Secret Garden Restaurant in Staffordshire Moorlands

Had a meal last night, staff were nice but for the price the meal wasn’t the greatest..,after ordering the meal took 5mins felt like they wanted to rush us..meal came before our drinks which you’d want your drinks before.£19 for a burger when it wasn’t even that warm. £9 for pudding, far to expensive for what you get.

No plates. Staff seemed offended when asked where they were. Really poor management

The waitress was lovely but service was very slow considering there was loads of staff and not many people in. Paid £20 for what was literally some rocket leaves, tomatoes and three tiny slivers of cold, bland chicken (which I paid extra for) Never been out for a meal and left the restaurant as hungry as I went in.

Had to wait 45 minutes till our order was taken and then another hour till our food arrived. Food itself was very average, would not recommend. Server asked 3 times if we had received our food while clearly having no plates in front of us. Just get food in the park itself.

Staff were great, very friendly and professional. Food, was fine taste wise and quality but as said previously, expensive for what you get. The food choice is limited with not a vegetable in site with our order so ordered a side salad too. Food came very quickly and was hot. We had a table by the window with a nice view. The Secret Garden Restaurant wasn't full despite us needing to book prior, which I did at the restaurant itself as it isn't on the Alton Towers app (nor could I find the phone number or how to book online). The menu isn't available online or in the app either, else we might have gone somewhere else to eat. During the week out of season, there was no other place to buy food from, which again, had we known prior, would have gone off site for food. But we were tired and hungry so we ate there anyway for convenience. Not great but not awful either.

Gone down hill. Limited menu for overpriced average food. Small fish and boot leather burgers. Restaurant half empty on a Saturday night says it all. Avoid at all costs and do like everybody else here and uber eats.

Service was the best part of our visit to this restaurant. Staff were very polite welcoming and friendly. The food however albeit delicious was disappointing due to the size of the portion vs the high price. We just had burgers and chips but it felt there was something missing and was hungry again an hour later. 2x burger 1x child cheese burger and 1 soft drink each cost over £50

Writing this straight after the meal, so wanted my review to be fresh in the memory.. To sum up I was concerned after reading a lot of the reviews, thankfully we needn’t have worried. We booked a table for 515 (which was the only booking we could make but thankfully for us no issue as we have a four year old) we were greeted and took to a table of our choosing (a benefit of the early booking of course) and was eventually served by Robin who I can only give an excellent review for, he was friendly, knowledgeable and just pleasant to talk to, as well as him the other servers were happy to help. Drinks ordered and came quickly, same with the food. Food was good, not Michelin star of course but it was nice and tasty. I had read of the food being cold which we didn’t experience. I had the steak which admittedly wasn’t the greatest cut of steak however it was cooked exactly to my request, and was tasty. My wife had the duck which was very tasty. My son had fish fingers and chips which was a massive portion! My wife and I both commented how good the sauces we both had (mine was peppercorn) It is not cheap, and beer &wine is expensive but this is the same throughout Alton towers so no reflection on the restaurant To summarise, good food, excellent services

All of our meals were delicious they must have some great chefs, duck, steak, kids chicken strips all very tasty. Yes a little expensive but you are getting a nice restaurant experience with great service. I think they add on 20% service charge which hiked the bill. 4 meals, 1 starter a few drinks came to £100+

After searching for a hour for one place to eat lunch foods we came to the bar area where they served food from secret gardens. Lovely food I had a steak sandwich which was cooked fresh and had lots of flavour, family had a burger and a salad was also fresh and cooked well. Lady behind the bar was trying to do everything herself and still managed to give us a great service was lovely and polite making sure we didn’t have to wait around. Visited 13th August.

I really enjoyed my visit to this restaurant. Please ignore the low score it has on Google. The food was so nice. I had fish and chips and it was fab. Of course the prices are a little dearer but they would be in a theme park resort. Service was great. We had a waiter called Col and he was super friendly and gave us loads of great tips about our visit to the park.

Expensive for mediocre food but service was pleasant enough, cost is the overwhelming complaint of the whole park

The only thing secret about this place is that it’s not actually part of the hotel hence the staff is atrocious. We arrived not knowing that there is NOTHINg in the area and on a tues the only reservation left was 8:45pm, went to front and asked multiple times…looking at a EMPtY restaurant if we could (2 of us) could sit quickly eat and leave..the FOH told us to come back in an hour (at 6pm) were told again to come back at 8pm and they would def sit us, at 8pm was told to go get takeaway pizza next door, no delivery in area in except for 3 Indian restaurants…the wonderful sweet ppl at front desk of hotel were appalled, and repeated multiple times that they are NOT attached to hotel and run by separate company…the food..:I Didn’t eat was past hungry, but my daughters food was barely edible…yes was it my bad for not planning ahead? Yes, but in the 40+ years of travel and dozen times in UK this was the worst experience I have ever had at a hotel, a restaurant and with service in UK.

