The Cafe at Hartley's in Sefton

went with my mother and sister for a treat as it was her birthday and a birthday breakfast is always a good idea! I've never been before but wow! we turned up and it was very, very busy which wasn't surprising. thankfully we had ordered a table which we were assigned to very quickly. The staff looked worn out and they were apparently understaffed this day but boy did they work hard! I felt sorry for them as an entire cycle team arrived but they were very friendly and welcoming. Didn't wait very long for our order and the staff were very polite. the food then it was arrived was piping hot and wow what quality! i got the big breakfast and boy its big! the bacon was so tasty. great sausages and fried eggs. It was a huge task to finish but i managed to. It was lovely. My mum and sister had the omelette with onion and cheese and their exact words when they started eating were "wow this is huge". Food quality again was tremendous. This appears to be a secret place for wonderful food which i'm delighted to have found. the price is really, really reasonable too. My mum and sister have been before and i never have before as I've always been in work. i may book a holiday next time they visit haha. Credit to the staff for working so hard and the food quality is off the charts. I told my mum i would write a review and she said "thats nice....you may reveal how good this place is though and when we'll never get a table" haha. She may have a point Thanks again for a great day

Stopped by as flowers were recommended and tried the cafe. Very disappointed with service, I changed my order and had to queue at the counter to tell the cashier what I wanted as the waitress walked away. Very rude wouldn’t visit again.

I used to eat here regularly but not for some time. Today I took my daughter for lunch & wow how it’s changed & for the better. We both had a tuna melt toasted sandwich which were so fresh & came with salad. We ordered a portion of chips between us & they just reminded me of my nans chips from years ago, very naughty if ate often!! I cannot recommend this place highly enough, we will be back soon - thank you

This is a lovely cafe and is popular with regular locals. They have a varied set menu with daily specials. It's reasonably priced and the staff are very friendly. The food is always fresh and it's good value for money. There's a daily deal between 3 and 4 pm of coffee and homemade cake for £4 - great value with current prices.

Excellent breakfast with quality produce and pleasant service. Will definitely visit again and would recommend to others.

Went with my family and the food varied so much. Started off with a superb Cappuccino (as good as I've had anywhere) and then my partner and I opted for the smaller breakfast. The food was hot, and the bacon was very good quality but 'my oh my', the sausages looked like they'd been cooked over a candle- so much so that we left them well alone. Finally had the sticky toffee pudding which, although having really fab ice cream with it and being of very ample size, left a lot to be desired. I found this cafe to be a bit overpriced as well. However, I would certainly go back to this cafe again (but maybe next time just go for a bacon sandwich instead!)

After my previous visit I decided to give it another go . This was much better and we were served quickly. The food was great as ever and great vfm. This has come as a welcome relief as it’s a great place to dine in a nice relaxed atmosphere. Good service equals good customer satisfaction. Well done to all the team.

Excellent clean service with fresh food well prepared and cooked, pleasant table layout served by nice staff and reasonably priced

It was busy. Waited for 20 minutes for table service- terrible system compared to other local garden centres. Other people arriving after us were asked for their choices before us. We walked out in disgust. We have been going there for many years not just to eat but also to buy occasion flowers and garden plants. We will not return and have told our friends of our awful experience.

Two parents and daughter visited at lunchtime. My daughter thought this Cafe was a little gem. We had breakfast roll and BLT sandwich and chicken sandwich, all lovely and fresh. The service was good. We buy plants here every year and can recommend both the Cafe and the Garden centre.

We use the Cafe at Hartleys several times a year as a cafe stop while out cycling, I always prefer to message them in advance as it's a busy cafe and they reserve tables for us. The staff are very friendly and the food has always been great on our visits, and we have never had any issues with the food or service. And the fact the cafe is always busy speaks for itself in my opinion, and one we will always use.

Visited last week and was very disappointed with the breakfast. It was bland and tasteless and overpriced. Staff, however, were lovely and friendly.

Don't usually leave reviews about this place as its reputation locally far exceeds the need to,but after reading the lies and nonsense posted by efcsimon I felt I had to.i have been a regular customer here fir several years usually indulging myself in the excellent bills breakfast.All the food is top quality and cooked fresh to order(you can actually watch the chef plating it up) the hot beverages are excellent and the hot chocolate is the best I've had anywhere! The staff are welcoming and friendly and service is good.oh and did I mention the freshly home made cakes.Top notch.Think some people just leave bad reviews to squeeze freebies out of honest decent people.

