Fillpots Garden Centre in Colchester

Afternoon Tea for 12 people for a 95th Birthday, Absolutely terrible service. Not the afternoon tea experience we were expecting at all with plates missing, no vegan sandwich options, poorly presented sandwiches like a child's lunch, juice jugs used for milk and canteen catering canisters to serve tea and coffee. No one came to check if everything was ok with our afternoon tea which it was clearly not!

Lovely garden centre. Good range of plants. Nice shop that sells all sorts eg cards, tea towels etc. Nice tea shop too, very tasty food at a reasonable price.

Great Garden centre, lots of quality plants including some rare plants and trees you won't find elsewhere. There is also a huge Christmas decoration centre. Definitely recommend

Lovely place. Very friendly and helpful staff.

We had breakfast here and although they were very busy the young staff were excellent and the food very good, many thanks to all, Terry White..

Nice nursery with an excellent cafe. We always enjoy the breakfast there along with a bit of shopping for gardening.

Lovely coffee shop. Garden centre full of mature plants which is great for people like us who don't have the space or time to grow plants from small plugs we also love the nick knacks they sell and have purchased lots of gifts here as well.

Lovely coffee shop. Garden centre full of mature plants which is great for people like us who don't have the space or time to grow plants from small plugs we also love the nick knacks they sell and have purchased lots of gifts here as well.

Went for lunch. Had some lovely things . A tad expensive tor me £21.50 for one mug. But the lunch was lovely.

Went for lunch. Had some lovely things . A tad expensive tor me £21.50 for one mug. But the lunch was lovely.

Personally one of the worst cafes i've been too and experienced... The majority of the tables where dirty and the food was awful, the sausage rolls didn't taste nice in my opinion and i found it hard to eat, the victoria sponge cake was a very little slice for the price you pay and tasted weird in its texture, there was barely any actual coffee beans put into the coffee and it tasted just like a cup of milk then anything else, the best thing about it was probably the water i had.

The wife and I brought two garden chairs and a table, staff couldn't have been more helpful.

No dogs allowed which surprised us as it's based in a warehouse with most of the plants outdoors 😞

Visited Fillpots cafe today and was so disappointed. In short we will not be visiting this establishment again. It’s not the cheapest place to eat and in the past it was excellent but not now. Where do I start? Broken tea pots and chipped cups Dirty tables with a fine spread of hardened ketchup on the table I looked at other tables and these were not much better. Tables may have been wiped but not cleaned. I managed to dislodge the ketchup with my knife so it was not just a stain in the wood. How disappointing this place has now come As for the food ….. The cheese scone arrived but was tasteless and doughy This was uneatable and was returned to the kitchen My partner had fried eggs on toast but somehow the eggs yokes were very pale yellow and totally tasteless and the bread was stale It’s unbelievable that this establishment has fallen in it’s standards but the price is still high Alas we Will not eat there again

Used to be an excellent place for a coffee and scone, not any more. There was always two heaped plates of fresh cooked golden baked scones (fruit and cheese) you just had to have one - but now only hard dark lumps of tasteless dough. Have tried them 3 times in the last few weeks - but not any more, thats the end for me.

Nice tea and teacake. But resturant very warm as part of it is basically a greenhouse. Small outside area with some shade.

I took my 86 year old mum here as we were fed up going to the same garden centres. I'm glad I did. They have lovely plants at good prices and a good selection of garden items. The restaurant was nice and clean with a peaceful seating area outside. There was no awful music playing, which was fabulous!!!! We will definitely go again.😁

Four of us had Eggs Benedict and our eggs were hard in the middle, just so others are aware when ordering

Excellent garden centre. Huge variety of lovely healthy plants. The restaurant was large and spacious with a very good variety of snacks and meals. Service was fast.

What has happened to the portion sizes in the restaurant? The Chili con carne was gone in about 1 minute. Breakfasts are now tasteless. Used to enjoy the restaurant, won't be coming back I'm afraid.