Terrible customer service, rude, clueless, disorganised, hot food was cold and over cooked, salad was wilted and brown. Awful and really expensive.

I only used this for breakfast. Limited choice and not quality food. Entry to the resturant is strictly by booking and only allowed in at allocated time even when 50% of the resturant is empty. Staff running the resturant have not been trained for customer support. The menue for dinner is overpriced. Went to italian locally and the food was amazing.

Yes it is very expensive and mostly run by teenagers, the food was surprisingly good though , well presented, hot and tasty.

Absolutely terrible, one of the worst places I have ever eaten in which given the price makes it even more appalling. We were greeted by a waitress who didn't know what day of the week it was let alone that she worked in a restaurant. We ordered our food, starters turned up before our drinks and the plates from our starters remained on the table until our mains turned up, we had no room for all the food with the starters still there yet the waiters ignored them. We had to ask for them to be cleared. We ordered steaks (one of the most expensive things on the menu) and they were terrible steaks, could eat about 20% of them which at £35 a pop is not worth it. We spoke to the Manager who gave us the steak for free but they charged us for the peppercorn sauce!!! We were then asked what we wanted for dessert with no menus and not knowing what was on offer (not that we would have had any anyway). There was no apology and no quality of service. The food was so bad and service equally so. Avoid this restaurant at all costs unless you want to ruin your family meal and leave feeling hungry and annoyed!

Highly unprofessional customer service, chef and waitress didn’t understand what well-done meat means (no blood!) and argued how we should eat our steak. It was my first time walking out of a restaurant, I felt so badly treated. I had to ask 3 different people, 5 different times to get a high chair for my child, which we finally got halfway through his meal. Very expensive!! Kids meal was ok, but very small for the price and quality was not better than a fast food restaurant. We had great experiences here during the last few years, but definitely not coming back again.

Great service and friendly stuff … the food was amazing as well

My husband toddler and I had an enjoyable dinner here. We were overlooking the outside space which was lovely as it offered a welcomed breeze. Upon arrival the chef came and spoke to us as I had listed my son has allergies. I was very impressed with this. The food was hot, plentiful and tasty. Special thanks to Hannah who was helpful and friendly.

After a shambles of a meal or non delivered meal at rollercoaster restaurant we ate at secret garden great service off Cole,plus the girl on the front desk who got us a table at the last minute really helpful carnt remember her name unfortunately,but a credit to Merlin.food was really tasty would recommend the lemon herb chicken after a shambles start to the Evening was made up by great good and service

Very disappointing service. Not only did we wait a long time even for drinks, but they also messed up our orders. And the attitude of the staff when I pointed out the mistake and more was very arrogant.

As expected at a theme park, it's all overpriced. £19 for a burger is steep, it tasted good but I can't rate it higher when a pub in the village gives you far more for your money. Service was average at best, had to ask for drinks at least three times and was told there wasn't a drinks menu which I found odd, but mirrors other reviews, at least the food came out quickly. 4* for atmosphere as the place looked nice and we had a good view outside

I was a bit scared with the reviews, but everything was excellent. The staff were super friendly and the food was delicious. It was my wife’s birthday and the staff (Rueben and Ada) made a fuss of her. Highly recommend

We came for my sister's 20th birthday. The person who served us had an attitude problem. Giving us filthy looks and speaking very brash to us both. I ordered bread. I ordered rigatoni burrata. My food come and I did not get my bread. I have autism so having the bread with my pasta was what made it eatable. It never came. The server asked whilst walking past if everything was ok and i tried to ask where my bread was but she really wasn’t botheted or interested. We went in at 19.30 and did not get the bill untill near 9. My sister whose birthday it was got horrid comments and looks from the server. Which spoilt her whole birthday. She went to bed very upset about what had gone on. It took ages to get served. I would not recommend this resturant to anyone. Whilwt they have staff who are rude, unkind and do not care. Our server was Harrie S.

Phoebe was absolutely lovely and super attentive, food was delicious, definitely reccomend! Thanks so much Phoebe! ❤️

This restaurant is a complete shambles that mirrors something out of faulty towers. We arrived for dinner, asked to see a drinks menu only to be told there wasn't one. How can a restaurant not have a drinks menu? The 'wine' that arrived was completely undrinkable! We only found out after asking for the bill that this was charged at £10/glass. We ordered a burger and fish and chips. The fish was mostly raw and inedible, chips like cardboard. The burger was dry and rather bland. I am angered that the restaurant felt it appropriate to charge extortionate prices for food/drink that is so unsatisfactory. The restaurant was dirty, a mop was propped up against the coffee cups, the cutlery was all dirty. In summary, this 'restaurant' is a sham that should be avoided at all costs. Go to a local pub instead and have good food!

