The Garden Kitchen in Cheshire West and Chester

A great surprise to find the Cafe open on New Year's Day after a walk on Burton Marshes. The serving staff were so nice and welcoming and worked really hard as it was quite busy. The popular brunch menu was excellent, which arrived hot and on quality crockery (not disposable plates etc). There was a good selection of fresh cakes available despite it being a bank holiday, and we were served a lovely big pot of tea for two. Although we had to wait a while to be seated, it was well worth it. Special thanks to the staff and the person who made the decision to open on 1 January.

I think the food here is pretty good as is the place but unfortunately the waiters look as though they don’t actually want to be there! Each time we wanted attention we had to summon one of them . No one ever voluntarily came to wait on us . They look as though they should be in the gardens in scruffy fleeces rather than smart waiting attire. No enthusiasm for the job at all!!! However when we did manage to order the food arrived quickly and was very good . Poor management of waiting on staff to blame .

Great setting, bright and airy. The food was lovely, I had a falafel wrap, salad and chips, really tasty, definitely recommend. My partner had the baked potato which was also good. You could tell that a lot of thought had gone into the menu which was very varied and lots of vegetarian options. Staff were very pleasant. Very reasonably priced food too!

I ordered the Sunday Lunch - roast beef. It was all served piping hot, possibly microwaved prior to service. The veg and roast potatoes were good although the broccoli was overcooked and had disintegrated. The Yorkshire pudding was soggy and lacked any crispness. The beef was well done and firm, it lacked flavour and any succulence Overall 6-10 reasonably priced and edible. around £12 -50 service was good

We had a lovely lunch on Saturday. The service was excellent and the food freshly cooked. Attention to detail and presentation wonderful. We visit regularly and have never been disappointed. We will return again soon.

Christmas Lunch Menu is available at Ness Gardens Botanic Kitchen Cafe between 1st and 22nd December 2021. Bookings and pre-orders only available. 2 courses with coffee and mince pie for £15.95 or 3 courses with coffee and mince pie for £18.95. Four of us have enjoyed an excellent Christmas lunch at Ness Gardens Cafe today. From the choice of three starters we had three of the creamy roast chestnut soup topped with crispy red onions and served with bread and butter and 1 ham hock terrine served on a watercress salad with piccalilli. For the main course from the three alternatives we all had the traditional roast turkey served with roast potatoes, seasonal vegetables, stuffing, pig in blanket, gravy and cranberry sauce. For desserts from the 3 choices on offer we had 3 of the Irish cream Liqueur Tiramisu and 1of the traditional Christmas pudding with brandy sauce. Coffee and mince pies were included in the price to finish with. Everything was beautifully cooked and presented. The staff were welcoming and attentive and the service was very efficient. All in all the meal was an excellent experience and great value for money in a really nice venue. Free parking is available and the building has good disabled facilities.

You would think this cafe would be to the quality of National Trust but far from it. We ordered toast, cake and coffee. Little care or effort went into the preparation and presentation. The bread used was the cheapest thinnest sliced bread. Hardly toasted , more like warm bread. Jam was the cheapest catering jam when they sell quality preserves in the shop .Coffee was luke warm and not nice. So much more could be done to improve the cafe. Missing an opportunity we think.

We are 'members' here but dont often use the café. Called in for a coffee and a scone (with jam and butter). Service polite and prompt . Mocha coffe and a Chocolate drink fine. But maybe the scone a little drier than we would hav eliked so really quite crumbly to manage

We have been visiting Ness Gardens (always wonderful) for several years and usually pop in at the cafe for lunch or coffee and cake. Last time we went for lunch we left disappointed for a number of reasons. Firstly, the self service style is taking away from the atmosphere. Secondly, the choice of food is limited and lastly, the salads I chose weren’t tasty at all. Today, we decided to give the cafe another chance. This was a mistake. My leek and potato soup was bland, didn’t taste home cooked and is not a dish I would order again. My husbands half filled potato (last time he was served two halves, today only one?) was rock hard. We shared a piece of Victoria Sponge, which was fresh but instead of the cream it was layered with some super sweet icing... It’s such a shame, this used to be a lovely cafe serving home cooked food with personalised service. We won’t be back for more...

