The Barn Cafe Stanway in Colchester

Very busy Sat am but had to wait 40 mins for food. Breakfast was lukewarm unfortunately. Staff excellent but kitchen seems to let them down. Barn Plants is our favoured cafe so will put this down to how busy it was. Hopefully back to normal excellence next time.

Would have given no stars if able to... As a customer of Barn Plants and the cafe for many years, I have been increasingly disappointed with the quality of food and service in the cafe. Today, I visited with my family, as we were hoping to browse the Christmas section after enjoying a (usually lukewarm) 'hot' chocolate, cake and (most often burnt and cold) toasted tea cake. After being asked to come back in 10 minutes to be seated at an already vacant table by a very grumpy waitress, we were left alone to peruse the menu. Some twenty minutes later we had still not had our order taken, despite my having caught the eye of the aforementioned waitress. Luckily, this gave me time to ponder my previous recent experiences in this cafe: some very grumpy staff members, barely warm 'hot' drinks, mundane yet pricey menu items (including an extremely lacklustre afternoon tea a year or so ago... I realised that this place thinks it can rest on its laurels and doesn't actually deserve my custom after all. We decided to walk out without ordering and I was so cross that I did not stop to browse the shop floor either. On our way home we agreed that this establishment is now taking its customers for granted. Barn Plants is no longer the only 'stylish' garden centre/cafe in our area, so from now on, be it a light lunch or a Christmas tree, we will be shopping elsewhere.

If they try a bit harder they could charge more for the already over price items

We have enjoyed the barn plants cafe for a long time. The food has always been excellent. Sadly my last visit was not a positive experience. My mum and I went in for lunch during this time I found glass in my food. When I told the waitress she took the plate away and returned to state that the chef had put the glass in his mouth. She proceeded to tell me the chef was sure it was salt and that they had just started using maldon sea salt with larger salt flakes. I was so taken aback by this odd experience. The glass was sharp which meant I didn’t finish more than a 1/3 of the food. They continued to charge us full price. I will add, since they changed their menu the food has dropped in quality. A real shame as we loved going there. I won’t be in a hurry to return after this experience.

Nice location, good service, and reasonable selection of gluten free cakes.

We liked the old menu. Used to go there quite a lot. Lovely sandwiches jacket potatoes and quiche. But now it seems it's fish and chips,burger etc... Also the lady in charge was like a regimental sergeant major

The poached egg on sourdough was surprisingly small for the price of £10.50!

Nice place in the English countryside. Great service.

Lovely place to have a meal. Excellent customer service and amazing food

Lovely lunch as always. Staff are really good 👍🏻

Terrible service. Tablets left dirty

Very nice café. Pleasant staff, nice menu, also loyalty card. Plenty of seating, inside and out.

Enjoyed a lovely breakfast at The Barn with my friend. The waitress was very kind and gave us a choice of table, we chose the garden area which was beautiful and peaceful. We were served quickly and the food was great. I wish the Barn breakfast had hash browns and more baked beans but it was still delicious! We tried waiting for our plates to be taken but the waitress didn’t come over for ages so we stood up to go and pay but the waitress rushed over to bring our bill over, so think she had forgotten about us. But that was the only minor issue.

We used to come here a lot for breakfast but thought we would try for lunch. Seems to have lost its way here. Service is slow, the menu seems over complicated to the extent that you struggle to find something you would like and just settle for the best option. Menu for kids to pretty poor and the food that we did go for is just okay and so over priced for what you get. Even saw another family get up and leave before ordering which supports the experience I had. My advice would be to resist trying to be too creative with the menu and do the basics better.

I always enjoy the food and drinks from the café- especially the cakes, delicious.

Love coming to this Cafe! Always great food & atmosphere and very reasonably priced! Best English breakfast around and cake is always so moist.

Been a few times now, usually for a cup of tea and a scone. Last time there was a distinct drop in quality, with the scones being flavourless, and the earliest get tea being nothing like any other earl grey tea I've ever had. Probably won't be returning...

