Circa 1852 Restaurant & Coffee Shop in Peterborough - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

We recently attended a private occasion here. On previous occasions when we have attended “do”s we have been able to park free, but the hotel is under new management and everyone using the car park has to pay. £5 for the evening….yes £5!!! It would have been cheaper to park in the station car park. Attendees were asked to make their menu choices a week in advance, fair enough. The food… the pigs cheek terrine consisted of slices of flavour-free meat in jelly, a huge amount of jelly, accompanied by pickled mushrooms and dry toasted brioche. Two mouthfuls was more than enough. You may ask why I had a second mouthful if the first was so bad - I was making sure that it really was that dreadful. Next, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding with vegetables. The beef looked promising, but was actually very chewy and lacking in flavour. The Yorkshire puddings were thick and solid and the vegetables undercooked, not just al-dente. Someone else on my table remarked that the gravy was the best part of it. However, the vegetarians had the worst experience - the kitchen had, wait for it……FORGOTTEN TO COOK their option! Yes, really! So we had a long wait while they found the poor unfortunate vegetarians something to eat. By the look on the face of our companion it wasn’t worth the wait. Desert was probably the least awful part of my meal, cold chocolate brownie and ice cream (half a scoop) on a very hot plate. Perhaps that was meant to warm the brownie up? Someone on our table had ordered cheese and gluten free biscuits. They were given cheese, nothing else, just cheese. There were some other oversights, for example inadequate cutlery laid. I would have thought that “new management” would be working hard to make a good impression, but I certainly cannot recommend this place on any level

We were invited to a Christmas party. The hotel and venue was good, well the food was very poor. Starters tomato soup cold ,main course veg cold and under cooked so hard you couldn't cut it the stuffing well just a mush, brussels didn't get any was told they where like bullets, some people got a splash of gravy others there plate was swimming. Sweet Cheese cake was like rock. Coffee was ok. i am sorry to say at £60.00 a head very Poor

This restaurant is located in the Great Northern hotel. The dining area is in an elegant period room with plenty of space between tables. We are not normally a great fan of hotel restaurants but we found this one to be extremely good. The service was exceptionally good. I enjoyed a mackerel dish and my partner had steak which was cooked to perfection.

Great coffee!... but this is the second time I’ve had to wait nearly 5 minutes for someone to serve... no queue... just for someone to get their head out of their jacksie and actually serve a waiting customer!

My wife and I came across this restaurant by chance whilst visiting Peterborough for the first time. The restaurant and bar area were strangely quiet and we found ourselves alone in the dining room for the entirety of our meal. We feared that this may be a result of the quality of food on offer. We could not have been more wrong. Our waiter was polite and attentive and the choice of dishes was excellent (with a good selection of daily specials). I ordered the assiette of rabbit and my wife the pork belly and scallops. Both were absolutely delicious. Both dishes were cooked to perfection and beautifully presented. We both then enjoyed desserts from the daily specials menu, which equalled the main courses in quality and presentation. This is one of the best meals that we have enjoyed. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the price. We enjoyed a high quality dining experience for less than £35. If we were residents of Peterborough, we would be regular customers.

I was stranded at Peterborough after Storm Doris brought down overhead cables on the railway line I was travelling on and I had to abandon my London bound train - or rather it abandoned me. I struggled across the road through the zillions of other victims of Storm Doris to the 1852 cafe (I didn't use the restaurant) which was a little oasis of calm. I was given a warm welcome, a free mug of tea and they let me charge my phone which meant I could phone my partner who came to collect me. I will be forever grateful. Thank you so much to the staff of the 1852 cafe.

Waited ages and then 2 staff turned up. Completely ignored me- no eye contact, no greeting nothing. Eventually one of them asked what I wanted. We then went back for a second coffee. Had to go to reception to ask for someone to come and serve up. At least a 10 minute wait for someone to turn up. Worst service ever!