Appalling is all I can say. Only the cheapest products used. Electric bill must be through the roof as everything microwaved. Toast on thin bread? Only one side done. Egg disgusting. Decor cheap and nasty. Price £22 for 2 bill's breakfasts 2 undrinkable coffee. 2 extra toast. (only one side done again) In a word CRAP

Popped into the fab family run garden center to buy a bouquet from their superb flower room and grabbed a brew from the café whilst there. I was delighted to spot that they were offering vegan scones! Freshly baked, warm, little bit crumbly in texture an amazing size and taste, by far the best vegan scone I've ever had. Friendly staff offered vegan butter with the scone but I had mine just with jam. If they had a vegan cream too that would have been excellent but was very happy with what I had. It was so delicious that I bought a further four to take home for the family. Was also pleased to hear that they'll be adding vegan options to the menu to try in the future.

Best cooked breakfast in the area and cake selection is awesome.friendly staff and chef even came over to personally check everything was ok.will be back

The veggie breakfast is really nice and not what I expected! staff are friendly. Basic but tasty & clean

Convenient stop when travelling from Liverpool to Ormskirk the cafe offers a wide range of snacks and meals at reasonable prices. Service is reasonable and the staff friendly. Post meal there is a nice garden centre and gift shop to meander round.

Lovely food, spoilt for choice with the cake selection which were to gorgeous and fresh. Good price's also and place to meet for lunch and have a wander around the garden centre after. Promt service from staff and nothing too much hassle.

Great choice and prompt service. Lovely breakfasts and choice of cakes. Staff friendly and efficient

Clean, fresh and comfortable cafe with a decent menu. Very good for breakfasts, lunchtime snacks and cakes. I have eaten here on a number of occasions and really like it. I love that the morning papers are available to read whilst waiting to eat. Service usually good, I've never had to wait long.

Had tea and scones here , excellent service ,reasonably priced and well presented in pleasant surroundings.

It's like eating in a posh cowshed, too crowded with tables for the space and noisey. As someone else said last time I had the scone it fell to bits and over priced. Today it was busy noticed out side two tables on clear with 24 on it, so when eventually served asked table no I said 24. Well this lad looked at me as if I had just landed clearly not understanding, so I pointed and said oh just outside the door there. Still not understanding there, bit embarrassing so rather than go through it again I told him to leave it and left. Never again need to get more staff and who have better customer skills. It's terrible to say but service at McDonald's is better at switch Island and coffee as good half cost.... giving it up as a stop off.

This is a lovely place, all food cooked to order, I had a mushroom and cheese omelette and a pot of tea, absolutely lovely, as the staff are too!

Fabulous food served by lovely staff.Little more expensive than I would normally pay for a cafe but worth the extra. Spotlessly clean despite being run off there feet!!

it maybe a one off, but first time visit to the cafe at hartleys, ordered tea and scones, the scones just fell to bits, impossible to eat, was told its because there too fresh, more like theyve been in the microwave, but the ladys attitude was poor, no acknowledgement, a simple sorry about that or is everything ok now, but no, it was like as if we were a problem, even though we didnt make a fuss infront of any other customers, as we dont do that, anyway maybe a simple management talk to the staff and hopefully it was just an off day

Location;within garden centre so plenty of parking.Plus; fast service, nice staff and tasty breakfast.Staff willing to swap portions if you don't like e.g. we swapped mushroom and tomato for an extra slice of bacon.Negative; minor point, can be a bit pricey side once you purchase. Overall: good but in my opinion there are few place a locally which are slightly better.

We often visit the cafe when visiting the garden centre. Lovely fresh food to order especially the bacon barms and lemon cake.

The cafe is in the garden centre and is ideal for lunch with friends. I had a pot of tea and cheese on toast. There was plenty of cheese on the toast but a little bit of salad or a choice of sauces would have been nice. It was a very reasonable price and I would recommend lunch here.

I’ve been a few times and I also have a great experience with the staff and the food is always a good and consistent quality.

Been here a number of times on various days of the week.See a steady flow of people, but not really many younger diners there. Bright and clean surroundings with pleasant staff. Good coffee and a range of newspapers to enjoy.

Called in for morning coffee and toast. We'd pre-warned the staff that "about ten" cyclists would be visiting. Lo and behold, there was a reserved table waiting for us. Generous helpings of thick toast with unlimited jam or marmalade and what's most important to a cycling group - slick service.