Ordered avocado and poached eggs on toast. The avocado arrived as an entire half of avocado just placed on the toast. The eggs were watery. No extra flavouring, sauce etc. Wouldnt eat here again, even though the setting is nice and the garden centre is good.

We used to love visiting here but unfortunately the food now is nowhere as nice as it used to be and the prices have shot up. We won’t return in hurry I’m sorry to say.

Awful cooked breakfast, for a lot of money.(with a cup of tea, over £15) Sausages, bacon and eggs under-cooked. All piled high on an undersized plate, so beans, mushrooms and tomatoes (tasteless) were ompletely buried under the undercooked meats. Still using plastic sachets for all the condiments and sauces, so fiddly, gets on your fingers and sticky waste packaging has to be scattered around your table. Just use proper sauce pots, and salt and pepper Mills! So wasteful, inconvenient and unnecessary. I asked if I could swap baked beans for a cup of tea, but this was refused 'we cant do that' without any reason given, as if I was asking staff to break the law. So clearly not interested in decent service or giving customer satisfaction. Apot of tea with 2 small cups of tea was accompanied by a little pot of milk that was only enough for just 1 cup of tea. A dreadful experience.

So disappointed spent nearly £30 on 2 breakfasts and coffees and when the breakfast came out the beans was cold , bacon cold , sausages not cooked and they put the toast under all your food . So when you come to eat your toast it’s all soggy . I took my breakfast back and complained and all got from the girls behind the counter was “oh well “. I didn’t want to make a scene but that is the last time I’ll go there . It’s gone hill and over priced .

More gift shop than garden centre

So disappointed, this used to be one of my favourite places to come and eat when I lived in Colchester, always popular. Today’s experience was so sad. First of all the prices had increased dramatically, this I was totally willing to accept, as the food used to be amazing. What came out, well I was gobsmaked. My sons burger was half the size of the old burgers. There was grated, not melted cheese and the bit of bacon was cold and looked hardly cooked. The salad, if you can call it a salad, had dying cress on it. The worse bit, however, was the coleslaw. I remember the most gorgeous handmade coleslaw but what was offered was a teaspoon, of what I can only imagine was a store saver product. I never complain and hardly ever leave a review. The only good point was there was no quibble when I complained and swapped the meal out. So, sad and a huge shame, that somewhere so amazing could turn so bad 😢

First visit, and nice to find some plants that we haven't been able to get hold of for a few years, for example mesambryanthemums. Will almost certainly make al return visit.

This garden centre is lacking in many ways. Firstly it’s expensive. It is also not very inviting to look around, lots of empty areas inside the building with what’s seems to be disused products laying around. The cafe is very overpriced over £12 for a panini! The coffee is hit and miss, sometimes their machines make the coffee weak or don’t fill the cup and for approx £3.20 a cup should be much much better. The toilets are filthy, literally disgusting and this is the norm. Basically the owners don’t appear too bothered about their business and to be honest there are much better gardens centres a short drive away.

Very well set out garden centre well worth a visit

Food nice enough. Need to upgrade toilets.

Always a joy to shop at Philpotts, vast choice, well cared for, staff very helpful and knowledgeable.

Cafe needs a bloody good scrub - floor, beam around the wall, chairs, tables, behind tea station - place empty, staff standing around chatting - who does the cleaning and when?

What has happened to the portion sizes? Being regular customers the portion sizes were always very good until 2 weeks ago ,the same panini became half the size but still £11.95 and a portion of chips shrunk from a silver bucket to a small pot not impressive for £3.50.

Amazing garden centre, but the high standard in restaurant\tea room isn't as good as previous visits, shame as it's a nice environment and easy ♿ access

Good experience. Food excellent.

Great selection of plants and good, practical kit. Good breakfast at café Wheelchair access good if a little bumpy at thresholds. Good, level parking.

