Candelo Lounge in South Oxfordshire

We stopped in Candelo Lounge for lunch and waited for nearly 10 minutes to be seated. We were blanked by various members of staff as they passed by us. One chap said he would be with us in a moment, only to have him stop at several tables for conversation, never again acknowledging us. Had it been busy in the restaurant, it would have been understandable. It was not busy. Frustrated, we left. This is a real shame as I have been to Candelo before and enjoyed prompt service and a tasty meal.

Terrible, really poor choice of seating yet many tables and areas taken up by empty pushchairs and parents spreading out. Terrible wait for poor over priced food. Do not have Harissa chicken…unless you want about five small pieces of bland chicken. Food served lukewarm. Staff do not appear to understand alcohol and the glasses to serve, or maybe they do not have correct glassware. Have no idea where they source their food from, maybe Iceland or Tescos freezer dept

Went for drinks and had a great experience the atmosphere was welcoming and the staff were great. Would definitely go back there soon

Had to wait over 30 minutes for our order which was unacceptable (Timed from till receipt which gave the order time). No explanation given other than "we're busy"when we called a server over for assistance. Would have expected well trained staff to at least offer fresh coffee/ tea by way of apology but nothing. Unacceptable. Manager equally unhelpful. Toilets were not very clean. Will not be going there again and will not recommend the place to anyone

Sometimes my phone works, sometimes it doesn’t. This time it did not. I could not use the app to order. I went up to queue however five other people were in the same boat so I was gone from my table for nearly 20 minutes. I even said to the guy on the till come on you need to sort your Internet out. It’s ridiculous. Do not make it a web order place and not provide decent Internet access

Nice if slightly odd ambiance as it's based in what used to be Barclay's bank. But I'd suggest you have something to eat before you go as the service is worse than terrible. I've been twice - the first time one of our party ran out of lunch hour (we all live locally) before the food turned up, and yesterday we left after half an hour without having even managed to place an order. Awful. Get some interested staff who prefer to serve customers than stand around talking. There's plenty of other choice in Thame and I won't be back.

Where to begin. The pictures hung upside down should have given a clue to what was to come but initially I thought they were a mistake.... plenty of waiting staff to take orders but no, you have to order using your phone and that includes going to the bar to place drinks orders and paying for them before they are brought to your table. Can't be bothered to write more as the management can't be bothered to look after its clientele. Shame as the place has promise and the young staff were nice. The icing on the cake though was when one of them threw a dirty saucer down on the our table and said don't worry it's not dirty and then followed up by placing a burnt out shabby candle on it - see photo. Felt like a first year student hall of residence experience but cost over £40. I can't see how the target market can afford to go here and the folk who can afford to won't as it's just not doing the job. Sorry as the halloumi burger was OK!

My wife and I waited at the door to be seated for about 5 mins. We ended up seating ourselves. We waited another few minutes until I saw the only member of staff walking past. I asked "how do we order" he scowled and mumbled something about milk and walked off. We got up and left! I will not be going back!!

Have visited a few times, always nice relaxed atmosphere and mix of people (families, couples, ages) The menu is vast, so you could have anything from a full-blown meal or just some toast. Staff are really friendly. I wish there was an app that remembered what you ordered, we quite often have the same thing, and it’s quite laborious to scroll through each section to find items on the QR code site. Would be great to just press ‘order again!’ Can be a bit stuffy and warm, we did mention to the staff and they put the Aircon on. Overall always look forward to going and love the menu choices and the atmosphere

Great food, staff are lovely and friendly I wish we could book a table though, Tables are regularly cleaned good atmosphere we are coming back very soon Can’t wait

We visited yesterday late afternoon for a burger early dinner. Music was a bit loud, however sraff albeit young, were friendly. Tables were clean. Menu quite extensive. Bugers were good, a good thickness of burger for each of us. Coffee was ok.

No option to decline marketing, so went to volunteer to order. Long queue, half way through order was told at least 45 minute wait for food. So left and went elsewhere with two hungry kids.

Great food, atmosphere and service. All really quick service so great for a lunch break in the working day. Will definitely be back.

Friendly welcoming staff. Easy ordering from menu provided. Options for gluten free and others. Clean table, well presented. Coffees came in good time followed quickly by the food. Very wholesome and tasty. No or our first visit and will come again.

Member of a chain of “Lounges”, all have the same extensive menu, friendly meet and greet, large and quite dark room, given crayons for our 2 year old, ordered flatbreads and shakshuka, sadly they got 1 meal completely wrong but replaced it with no questions, food otherwise good and reasonable price. Would revisit.

