The Gardener's Retreat Hitchin in North Hertfordshire

Service super slow. Qued 25 minutes for coffee and waited another half an hour for a bacon sandwich. Which was quite tasty.

Hot drinks not good too strong sweet or bitter. A yapping dog didn't help the experience either

Always friendly staff food amazing

Surprisingly good for basically a cafe in a garden centre. And very popular - always people in there, even after closing time.

Had to send our "potting shed" breakfast back, should have had poached egg and they should have been runny but ours were hard boiled. Hence slightly disappointed

Very friendly Staff in both garden part and restaurant ,food excellent.

Wonderful Gem of a place..visited twice Recently Great place to stop off Going to Norfolk. Cambridge and a like

An interesting delightful menu which can be subject to availability. 😎💙🇬🇧👍

The burger was very overcooked to the point of not being able to cut it. The coleslaw was rough chopped cabbage with a tad of mayo. The Brie was virtually non existent. The bacon was virtually raw it was so undercooked. The onion was stale and dry. The lettuce was wilted beyond resuscitation. The chips were just ok. The price for this dreadful food was £31. All in all we wouldn’t go back if we were paid to.

Excellent choices and well prepared and presentdd. Good prices.

The food, the staff allw as great... But it was too hot to sit inside. Unless of that was a great place 🙏🏻

I’m afraid the service/food at the Gardeners Retreat was sadly very below par today. We ordered afternoon tea. It took a while before someone actually acknowledged us, despite staff walking past us. Heard someone yelling ‘where are the afternoon tea people?’ A glance out at the queuing area would have told you. Onto the food. We requested that we didn’t have smoked salmon (my companion didn’t like it) what we got could only be described as fish paste. It was awful. The cream tea scone could have been used as a weapon, it was very hard! The cream wasn’t clotted cream as usually sold with a cream tea, but seemingly a mixture of squirty cream and dream topping. Foul. The deserts contained more of the faux cream catastrophe. We ordered further drinks with the waiter. After a long wait we had to go to the counter to request these again. Apparently the waiter had gone on a break, but hadn’t informed other staff of the outstanding request. We have been a couple of times before, and have always had exceptional service and food, so I hope this was just a minor blip in proceedings and normal service will continue soon.

Had an excellent afternoon tea the other week, had lunch yesterday, different menu choices. Great service, good food and friendly helpful staff.

I brought my uncle and his wife who came down for the day from Norwich for a bite to eat we had some scones with clotted cream and jam the scones were hard as rocks and the tea and coffe we ordered were cold will not be coming back here again

Really good restaurant. Nice place to eat with views over the Hertfordshire countryside. Can get very busy.

Coffee and cake were great we will try lunch next time

Did not eat here, but the restaurant area was busy, good sized centre which gives good ideas as to what you can achieve with an unlimited budget

Great place dogs allowed in as well wonderful !

Love having a mooch around now and then have some lovely jewellery for pressies and gifts ideas that are a bit different and I highly recommend ending up in the cafe staff are lovely and a drink with a slice of heaven key lime pie only ever had lemon meringue first time I tried it but this was delicous. Yum yum Enjoy👍

After queing for sometime, I asked the cafe staff was the Victoria cake Gluten free, she said yes, I said OK I won't have that one as I'm not keen on gluten cakes. She then said no its not abruptly. (Then got angry with me and said that's not what I'd asked in the first place) funny enough the customer behind me backed me up and said I was clear enough when asking. Once back at the table my coffee was like warm. Maybe this was my fault I should of asked for a hot coffee. Then our lunch arrived. A jacket potato,which was done in the microwave. This was uncooked in places and no coloured crispy jacket. (I feel this is very lazy not cooking in the oven) with a tuna mayo which again lazy as this was not mixed up properly. No butter on the side or on potato. And the salad leaves where soggy and brown bits. Also I noticed the cook asking a customer what they had ordered (shorly she should know?) One last point when the cook is delivering bowls of chips, its not good practice to serve bowls of food with your thumbs in the bowls. Working in this type of environment. Please please have some pride and use the food and hygiene practices in your work. Maybe think would you eat this! Especially when funds and times are hard. People have limited funds and its a treat to have lunch out. You need to keep your customers not drive them away.

Amazing service from Lucy very friendly and quick service and helpful. Home made cake really nice and good price.

Food not hot enough. Slow service

So expensive and surly staff too. Won't be going back!