Popped in here for a coffee while waiting for a train and it was a great cup of coffee made just how I like it staff where very friendly and it was clean and very reasonable if I had more time might have had 2 a must try and right opposite the railway station

We are only occasional diners at this hotel and it is nearly a year since we were last there. This time round we were there for a large celebration Sunday lunch, booked well in advance. Firstly we were in the bar for a pre-lunch drink. Their drink prices are high and their service abysmal! The poor chap behind the bar was in the wrong job. He took forever with the order and got much of it wrong. The service was so bad we were giggling at it. It would have made a tremendous comedy film! We moved to the dining room. They were not exactly rushed, with only our table occupied and one other of two people. There were four main course choices, but one (the duck) was crossed out saying "sold out". Bear in mind that this menu was the special Sunday lunch menu and we were the first in the dining room! After eventual ordering we waited an age for the first courses, two of which had to be returned to the kitchen as being the wrong items. We then had to wait an age for the main course, which was brought out in dribs and drabs, and again at least two had to be returned to the kitchen to be changed. Then, again a very long wait, during which three of our party had to leave without their dessert to attend another event (well we had been at lunch for nearly three hours by then thanks to poor service!) After serving each course the few staff would all disappear and no-one was available to deal with any queries. Eventually tea and coffee was served, and the waiter threw a few sugars round the table with a few wooden sticks which were apparently in place of spoons (no thought of putting them into a bowl). Such was the service. The problem is obvious to see - ill-trained, unsupervised staff. The food was generally good and was let down by poor service and incorrectly recorded orders, and in the kitchen by inadequate ordering of menu items and cool plates. As things stand, I would not chose to eat here again.

I popped in here whilst waiting for a friend at the station for a cup of tea. It was a bit haphazard with staff running around all over the place even though the place seemed pretty empty (including the restaurant) I had to wait a while as did some other customers. Small things... annoying music channel blasting out, no white sugar for tea and just felt a bit chaotic. I am sure they were just understaffed today but feels like an opportunity missed for a nice, relaxing coffee shop next to the train station.

Had 45 minutes to wait for my connecting train to Spalding so decided to try the bar at this rather grubby looking hotel. It seems to be a mish mash of different businesses, including a pizza place. I was heartened to see that it had Leffe on draught, less so when the barrel was empty and they had no more. So went for local brew, and certainly needed a drink after shelling out £3.95 for a pint! It's a joke. Just had a meeting in the centre of London and didn't pay that price. And in much more salubrious surroundings... Taking the piss I'm afraid....

We stayed in the Great Northern Hotel (reviewed separately). We ate here on an evening and we were the only ones in the restaurant. The service was quite slow, but I appreciate we were quite late eating and it was a weekday. The waiter was friendly and polite though. My husband got a mixed grill which he said was good and I got a chicken burger. The chips were really tasty. We then ate here for breakfast and I was disappointed that the yogurt had become warm and curdled. I also ordered eggs benedict and this was not of good quality. My husband had scrambled eggs on toast which was ok. Our toast was a little burnt that came on the toast rack. It is disappointing that the hotel is so nice and the attached restaurant does not match in quality.

Party of 5 went to the GN Restaurant for Sunday lunch. Limited menu. Starters were very ordinary, chicken liver pate', smoked salmon, soup and fried brie, not bad but nothing special. Mains choices of roast beef, roast pork chicken in bacon. Beef was very fatty and tough, pork was dry and tasteless, chicken also dry. Yorkshire puddings dry, tasteless with the consistency of cardboard, 3 out of 4 were left after one mouthful. The plates looked most unappetising with the meat laid on top of the vegetables, little gravy and none provided separately. Deserts were OK probably the best part of the meal. Staff were very nice and pleasant and the room was also quite nice, just a pity about the food. Quite a disappointment, Will not be back in a hurry, Beefeater and Harvester much better for a basic Sunday lunch.

