Tempus at Hawkstone Park Shrewsbury in Shropshire

Notice there haven't been any reviews here for some years. When we visited in July 2023 the menu consisted of three choices of pannini filling and some "tray bakes" that looked like they had been sitting around for a while. That was it. We ordered pannini. Although we chose to sit down to eat they arrived in a brown paper bag. Although we were the only people in the cafe it took some time for them to be microwaved and they got one order wrong. I don't think I've ever had such poor quality food. The pannini were just rolls with some lines on top and the fillings were sparce and unpleasant. And these cost us £6 each. They should either put the effort in to make this a good place to meet and eat or throw in the towel and just have a vending machine; they'd probably make more money.

Could have been better nice people running it but very slow services two teas two cakes 30min but we did in joy it .

After paying to get in we visited the cafe first, planning to have a bite to eat before our walk. They offered a variety of breakfasts, including full English breakfast, as well as a range of hot & cold sandwiches & paninis. We chose items off then menu- only to be told on ordering that they were only doing drinks & cakes and no hot food. It would have been nice to have been told this on entry & we could have considered going elsewhere to eat first. The staff on the admission desk were far more interested in palming off kids ‘Halloween Trail’ booklets to everyone - to help us understand why we might see ‘strange things’ on our walk, rather than useful info about the cafe- given that it was the day after Halloween & the trail was advertised everywhere.. we probably could have managed to guess that all by ourselves.. unfortunately guessing there was barely any food in the cafe was more unlikely. There was no apology from the staff for the limited choice in the cafe & after several families had come in & spent time deciding on their order, only to go to the counter to be told there was no hot food, I asked why they didn’t just remove the menus from the tables, as you couldn’t buy hardly anything on them & could only buy what you could already see at the counter. I was then told there were signs up telling people. I hadn’t seen any but decided I’d look for them as we must have missed them. The only sign I could find was one taped on the side of the counter as you entered, saying due to having had more visitors than normal they ‘may be out of some items on the menu’- which I don’t agree covers the fact that virtually nothing on the menu was available. There was also a sign outside, half-hidden by a Halloween decoration saying to let them know if you have any allergies or food intolerances. We chose to have the cream scone & tea. For 2 of us this came to over £10 which was quite expensive for what it was. The scone was pretty awful, very stale/dry, but just about edible when covered with the cream & jam. Unfortunately my partner is allergic to strawberries, but when we asked for an alternative to the strawberry jam, they didn’t have any. So it seems you can tell them about allergies...but they aren’t going to do anything. Fortunately the park is really nice, well worth a visit.. & made up for the disappointing cafe, but despite being v ready for a drink when we returned from our walk.. the cafe was definitely not worth another visit.

Having a walk around the follies is really nice, been a few times now and the scenery is spectacular. My review is about the Caspian restaurant. We ordered soup but they hadnt run out just didn't have any!! I ordered a toasted teacake that was obviously stale before toasted as it more like crispbread, £2.45. My husband had a baguette which was ok but priced at £6 95. Tea was over £2 per person. I would certainly take my own food next time.

Hawkestone Park Cafe No Soup of the day, no apology, and by the look of the picture not much cleaning either...

My daughter and I went to the Hawkstone Park Follies knowing that we couldn't actually visit the attraction due to the terrain, (my daughter is a wheelchair user). We went to the onsite cafe -Caspians, for a meal. The food was delicious,freshly made and filling. We had an all-day breakfast, the content of which we selected ourselves. Outside the cafe is a seating area that wraps around the building and the views from there are spectacular! The staff at the attraction were all very friendly and welcoming. Unfortunately, the parking for people with disabilities or difficulties walking is appalling, and the walk from the car park to the site is very hard going.

This review is regarding the tea room, not the actual park itself (which I would give a rating of 5 - a fantastic day out). The Tea Room is not cheap. For the price I paid for my panini, which was £7 - just for a panini! - I would expect a lot more. I ordered a chicken, pesto and mozerella panini and when it arrived, the chicken was spiced as chicken tikka, instead of plain chicken. I took it to the counter, and politely pointed out that it was not stated in the menu that the chicken was tikka chicken and asked if it was possible to have another panini with plain chicken, as the menu said. I am not a person who likes causing a scene, so I asked as politely and quietly as I could, only to be rudely told by the man serving 'that's what you ordered. That's not tikka chicken'. I was quite taken aback so sat back down and continued trying to eat it. However there was no doubt that the chicken was tikka (it was red!) and after confirmation from my parents and boyfriend who I was with that they agreed with me, I went back to ask again. I was served by a different woman this time, who apologised and informed me that they had not received their food order yet so had used the tikka chicken available. This is obviously not what the man had told me, who clearly just couldn't be bothered to deal with my complaint. The woman kindly exchanged the panini for a sandwich, which was served to me by the man I had originally complained to, and I'm not joking when I say he practically threw it at me. I wish I'd got his name as his customer service was abysmal, particularly when I made a very simple request. The tea room needs to seriously improve their food, and customer service, if they are going to charge that much.

This is a review of the cafe, not the follies. Five of us arrived for a lunch break. The cafe looked weathered, dated but had a nice view. Seating was in very poor condition, especially outside. Wet seats with peeling chipped paint. The food was bland and one in our company found a long grey hair in their salad. The americanos we ordered were terrifically weak, just dark water. The staff appeared indifferent to our presence and we felt like we were intruding. Cakes were good though.

We were looking forward to a lovely afternoon tea with prosecco, but instead of a cosy and cute tearoom, we found basically what looked like a 'builder's cafe'. The cakes seemed to be cheap store bought and out of a packet, the sandwiches were very poor quality, and the tea was not loose leaves but two tea bags in a pot for us to share. although the staff were really lovely, a place with this much potential should be much much better - a lot more attention to detail required guys, disappointing.

Park is very well presented however once we made the trip to the tea room our opinion changed, most the service dishes and glasses were not cleaned adequately the room was very poorly cleaned too then we move onto the service, waited 20 minuet for a cup of tea and some soup. Service is very unsatisfactory I would avoid the tea room at all costs

While in Shropshire we usually pay a visit to the Hawkstone Golf Club just to relax and watch those brave souls who were out playing 18 holes on this day that was a bit warm and very windy! We looked over the menu and ended up with Soup of the Day (Broccoli and Stilton) with crusty roll and a ham sandwich on granary bread with salad and salad. It was nice, nothing outstanding or unusual. It has become a bit more expensive over the years and it could be due to Hawkstone not handling its own kitchen any longer. Could understand too why the restaurant wasn't as busy as it has been in years gone by. Still, it is nice.