This is only a short trip from home, visited for lunch today with two granddaughters and two adult relatives. Since we last visited, the cafe has been changed to a self service. I doubt this was a good idea, as many of the regulars visiting are advanced in years, and would rather have a waitress service as before. The granddaughters however enjoyed the children's lunch pack (Ham or cheese sandwich, 'quavers' drink). One adult also though her sausage roll with feta , melon and salad. However my coronation cheese sandwich left a lot to be desired with the bread rather dry, the other adult said the same about the bread provided with her rather 'thin' not very palatable vegetable soup.

We called in for lunch whilst visiting Ness Botanical Gardens. We had an enjoyable lunch at a reasonable price - the pulled pork panini was particularly good. Friendly, helpful staff.

It's a pity really as the surroundings are great. However the food is overpriced and weak. You would expect a decent artisan bread for the butty's price but you simply get "supermarket" white stodgey stuff. The egg butty was a slippery mess and the salad with it basically minimal scraps. ....... Need to do better

My wife and I were giving to of our friends a tour of Wirral, with the intention of having a lunch at Ness Gardens, prior to taking a walk around the gardens as we are both members. We ordered our meal, my wife asked for a jacket potato with a salad, I requested simply a ham sandwich and our friends ordered scones. Within only a couple of minutes my friends order arrived, along with their coffees and my "hot chocolate", which turned actually turned out to be a "slightly warm chocolate" (a possible breach here of the "Trade Descriptions Act").. Undaunted we awaited the arrival of main meal order, whilst our friends sat, scones akimbo, for the arrival of the remaining food order. Eventually and having awaited for over 25 minutes for the remaining food order, despite reminders to the waiting staff, our remaining order arrived. Needless to say it was not worthy of the wait. My wife's "baked potato" was only half cooked (presumably this was "cooked" in a microwave, so therefore should not have taken so long). The spud was simply "slapped" with a dollop of tuna and accompanied with not the advertised salad but simply a quartered chunk of lettuce, with no further embellishments In my case (and b it's hard to ruin a simple ham sandwich) mine was ham encased on bread that already seemed to have seen much better days, probably only best used for toasting. Either that or the "buttie" had been hanging around for around half an hour in a hot kitchen awaiting to accompany the rest of the order. Which in this case was possibly bordering very closely to their now breaking some H&S food presentation regulations. When we came to pay our bill, my wife complained that her food was uneatable, however they still charged us the full price for our order. This "café" for want of a better word, is nowhere near the previous one that we were used to enjoying. In fact this was not very enjoyable at all to our party and very embarrassing for us, having taken friends who had come all the way from Somerset. Also it was only later did we find that as members of Ness Gardens we could have received a 10% membership discount. However this was not displayed on any of menus of supportive notices. Therefore we actually gave the "café" a 10% tip for a service they very much did not deserve. My best advice is if you are visiting he lovely Ness Gardens, avoid the "crappy café" |(if can hardly be claimed to be a restaurant, diner or otherwise) and bring along your own picnic. As The Gardens have numerous places were friends & families can enjoy "Al Fresco" eating, without the possibility of being served inedible food.

This was our first visit to the Garden Kitchen, and contrary to some recent reviews, were very impressed. There was no queuing at a servery, or the need to carry a laden tray to a table. The friendly and efficient staff took your order at the table. We thought this to be a definite plus point as in many cafes it can be a bit of an obstacle course trying to negotiate between tables whilst balancing a tray. Although a very busy lunchtime, there were plenty of staff and service was quite quick. Sandwiches, served with a side salad, were obviously freshly made with plenty of filling; and our friends' paninis looked equally delicious. Coffee, which quite often can be a let down, was very good.