DO NOT BOOK HERE FOR YOUR EVENING MEAL Go to a local pub outside of Alton Towers Evening meal: We were shown to our table and someone came around asking to take our drinks order, we asked for a drinks menu and/or a cocktail menu, we were told the menu does not exist.. we were told just ask what you want and they will see if they have it... What?? The food menu itself is shocking the items and prices! We looked around and everyone had the same, the double cheeseburger... Whoever thought about the food and prices on that menu needs to be fired... Just look at the reviews on here all saying the same.... Breakfast: Again this was shocking, first thing we did is make some tea and guess what all 3 hot water machines needed the filters changing so the water was coming out horrible. The service itself was a buffet, not much of a selection, the bacon was all fatty and the sausages were undercooked, fried eggs were over cooked. Not a great breakfast at all

Had to go here at 9pm because it was annoyingly the only restaurant still open among the 3 hotels at the Alton Towers resort. Even then we were told we had to wait half an hour despite there being loads of empty tables. Food is massively overpriced like you are out fine dining but its pub grub at best and the selection for vegetarians is shockingly poor. Add to that a massive wait for food. Hence the 1 out of 5 overall. Restaurants really ruined the overall Alton Towers hotel experience.

AVIOD - Horrible (and expensive) food, even worse service - wish I'd read the reviews before staying.

After reading many negative reviews here and on Trip Advisor I was wary, but as we were staying in the hotel for two nights, we gave it a try. Last night the food was actually fine but nothing to really rave about. The service was excellent. Breakfast was good, but we had decided to try a local pub this evening, but after phoning and finding they weren't doing food, so went to Secret Garden again. This time, the food was excellent - far exceeding our expectations. I had the fish and chips - the fish tasted really fresh and the batter was crisp but not greasy, and the fries were perfect. My partner had two starters - the harissa hummous and figs, and smoked duck with focaccia, and he said they were both superb. A theme park hotel is obviously not going to be cheap, but the food was excellent and worth the price tag, and the service was both friendly and efficient.

Food is always fab here. Service is impeccable but it is very pricey.

As with most of the places to eat at Alton towers, it's expensive for what it is (hence 3* for food) but here the quality was good and it was all very tasty. Our waitress, Maddy, was excellent - we felt very well served and it was all prompt and accurate despite us making a couple of non-standard requests on the order. They also let us order from the children's dessert menu which was genius; because sometimes you really don't want a full adult portion but a little bit of something nice was a great idea 🥰

Upon arriving at the restaurant initially I was pleasantly surprised, the service they promise and the service given is two completely different things. Rushed to our tables, feeling like burdens already we politely ordered our drink (bearing in mind there was no drinks menu so was almost a guessing game of what they have or should I say HAVE NOT GOT). our waiter henri was nothing but belittling to us, his mannerisms, tones and rude comments to his coworkers were hardly appealing to a paying customer. when the food came the ratio of price to portion was humbling.as soon as we had our food (bland and overpriced) my family left feeling unwelcomed and genuinely disgusted by the way we have been treated. ordering a simple vanilla ice cream my mother was forced into getting the bill, before the icecream even came out. feeling almost ushered out the restaurant henri quickly dumped unprofessionally an option to improve his ‘career’. as apparently giving a forced positive outlook on his service is reflective of what we got-NOT!!!!

Weatherspoons quality food at service station prices. Very little choice, very poor quality food for the price and overall very disappointing. Cramped tables and countless inactive waiting staff all huddled together chatting in the dining area. If you come to the park during non peak days, this will be your only option for food onsite, so plan accordingly. Paid £78 for 2 childrens meals and 2 burgers with drinks, no deserts, or side dishes.