Very nice restaurant lovely staff and a great atmosphere. Staff are very helpful and know what they are talking about. Whether it be a Christmas tree or a cup of coffee. Nice garden centre too. A lot has been done to it since it has been taken over all for the good can get busy, but well worth the wait. Great job. Keep it up.

What a lovely cafe. Coffee was really hot, makes a change so had a second cup. My food was cooked fresh and was very tasty. Very popular but lots of tables available. Situated Inside the garden centre. Toilets available. Suitable for wheelchairs. Dogs welcome in cafe and garden centre

This is a very well run cafe. Compared to others at local garden centres it serves excellent coffee and has friendly staff. It has expanded a great deal recently so has lost some charm but must be doing well.

Very disappointed with this experience. We arrived to a nicely decorated restaurant, greeted by 2 young girls in elf costume. They were very quiet and slouched around the restaurant as if they wished they were somewhere else. One server in black (no Xmas costume). I asked if they could put on Christmas music so they turned up piped music. "Full" English breakfast, no choices, no toast for child meal. They weren't hugely busy but meal came out lukewarm, hard egg, overdone sausage. Very small tea/coffee. There were no games for children, just crayon a picture and make Reindeer food ! This cost £10 per adult and £14 per child. No Christmas spirit or festive atmosphere at all. I was so disappointed for my grandson. Wouldn't recommend

I like it here, if you get a table by the windows there is a pleasing view over Hitchin. Food is well priced and nicely presented and the menu offers more than your average garden centre fair.

Nice place for a catch up. Just had coffee no food, wear a coat as gets a bit chilli due to it being a garden.

Nice clean and tidy cafe good service and friendly staff hot well presented meal been a few times will go again well done all. Revisit for lunch busy but space ordered 2 meals fresh and tasty no problem will return Mid October visit still as good will return

Food pretty poor. £10 for two sausages one egg and chips? Burger blackened not cooked, picture attached. Chicken bites reasonable but over priced. £42 for three lunches with soft drinks. No onion rings, after paying, substituted garlic bread was a nice piece of flat bread, not a taste nor smell of garlic. It was a Monday so perhaps the cook's day off.

Lovely place for coffee and cake.... Breakfast... Dinner...

As with most garden centre restaurants and cafes now, it's busier than the actual garden centre. And it looks like they are extending this one. In fact I found the food pretty average and despite clear instructions they got the order wrong. And no, I didn't complain, I didn't want to wait another 15 minutes.

Good coffee, food is nice, same price as a pub, can be slow to get served as older people tend to go there a lot. But very nice place

The staff are v nice and the cafe is spacious and clean but the lack of vegan options is v frustrating. The large menu book states ' vegan options marked 've' but page after page hasn't such an option. It's so easy to make vegan food. We don't just eat a curry. Many people are dairy intolerant and many more are becoming vegan not just for the animals but also the environment. If you just stocked a plant based butter you could at least offer a jacket potato. Vegan sausages are so widely available that a vegan breakfast is v straightforward. A vegan scone would be so nice...please make a few tweaks to please all and move with the times. Thanks cx

Its nice to have the option to grab something while you're out, so in that respect this place is welcomed. But dont expect anything other than average food at higher than normal price. Decent selection, but £3-4 for a slice of cake cannot be justified.

The food is always excellent, cooked to perfection, plenty on the plate and always served quickly. The staff are lovely, very friendly, polite and always welcoming. We eat here whenever we get a day off and have always enjoyed the food.

Nice place, food was good. Plants looked well cared for - bought some. Had a lovely afternoon altogether. Recommend.

Very nice breakfast and service was brilliant

Limited menu. Mostly chips with all meals.

On a number of occasions visiting here there is quite often an issue with the food as in there always seems to be a lack of what they have as they seem to always run out. The food is lovely if you can get what you would like. THe staff are always friendly

Enjoyable ..service a little slow but otherwise all good.

Had an amazing afternoon tea, food was plentiful and fresh and the service was great too

Staff helpful and well mannered

Had one of their Xmas meals. Bit dried up as if it was waiting in the oven. Asked for some water, got glasses but no jug with water in. Felt that we were shown to our table and then forgotten. Will look for somewhere else next year.

Very, very expensive coffee. You're paying central London prices in a garden centre! Mish mash of stock for sale this place seems to have lost it's identity. Good range of greetings cards though..

Great grub. Nice place. Good staff. Other customers nice people mostly too!

Ample parking, the store is enormous and has everything you need. I went at Christmas time and the decorations were lovely, so much to offer and tempt you to spend your money. Restaurant food looked nice and was recommended to try but did not have enough time. Added bonus it was dog friendly too.

