not really impressed either. Will not be going back.

It's ok it fills a gap but really isn't that exciting. One would categorise it as an ok experience, tilitarian nothing mre

Go early to get best choice of comfy seats and order coffee and millionaires shortbread. This small, central spot amongst the Lakeside shops was perfect for an unhurried catch up with friends. No doubt busier later on in the day, the service was with a smile.

2 coffee's, a croissant and a packet of 2 biscuits cost me £10 which I thought was a lot of money. Coffee was hot but very average. Biscuits were biscuits! The place itself was spacious and clean which was a positive.

Went with my friend, food was really nice. I had smoked salmon ciabatta and my friend ha jacket potato with crayfish and avocado yummy. Very quick service. Good value for money

Used to love this place when it was on the food court but not so good now it's moved and is smaller. Went here with my mother in law and we always have eggs on toast. The eggs were slimy so we sent them back and they must have microwaved them as when I cut into mine it exploded and the same happened to my mother in law. We probably should've complained but we just left vowing not to return as not the same.

Microwaved really tough bacon and watery poached egg, plus we had to wait ages - I think ours might have been forgotten a while, but the staff were really nice

Popped in for lunch with my mum and 3 boys. Very disappointed. Kids sandwich box was overpriced - very limited choice of sandwich (ham or cheese) although we requested chicken which we were eventually given. Very dry sandwiches, no salad, no choice of bread. Came with a piece of fruit (again no choice) and a drink. Polenta in my salad was tasteless and at £5.95 was basically a bowl of lettuce with a couple if olives. Some of the staff shindig the counter were very surly and only the lady at the till seemed in the least bit helpful. Unwelcoming and over priced. Needless to say we won't be back!

Food still good but service has gone badly downhill since my last visit. lady on the till had a full blown argument with another customer which was a little off putting. Hot sandwich for me was ready ages before my mother's soup so we could actually eat our food at the same time.

The food here is nice. You can see most displayed in the cabinets as you queue. The salads & panini fillings looked good.The only thing I'd say is that the up selling can catch you out eg jacket potato with chilli con carne, you're offered cheese. In my mind that would be a sprinkle, turned out to be quite a lot. So you may end up with more than expected but in doing so the total cost may take you by surprise. I thought £8 a bit steep!

Stumbled across Café Giardino in Lakeside shopping centre on 8th January whilst looking to kill some time whilst car was being serviced and I have to say it's the worst full English I have ever eaten.I thought that the café looked neat and clean from the outside and the menu appeared appetising, whilst boasting that it was 'naturally good', so ordered the full English, with extra sausage and a cup of tea. Total cost £9.65- not the cheapest, but enough to make me think I would receive a quality feeding!I should have known better when I realised I could hear no real kitchen sounds of pans clanging, or bacon frying, nor smell a hearty breakfast being prepared and what appeared confirmed my fears. I am convinced that the only piece of my breakfast that had been near a grill or pan was the bacon and that the beans, mushrooms, scrambled eggs (rubbery and tiny portion-one egg at most I think) and sausages had been microwaved. The sausages in particular were desperate-hard, dry and grainy, whilst the mushrooms had a really sour, overpowering smell that was very off putting. Didn't bother with the tomato as the mushroom smell started to make me feel queasy.Granary toast was nice, as was the cup of tea, so if you fancy beans on toast and cup of tea, you'll be ok (in fact, I wish that is what I had gone for!), but it appears the owner doesn't trust the staff enough to cook the most classic and simple of English dishes, which is a real shame. The waitress who took my order seemed nice enough and was kind enough to bring me ketchup and offer to get me cutlery etc, but I watched on in bewilderment as she later shouted across to couple (who had obviously been waiting an inordinate amount of time for toast) that she 'hadn't forgotten about them' and knew when it would be ready as the 'smoke alarm would go off'. This was clearly meant as an ill conceived joke, but the couple were elderly and not impressed, even less so when she offered them bread (?!) as an alternative before coming out a few minutes later announcing that she 'told you I hadn't forgotten about you'...weird and surreal customer service experience but wonderful to sit back and people watch as her ill judged service was met with morose faces.I reckon it's ok for quick tea and toast, but heed my warning and don't go here for the full English!

I ordered a snack whilst shopping at Lakeside. I had the unfortunate luck to deal with one of the rudest servers I have had the displeasure to deal with.To top off the very bad service the food also tasted a bit stale.

We always have a coffee and a sandwich at Giardino's sandwiches made whilst you wait, you see what you are getting. Coffee is always excellent. Staff very busy, but will always help.

Badly organised service with food not communicated with the til who don't co ordinate with drinks. Tomato soup was like water and at £3.25 not cheap. Served with no spoon and after asking 4 service people and my soup getting cold, one was eventually produced from kitchen staff who were foreign and unable to speak to me. Tea costs £2.10 each for a cup, hit water and tea bag - not cheap! Panini's were nice tho so stick with them if you decide to try this place but I won't be coming back.

Comfortable seats, fast service, big selection of food. Tuna melt Panini was nice but would have been even better with a little more cheese. Staff were friendly and helped carry food to our table as we were laden with shopping bags! A good experience.

I was worried because of some bad review but its looks like they have had a complete refurb and the place looks amazing , I personally couldn't fault my meal or experience , I would defo go back !

I absolutely Love the food here , its always fresh and none of your pre packaged rubbish , my Fav has to be the chicken , bacon, spinach panini Mmmmmmm heaven

I had a very nice meal they had plenty of fresh choice and i opted for a egg mayonnaise french stick nice crisps and a lovely cafe latte all served politely and happily

You obviously get what you pay but at the very least you would expect clean cutlery, crockery and glasses. Not here. If these are all as filthy as we experienced and these are "customer side" what the hell does the kitchen look like? We had the breakfast and most of it was lukewarm at best. Served on a plate that looked like it hadn't been washed properly a few times previously. Asked for a glass when ordered a cold bottle of Fanta and was given the dirtiest glass i think i've ever had. Drank straight from the bottle!Unsure of the country the staff come from but the 3 members of staff we interacted with were all difficult to understand, so it wasn't going to be worth complaining.Thankfully we live the other side of the water so not a fear of going here again anytime soon!A real stomach churner. I'd steer clear!

Large sign swinging in the entrance "free wifi". My wife makes a selection and queue's for food. I take a seat and ask politely of a member of staff, how do I get a password for the wifi? First attempt was refused and told to ask manager, in poor broken English. Second attempt was made to a waitress who ask me to ask manager again. I explained, I was waiting for someone and could they ask the manager. She went away and 5 min later I was told to ask manager myself! Wife returned and said staff at counter are so rude! Well that about sums it up. Food surprisingly was good though!Overall very poor service and ignore customers requests. I would not recommend eating here, unless your looking for a fight!

ok this is a food court eatery, however given a busy day the service was good and food tasty and plentiful. I had a change to talk Italian with the cashier. Made a change to be served by someone who is of the nationality of the food being service in someways reminded me of the food joints in Salerno where food is served quickly with professional service.

Walked in to find find the black trays grubby and looked like they had not been washed for a week! Looked at the food behind the counter to have a member of staff barking at me WHAT DO YOU WANT...and rolling there eyes when I wanted a minute to think!I chose jacket pot with meat balls (four tiny meat balls) and not enough sauce so the potato was dry!!Went to find a table...most were grubby looking :( Went to find some cutlery...guess what...GRUBBY!!Staff aprons looked like they had not been washed for a week YUK I will never eat here again...there are far nicer places to go !!