The best thing about the cafe at Ness Gardens is the cafe staff who are friendly, helpful and do their best, the worst thing is the cooked food. My comments are based on several years of eating regularly at this cafe. Coffee and cake is OK. Scones can be quite good but cooked food (i.e. lunch specials and regular menu) is variable and can be quite poor. Welsh rarebit is usually decent and reasonable value but Sunday lunch 9 days ago was very poor and at £12.95 for roast beef, veg, Yorkshire pudding and gravy was poor value indeed. Beef was tough and very chewy, Yorkshire pud too dry and leathery and veg was somewhat overcooked chips were OK but there were no roast potatoes.. All in all not very nice. Be cautious about what you order. Probably best to use this facility for tea/coffee or as a snack stop only.

I dropped in for lunch and was greeted by friendly staff. I really enjoyed the home made cheese and mushroom quiche!

Have been here many times over the years for lunch or tea, as we are members of the Friends of Ness Gardens. Recently food has not been up to scratch , tables not cleaned properly. Greasy smell coming from kitchen which has not been a problem before, which was so bad today we left early.Seriously considering cancelling our membership.

Ordered Mozzarella and black olive on 'rustic bread'.. which consisted of slices of soggy mozzarella, with a few soggy olives, on two enormous wedges of completely tasteless stale white bread..struggled to cut the crust! Must have discarded 80% of it. Wouldn't visit again :-(

My husband and I went here for lunch we ordered the ploughmans with pulled ham which is priced at £10 each. What arrived was very disappointing. There was no pulled ham, just normal sandwich ham chopped up into tiny pieces. Two very uninspiring blocks of cheese both of which seemed to taste exactly the same (possibly Cheshire cheese?) and also seemed a bit stale. The bread seemed like it was meant for a sandwich. I am annoyed because I came here earlier in the summer with my husband and we had the same meal and it was entirely different, that is why we returned. This just didn't live up to its price tag and is also not what is described in the menu. Needless to say nobody bothered to ask us what we thought of it. We will not be coming back again!

Been here many times in the past. Food and drink nothing special, but Ok.

Short on time to visit gardens, but stopped of for lunch. Enjoyed a Sunday Roast on Wednesday, well cooked and nicely presented, attentive staff and reasonable price, must visit the garden next time.

Ness Gardens cafe provides a welcome stop after your ambles around the garden. A good menu with daily specials and great cake! The staff are lovely and the prices won't make too much of a dent in your pocket!

Fui con mi madre de ayer - no había sido por un tiempo y nos decepcionó. Compartimos un sandwich de queso seco y chutney con un poco de ensalada en seco en el lado - este fue elaborada en aproximadamente dos minutos de ordenar y se veía que ningún esfuerzo o pensó en hacer. Lo hizo peor fue cuando pedimos algo de mayonesa nos dieron saquitos que ni mi madre ni yo podíamos abrir - en realidad estábamos a punto de pedir un par de tijeras cuando nos rendimos y decidimos ir a casa. Siempre estoy enfadado y un poco molesto cuando tengo que pagar por algo que podía hacer mejor en casa. Es una pena, porque el lugar atrae a muchos visitantes y que ellos tienen que lidiar con esto. ¿Es difícil hacer un delicioso sándwich, atractivo aspecto con una fresca, ensalada jugosa en el lado?

Una reciente visita aquí reforzado mi anterior pensamientos que este es un lugar popular.

El café está en el centro de visitantes en Ness Gardens. Ofrece aperitivos y comidas principales, además de una gran variedad de bebidas, incluyendo bebidas alcohólicas a los más pequeños. La comida es preparada a la orden y no podría ser más fresco. En el día que fuimos no había jamón para sándwiches o comidas plowman's así que optamos por queso y Branston pickle que eran deliciosas y estas llegaron en una variedad de pan blanco o marrón con una pequeña ensalada y patatas. El personal era muy educado y muy elegantemente vestido y tomaba los pedidos en la mesa así que no hay que hacer cola para los clientes. En un trabajaron rápidamente servicio de almuerzo muy concurrido. El menú también tiene platos principales y postres si queríamos algo más contundente. También hay una selección de tartas a elegir que altera en una base regular. El coco y mermelada porción era precioso.