As a company with regular meetings in Peterborough, we have been a returning customer of Great Northern Hotel Peterborough for several years. Our last event, held on Tuesday 9 Feb 2016, was a true disappointment. The food quality was below standard and completely unacceptable, particularly as they charged us £13.5 per person, more than what we pay in London for much more sophisticated food. This included an unattractive pile of dry plain sandwiches with hardly anything inside, two bowls of greasy crisps and a bowl of fruits. Our guests hesitated to eat much of that food and it was embarrassing for us. This price was not even including tea and coffee! The other problem was that we did not originally realise that teas and coffees were not included in the function sheet. Providing refreshments on arrival is usually a common sense for any event organiser that runs meetings! As this was not included in the function sheet, I expected the event manager to have brought this to my attention prior the meeting, that teas and coffees had not been ordered. When we arrived in the morning and realised there was no refreshments provided, we requested some and had to wait for 45 minutes with our guests, until the caterers provided the drinks. There was also not enough drinking water provided during the meeting (6 small bottles for 18 people for a whole day event). Having experienced an appalling event and catering service, we emailed the event manager at the hotel and requested a compensation. However all what we received was lack of acknowledgement of the poor quality of their service, and that "they have done all what was in the agreement"! This lack of interest in and disengagement with their client is not what is expected from a reputable business in the hospitality sector! I'm afraid to say we will not be returning to Great Northern Hotel and won't recommend them to anyone else, if this is their approach to customer service and client satisfaction.

We had dinner here as a large group for an 80th party. The service was excellent as was the food. Some of the best salmon I have had for a long time, a great cod main and finished off with a lovely sticky toffee pudding. We look forward to returning and it makes a change from all the other restaurants located in the city centre

Have reviewed our hotel stay separately but thought it worth mentioning the restaurant. I was staying as part of a group for a trade fair and we always eat en masse! Service is the real highlight with a young team overseen by a very pleasant and efficient young female maitre d' - they were totally unphased by our rather loud cameraderie and a barrage of drink requests. The menu mixes 'grill' choices with some fine dining items as we were to find out - a venison main course came in a decidedly nouvelle cuisine portion and presentation, much to the hilarity of those who had ordered substantial steaks and chips. The aforementioned maitre d' noticed immediately without us actually complaining and ordered extra meat and mash for those afflicted! All very tasty and good quality. Puds were good but also varied a bit - make room for the tarte tatin. The next night our guardian angel also double checked that the young waitress had taken my 'beer expert' colleague's drinks order correctly. Top marks!

My family and I have been to the Great Northern Hotel restaurant a few times in the last couple of years and each time we have had a lovely meal and experience. The decor is amazing, its modern fresh and looks very inviting! The service has always been great and the waitresses are all very attentive! The food has always been lovely and we always indulge and have 3 courses! No complaints at all and I really enjoy their homemade soups! Everything is clean and I get the impression the take pride in the cleanliness and presentation of everything from the dining room to the food and drinks. It's always quiet and the atmosphere can sometimes be a little flat! We always have laugh and a nice time but I think they need to advertise themselves a bit more as this really is a hidden gem! I love it here so much I have paid for the whole family to enjoy Xmas day dinner here! Highly recommend.

I organised a lunch for 21 people yesterday and was delighted with the choices offered, the delicious food and the great service received. Everyone enjoyed themselves and are looking forward to their next visit. Thanks to the staff who made our visit such a pleasure.

Popped in for a sandwich on my way to London on the train. Waited for 10 minutes at the counter before an off duty chef went to see if there was anyone to serve me. When I'd ordered the waiting really started. My sandwich took 25 minutes to arrive by which time I'd drunk my coffee! Good job I didn't have an earlier train to catch. Having said all that, the sandwich was very nice with salad garnish etc - well presented. Just don't go there if you're in a hurry.

Hotel from the outside looks very impressive. First minus - I came for a dinner for two, hotel has car park, but I need to pay for it. Second minus - ordered lamb was inside cold! Third the big minus - very dirty and stinky toilets. And last minus - long waiting for a bill and no staff to ask for, just empty bar. For staff I asked someone in the hotel reception.

Food is amazing. Eat here quite often. Had my 40th birthday meal here. Was very pleased with food and service. All guest were impressed with the beautiful hotel, delicious food and superb staff. Well worth booking a table!!