We've been going to Hartley's Café for some years, and have until recently enjoyed their breakfasts. However, we'd had a disappointing experience on a previous visit, but still gave it another go yesterday. Another serious disappointment: the bacon was cooked to a crisp, the sausage was flavourless and almost inedible, and a number of items on the plate were cold or cool, whilst others were still warm. It was almost as if items had been cooked individually rather than at the same time. Staff remain lovely and the coffee was ok. Interesting though that the tables were largely empty, whereas at previous visits at the same time, the place had been quite full. Suggests that others are feeling that the standards have dropped. We won't be going back for food.

I went with friends to have a small breakfast knowing the food is very good here. However I have become intolerant to egg after recent chemotherapy so asked if the egg could be substituted with tomato. I was told that it would not be a problem but recent rule changes meant I would be charged extra for the tomato. No refund for the egg though!

A nice place to visit, the breakfasts are really good, although standards have slipped of late, what used to be excellent has become ok.

Went here with a group of friends. Staff were helpful and accommodating. Food was. ASIC but fresh and delicious. Fab hot chocolate!

Very good value and very fresh it was busy when we went but we did book so there was no waiting time

We have visited Hartley's cafe for quite some tome now but feel that the quality of food and the level of service has declined.

We had a lovely afternoon tea and a bowl of gorgeous home made chicken soup( I would love the recipe)...

Nice location. Simple but tasty food. Tables are never cleared or cleaned as customers leave and it does give an...

Hartley es un viveros escondido literalmente fuera una rotonda principal en la autovía maghull. Un pequeño aparcamiento, pero un amplio espacio. Tienen una buena selección de plantas de aspecto muy saludable y flores cortadas, etc, que no son caros! El personal es muy amable y...

Precioso ambiente a Hartleys tan pronto como entras por la puerta. Personal amable y magnífica comida. Nos tomamos el desayuno y el menú era muy extenso. Café sin límite era genial y un zumo de naranja recién exprimido era delicioso.

Pensé que le daría una oportunidad a este sitio después de una recomendación de un amigo. . Pero no fue así. decepcionante, el personal era agradable y educado. Los jardines son fantásticos y el lugar en general es razonable con un montón de variedad. Luego decidí visitar la cafetería, estaba muy concurrido y se podía ver que el personal era trabajar en pantalla, pero nos recibió una chica con pelo rubio y formadores de rosa, ella también no podría haber hecho más para decir que el café estaba tan agitado, todo el personal de la cafetería era profesional y personalmente me dieron un buen servicio al cliente. Sin duda recomendaría este lugar a otros y volveré de nuevo.

Had to wait over 15 minutes for 2 coffees and a tea and then the girl got it wrong and had to wait another 3 minutes for her to get the right drinks she did apologised when she came back and said she read the order wrong other than that it was hot and place was clean.

Bank holiday Monday afternoon is a tricky time to get afternoon tea. The café was almost full but service was cheerful and not slow. The food came on a traditional three-plate cake stand and was fresh if a bit dull. Egg, cheese and ham sandwiches, a good scone and two cakes (one with a tasteless filling) for £6 a head. Good value. The "cream tea" (tea and scone) looks a bargain at £3. The garden centre is really a plant shop in a greenhouse, but is worth a look on the way in.

This cafe provides lovely tadty food such as pannini's and breakfasts. The food is fresh and the salad provided is fresh and tasty. It is a good place to take people with access needs such as people in wheelchairs. The cakes are also very yummy and go down a treat.

Took mum for Mother's Day ,afternoon tea,Very disappointed to be honest. Sandwiches were dry and the only part I enjoyed were the petite carrot cakes.Scones on the counter looked lovely but the ones served to us we're no bigger than a fifty pence piece .

Have been here numerous times for coffee and scones/cake and also had a few afternoon teas, Very nice though the service can be a bit slow and if you go late in the afternoon they run out of a lot of the cakes etc. They also need to invest in air conditioning or some sort of air filtration as it gets very muggy and stuffy in warmer weather.

Visited for lunch (afternoon tea) good value, fresh prepared, would have liked a pot of hot water with the tea. Good selection in shop for the time of year.