Its a lovely restaurant, and the decor is beautiful! We were greeted by very friendly staff and got a table straight away. The food and the drinks were great and reasonably priced too! Definitely coming again, has a great atmosphere.

Went to a table and had to ask for it to be cleared after waiting for 15 mins. Ordered two Long Island iced teas costing over £18 which tasted like coke and lime. Really disappointed

I have walked past several times but not had time to pop in. We went in this morning for breakfast and loved it. The staff were really welcoming, we were pleased to be able to take our dog in. The decor is fab, a really eclectic look. The cafe bar is a big space with lots of choice of tables and sofas/easy chairs. It was really busy due to being so close to Christmas but the service and food was perfect and the coffee hot - a bonus these days. We will definitely be back! Ps can’t believe some of the negative reviews :-(

Great food and lovely service from some very overworked young people who are working really hard. Some of the other people leaving reviews here should direct their frustration at the head office not the people on the ground.

A good addition to Thame but the service lets it down. Was greeted and taken to a table but given no advice on how to order. We sat expecting someone to take our order and finally realised that we had to scan a QR code or head to the bar to order. The staff are very casually dressed with no name badges and seem young/untrained. I could not see anyone on shift who looked to be managing the team or appeared to have any real experience. We ordered two draught cokes which were completely flat. My partner enjoyed her food but my garlic flatbread with cheese had no no garlic, melted cheese that just went try and solid, and was not cut into slices. Trying to slice it with a knife was difficult as it was super dry and like cardboard. We thought we’d test the waters to take family for dinner who are visiting over Christmas, but have decided we’ll be trying elsewhere.

I love a lounge and had high hopes for the Thame branch as you can see from my previous review. Every time I have been recently something has been unavailable. Staff deliver drinks but fail to clear previous diners plates etc. No one actually appears to be in charge of the young staff. Items missing from Order. Meals coming 30 minutes apart from each other. Not had a bad experience in other lounges. Food needs to be hotter! Perhaps a severe lack of training. Not sure it will stand the test of time in Thame unless they buck their ideas up.

The burgers were served almost cold and had to be returned . The only saving grace was impeccable and attentive service from the waitress, Izzy I think. The dining area is very gloomy and needs better lighting.

Been there 3 times know and every time it got worse despite contacting the area manager and explaining our issues about the service and staff the way the manager on duty handle our complaints completely in professional and rude. We received a voucher so we...

Very enjoyable experience. Exceptional levels of service from the staff, especially the assistant manager Flo, who even went to the local supermarket to get cakes for us when the restaurant ran out. 10/10 all round!

I really love the lounge group. They have some amazing places. But this one is so bad it’s put me off the brand. Menu is great, food good. But the staff/service is beyond bad. There are plenty of other places in the town. The lounge...

Visited here on the night they opened and it was busy. We thought to give them the benefit of the doubt and go again as it was all new. I went with a group of friends at 7pm on a Sunday. With them having 5...

This is a newly opened restaurant in what used to be the old Barclays Bank. There is some limited outside seating which will be nice on warm sunny days and plenty of in for seating. The whole area has been nicely laid out and decorated....

Sunday lunch visit arriving around 2pm. Nice decor and easy ordering but that’s about as good as it gets. Number of white wines on the menu not available - same for some of the non alcoholic beers. Food also didn’t have the full menu available...

We visited on a Saturday evening, and it was busy with a lively ambience. Despite being quite early in the evening (6pm) many of the food dishes were unavailable. The app ordering only works if there’s no variation to anything you’re ordering, otherwise you need...

This is a message sent to Candeli Lounge on Sunday. Today is Tuesday and still no contact from them with even an explanation. Well !!! I am extremely disappointed with my first and only visit to your new lounge. Firstly we were a group of...

It took less than 8 weeks for this place to go down the pan! The staff behind the bar didn't even know what speciality coffees were called, the food took forever and the place is packed to the rafters and seriously understaffed - refunds being...

The service is great! Food and drinks delivered quickly. Very tasty and good size servings! The app to order is easy to use. What more do you need.

Our first visit to this new venture and it was quite nice. It is what it says it is in the description. Informal dining in a relaxed atmosphere. Yes you do have to order at the bar but is that any hardship? The serving staff...

Our 1st experience will unfortunately be our last. Mixed bag of service and food, from the 4 different staff members who served us only 2 showed any customer service skills, the other two didn’t communicate at all. After spilling drinks in saucers and having to...

Good points: The decor is lovely. The staff were very helpful. My veggie breakfast was amazing! My friends flat bread was good as well Not so good points: we were sat next to the serving hatch and the food spends too long there. Apparently only...

Very grumpy bar staff when ordering drinks, waiters and waitresses had no clue where they were going and spilt half the cocktails before they got to us really poorly run