Should have read the reviews before going here. Greeted by the manager with a warm friendly welcome and shown to our table. Ordered drinks which was a coke a fanta and a fresh orange. For dinner me and my wife had the duck which was well cooked and tasty ( but very pricey) Got our duck and asked about our drinks 2 members of staff and 35 minutes and most of our meal finished later we received them. Nice food but very over priced Staff were nice but for a quiet night 2 bottles of coke and a fresh orange with such a wait was poor

Firstly before I give you my honest review, if you choose to go this place and it goes wrong - make sure you complain and ask for the manager several times. My meal was that bad, and service so shocking that he wiped my whole bill @ £60/£70. So turned up and was seated at a very quiet restaurant at 8.00pm on a Saturday night. Got sat down, ordered drinks and food. Shortly after 1 drink turned up and apparently they were out of Malibu. Ok fine, new drink ordered. Then our overpriced bread and butter came out. (£7!). 20 minutes later no drink. Asked a server about it. Still no drink. Our mains came out. Then it got worse. So fish and chips. Hard to get wrong. Apparently not - the fish was watery, oiley and no taste. Chips were frozen, poor quality. Had better frozen fish from Aldi. Price for this dish - £19.50!! Myself - Chicken Rigatoni Pasta. Hard to get wrong. Surprisingly not! Dry chicken, overcooked pasta, watery tomato sauce. Had better out of a tin. Price for this dish £19.50!!! How could it get worse than that? This is how. Half way through the meal this missing Malibu and lemonade turned up. Had already asked for the manager yet none had turned up, and was going to leave it until my partner tried her drink. What the drink actually was - we are still trying to work it out today, possibly was ice cream soda. What it wasn't was Malibu and lemonade! Luckily she has no allergies... So after being left alone for awhile - they could tell I was not happy, servers ignoring us etc.. I eventually got the nearest one and asked for the manager. To be fair he came over heard our complaint and waivered the meal. Please like this review and if we get to 10 likes we will edit with the sequel. Which was the breakfast we had with the stay included and is a whole other story. The rest of the hotel is great, attentive, clean and good entertainment. This restaurant baffles me.

Don't waste your time and money at this restaurant. We were rudely greeted by a waiter who then criticised the name on the booking and asked if it was English? He then walked us aimlessly round the restaurant while trying to figure out where to sit us and ended up sitting us at a table with a high chair and tray stand in the way. No drinks menu was provided so had to ask what options were available and prices. Ordered some overpriced bread which came on a board with no plates so got crumbs everywhere eating it. After we ordered, another member of staff asked "are you all sorted" rudely. Rigatoni was okay but no where near the quality that the £19.50 price point would expect it to be. After we finished the staff never cleared our plates and told us we had to come to the front to pay. They then came to the table 5 minutes later with the card machine and made it out like they had done us a favour by bringing the machine to us. Bill came to £60 for two people with one course, two drinks and bread. Not worth it one bit. Don't waste your time.

Stayed at Alton towers this weekend first time, booked a table at the secret garden restaurant, unfortunately they have a very young inexperienced staff , who didn’t have clue , service diabolical, very over priced very average, and very disappointing, please avoid at all cost

Please avoid at all cost. Firstly, food took over an hour to arrive drinks ,water,coke and pint of lime and soda took 35 minutes to arrive. Overpriced, understaffed and awful food .limited menu. What a disappointing time here .never again.

Food was quite nice and served quickly. Our waiter, Reuben, was absolutely excellent and made the experience better. Expensive food but you expect that going in. Atmosphere was fun as well

Shocking.....Alton Towers Resort is fantastic, attention to detail is outstanding, but if you go and if you stay over, do not frequent this restaurant!! It has been outsourced to an agency to run and it is shocking....proper shocking...to the point of Faulty Towers shocking. Eat anywhere else but do not spend your hard earned money here. Please Alton Towers management, sort this, it is damaging your reputation and I don't want it to!!!

Cole and Liv were so so lovely- they made our experience. We came in twice and both times they were so welcoming. The steak, fries and pasta we had were amazing and I was very pleased with my experience there.

Went to the restaurant as a birthday treat for my son . Poor slow service , waited 40 mins for a main course as we didn’t order a starter , didn’t bother with dessert which says it all . Very average !

Read the reviews before we went I thought they couldn't be that bad, how wrong was I food was horrendous and at extortionate prices avoid at all cost, Alton towers you should be ashamed to advertise this place as a restaurant, I will be writing a letter of complaint.

The food isn't bad but it's very limited and nothing special, it's just standard fast food. The service was great however I only waited about 10 minutes for the main course, it works as somewhere just to go an eat but that's it.

Paid £18 for a Dry burger that came with barely any fries. Said there would be bacon jam on there but there wasn’t any. It tasted like whether spoons food. The next evening we went to the Rollercoaster Restaurant and we got so much more food for less money! The food was amazing. There isn’t much choice at the secret garden.