Hartleys Garden Centre is a small, but good quality family run place, with a little café hidden at the back.I visited for lunch with a group of friends and found the place to be quite popular, with a pleasantly buzzing atmosphere.Staff are friendly and welcoming. The food is simple - sandwiches, omelettes, jacket potatoes, soup etc but all nice and fresh and reasonably priced. There are also cute afternoon teas on offer. A great place for informal lunch with friends. We stayed a bit longer and sampled the hot chocolate, which was delicious. Afterwards we browsed round the garden centre and bought a few nice plants and pretty pots.I think we'll be visiting again :-)

A friend who visits regularly took me for a morning coffee that turned into a brunch. The location is very handy, right off the A59, with plentiful free parking. The cafe is right in the middle of the garden centre, which means you get to look at things on your way in and out. It's a popular place and was full of chatting ladies having morning coffee when we were there but I gather from my parents that it is popular with people of all generations. The food was good, service quick, and prices reasonable.

Not sure which side of the Lancs Meseyside border this cafe is on. Always guaranteed nice lunch and afternoon tea. Todays special of Leek and potato soup with cheese sandwich wonderful. Don't forget your xmas plant from the nursery.

Love this place for a breakfast after having a look around the plants and flowers. The staff are very friendly and work very hard, the cafe is very clean and nothing is to much trouble.

Visited with my daughter and grandaughter for afternoon tea. My grandaughter had booked a table but on arrival there was no table reserved only to be told that we were 10 minutes early!!!! We ordered afternoon tea for 3 but were told it would have to be for 4 !!!!! We were gob smacked to say the least when the food arrived. We had 3 very small triangular sandwiches each one consisting of egg mayonaisse The scones were that small you could have eaten them in one mouthful There was 2 pats of butter and 2 little catering sachets of jam bear in mind this was supposed to be for 4 We had one pot of tea between 2 and my grandaughter had one cup of coffee. We will never visit this cafe again for afternoon tea as we felt we had been well and truly ripped off. I have tried to reply to their feedback on their home page but alas after writing my report and pressing the security words the page disapears Wonder why !!!!!.

Visited here today for the first time and was very pleased Everything was spotless The glasses and cutlery were sparkling, they were that clean!The food was very fresh and well presented and Staff was really friendlyCould tell it was a nice place because it quickly filled up Looking forward to going back and trying something else on the menu

Have been for lunch many times always very enjoyable. The staff are very attentive and the food is lovely. We usually opt for the homemade soup which is the best in the area. Will always return for lunches with Mum.

Brought my not very mobile mum today for a coffee on our way home from a lunch out. Lovely place. Clean, bright and friendly. Delicious array of cakes and a nice menu. It's a cafe rather than a restaurant but it is very pleasant. Beautiful plants and sundries available too and very accessible for people who maybe struggle with mobility. Very easy to find. Well-managed and just right.

Lovely little place, had a great little afternoon tea, we only popped in for some flowers and ended up staying for nearly 2 hours. Well worth the money.

We're here every week, which says it all. The cafe is bright and airy and can get busy but the service is of the same excellent standard no matter how busy it is. The staff are lovely and go out of their way to keep everyone happy. I think it's ideal for people who are less mobile because it's all on one level and access is easy.

this is a center we go to most Saturday mornings after our local weekly shop and the food is always top quality with all the cakes etc being made on the premises.We have never had the all day breakfast but judging by the number of people who do they must also be good..The flower and plant section is also well patronised.

Had a gorgeous full English breakfast here. Spotlessly clean cafe with plenty of room between tables. The service and food was excellent. Can't fault it on anything. Then spent lots of money on plants for the garden. Really healthy specimens with plenty of selection. My garden will be very beautiful this year. And my greenhouse full of vegetables, so long as I don't manage to kill them. Lovely morning!

My wife and I have visited this cafe on a number of occasions now and have enjoyed what we chose to eat and drink each time. They included the Full English Brekky and the Afternoon Tea. The quality of the food was excellent and the prices were reasonable. The cafe itself was clean and the staff were friendly and helpful.

Friendly staff, very efficient and lovely service. Big Bills breakfast was lovely and cooked to perfection, as was a cheese and tomato omelette with side salad, all lovely and fresh at very reasonable prices. Although you could spend quite abit of money in the nursery on plants etc!

A good place to visit for a cup of coffee and a browse around for plants and bulbs. A welcome atmosphere and a warm and cosy place to visit on a cold autumn afternoon

The resturant is not very inviting, it lacks warm and appeal. The food is awfull, the service is poor and the prices are very high

Shared a lovely couple of hours in Hartley's recently with two nice ladies, my wife and her cousin. The latter had never visited Hartley's before so she couldn't believe how nice it was. After browsing through all the plants and such like we decided to visit the cafe.The three of us had the prawn sandwiches with all the trimmings which were delicious and well priced. I had a pot of tea and the ladies had coffee. The young staff were so nice and told us that if you had coffee you could have a refill on the house if you wanted. After our lunch it was back to the plants and we spent most of our pensions buying pansies,primroses, etc. (only joking)

Lovely light lunch and clean pleasant surroundings. Soup, Sandwich, cake, coffee, its all really good.

