Notcutts Restaurant in St Albans

We regularly pop into the cafe at Notcutts Garden Centre for breakfast at the weekend. They have a weekend deal which offers two Full English Breakfasts for £16.95 - an absolute bargain! The cafe is pleasant and clean, and all of the staff are friendly and helpful. The breakfast itself uses quality ingredients and comprises eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, beans and hash browns. Toast and tea/coffee are available at an extra cost. So why only three stars? Because the kitchen uses those catering warmer pots for a lot of the ingredients and the food is only ever lukewarm at best. It’s so frustrating as it’s a great breakfast. For the last three visits I’ve sent the food back to be popped in the microwave and then it’s fine, but the staff are not getting the hint. Turn the thermostat up on the catering pots so that the food is hot! Pretty please!

I often use the Notcutts garden centre to say Thank You to my wonderful volunteers who are supporting vulnerable elderly in the community. This time we had 20 volunteers and their clients attending. It was a last minuite set up but Emily , Mark and Layton made sure we are being looked after. We had a wonderful time. Thank you for looking after us

Great cafe, good value food and hot drinks. Nice atmosphere and very comfortable seating. Very good to see a dog friendly area in the cafe which we used with our small dog. Staff very friendly.

Very high price for a ciabatta which was no better than two for £1.00 in a supermarket the cheese was minimal and less than one tomato between me and my husbands . You can have chips or salad as a side we opted for chips but tbh a piece of fresh leave would have been nice to take away the beige food , your charged enough . Along with a dog barking non stop this was the worst experience. Can I add the staff where all very good though .

Lovely brunch and a very lovely waitress called Lily she is an asset. Food was really nice and reasonable price to! Great atmosphere

Just had lunch here and it was like sitting in a greenhouse. No air con on one of the hottest days so far this summer. Ordered a ciabatta tuna melt. They must have waved the tuna over it, tasteless. Will not be repeating this experience any time soon.

Had a good look round the outdoor plants and found that most of them were as dry as bone. I did buy one as it was the last one left of the variety I wanted and looked rather sorry for itself but I hope it will rally. Advert in store said 'join the privilege club and get 10% off,' so on reaching the till I asked to do that and was told it was £12 to join! What a joke! Won't be back!

Looked forward to our annual spring trip to purchase annuals for our hanging baskets and tubs. Very very disappointed. While the plants were beautiful many of the pots were very dry. Only one member of staff in the garden area and one at the till. Very sullen and unhelpful. No offer of help dispite us having a very full trolley and one diabled family member trying to pay. So sad as we really used to enjoy this garden centre. We will not be going back there any time soon.

We were served by Emily with a smile and a greeting. I ordered a cold drink they didn’t have nonetheless I asked for a cold latte & if they could rustle up a cold ‘hot’ chocolate. We ordered a sandwich (without cucumber) but onions. The response was ‘can do’ - with a smile and no problem. The cold ‘hot’ chocolate was delicious and in case it wasn’t they made me a hot chocolate equally delicious. My faith in customer service was definitely positive and I thank Emily and her co-worker. Both ladies are a credit to the Notcutts work force. Thank you. We will be back!!!

Love the cream tea, very reasonably priced and good portions, very good service, and pleasant staff, sandwich was very tasty, the scones were very filling and the cream tasted delicious.

We went to the restaurant for lunch.The first time I had eaten there in a long time. I have to say the whole dining experience was excellent. The choice of food and quality (we just had a sandwich and coffee but you couldn’t fault it) was very good but what really made our experience memorable was the attentive service and also banter we had with the Food and Beverage Manager. Thank you Jeff!