Potash Tea Rooms in Rochford

Have Been Here Quite A Few Times For Breakfast (I like the Breakfast bap) with my wife,and weather permitting, we like to sit outside,went today with my wife,two daughters and our 2year old Grandson,and today was no different,great Breakfast and service,however,don't know why,but looking around,there didn't seem to be any "table clearing", and three maybe 4 staff inside chatting away when going to pay,this observation doesn't in anyway from our enjoyment here,but I think this issue needs to be addressed,for example, a couple who were there before us,finished and when we got up to go,40-50 minutes later,Their table hadn't been cleared,just a small point,for the sake of the excellent potash tea room, (FaceofRayleigh)

Popped in for a coffee after a visit back in December for my birthday. Daughter, Son in Law and 2 Grandson surprised me. My wife had kept the secret. Wonderful meals and couldn’t believe the size of the Victoria Sponge. Which unfortunately I was not allowed to eat. This time my wife and I popped in for the great coffee. Although I was hungry and wanted a veg breakfast my wife decided that we needed to just share a toasted tea cake. The story of my life. As before the service and food excellent. Will return for sure…perhaps better alone😉

i have been coming here since it opened,it always seems busy,the food is nice the staff are always friendly but i have to say its time for new furniture in the cafe decor looks tired,

Wonderful staff, great coffee and breakfast sandwiches. Check out the great 'twinned' disabled toilets.

Although we often drive past the garden centre, we have never used the tea rooms. They advertise their "ice cream parlour", so on a hot afternoon we called in. Nice range of high quality ice creams, very friendly/helpful staff, decent outdoor seating area (it was just on their closing times, many places would say "sorry you're too late", here it was totally different). When came we go back !

Terrible let down- don’t bother trying to book. You send a message by text 3 days in advance to a number you cannot ring. That gets ignored. Went down there to see if they had got my order- nope and can’t do it as she’s busy today. It was for a birthday- let’s face it most of the orders are going to be for occasions- so totally let down. Not the way to run a business- ignore an order for 3 days and be unable to fulfill it. Was a regular customer- won’t be now

Thank you for a wonderful afternoon tea. What a lovely little tea room. The staff were so warm and welcoming, friendly, helpful, polite and couldn’t do enough for you, all whilst following the new Covid rules. The sandwiches were all so fresh and the cakes and scones delicious. The staff kept coming up asking if we needed anything and if we wanted refills. I booked a few weeks prior over the telephone and was able to discuss our dietary needs and choose some of the sandwich fillings. There was a lovely garden with patio and lovely flowers. I would definitely recommend.

Been here a couple of times post-Covid First was afternoon tea which was excellent, staff very attentive and choice of food very good.Second visit was a garden visit. Very busy so took a long time to order and for food to arrive. Was here an hour and a half for a sandwich and cake. That said the cakes were delicious especially the carrot cake.

My friend and I visited the tea rooms today and sadly will never return again!The service was truly awful, staff were not at all interested or accommodating and we felt as though we were a nuisance being there!There was no social distancing policy in place as the place was pretty empty yet a couple arrived and were seated directly behind myself, so close that the customer pushed my chair forward sitting down! This seemed odd as there were many tables available at a suitable distance!We expressed concern to our waitress who was quick to reply, “That’s fine as you are back to back!”Strange as the 1m distance doesn’t seem to apply here!If you want an enjoyable lunch out head elsewhere! Hopefully Riverside will reopen again soon!!!!!

Arrived without a booking, was given an empty table straight away, lots of space between tables, hand sanitiser as you enter. Really yum food and accommodating of my fussy 4 year old! Thank you!

Sadly once a favourite of ours- going backpost COVID this was hugely disappointing. A very long wait time to get menus outside, another long wait to order and when we did, we then get told multiple items aren’t available AFTER we ordered ( eg no salmon for salmon and prawn salad). No coleslaw for any of the dishes- but still got charged full price for all of them. The portion size has dramatically reduce- a full salad is apparently one handful of salad and half a pot of prawns. The ham for the ploughman’s was ‘not special’ supermarket ham- not the hand carved thick slices it used to be. It was actually embarrassing as I’d taken a friend there and raved about it and it was expensive for what it was and the food below par.