We had been recommended to come here and, as it was raining - what else on Bank Hol Monday, we enjoyed a lovely cup of tea and a choc chip delicious biscuit (possibly home made). cafe was reasonably quiet, the waitresses were very pleasant. Can't always say the same about other very expensive establishment off Formby by pass. We considered the plants very reasonably priced, nicely set out and healthy looking. Hope to visit again for winter pansies when I've got read of nasty vine weevil grubs in my pots which have already destroyed some pansies I put in about four weeks ago bought elsewhere. Going to pour some boiling water over the little beggars. That gets rid if them.

Ive used Hartleys cafe a lot over the last few years, its clean, tidy, and has pleasant staff. To be brutally honest, ive stopped visiting, for the following reasons. Its not the cheapest place around, but i really dont mind paying extra for quality. I think the portion sizes for sunday lunch are more suited to a child than a hungry adult, veg is not expensive so it wouldnt break the bank to put extra on the plate, trouble is the plates are designed for small portions, sorry Hartleys but that doesnt kid anyone, what you will be judged on is how full the belly feels on the way out! Its not all negative, great for a coffee and cake, but thats about it for me im afraid.

been for a light lunch on 3 occasions now the first 2 very good the last one not quite as good but it is good value ,the pot of tea is also very nice

What an oasis, a very pleasant café amidst the flowers and plants, with good, locally sourced and home cooked food. which is so much better than the branded coffee shops that keep springing up everywhere with the same choice of pre-prepared re-heated fayre.Mo matter if it is just a drink or a breakfast the staff are always friendly and efficient. A great place to catch up with friends or family or just to escape the hustle and bustle of the day.

This is a very pleasant venue if ony for coffee and cake after going round the nursery area looking and buying the lovely plants etc on offer.

Have enjoined delicious brunch at Hartleys on numerous occassions. Efficient staff and pleasant dining area with view of the flower displays from the windows.Looking forward to a 'High Tea' deal soon forwarded from the internet.

Needed to meet up with some friends from various areas for a catchup chat in an easy to find central place .. and we all agreed we will definitely be going back here now we have found it. In the garden centre just off Northway ( the Maghull to Ormskirk road) we had a lovely afternoon tea. Service was excellent the staff are lovely . Our sandwiches were egg mayo, cheese and a really tasty home baked ham. Scones were fresh and served with clotted cream and jam , a selection of little mince pies and slices of cake pots of tea and refills of good quality filter coffee. Was nice to have a wander around the beautiful displays of flowers and plants . All of us enjoyed our afternoon and will revisit to try the paninis or maybe soup of the day.. or maybe even for breakfast , whatever ..... we will be back .

They say first impressions count; drive up, park; the entrance (or what seemed to be the entrance) was not the entrance, because the entrance is somewhere else (confused? I was). What seemed to be the entrance was the exit (why wouldn’t it be? Ha ha!) but was not marked clearly as such. Good first impression (not). Then walked past (what seemed to me to be) extremely over-priced plants (which I suspect could be bought far more cheaply at other shops) to get to what I had hoped would look like a nice restaurant but which turned out to be more like a common café, where numerous young staff ‘greeted’ us awkwardly and failed to make us feel relaxed and comfortable. They finally established that we were there for Sunday lunch (and no, we didn’t really want coffee before the roast dinner but accepted it anyway).We just wanted to sit down and be served! We had to wait and wait for the meal, so in fact the coffee came in handy in a strange sort of way to pass the time. It finally came on strange triangular plates with jugs in the middle for the gravy. I suspected that this arrangement was for the benefit of Hartley’s (and not for our benefit) in the sense that you can fit less food onto the plate (given the shape). The fact that a large proportion of the plate was taken up by the jug (which, incidentally was filled with rather tasteless gravy) also had the same effect. The beef was underdone (to my taste) as were the vegetables (there were only 2 kinds). The roast spuds were too few and far between. The portions were small. It makes me weep to think how easy it is to make a good value Sunday roast and how far this particular one failed to live up to expectations. We ended up paying about £20; just for this one course each and a couple of soft drinks. I was so hungry, I ate it, but (as you can see) I didn’t enjoy it. Wild horses wouldn’t drag me back. Hartley’s certainly didn’t satisfy us.