Best selection of plants locally

You won’t be disappointed by a visit to this garden centre or the cafe. Just remember to book a table as it gets very busy. Staff are friendly and attentive without being overbearing. Lots of choice on the menu and the quality of food is very good. Will return again!

Amazing place, amazing staff and delicious food 😋. I believe the best one coffe shop around Colchester Essex. 🥰

Big shout out to Barn Plants. Highly recommended. Recently contacted them to say our pump for a water feature purchased within the last year had stopped working. The following day they contacted me to say they had a replacement pump waiting for us in the office. Excellent customer service. We have also bought a great deal of plants from there. Josh has an amazing knowledge of plants. They are well looked after & have thrived in our garden. Finally, the cafe is amazing. Great food & service. You do need to book though.

Always gone here for delicious Buddha Bowl unfortunately won't be rushing to return they changed the best ingredients for cheaper ones and increased the price by more than 20%. Won't be the go to place we go to when in Colchester

Plant nursery and shop both excellent, however I found the cafe lacked good food. This was unfortunate as the staff were very good and friendly

Poor service on the cafe. I will not go again.

Very nice place- plants are well looked after and look healthy, great grasses section and the food is good. Make sure you pre book tho as it gets rammed. the loos are extremely clean and spacious always a good sign clean loos)))))

Great selection of plants and gardening accessories although somewhat pricier than elsewhere

Great find , fab food , friendly service lovely local run business plants are very well looked after

We've reviewed and recommended barn plants many times over the years We've visited. However we absolutely have fallen out of love with the cafe. Lovely surroundings, just feel the value gas disappeared. This week, we received 2 dirty knives and 2 dirty forks. They pleasant waitress changed them and apologised as they actually still had food on them. Then ordered 2 sandwiches, 1 which was OK, but nothing like what a £10.50 sandwich should be. My wife had a gluten free sandwich ( which always in fairness is made of smaller bread), but the filling was ridiculous. 4x 2p piece sized pieces of chicken, because we actually counted them. Again £10.50. No salad, just literally a couple of leaves for colour, not even a slice of cucumber or half a cherry tomato. Just really really disappointed. We're looking elsewhere now as we're don't with the lack of value, and in fact, greedy priced sandwiches. Such a shame.

Had lunch with friends in the restaurant. Staff were friendly and welcoming. They were busy. The food was nice but we thought it very expensive, especially the price for a sandwich. So although we liked it there we wouldn't go as often as we otherwise would because of the cost.

It's been quite a turnaround. 4 years ago I had a terrible experience, but now the owners have completely overhauled the business and its a really nice spot for breakfast. The staff are superb and the food is fantastic. I really appreciate the effort that has gone into the amazing transformation here. A real hidden gem.

Took my dad for lunch today lovely food great place higly recommend

Had lunch here there was 4 in our party and we had pre booked. Staff were pleasant enough however not particularly helpful and waited a long time for 2 straight forward coffees. Coffee lukewarm. Friend arrived she waited at least 20 minutes and then 2 coffees arrived. Good we waited about 30 mins it did nt appear that busy just under staffed. Staff did nt return to check if we needed drinks again we had to ask for everything . Food is very nice 😊 nicely prepared- manager needs to retrain staff and get a few more staff in on a Sunday please. 🙏🏼 I would always book well in advance in future …

Good plants 🪴 at reasonable prices. Cafe tea and cake 🎂 very good

Don’t come here with your dog(s)! Never heard of a garden centre with such draconian restrictions…..

Lovely garden centre, tucked away down a country lane. Typical garden centre type shop, full of all sorts of beautiful things. We visited the cafe for a Sunday roast, absolutely gorgeous 😍 They have all the usual cakes etc too. Outdoor+indoor plant area,all plants seem about average prices. I will definitely be going again.

Nice cafe. Friendly staff. Lots of typical garden centre products.. but not dog friendly so had to leave mutt in car... Now we can't come back here till November as it's getting close to No Dogs In Cars seadon

Not just a garden centre! Perfect place to find gifts and have a cuppa and a spot of lunch, would advise to book as gets very busy and to avoid disappointment

Food was good but quite noisey and echoey perhaps due to the barn build. Gluten free options available.