Visited today, menu was a bit unusual for sandwiches and Panini fillings so I went with a jacket potato with cheese and bean, crispy oven cooked jp, really enjoyed it. Waitress was able to check for allergens in kids meal which was helpful and they swapped chicken for sausage for our toddler. Hubby had Italian vegetable soup which he said was very flavoursome and came with bread rolls. Overall nice little stop for lunch before our visit to the gardens

I visited this cafe early on a wet Sunday and it was about half full. I ordered the "All day breakfast", when it turned up a few minutes later it was minus the egg, which was delivered a minute or two separately in a bowl and poured on top, oil and all. The plate was cold, as in very cold so the food was at best warm, I mentioned this to the egg deliverer who insisted on replacing it with a hot one, again a couple of minutes later breakfast was seved on, this time a very hot plate. Two issues, one the original breakfast (the lukewarm warm one) had been put onto the hot plate so I now had a hot plate and cold, not even warm food. Secondly, the "chef" was obviously offended by my request for hot food and using his HAND literally wiped the food from the first to the second plate, beans egg and all. Interestingly, only a very small part of the kitchen is visible from the cafe and it was here this demonstration of hygiene was put on. The food was sent back to the kitchen and the order cancelled! I was told that I would not be charged for the meal, a bit of a redundant statement given there was no way I was going to pay! Is this really the state of British catering in 2016 and what would an overseas visitor have made of this? Recommendation, avoid unless you like a cold cooked meal and have a tolerance against bacteria

Had a good light lunch of hearty vegetable soup and bread. Friendly staff. Good place to take a break whilst exploring the gardens.

Another amazing special! Lovely selection of food on the special board catering for everyone's taste

Despite a previously disappointing visit, we decided to try it again after a lovely walk around the gardens in the sunshine.The menu seemed to be vastly improved with an excellent selection at very reasonable prices. Although it was busy staff seemed to be coping well and food was served without undue delay.My husband had the Welsh Rarebit and said it was the best he'd ever eaten, while I had a pulled pork panini with a generous salad and crisps. The coffee was very good too.All the food coming from the kitchen looked delicious and very well presented.We will definitely be back!

As we arrived at lunchtime we headed straight to the cafe. The service was very prompt & the staff were friendly. Unfortunately the soup we ordered, although tasty, was rather thin. The little brown rolls served with the soup were good. After walking round the garden we returned for tea & cake which was promptly served. A welcome sit down!

Good cafe standard... much better than your average caf ! The menu offers plenty of choice, everything from the usual lunchtime staples to some imaginative specials on the chalkboard. Everything is homemade and the service is friendly and efficient. The only downside was that the tables and chairs were too close together where we sat (by the chalk board). However I would definitely recommend having your lunch here while visiting these lovely gardens

Waitress service, friendly staff, delicious range of cakes. A good example to other similar places of how to do it well

We know this restaurant to be popular and on a sunny Good Friday holiday expected it to be busy but know it to be worth a short wait. Although the restaurant was extremely busy, all the staff excelled themselves both at lunchtime and mid afternoon after we'd taken a stroll round the beautiful gardens. Tables were cleared promptly, we were seated with friendly greetings and our orders speedily delivered. The food was tasty, well presented and as always we received very personal service.

I would've liked to reviewed this place, but as we didn't get as far as the tables, it would be difficult. As the sign requested, we waited to be seated - and waited. We walked in to see if we were visible to the one staff member folding napkins - apparently not. We read a menu so we could save time we when we were attended to - and in the end we left. We went to West Kirby, and had an excellent lunch at Marigolds

We had a bite to eat in The Garden Kitchen on our visit to Ness Botanic Gardens and although the food wasn't perfect, it was very nice as were the Latte and the Mocha's which we had. Although there was not too great a choice on the menu I decided to have the roast lamb and mint panini which was a strange but very tasty combination. The staff were polite and courteous however, our server who was older than the other waiting staff (without being offensive) seemed a little ditsy and forgot what we had ordered on several occasions. She was very nice though and apologised for her mistakes. We will return here on out next visit to Ness Gardens

Ness Gardens are well-worth visiting, not just for the splendid gardens,but for this delightful restaurant. We stopped off for lunch and were agreeably surprised by the tempting menu; not over-ambitious but well-presented and promptly served. The staff were pleasant and interested to learn that we had held the reception for our wedding at Ness Gardens twenty five years ago to the day!