Visited today, been wanting to go here for a while and was so disappointed. 2 of the 3 members of staff we came into contact with were very abrupt. They were quite busy but that’s no excuse for rudeness. No social distancing at all, not even tried to make it safer. When I first sat down there were a few bare tables around and I felt comforted in that, thinking they were left out of action in order to keep people separate. Sadly, I was wrong, they were reserved for bookings. By the time I realised this it was too late. We ate up and left as soon as we possibly could.

Having just return from lunch at The Potash Tearooms I can safely say I will not be returning. I fully understand that the tearooms were busy and the staff under pressure but nothing excuses rudeness on this level.

We stopped off on the way for a walk at Shoeburyness and quick look in the garden centre. Our first visit here.The staff were very friendly and attentive even though they must just be getting used to a new set-up following new COVID rules.Good selection of lunch options. The side salad was not the basic salad you sometimes get in a tea room. Nicely presented light lunch.The garden setting was lovely.

Often come back here as very local to me. Stopped in for lunch and had two very good fresh salads - I had the salmon and prawn andhubs had coronation chicken. Good portion size and served with pleasant . It can get loud inside but during the summer the outside is really great to sit in

Set next to / within the garden centre its great to finally find this on TA as been going here for years now. A great selection of lunch items- I nearly always go for the slamon and prawn salad which is always so frsh and tasty. They do a great range of cakes and a specials board exh day. Has a lovely garden area for siting out in the summer with all the garden centre plants and products to see, A good local stop

Potash Tea rooms has a nice setting, pretty inside and beautiful gardens.I met my friend there this week for a coffee and long-time-no-see chat. I ordered a large Americano which incidentally turned out to be not so large and definitely not Americano! It was the most disgusting brew I've ever had that calls itself coffee. It tasted just like milky water and was lukewarm to boot - horrible. Obviously they either don't know how to make Americano or they skimp on the coffee to make it go further. Either way, it wasn't good and if I'd shut my eyes and didn't know what I was getting, I'd be hard pushed to identify it as coffee. Yuk! Never again!Why didn't I complain at the time? Because it took forever for someone to take the order for the first one and I'm sure the 2nd one would've been just as bad.As an afterthought, the noise level in there was awful - too many people crammed into a smallish space and I left with a headache.

Despite visiting on one of the hottest days of the year our pre-booked afternoon tea was perfectly prepared. A good selection of sandwiches, and plenty to fill everyone up. Not everyone could finish it all. The cakes are especially good here.

Popped into this lovely cafe to be greeted by friendly staff myself and auntie orderedEgg mayo sandwichTo out suprised it came on a plate with the most colourful salad I've seen in a very long time with a big serving of coleslaw oh it was so lovely our sandwiches were so filled I ended up using a knief and folk hahaServed with a beautiful coffeeI really enjoyed our visit and will definitely be returningTo Top the rest of our day off there's a great nursery with little shops inside.Thank you Potash tea Rooms for a lovely morning

Have been to the garden centre many times but never went in to the tea-room. What a lovely place. Staff were very pleasant. Food was amazing! Kids meals were of a nice size. Not the cheapest place to visit but I guess you get what you pay for. Highly recommend a visit.

Great lunch yesterday for us 4 ladies, who are normally 8.Wide selection of food availableWe went for omelettes and cream cheese and salmon sandwiches, all of which were absolutely delicious. Amazing for me, as I don’t normally like omelette. Mine was light and so tasty. Would definitely recommend.Reasonably pricedDidn’t have ant but the cakes looked fab and others were clearly enjoying them.Service was totally faultless and the place was heaving.Car parking can be a bit tight.We have visited before in the summer and enjoyed sitting in the beautiful garden.The attached garden centre is one of my favourites. Most of the plants are home grown, healthy and reasonably priced. You must visit.