Had a short stay at Alton Towers and had a terrible experience at this restaurant. We had a reservation, so had the table for an hour and a half. The menu is not only very limited but also ridiculously expensive. When we ordered we were not told there was a long wait for food, and the waiter was also quite rude and critical of our food choices (one of us ordered a burger and wanted to remove some toppings, and another had the cheesy garlic bread starter as a main because that was the only thing on the menu they would eat). Our drinks took forever to arrive and one of them was forgotten about. After asking and reminding the staff several times, we finally got given the drink (Coke Zero) an hour after ordering it. Our food took over an hour to arrive and they weren't very apologetic about it. By the time it arrived our reservation was over and we should have been giving up the table. I would understand if it was very busy but it was half empty. The food itself was not of very good quality or quantity, given the price. The pork cutlet and chips was £20, was quite dry/chewy and the portion was tiny. Also a burger and chips for £18 is ridiculous. The garlic bread with cheese was £9, but was absolutely soaked in grease to the point eating it made you feel ill. At the end the staff were very blunt and unapologetic, just said "I know we have some clumsy service and things going on now, but here's your bill, are you ready to pay?". We wouldn't go here again.

Dan was a great waiter tonight…:the food was absolutely fine. Trying to deal with as many people as they do, we had a nice burger and pork cutlet. Clearly not gastro pub but not sure what we would expect with the volume of people going through. One kids meal was more than enough for a 5 and 3 year old to share so cheaper than the buffet at splash landings in this instance. Would recommend booking and before 5pm for a more relaxed experience of table service

Nice little restaurant - quite pricey I thought!

Firstly every staff member we interacted with was lovely, going out of their way to help, but being badly let down by management. The team were badly understaffed; one person on the hotel bar for a busy Saturday night during Scarefest. Food was well cooked but the quality of ingredients used is poor; think cheap chain pub food at restaurant prices. I leave you with the bizarre sharing board - 5 pigs in blankets (that look like they'd been ground up), some tinned olives and a pot of pesto and pot of hummus for £11. Do you dip the pigs in blankets in the pesto or eat it with a fork. For £11 could they not stretch to some bread sticks perhaps? Very poor.

Please do not go here. Everything about it is bad! We stayed at the cbeebies hotel but after discovering the restaurant there was fully booked we went for a walk to the other hotels restaurants. I almost always do a bit of research before going to restaurants so knew most of the restaurants within alton towers was either extremely expensive and/or poor quality. We were tired from a long day at the theme park so just went here as there was no queue and limited choice. The menu, as expected was very expensive. Which is fine if the food was good. I am more than happy to pay the price if the food is good. But it was very basic and poor quality. I would of went to mcdonalds if there was one near by. Choices arent great either. My husband had a burger. I had the lamb. Kids had 2 kids meals of sausages/mash and burger. My husband hardly ever complains and he even felt compelled to complain! Adult burger was small and dry. Just everything about the food is poor quality. Dont know how else to describe it. The second night we stayed at the hotel, we found a nearby restaurant outside of alton towers, maybe less than 5 mins drive. More or less similar pricing but food was outstanding. Spend your hard earned money elsewhere!

Burger Terrible and offered a free of charge replacement. Chose Pork Cutlets which the Waitress said Customers were saying the Pork was very dry, it was. I had Poached Butter Chicken that wasn't too bad but overall, food wasn't great and I told the Waitress. A waste of £70 and will be cancelling my other Two bookings for the next Two days we are here. Trying Rollercoaster Restaurant tonight , and if that's not much better, will get a Hotel Delivery Chinese in our last night !

Avoid booking here. First of all there is no comprehension about the meaning of service. Food was burned and the manager Rachel was completley clueless how to deal with a service complaint. This place inadequate

Unattentive service, dry chicken, lights too bright, dated decor, overall very disappointing, would not recommend

Unfortunately had not looked at the reviews before booking. As main meals are around £20 I thought the food would be nice, but when the cheesy garlic bread turned out to be what looked like a supermarket pizza base with cheese on top for £9 I was highly disappointed. The mains were okay but not worth the money. I would assume this restaurant would be good for families but for a couple it was not ideal.

2hr service,, forgot one order,, only offered 1 round of drinks. Starters came before drinks, waitress ignored us most of night then waded In with Bill... terrible service !!!! Never again..

No idea why this has so few stars. Had a good salad and dessert. I would have liked more crispy onions on the Steak and Halloumi salad but it was still really good.

Really great place to eat if you’re staying at Alton Towers - the decor is fresh and light, and you’re right in the main hotel too so very convenient location The kids menu actually serves good food - the chicken is fresh (not breaded), served with fresh vegetables - it gives them some good half-healthy options compared to the fast food of the Roller Coaster Restaurant (nearby) Staff where very attentive and made sure we were looked after.

Dreadful. Food awful. Service poor. Not as clean as it should be.