I had the best latte I have ever had, followed by a quiche that was out of this world. What a friendly and helpful team of waitresses - I can't recommend this restaurant enough! Make sure you leave room for cakes, (the blondie tastes better than it looks - it's not just a sponge!).

I was very impressed with our afternoon tea. Plenty of brown and white crustless finger sandwiches, tuna, egg, cheese and pickle and ham and tomato, followed by chocolate cake, lemon cake, banana cake, rocky road, shortbread, millionaire shortbread, scones with jam and cream and cupcakes!! There was also grapes and fresh melon slices.We are all big eaters, but even we had to admit defeat and without asking all the cakes that were left were boxed up for us to take home.It was a lovely afternoon tea, great value at £9.95.

My now husband and I recently had our wedding at Ness Botanic Gardens and the whole day was beautiful in this wonderful setting. I had to write a review as the catering team from Ness/Mosaic Hospitality prepared such a delicious meal for the 50 guests: thai salmon fishcake, kebabs on the barbecue with side salads and potatoes, and lemon cheesecake for dessert. Almost all of the guests commented on how amazing the food was. Flavoursome, hot, served by friendly and helpful staff that were running around all day making sure everyone was ok, constantly coming round to pour more wine, literally catering to our every need. An incredible job was done & hats off to the chef the food tasted great. Special thanks to team leader Kate who is very hard working & does a great job, and thanks to all the team for your help in making ours a wonderful wedding day x

We stopped for lunchtime snacks. My cheese and chutney sandwich was in foccacia as requested BUT rosemary flavoured. The chutney was so wet it had run out and under the bread, as had the surfeit of salad dressing. In addition the bread was slathered with some cheap and nasty margarine. All in all I wouldn't bother again.

First, a couple of caveats; it was a Bank Holiday and they were very busy. Two of us had sandwiches which were acceptable but the third member of our party had a piece of quiche which, although clearly homemade, was greasy, cold in parts and clearly undercooked - the pastry was soggy. It was pretty much inedible. Even more disappointing was that there wasn't so much as a check back.

Any visit to Ness Botanical Gardens has to include a visit to the Garden Kitchen Cafe, if you are planning a full tour of the gardens then the full English breakfast will give you the energy to do so. Once the garden exploring is done then a nice pot of tea and home cakes to round off the visit will end the day well.

Today's visit to The Garden Kitchen at Ness Botanic Gardens was not my first, although it was the best meal I've enjoyed at this restaurant since my first visit a few months ago. I was tempted by the Quiche of the Day served with new potatoes and salad, which was on the Special's Board. I was informed by a friendly member of staff that the quiche was Stilton, ham and leek and subsequently placed my order. Overall, the meal was delicious, but the star of the show was the quiche. I normally find quiche can be too heavy, with thick pastry and limited filling. This quiche however, was the opposite: it was full of flavour, light and with just the right amount of pastry. All credit to the on-site chef who made my lunchtime stop at The Garden Kitchen extra special! Fabulous-tasting food, made on-site, at affordable prices and served by friendly staff.

Visited twice recently during visits to the beautiful Ness Gardens. Extremely dissapointed on both occasions. The first we waited about 45 mins for our order. When I enquired how long it would be, it was clear they had mislaid our order and we waited further only to receive duplicate orders. The steak which I asked to be medium to well was dripping with blood but the potato wedges and my friends jacket potato were very nice so we gave it a second chance. The second time was awful. The cucumber was 'off' and the lettuce old brown, disgusting and limp. The extremely strong pure mustard dressing is simply inedible. I will post photos soon of the disgusting salad. The manager however was kind and courteous and apologised profusely agreeing that the 'chef' should never have served such items. Staff lovely - chef clearly couldn't care less about quality!

The leek and potato soup served with fresh bread and butter was declared very good as were the egg and cheese sandwiches which were well filled and presented with a side salad and crisps. We were a little surprised, however, that they had run out of ham.Very swift and pleasant service.