After a recommendation from a friend we booked a girly night out in the garden room at the hotel. We had the whole room to ourselves as no other guest seemed to be staying to diner. We read the menu and joked with the waitress about the lovely puddings on offer and that maybe we would just skip the main meal and just have a pudding. We eventually ordered our food - which was a hard choice for two vegetarian who do not eat fish as there was only one other choice. We enjoyed our food, which was served hot and arrived quickly. The waitress appeared once to check that everything was okay and made herself busy setting the other tables up for breakfast. We carried on with our evening chatting and drinking and was not approached again until about 10 o'clock when the waitress asked if we wanted any coffee. We asked if we could see the deserts menu, to which she said she was sorry, the chef had already gone home. We were a little annoyed that we had not been asked about deserts and she said she would see what she could do about it. On her return she advised that the fridges had been locked and that she was once again sorry. We paid our bill (with no tip) and left. I have never heard of a hotel where the chef actually leaves the premises when they still have guests sitting at tables in the restaurant. I will not be recommending a visit to the Great Northern anytime soon.

my wife & I recently stayed at the Great Northern hotel in Peterborough. After wandering around town and finding nowhere to eat that caught our eye, we decided to dine at the hotels restaurant - 1852, which had received some good reviews. We booked in for 7:30pm & was told that they were running an offer for May & June, which was three courses plus a half bottle of wine for £18.52 per person !!!We were presented with three excellent courses each plus half a bottle of wine each. Unlike some of the brand names, just because you are using a voucher you weren't presented with smaller portions. in fact we both had to leave some of the Maine course as we were absolutely stuffed but had still ate more than intended as the food was so good. My food would have cost in excess of £30 plus the cost of half a bottle of wine yet the bill for the two of us came to £37.04.What was more amazing was that there were only three couples dining even though the offer was open to anyone. I would recommend the locals of Peterborough and guests staying at the Great Northern hotel & anyone else visiting Peterborough to give this place a try, you won't be disappointed.

We arranged to meet friends from Scotland at Peterborough train station and this looked like a great place to have lunch. Convenient for the station,parking,and the lunch menu looked good.It was VERY disappointing. Over priced,below average food and rude staff.

Had a long time to wait for a connecting train and just as well we did- service in the main restaurant was very slow (despite us being the only people in the restaurant for the first 30 mins at 1630 hours) and food was disappointing. Husband's starter (mushrooms on toast) was so soaked in oil, it was inedible. Chips were awful and the salad (lettuce leaves were less than fresh) We had to remind them of our tea/coffee order 45 mins after ordering it. From the strength of the tea, it had probably been prepared a long time before we received the drinks! The staff were very pleasant but had clearly not been trained properly.

This was our second visit to the restaurant on a special occasion. From the welcome on arrival, service and quality of food, it is excellent. If you want old fashioned care and attention give it a try, you won't be disappointed.

I met with a friend who was staying at the hotel and we booked in to the restaurant for dinner. The staff were very helpful and friendly. The food was lovely and reasonably priced. I would definitely come here again.

I would like to take this opportunity to lavish praise upon all those members of staff that made our stay Sunday the 11th to Monday the 12th of January. It was my wife's birthday. We were both very impressed with the level of attention that we received starting from the point at which I booked our evening meal. The food in your restaurant was exceptional, with a wide variety of dishes to choose from. There was a lovely ambience about the restaurant and we will definitely be returning with friends and family in the future.

We have eaten here twice in the last week, once as a couple in the evening and once for a large family Sunday lunch and both experiences were overall excellent. The staff that work here are amazing and go out of their way to make your experience a pleasant one and the food has been overall very good (mostly excellent, only one or 2 little niggles) The restaurant has been refurbished recently and the decor is classy. I would absolutely recommend giving the restaurant a try - we will be visiting again soon, and if you have a function to organise or a family get-together, Zsofia will go out of her way to make it happen for you. 10/10 for all the Great Northern staff!

Stayed overnight whilst on business in Peterborough. I needed somewhere handy for the station and couldn't get more convenient than the Great Northern Hotel. My room was comfortable, staff were helpful and food great. I was a little concerned that noise from the station may disturb my sleep, pleasantly surprised as it wasn't an issue. Overall I would recommend the hotel, cafe and restaurant and hope to be back.

my wife and I had the pleasure of eating here last Saturday . The steaks were perfectly cooked , and the portions were large . The wild mushrooms starter was a joy , followed by an apple crumble , and home made cheesecake . Are waitress could not have been more attentive , happy smiling from start to finish excellent !