£28 for 2 coffees and 2 very mediocre sandwiches. Despite there being plenty of empty tables we had to leave our name and come back in 15 minutes? Honestly, £10.50 for 2 thin slices of bread an adequate filling and a few green leaves is not good enough. Won’t be back unfortunately.

Regular haunt - good food and nice atmosphere.

I took my friend for a wander around the lovely shop and then treated her to a smashing lunch...we had the morrocan lamb and cous cous...fabulous grub....super service...well done everybody...

Very nice garden centre that is well laid out with good plants. Has a nice coffee shop, but you may need to book a table if you want to sit inside, at peak times. That says it all as far it's concerned.

Went for breakfast on the 7/1/24, our first time visiting. Friends had recommended and they took us to check it out. Lovely restaurant in a beaju garden centre. The decor and atmosphere was very pleasant. The food was exceptionally high quality and it was cooked & presented brilliantly. The front of house team were attentive but never intrusive. Special mention to Jade for her great service made to feel welcome and relaxed.Two other team members attended our table throughout the meal,but we did not catch their names. Put this place on your Breakfast/Brunch bucket list 9.5/10

Beautiful little café/garden centre - a bit too expensive in a time where we're in a cost of living crisis but definitely worth going to as a treat now and again. I must say the cakes are absolutely fabulous!

Just outstanding, great value, amazing service and beautiful atmosphere! What’s not to like. 👍 We popped in for a breakfast and chat and the service is so good. Would strongly recommend the full breakfast, the vegan and veggie options are outstanding too.

Food excellent. Reasonable prices. Staff pleasant but Sadly service was painfully slow even though my friend and I had booked a table.

Went for a birthday brunch with Mum and her Twin Sisters. Superb food, followed by an enormous Barn Cafe homemade birthday cake. The staff went out of their way to make it a special occasion. Good time had by all. Very impressed. 0

Brilliant garden center and dinning facilities...Great helpful staff and a great Christmas 🎄 atmosphere...everything for Christmas..worth a visit..carefu of yhe narrow road there as some holes at side ..but still worth visiting...A++++ we just has a cafe latte but it was excellent...

Always lovely food and friendly service. You need to book ahead though to avoid disappointment.

Wonderful cafe with good selection of different food and cakes, friendly and helpful staff, lots of lovely decorations and other goodies to browse and purchase, lots of choice, good amount of parking available.

Asked for the Basil to be left out of the hard ciabatta roll it was like asking for gold no customer service skills just made to look awkward. Perhaps they come out of a packet & not made to order who knows. £36 for a salad & chips & ciabatta roll & 2 soft drinks. Food & service today was awful. It WAS a lovely friendy, great choice menu, reasonable priced meals. NOW its had a refurbishment the customers are paying the price. We live & learn never again.

The cafe is very busy and I highly recommend booking! We didn't book but only wanted coffee and cake, we were shown to a seat straight away. We had a friendly waitress , it's nice being served at the table. Both my friend and I enjoyed our coffee and cake . It's a lovely place to come. On this occasion, there was torrential rain outside, and it was so pleasant sitting in a nice cosy area hearing the rain lashing down on the roof and being dry! It's always a pleasure to come here!

No table available for lunch today, but coffee and cake was good

Great place to eat. The sunday lunch menu is extensive and very good value for money. Need to book in advance at busy times.

A large party of us attended lunch on the 10th October. The food was amazing, the service was amazing. We had to make a few minor adjustments on the day and this was no problem at all. Thank you to the staff for being so welcoming and accommodating. I will definately be returning.

Very busy... Worth the wait, food Great!!! Everyone very friendly

A very good cafe however I won't support any business that doesn't accept the kings coin. Card only disgusting

A beautiful garden centre tucked away from the main road. The breakfast (smashed avocado and poached eggs and a soya latte) were absolutely delicious. The café is quite big, and it has an inside and an outside space and lots of different sized tables to choose from. We were being served by different members of staff, who were all very friendly. There is certainly a lot to be seen in the shopping part and the outside garden supplies, and I'll be back to browse properly next time.