Excellent service, slight issue with the coffees, they happily sorted it

Mr won’t very friendly so I won’t be coming back again

Arrived at 11,32 and handed a Breakfast Menu. On opening the Menu it ended at 11.30 Back to counter and asked for a Lunch Menu, returned 5 min later with our order to be told " You can order but we dont start cooking meals until 11.45 and as you wanted Jacket Potatoes they wont be ready until 12noon" (20 min wait) So we ordered 2 x Toasted Tea cakes with butter and two Teas They arrived but with no Knives for the butter or Spoons for the teas Back to the counter to collect the knives but the teaspoon rack was empty Eventually we stirred out teas with desert spoons When we left some 20 mins later there were still no teaspoons to collect

Popped in to go grab some takeaway paninis. Waited a while. I ordered the tuna and cheese, and my husband had chicken. Got a mile down the road to open up the boxes, and they were both burnt. It was tasted awful and for almost £13 a panini, not cheap. The toilets were also disgusting. I'm not sure what's happened to the place as we regularly stop here and have always been nice.

Great garden centre, great cafe, very friendly helpful staff.

Food very good and a lovely garden centre

Lots of great garden products and plants and a lovely big café. Great for Christmas trees and decorations during the Festive Season.

went for breakfast , expensive and disgusting ,staff very rude! bacon was so hard i could not get my fork in it , sausages were hard and cold also shall not be returning

Food and coffee good, new restaurant extension a little soulless. Good range of products in the actual garden centre

Great cheese and bacon burger. A beautiful bright and airy restaurant too. Fantastic choice of products inside the shop too, things you don’t normally find in chain garden centres.

Very disappointed! You wouldn't think you were eating cheese scones! Tasteless. It was a belated treat for me. Such a shame.

One of the very best garden center's in an incredibly wide area!

It comes with a heavy heart to say once again I was disappointed with the breakfast this morning... bacon was sooo crispy it snaped into small pieces.. sausages were not plan "Colemans" as menu and the beans were luke warm .. to be honest I've had a better breakfast from Asda ... how a chef can plate up a meal like that leaves me with thoughts of where is quality assurance as ya only as good as what's on the plate .. no way should our meals have been presented with a cost of over £20 presented in that form...

I had the misfortune to use the Gents toilets which were smelly and looked tired Outside waiting to go in, a gentleman came out and said "Those toilets stink......" He was correct, unlike other toilets there was no daily check chart to see when they were last cleaned or inspected The entrance door was jammed wide open, presumably to ventilate the smell of Urine I emailed Fillpots over a week ago with my observations, but there was no response.

Great Garden Centre with an excellent Café.

I didn't go shopping here today but just visited the cafe Lovely bright place a good number of tables. Highly recommend the fruit scones!!! Looks like a nice range of Christmas decorations available. Will visit again to look at the plants which look like there is a good range of.

The garden centre is full of diverse items, the normal gardening items such as plants and accessories but you can also find clothing, ornaments, books, food and sweets. You can find things here that you have trouble finding in the local area. There is also a lovely cafe that is reasonably priced for the standard of food that is served.

Ok, so there was a reduced menu, which presumably meant reduced staff or reduced chefs but how can two baked potato’s and two teas go so wrong! Ordered two baked potatoes (tuna mayo & one cheese) which were just warm with a teaspoon of coleslaw and I mean a teaspoon and a bit of limp salad. Went to pick up cutlery, no forks. Staff member said would bring them over. Waited 5 mins and got up to remind him. Tea cups were dirty where you drink from on the rim, no teaspoons available, tea spoons were hot chocolate long handled ones. And then a chef? came through the restaurant in very grim, grubby apron and trousers, delivering two plates of food. We didn’t complain at the time as the staff were so young and it’s not their fault. We used to love coming here but won’t be returning.