Our waitress was very attentive and the food was excellent, it was just a shame we were the only two in the restaurant. The decor was lovely.

But worth finding. Bright modern restaurant in old station hotel. Nice ambience, good food and excellent service. 3 courses + half bottle wine GBP18.52.

Had a most enjoyable meal from the 1852 menu - that being the year the hotel opened and the price of the meal which included a half bottle of wine from a selection of wines.The meal and the service was excellent in very attractive surroundings. Would highly recommend.

Me and my mother decided to book an afternoon tea for 10 people at the great northern hotel as it was my sister's baby shower. We had arrived a few minutes late and were a little worried as to whether everything was ready. Not only did we find all the cutlery, teacups, plates all laid out perfectly and on time, but Tracy, one of the staff members, was there making sure everyone's needs were met. One of the guests brought her baby daughter and had a pram, tracy made sure she had a seat at the end of the table so that the guest could socialise as well as have her daughter in the pram next to her. Tracy made sure that everyone had enough milk, tea and coffee throughout the whole event, and when we didn't eat all of the cake, Tracy made sure that the slices were all wrapped up and put in separate bags for each guest to take home. Tracy cleared the table whenever there were any empty pots and replaced cutlery when necessary. She made us feel comfortable and although we took our time, she was always helpful, well mannered and happy to help. Thank you, from all ten of us and bump, for a lovely afternoon tea!!

We saw the Burns Sunday lunch advertised and decided to use it as a good excuse to try the new restaurant and it was a good move. The 5 course lunch was good value at £21.95, Portions were very generous and the food was very nicely cooked. -the chicken was moist and tender and the vegetables still had a bit of bite to them. Service was good and there was a reasonable choice of wines by the glass. The bar in the hotel was very pleasant and could well be a regular haunt now we have found it. The normal Sunday lunch is £18.95 and the menu looked very good. Well worth a try.

5 of us had a most wonderful experience for our Christmas day at the gt northern hotel. The food and service were great.

Without a doubt this hotel restaurant went through a little trauma on change of ownership in the recent past, but seems now to have come through this and provide a good, honest Sunday lunch. Unfortunately they seem to have paid the price for past inadequacies, and empty tables now feature heavily, which does nothing for the atmosphere. Service is reasonably efficient, though with some reluctance to take our order. Peterborough is very short of decent places to eat, and this hotel restaurant is well worth a punt.

In an auction for Camb's Air Ambulance, I Bid for and won Dinner for 4, with grazing table, at the Great Northern. Took 2 'mature widowed' ladies with us for a treat. Started at the grazing table which was loaded with all kind of nibbles, cheeses, meats, prawns nuts, fruit, etc. Then starters, mains and sweets, finished with a few more cheesy n pickle nibbles. Great Staff service and the ladies loved it which was the most important thing. Highly recommend the GN for a Sunday lunch.Gerald H.

Dined here on a Groupon deal that covered three courses. Often, such deals only grant access to a limited menu, but this particular one covered pretty much everything that was on offer, with the minimum of extra supplements required. The restaurant is situated in the hotel directly opposite Peterborough train station, and the hotel itself provides free parking (as long as you validate your ticket at reception afterwards). This puts it in a great position; however the standard of food is merely okay and the service from the staff wasn't exactly anything to enthuse about. The dining room itself is large, albeit fairly unassuming and showing some real signs of dilapidation around the edges. The lively Britpop background soundtrack - whilst pleasing to my own ears - seemed at odds with the surroundings; although when the music stopped halfway through our meal, the atmosphere in the room became practically non-existent.Our starters were fine; the mains less so. The burger I ordered came with some fine hand-cooked chips and an overly-generous amount of salad, complete with an unappealing dressing. The burger itself was a poor slither of meat, dwarfed by a giant bun again loaded with salad. Burger aside, the portions were large in size - making me wish that perhaps a little more attention had been paid to the quality rather than the quantity.The table staff were sadly inattentive for the most part; while pleasant enough, they never once asked if we'd like more drinks or checked if everything was okay with our food. For long periods, there was no staff presence in the dining room - to the point where we waited twenty minutes after dessert for our bill. On a busy night, that can be excused - there were five other tables dining that night, so it was hardly a rush.It's hard to say whether restaurants express a slight bias against customers dining through deal websites such as Groupon; I'd like to think this isn't the case and everyone should receive the same service, based on the theory that a discount diner will return if a good impression is left. On the evidence here, that's unlikely in my case.