Nice place to go. Very large and spacious. Real quality about the establishment. Easy to park. Extremely good customer service. I had the ceasar salad which was very nice. Would go back again.

Lovely food but SO disappointed that its card payment only and no cash.

Great breakfast sitting in a lovely garden setting in the sunshine.

The front of house llady was very rude to us and tried to put us off from sitting down at all.

Lovely cafe set in a garden centre. There are lots of delicious treats on the menu, although slightly higher price range. All the areas I looked around were wheelchair friendly, including a good size disabled toilet. Will certainly be back to explore the homewards shop and some lunchtime food.

Fabulous food, really lovely staff, will go there again, thanks guys

Really nice food in lovely surroundings

Update. Had breakfast here recently, was amazing. So fresh snd tasty, quality produce used. Definitely book so you get a table though. It can get busy but the staff work extremely hard, today was quieter which was nice. Food was amazing, had omelette and side order of chips, slice of cake to take away. Yummy. They have lots of choice on the menu and everything is always really fresh. Staff are hard working, professional and friendly. Book in advance so you know you have a table, really easy to do online. Really recommend a visit. Thanks Team.

We came here for afternoon tea. 3 had the prosecco and I had the tea. I wasn't offered any specialty tea, perhaps I should have asked what was on offer. It looked fabulous. We had salmon n cream cheese, egg n cress, ham n mustard and savoury muffins. If you are veggie u need to advise them beforehand. The desserts were: mini white choc n raspberry tart, macaron, Victoria sandwich or chocolate sandwich slice, a posset, but none of us could identify the flavour, and scone jam n cream. There was ample and we thought the price was fair.

Absolutely loved it. Food was amazing. Loved cheesecake so much, it was the best cheesecake ever. I will definitely go back there when I come down. The staff were lovely, nice and kind. X

The Barn cafe is located at the garden centre, there is seats both in the main cafe area, seats just outside in the indoor part of the garden centre (but sectioned off as part of the cafe) and also seats outside (when the weather is good!). We visited on a Monday, expecting it not to be overly busy - but actually it was very busy and we had a short wait so they could get through some of the orders. Once seated we got served fairly quickly. The menu isn't massive with a few lunch type options available. We went with the Chicken and Bacon wrap and got a side of chips to share. Certainly not the cheapest lunch, but it was nice. The cafe was still busy as we left... so certainly seems popular.

Absolutely lovely garden centre and cafe - beautiful house bits, great selection of Easter and Jellycat items. Staff were lovely and quick service at the cafe. Will definitely return!

Very nice but overpriced for 'extras'.

It's a café in a garden centre...not a large garden centre but sells some beautiful plants and gifts. The café/restaurant is excellent, the food was all tasty and delicious and cooked to order.

We went to get a table the place was very quite the lady booking said we had a twenty minute wait and not very friendly we have tried three times now to get in and won’t be going in again this place used to be very good with no problems I hope they go bankrupt

Such a shame lovely food and good staff but they do not take the gbp queen's legal tender cash !! So you are forced to pay by card !!!

Really nice garden centre café with good choice of meals and lots of parking. We chose the tart of the day and it was delicious. Lovely coffee with unusual syrup flavours (black forest gateau!) Desserts were excellent too. Slightly on the expensive side but worth it.

This place was fully booked for breakfast despite empty chairs, so not very accommodating. Did not give the incentive to shop here. But there is a place just round the corner; Mill Race Garden Centre, that accommodated for us and has a better range of products; managed to buy everything for our garden refit and only cost us a couple of grand. Poor show The Barn 😕

The food was very expensive and was supposed to come with a salad but it was just a few green leaves very dissapointed there were 6 of us when we pointed out our disappointment the waiter was not at all interested unfortunately we will not be returning maybe if someone had at least acknowledge what we complained about and explained on the menu it was just a few green leaves we may not have been so dissapointed and would have ordered something else that would have been better value for the high prices that you charge

One of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had! The food was cooked to perfection and the staff were all lovely. Will definitely be recommending it to others.