Over priced, stale food. You pay almost £20+ per dish. The place is not clean, food choices are minimal. Why don’t take note of customer reviews and act to resolve issues. Avoid at all costs. Leave the resort for dinner. There are places only a few miles away.

Terrible food for crazy prices. All served by staff who clearly don't want to be there. Get some food from the park when you're there.

Decided to book a table here when we placed our AT booking... Wish we had read the reviews first! Overpriced and shockingly bad food! Would never recommend!! Waited about 45 mins for our mains. The garlic bread was like eating cardboard. Water was served in chipped and cracked glasses.. yes plural - glasses! Replaced with another chipped glass. Safe to say we wouldn't be returning. Left feeling hungry after only eating nachos in Splash Landings poolside cafe after a poor "menu"! Nothing healthy whatsoever!! Fried everything!!

Best food at Alton towers. Although a little overpriced, it is worth it. Make sure you book a week in advanced.

Terrible food poor quality and service overpriced

We had an early dinner here after a day at Alton Towers, and luckily we got a table without reservation. We have ordered 2 plates of gnocchis, one with prawns and one with blue cheese sauce. The food arrived fast, it was delicious and in a perfectly enough portion size, so it's not really deserved to be at 2,4 star rating on google.

Waited more than an hour for our foods to be served. Simple as hot chocolate took 39 mins. We ordered the most expensive foods they had in the menu but awful. Steak is tough. There’s only 5 small prawns in a bowl of gnocchi. Extremely disappointing. Bad experience.

Sat for 40 mins with no drink and no food orders taken. Staff in the restaurant seemed to serve every other table in the vicinity except ours. Waitress wasn’t sure of the menu and definitely hasn’t brushed her teeth in days. Will NOT be re returning. DO NOT waste your money. Go back home

Ribeye steak good, I said medium rare they can do it for me. This is the only one is within standard, for others? Is a joke. For the Kids meal my kids said she wonder to go back school for school dinner. Rubbish sausage... For the lamb and pork, I only have one comment why putting rubbish on the table? Super extremely hard and no juice. When you eat it you cannot identify which is lamb, pork or chicken. For the services, I order 3 kids meal she give me 1. I ask them to check she tell me pls wait if really not coming I will help you to check. What a joke. Am I working for you hotel? Meal too bad no interest for photo taken. If you stay one night it is better to drive out at McDonald. Not money concern, just concern of the food. I can effort more pls give me food pls!

We were in the park 2 days. The burger was clearly the cheap kind and dry. We also had charcuterie board which was terrible and a friend had the most dry dough balls in time and space. Came to £50 per head. Was worse than a Wetherspoons. Just book ahead and go to Rollercoaster Restaurant much nicer.

I wish this restaurant had been kept more of a secret. Never have I ever had such awful, overpriced food. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!! On arrival, we were shown to our table and waited 15 minutes for someone to come and take a drinks order. There were plenty members of staff but only one waitress taking orders. We ordered two portions of mozzarella dough balls (£18 total for 16 dough balls) to get us started which sat on the pass waiting to be brought to the table for about 10 minutes while three or four people walked past it. When they arrived they were so dry and stale. However after a day in the park, we were hungry so we ate them anyway. My daughter ordered corn on the cob which was £4 on the children's menu and was basically one corn cut into 3 pieces. For the main courses, we ordered: Lamb cassoulet with butter beans - tiny portion with about 6 butter beans and a sauce that tasted like tomato puree from a tube. £20 Prawn gnocchi - 6 small prawns. We had to go and find more food for my son before bed. A dry beefburger. We asked for some ketchup which arrived in a thimble so we had to go and seek out more. Total bill for 3 adults and two children came to £160 including one bottle of white and a couple of glasses of red. The first glass was filthy and had to be sent back and the wine which was £33 for the bottle was plonked on the table with no way to keep it cool. Thank god we didn't order dessert!! I get that they have a captive audience at Alton Towers but with food this low quality I would have expected the bill to be about half of what it was. We saw a few people bringing in a Dominoes which I'm sure would be much less disappointing than the secret garden.

Got the Gnocchi and prawns and you could make mashed potatoes with my food. I just wasn’t good at all and I could break a tooth on the garlic dough balls and at the price of 60 pounds at the end of the meal. I would never step foot in here again. Also it was funny to get my starter 10 minutes after our main.

mediocre (at best) food. Only saving grace was the waitress Mollie who was great. Nice atmosphere and location but food quality v price is not good enough.

Never been here for dinner, but for breakfast. Breakfast is good and same as all other Merlin hotels. Good selection of food and good theming and atmosphere. Can get busy especially as they open at 7:30.