Our dining experience at this hotel is always a bit strange...We were shown into the dining room, a huge high vaulted room, which just had table & chairs positioned round the 4 walls and the whole centre of the room was vastly empty.Our drinks order was taken quickly and the menu presented, which had a good choice of dishes. I picked salmon fishcakes to start and braised beef for main. Then we waited and waited. 45mins later the starters arrived. The fishcakes were a good size and tasted fine; I would have preferred them to be a bit more tangy. 30 mins after that, after asking the waitress to chase, the mains arrived. The flavours of my beef, garlic mash and root vegetables were superb – delicious. The only problem was that the beef portion was minute and half of it was fat. To finish chose vanilla panna cotta which was very light and tasty.Service was slow and comical at times. For example, no salt&pepper on the table despite the waitress insisting it had to be there somewhere! I asked and got mustard to accompany the main, but no spoon to decant it with. When leaving, reception said they would raise the exit barrier, but she raised the entry barrier and could not operate the exit one. The food here is very flavoursome and prices are reasonable. Go if you have a good sense of humour.

Ok I like many others enjoy a pub meal at a certain chain, good value, filling and a pleasant night out. My partner was given a groupon voucher for a present for her birthday for the Great Northern Hotel we have never been there but we have walked past it a number of times on the way to the station.We entered the Great Northern Hotel and were greeted warmly and as asked if we wanted to go straight in to the restaurant or have a drink. we went for a drink and we had 2 glasses of wine which were around the £10 for a hotel that's not too bad, the bar person was pleasant and had a good knowledge of the wines on offer.After having a drinks in the bar area we entered the restaurant, the room was well decorated and in good order, we were invited to a table for 4 as the restaurant wasn't that full. We had a look at the menu, there was a good choice, my partner had the soup spiced butternut squash and I had the fish cakes for starters We were served promptly. The food was fantastic lots of flavour and just enough for a starter my partner isn't into spicy food, a chicken Korma would be her limit but the soup was spiced just right aromatic but not too hot.The main course we choose the Steak and the Chicken Caesar salad they were bought out the chicken Caesar salad was lovely lots of flavour and a touch above other Caesar salads I have had the steak was cooked perfectly and the peppercorn sauce was very good not overpowering with pepper as I have had before.For desert we had pancetta and sticky toffee pudding, my partner was full so I asked if we could change the order from the sticky toffee pudding to ice cream. that was not a problem but unfortunately the waiter miss understood and bought out the ice cream and the sticky toffee pudding I looked at the sticky toffee pudding and I changed my mind !! It was the best sticky toffee pudding I have had in a long time sweet treacly and a great end to the meal. My partner was enjoying the Ice cream and the waiter bought out the pancetta as a taster for us, it was a lovely desert and I wish I know how to make it !!Overall this was one of the best meals my partner and I have had in a long time I would not have a hesitation in booking again, the staff were lovely honest and hard working so. if you're a foodie please, please, please try the Great Northern Hotel you will not be disappointed

I took my Wife for a Birthday 3 course Meal there and it was just Fantastic. The service was very good. We were waited upon courteously and with exceptional ease. No harassment what so ever and always with a smile. Makes all the difference. The menu really appealed to us as we weren't burdened with an abundance of selection but with a straightforward delicious selection which made choosing easy.The starters were magnificent: Salmon and Prawn fish cakes and Whitebait. Cooked to perfection and so delicious.Main meal: Great Northern Burger and Battered Haddock. So tasty and cooked to perfection again.Deserts: Normally we would share a desert but because the meal had been so good we decided to have the Sticky Toffee pudding and the Pannacotta. Yes, so delicious.Thoroughly recommend the Great Northern for their All day Menu.Simple menu, BUT all done exceptionally well.