Lovely milk shakes if you go try one

A little gem, although, bigger than it looks from the road. Top quality range of goods and a great ,no, fabulous cafe. Well worth a visit even if only meeting up for a coffee.

Cafe is amazing. Wide variety and friendly staff.

I have passed this garden centre so many times but never stopped, so I was surprised at the things on sale here ,and the cafe was great value with friendly staff. I will be going back and soon

Love going to fillpots nice displays and a quality plants 🪴

Great cafe, shame about the staff. We wee told to leave at 4pm closing time, even though we had not finished our drinks. 5 minutes drinking up time would have been appreciated. Will not return.

Delicious breakfast! I had American pancakes with streaky bacon and maple syrup. Good coffee too.

Really enjoy going to Fillpots, very friendly staff, lovely food and drink in coffee ☕ shop, a good variety of plants, somewhere different.

Not really impressed to much faffing around. My friend and I are disabled, we asked assistant for help with getting cutlery and sauces but that was a waste of time he just ignored us. So we won't be going there any more.

Miserable, unhelpful staff - with one notable exception. The beet, feta & walnut sandwich was dry & tasteless & the bread was so stale that it fell apart. My guest ate half the sandwich then complained to a staff member at the counter who told her that as she'd eaten half of it, he could not do anything. My guest asked to see the manager who repeated there was nothing that they could do - eventually fobbing my guest off with a free coffee!! I spent most of my life in the catering trade & would have been ashamed to have treated my clientele similarly. Needless to say, we shall not return, or recommend the venue.

Had a lovely time with a friend. Good coffee and yummy cakes.

Our time at Fillpots today as always extremely enjoyable. Staff friendly and helpful and food very good especially fish finger sandwich. Highly recommended

Visited today for lunch lovely Brie bacon and chutney sandwich bread was lovely fresh and very tasty. The pot of tea nice . The only down side you can’t order lunch until 1145 don’t know why this is probably the change over from breakfast until lunch but didn’t matter as enjoyed the pot of tea

Lovely day out and fantastic carrot cake

Nice stuff there but thought it was pretty expensive so didn't buy anything. We did order breakfast and was looking forward to the stack of pancakes, so was really disappointed that they considered a single pancake cut up and placed in a pile was justified, definitely not what I expected for £8!!

My friend and I visited today really impressed will definitely go back the plants were brilliant and the coffee shop really good and our food was great the shop was very big clean and well presented would definitely recommend a visit had a great time

Food appears to have been cooked and kept warm for quite a while. The baked beans were like paste and everything else dried out. A nice sprinkle of parsley though 😂 Coffee and orange juice nice. Cafe not busy!

Food is good and it's a really huge garden center with a large range of plants, pots and soils

Lovely garden centre staff are fantastic and very helpful and friendly and all so had a lovely lunch and a huge slice of cake and lovely cup of tea lovely couple of hours thank you so much ♥️🌿🌹🪴🍵xx

Large garden centre in Boxted just outside Colchester. Plenty of parking on block paved bays allowing good access for trolleys, wheelchairs and push chairs. Plenty of seasonal plants, vegetables and flowers along with a good selection of trees, shrubs and grasses. Restaurant cafe on site if you need a bite to eat. Or good place to meet up with friends or colleagues. Good range of food options all freshly made to order. Also a good selection of cakes on the counter. You can also pick up garden tools and accessories. Seeds and bulbs. Good selection of wild bird foods along with feeders. Pet area for toys and snacks. Gift area for the whole family along with a good range of cards and gift wrap. Large house plant area with a mix of cactus, succulents, and foliage plants.

Very convenient nursery with good variety of plants and gardening accessories. Cafe excellent with great range of food. Given up having a cappuccino here as it is £3.40. I live in a expensive part of Essex and don't pay that much!

I went into Fillpots today they have got a nice cafe?which was very clean. I then went into the shop there were only two staff at till,and I had to for help. I was served straight away, and I was well pleased. I would recommend Fillpots to my friends .