The waitress, Aimee, was brilliant, and so was the overpriced bread and the brownies, but those were the only good parts of the night. We waited a time of one hour exactly, and the portions were very small for the price we paid, and the peas looked grim. When you look to the floor, you will see that it is incredibly filthy and dirty. We were originally booked in at the Crooked Spoon, but our reservation was moved (without our knowledge until we got to the original restaurant) to this place, which is alot more expensive than the initial, which is shocking as it was one of two only options, the other of which was a buffet and we didnt opt for. People were literally queuing for the feedback survey, which really says something. Overall, would really recommend going outside the park for food.

The food was good but not for the price it came at. Also the service was horrible. Everyone seemed miserable . Only one lady was accommodating and nice I think her name was amber she has brown hair.

Visited Alton Towers back in October 2022 and initially booked for the Rollercoaster Restaurant. However due to the heavy rain causing issues, they had to close it and offered to transfer our booking over to The Secret Garden instead. Upon arriving we were met with some very friendly staff who showed us to our table. The prices for the food was more than at Rollercoaster Restaurant but that is to be somewhat expected given Secret Garden has a different target audience with its more refined dishes. Being a Gold Merlin Annual Pass holder I also get a discount at the resorts restaurants which helped towards this. I ordered the pan fried duck breast with figs, and what arrived looked truly magical. The presentation was beautiful and I am happy to say it was cooked perfectly and tasted as good as it looked. As we were leaving the staff very kindly let me take a photo of the talking tree. My last visit to the Alton Towers hotel was when I was a child and it was impressive to see it still standing and talking decades later. I really enjoyed our meal at Secret Garden and would highly recommend it to those who have the money to spend.

Awful. Burgers were tasteless and burned to leave a charcoal aftertaste. Dry bun. Service sucked too. Barely said a word, and never checked on us until 15 minutes after we had finished. Cocktail was bitter and didn't taste of any alcohol. Worst meal and drink I've had in a long time. Would not eat here again if coming back to the resort.

Kids love Alton Towers, and the hotel is a great place to stay, however very much let down by the restaurant. The food is ok if a little expensive, yet maybe to be expected at hotel prices, but the service leaves a lot to be desired. The service is painfully slow, with the attitude of some staff shockingly rude and abrupt. The remainder of the staff appear quiet and almost embarrassed to be there, spending a lot of time floating around past tables covered in long finished with crockery, cutlery and empty drinks. I’ve paid both more and less for food in hotels, but rarely is such poor service offered. Can’t recommend this place less, please offer staff some better training in customer service and people skills. For the remainder of a three day visit, we will be making other plans for dinner.

Lovely experience, friendly staff but a bit pricey

Aimee was the best waitress!! Food was okay

Aimee was an incredible waitress!!!! Food was standard and overpriced but Aimee made it a nice visit

Don’t be deceived by the looks of the restaurant this was the only positive, the food was very poor especially for the price of it, the burgers tasted like it was frozen and sticky toffee pudding was dry, try and not eat at the resort and go elsewhere.

Can't even say how food was becouse after 15 minuts waiting I left the place. No one even bother to come and ask what would we like to order for drinks. Place wasn't even busy. One star is way too much for this place.

I've never had food with so little flavour before, for a brief moment I thought I'd come down with covid. It's almost impressive how bad this managed to be, and it costs so much. The burgers had the texture of birds eye frozen burgers, burnt on the outside, rubber on the inside. The pizza seemed like a precooked base with tomato puree spread on it, some bland cheese and then roughly 5 thin slices of chorizo and about 1/10 of a red pepper. The only passable part of the meal was the chips. I don't expect amazing food when staying at a resort like this, for some reason British theme parks never have a good offering, but this was something else. For reference we ordered from this restaurant to our room, so there was a limited menu. Maybe it's better if you eat in, but I find it hard to believe given other recent reviews. I award it 0 points, and may God have mercy on its soul. The breakfast is slightly better, in that some of the food actually had flavour, but it was far from good. The juice is watered down, the 'pancakes' dry as sand. The cooked food is passable, although the cleanliness of the restaurant leaves a lot to be desired so I was hesitant to eat much of it. Really we just stuck to yoghurt and berries as we figured they were a safe bet. Credit to the staff, they were very friendly and did make sure to check for any dietary requirements. At least the breakfast is complimentary if you're staying at the hotel so it's probably worth it. However if you're considering an evening meal here do yourself a favour. Hop in your car, take a left out of the resort and go in search of The Bulls Head about 5 minutes away in Alton. Much better priced and infinitely better quality.