I bought a groupon voucher for 4 people, 3 courses each. I've been to the GN before and found it quite nice so jumped at it. We got there and I panicked about parking seeing it was £1.50 an hour and it was too late as we were in the car park already but the hotel sorted it and confirmed as we were only dining then parking was free. Big plus! We were sat at our table and served straight away for drinks. A drinks menu would be ideal to save confusion on whats available (Only had a wine list). The waiting staff were quite attentive and went all out for us, the food was amazing! Steak was cooked to perfection. The whole party found it a really good experience and would recommend.

Took my mum for a weekday lunch in the restaurant. It was her birthday so we were hoping for something special and we weren't disappointed. The restaurant is in a lovely bright room with high ceilings and chandeliers. Great lunch time menu, very attentive staff, nothing was too much trouble (even making something not on the menu). Knowing it was my mums birthday the chef sent out a special desert with candle and came to have a chat at the end of the meal, a lovely touch we thought. This place has really turned itself around after a difficult few years. They now produce fresh quality food in an extremely pleasant setting.

I booked afternoon tea for three earlier in the week for a friend's birthday and had heard some promising things through a few different sources so I was optimistic, especially because Peterborough has only one other location for afternoon tea..Once we made ourselves known, we got shown to a large, airy, high ceilinged room and as we were the only ones there, we could choose our table. We were seen by about 3 different members of staff at I got the impression that the right hand wasn't aware of what the left hand was doing until they all met in the kitchen to put our afternoon tea together.We were given two serving platters with food on, along with a rather small pot of tea, We surveyed the food on offer:* Finger sandwiches in the style of egg and soldiers - rather novel, I thought, until we tried them. Oh dear. We had cheese and pickle (safe enough), real baked ham (thumbs up), smoked salmon ruined with the addition of a generic salad cream-based sandwich filler, and lastly, egg-salad cream. Which is boiled egg mixed with the same sandwich filler. It didn't work.* Three slabs of chocolate loaf cake which, tasted homemade and was pretty good.* Three burned-round the edges scones with one ramekin of clotted cream for the three of us, and three jars of strawberry jam. These could have been worse considering the burntness* Three slices of some kind of marshamallow - raspberry roulade that sat, quitely weeping...* Three completely, burnt beyond redemption tea cakes, that had been dusted with icing sugar to disguise their cremated appearance. They were rock hard. We left well alone for fear of breaking a tooth.* half a dozen chocolate ganache "squares" about the size of die.* biscotti (i fear they were scraping the barrel here, and am surprised they hadn't put the packets of biscuits that you find in your crockery in the hotel rooms to bulk things out a bit)* crisps, which merely confirmed that they had run out of things to put on the plates.Out of all that, I ate three "soldier sized" sandwiches, half a slice of chocolate cake, a quarter of oozing marshmallow roulade to show willing and some crisps. We had to ask for a second pot of tea which was so weak, we didn't bother drinking it. For this, I had to pay £15.The service was sloppy - oher than a customary "is everything ok" 30 seconds after being given our food, we never saw anyone again until my friend went to find someone to get more tea.Do not waste your time and effort going. Service is poor, food variety very poor and clearly, afternoon tea is an unfamiliar meal to the kitchens/staff there.

Came across from station hungry with 30 minutes until my train. Explained this and barmaid suggested I order sandwiches. Twenty minutes later checked on progress. Promised them to go in 3-4 minutes but had to leave empty handed a couple of minutes after this deadline.Hopeless organisation and service.

light lunch midweek of soup and dessert. Carrot and coriander but tasted of korma! Nevertheless it was tasty and came with warmed crusty roll.Dessert of lemon posset with berries and shortbread biscuit (but only one - would have been happier with 2!) Service attentive and polite but the room is large with high ceilings and we were the only guests so no atmosphere. Food tasty so would consider a revisit. Certainly no need to book! Preferred Carluccios I'm afraid.

Good dinner in the restaurant, we were passing and thought we would drop in for dinner, we have not been for some time, Peterborough is not long on good places to eat!!! We will DEFINITELY be regulars here, great tasty food, I would recommend it, its a long way up in quality from the restaurants in the centre.