Has everything you need in a garden centre

Brilliant place to go. Wide range of products. Great variety of plants and trees

Had a lovely lunch in this café in the garden centre. Food was delicious & plenty of it; unfortunately I didn't have enough room for cake which looked really tempting. Loved the big beams inside & on a warmer sunny day there's outdoor seating. Friendly staff as well, so would recommend a visit.

Lovely garden centre with plenty variety of pots, plants, trees and all sorts of gardening accessories. Decent cafe with a large variety on the menu. Staff were friendly and welcoming and service was prompt and efficient. If you're looking for something for the garden, you'll probably find it there.

After entering the somewhat unremarkable building you will find an absolutely massive collection of shops, a huge cafe/dining area plus one of the largest and well stocked garden centres I've ever seen. You could spend many hours (and £'s!) here 👍😊

Went for lunch with a friend on Sunday. I saw some of the beautiful young Rhododendron but couldn't carry them. I had two put by for me and collected then on Monday, my gardner put then in the garden for me and they are beautiful.

Very friendly staff,nice meals great prices,have use Fillpots many times always comes trumps,10/10

Lovely restaurant, and it's definitely larger than last time I was there.

Paid a visit on a very windy and rainy day so even inside it was very cold. During the summer of course it's lovely especially the courtyard in the cafe. I've previously combined a visit here with strawberry picking nearby which made it more of a day out for the kids. There were a good range of plants however the houseplants and hardy tropicals were minimal. Prices a little steep like many garden centres. The food was very nice and again was pricey. The toilets were awful and needed a thorough clean and updating. Hope this helps.

Great selection of plants and all the garden centre goodies. The cafe was excellent, spacious, great food and friendly helpful staff.

Nice collection of indoor bits but many of the plants and trees look neglected. Generally untidy outside and in need of a good sweeping.

Superb garden centre. Has a great gift section and fabulous cafe.

I came for lunch the other day and the place is lovely. The staff were nice but the food was poor. The quiche was very dense nice pastry on the outside but it seems it was all egg and bacon no milk or cream not a lot of cheese if any! no seasoning. Then had some cake they looked like nice homemade cakes but they were stale as if they were over 2 days old. This doesn't have to be wasted make something else out of it don't serve stale cake to paying customers. Overall speedy service good portions and well priced. Hopefully next time i will have a better experience.

Visited Fillpots Cafe this afternoon for tea & cake. Lovely cafe, very spacious, exceptionally clean & friendly staff, very generous cake portions & a good cup of tea! - reasonably priced for the quality. Can't wait to visit again to sample the lunch menu!

Experience at the cafe is always good. Great availability due to size of dining area.

Helpful friendly service, food delicious

Has afternoon tea today as mother's Day celebration. Good selection of sandwiches, I can recommend the feta, beetroot and walnut absolutely lovely. Had to have a "doggy bag" as couldn't eat it all. Staff were lovely and made sure we had everything we needed. 5/5

It's quite expensive as garden centres go ...the coffee shop was good and they had a vast number of gluten-free cakes available, however our choice turned out to be incredibly sweet and I couldn't have a oat cappuccino sadly ..However it's always busy when we go so very popular and staff are helpful

I've been here a few times now, but most recently, I took my mother for lunch in their cafe. Lovely atmosphere, and the food was nice and fresh. Will return.

Seems quite a lot of garden centres are these days doing food as pert of what they offer, so Fillpotts also have a cafe at the back of the centre. Varied selection of light meals, soups, etc plus cake and deserts. Gluten free options widely available as well. Pretty much comparable with other places of a similar ilk that we've been to, so plenty to choose from.

Love this garden centre, not massive but loads here, and a really lovely coffee shop which does meals and cake and coffee/tea.

Lovely cream tea for husbands birthday.

Lovely food as always and a wide variety of items in the shop

I love this place, staff, food, and menu I travel from Dovercourt