Everything you would need from a breakfast buffet. Very hardworking and friendly staff. In particular, Roberto and Sorina were absolutely lovely and made a real effort with my five year old; it made her day (ours too). Thank you! ☺️

Busy Restaurant, waiters and waitresses do their best, food is to a good standard. Nice setting. Our preferred restaurant when staying at alton towers. Book early and expect delays as very busy. Its in Alton Towers, be reasonable, it will be busy. There will be a lot of people especially in busy periods so show some respect to the staff. Our only negative are the other customers, watched a whole family kicking off as they are 45 minutes late for their table and missed their reservation. Be on time or you will lose your table!!

Absolutely atrocious! Without a doubt the worst hotel restaurant I have ever visited. Overpriced, below par food, with slow service.

The restaurant was OK. Nothing special, menu was limited and some items were replaced with others but we weren’t told when we ordered, such as flat bread with hummus was pitta bread. Mushroom spaghetti had far too much sauce on it which my son couldn’t eat. Breakfasts was also OK. Food was ‘fine’ but the organisation of who was next to sit down has disorganised. Families walked in after us and we’re seated first even thought our booking time was first and we had arrived first.

Fantastic! Riley was an amazing waiter and we had a great time. Food and drink was spot on! 👍🏼

Poor service, poor food and poor experience. Obviously, expect to pay over the odds for food as AT have you over a barrel if you are staying in the hotel. However, what you get is a joke and all of it was poor. I had a piece of bread with my prawn cocktail and it was still frozen. Son’s sausage and mash was pathetic for £9….yes £9 for kids meal without a drink. The double beef and chicken burger was tiny and dry. I wish I could say something was nice but it just wasn’t. Restaurant was empty but it still took 20 mins for drinks to come. Waitress and manager were as helpful as a chocolate teapot.

After 30 minutes of waiting we were finally asked what drinks we wanted one of which wasn't available, starters came relatively quickly only taking another 5 minutes but these were underwhelming, our mains finally arrived after an hour of waiting. This wasn't just an issue for us, looking around the restaurant people most people were waiting similar times and obviously bored. The only saving grace for our time here was the food was decent, not incredible but good enough. Finally we were not asked about allergies before ordering.

Nice decor, ok food but brilliant service

Food was ok but very expensive for what you get £20 for a cheese burger 🍔.

Stayed the night at the Alton towers hotel, room was great, nice welcome as we arrived, it was a really good package with golf and splash landings, breakfast was nice but the evening meal we had at the hotel was probably the worst I've ever had, ordered fish & chips for just under £20 and I was served up with 2 small looked like birds eye frozen fish which was way overcooked, not even freshly battered fish, I sent that back and ordered the mushroom spaghetti with a chicken breast which arrived without a chicken breast, so I waited for the chicken breast to arrive separately and when I eventually started eating it I nearly gagged on the amount of garlic in it, I like garlic but this was extreme, I couldn't eat it in the mean time all my family had finished their overcooked burgers so I ended up not eating at all, absolutely ruined the night and I'm not even mentioning the bland pizza I had as room service. Great stay at the hotel, do not eat in the restaurant

It was nice food not amazing. My only reason for marking it down is that the children’s meals are not very healthy

Description: Delivery of food to room was very late. Cold and taste horrible the drinks didn't even arrive. We were not told the splash food area was closed and no one answered 4460 to book food order eventually we found the paper order form in room. Staff don't seem very helpful at all waiting ages to return food to be told reception can't help!

Always understaffed. They should know by now how many they need but feel they deliberately try to save money by having not enough... looking around you just see annoyed looking punters who've been sat waiting to be served and there's nobody in sight. Sort it out Merlin.

We were seated quickly and they took our order quickly but then everything after that was very slow. When it takes 20 minutes just for your drinks to arrive it's not a good sign. Some of the food was good but my partner's meal was just warm. The service just isn't worth the visit, so if you are visiting Alton Towers then it's worth looking for somewhere in a local village for some good grub.

The buffet breakfast was adequate. Beans, fried eggs, hard boiled eggs, bacon, sausages and mushrooms. Cereals, yoghurt, watermelon, orange segments, pancakes with sauces/Nutella and typical continental breakfast items. Most of the breakfast was alright but you’d have to wait for fried eggs and they stack them on top of each other so even when they come out ‘fresh’ they weren’t runny. Maybe consider doing scrambled eggs instead of boiled and presenting fried eggs on a tray instead of stacked on a small plate. However, for dinner, me and partner ordered the haddock and chips. Normally, I’d say £18 was a bit steep for a fish and chips but the portion was huge; the haddock was massive and couldn’t be flawed, it was lovely! Unfortunately the chips were a little undercooked for my partners taste but I enjoyed them. I’m always to pay the price for great food.