Always a nice place to meet up with friends. Only had tea and coffee. Cakes look lovely.

Excellent assortment of outfits and Debbie is amazing

Very good, fresh quality and a real treat for a lovely lunch out. All still good. Bit loud and a little cool in the cafe. But all lovely as always otherwise

The fact that your business today refused cash payment, a legal tender, is disgusting and discriminatory. If you want to pay in cash, don't visit this place.

What a disappointment. The acoustics make conversation virtually impossible especially if there are any large parties. Prices have rocketed - is one sausage worth £2.50 ? Wont visit again despite having goingthere for several years.

Very disappointed with service today. Ignored and others served who had arrived after us. Left and went elsewhere.

Booked table for six online for Sunday lunch (1.30pm) only to be sat down and given menus to then be told they had no more roast dinners!

The waitress staff are great, but there was an older matron'esk woman, that was on the edge of being rude and I don't think should be in a customer facing role. We had not booked and even though the kitchen was still open for another hour, she told us in a blunt manner, that there was only cake avaliable, no savoury food. She also said we would have to eat indoors, as there were no tables outside, when infact there were a number of free tables outside. Finally she said the chef could stretch to a bacon roll. The roll was a very light cheap bun, smear of butter, two slices of bacon, that some how cost £7. All served with no tomato sauce, that had to be requested. There are allot of very nice local pubs, with friendlier staff, cheaper and better quality food. I would avoid this cafe at all costs.

Good coffee and selection of cakes. Service a little slow.

Very nice little nursery with onsite cafe. Very friendly staff, nice food, lots to see and to buy. Would recommend a visit

They don't allow dogs - but didn't tell us this before we arrived, even though we triple-checked when making the booking the day before. Bit of a wasted journey!

Had a lovely breakfast at the Barn Cafe. Danny is an excellent chef and came over and asked us in detail everything we wanted about the breakfast and he got it spot on. It tasted amazing! Can’t wait to come back already. Our server Marlene was also lovely and polite and made us feel very welcome, well done you two! Highly recommended. You can tell the breakfast was of a high standard and was thoroughly enjoyable. We will be back 😃

A very pleasant and calm place for lunch. You get shown to your table and then waiting staff take your orders. Service was friendly and efficient. Seating available inside and outside (shaded and unshaded) Good menu selection for mains with good portion sizes. Nice decor and well maintained.

Nice and relaxing place to have a bite to eat and lovely plants and furniture

Good menu choices and delicious cakes.

Just been to this establishment and it is a 10/10. My friend and I are incredibly difficult to please but this place is faultless. Thank you for a wonderful experience and we will be back soon.

My daughter and I have just returned from an afternoon tea for her birthday. It was one of the nicest and prettiest looking tea I've had. The staff very attentive and I would thoroughly recommend this cafe 👌

Went to the barn today for lunch , very disappointed . Food was greasy chicken burgers where dripping g fat and burnt. Chips where so greasy like cooked in old oil tasted horrible . Menu is over priced and not much selection , trying to be something their not . No childrens options available . Pre covid. Used to love going there , had lovely food and great sandwiches selection . Would not go there again or recommend to anyone. Especially families

Seating area even nicer, great lunch, reasonable price

Good selection of high quality goods and interesting items. Cafe serves excellent food as well.

Always love The barn garden centre and cafe , staff in garden centre are informative and helpful. We had breakfast which was delicious, I had eggs royale and my partner had a cooked breakfast. Perfect!

Disappointed We visited at 1:45pm for 2 coffees. Got told to wait 15 minutes which was fine. But when came back at 2pm there were at least 4 empty tables around us. We were told someone would come over. After 15 minutes of waiting I went up to the counter and told no can not order 2 coffees from the counter someone would be over. Few minutes later someone did come over. Ordered 2 coffees. By 2:45 we still had not received 2 coffees went back to the counter cancelled and left. Such a beautiful place but 45 minutes to not receive 2 coffees is unacceptable there were empty tables counted at least 5 people serving. Service is a must!! Such a shame as beautifully decorated but will not return.