The queue to order food was soooo slow, no glasses for cold drinks only plastic, we were told they don't have glasses anymore, who wants to drink from a plastic cup? We waited 55 minutes for our food, 2 of the meals were sent back as they were not hot and the third never arrived. As we were now short of time, we got a full refund and left. At no point did anyone apologise.

Nice lunch, we enjoyed it and will be back.

Only stopped for coffee after a good browse around the garden centre. Service was slow, but coffee was okay and it was a pleasant place to sit and get my breath back

Pleasant staff and very nice food

Visit here quite often. Staff friendly, nice selection of caked and drinks. Breakfast and lunches also available.

Waited over 45 minutes for a cheese sandwich (checked the time by the receipt) . This is not acceptable nowadays. Dozy staff in a world of their own. No organisation and under staffed. This seems to be typical of the service industry. Poor service and when we asked the staff when we would be served they had a "take it or leave it" attitude. And when you order a bloomer you don't expect bread that's 5mm thick and tiny portions. We were all very disappointed and will stick to Barnet Hill, Cherry Tree, from now on.

Nice cafe very popular with people near and far

A really lovely little restaurant. Had a very nice latte and a delicious piece of cake. Will definitely go again.

Good food, nice atmosphere, plenty of free parking. Friendly staff, gets busy but worth it.

The place is really nice! The staff were super friendly and there a good variety to pick from. The fry up was really good and reasonably priced but the star of the day has to be the strawberry and cream cake! That was divine. I'd only have to comment on the cutlery. I did have to look for a set that didn't look dirt so I'll have to knock a star for that. A bit more attention to it and it would be 5 stars

Popular place.. clean. Could do with more staff as those there struggling. Food not great...but seems to be enjoyed. Could do with more lighter options for during day.. small bottle of water £1.85..ridiculous...pricing is higher than other garden centres

Lovely staff, calm and quiet atmosphere

1 member of staff started to serve me then she went off and a different member of staff carried on serving me and for got to put a cup on my tray for the tea, scones a bit hard but eatable my be it was the hot weather at the moment

It's OK clean and safe just had coffee and milkshakes with my grandkids will go back again

Very well priced and pleasant restaurant, well stocked with plants very helpful staff.

Did you ever visit somewhere where you afterwards thought the management "couldn't organise a social event in a brewery..." - well that sums up our experience at The Gardeners Retreat. We were greeted by a long queue for food and payment. Although they were reasonably busy the cause of the queue seemed to be more down to disorganisation than numbers of customers. We persevered and my wife returned to the table with our drinks and her cheese scone and said my sandwich would be brought when ready. Well 45 minutes later it finally arrived. During the wait, the ambience of the place was not improved by the number of barking dogs strategically placed around the restaurant. Overall a most disappointing experience, never to be repeated.

Food was outstanding, staff lovely

I ordered eggs on toast at 3.99. Evidently that is for 1 egg on toast. The extras for breakfast is £1 for an egg and £1 for a bit of toast. So an extra £2 as it was after the allotted time slot. I queried and did get my money back after a little discussion. However quite a mark up. I also ordered a bacon sandwich on white but that turned up on brown. Didn't want to haggle again so left it.

I’m usually a great fan of this restaurant, but today they excelled themselves. I ordered a bacon roll with additional egg at 10.51am. Although I don’t mind my bacon crispy at times, after half an hour under the grill it should have been cremated! Unusually patient, I waited for the half hour to pass before enquiring (and wondered what if I hadn’t even done that) and was told “5 minutes”!! No apologies when it arrived, just a look of disdain. So disappointed. A pity, because the food is good and reasonably priced. The rewards are also great. But seriously, with as many staff as customers, surely you can do better that 30mins to rustle up a bacon roll?

Great lunch - freshly made so piping hot - with a selection of delicious cakes to choose from for dessert. A lovely environment to catch up with family and friends. Polite staff.

Had soup and bread. Was nice. But not a lot of choice for a light bite

A clean restaurant in the back of a garden center, both worth a visit. The restaurant has a lovely selection, food is, I believe, cooked to order, so a little wait. Good portions.

If they had informed us there was an hour wait for breakfast we would have left. When it did arrive it was good and also freshly cooked but was not impressed with the wait

Very busy on the day. Lots of choices. Enjoyed it.

Lovely afternoon tea, fresh sandwiches, warm sausage rolls and gorgeous cakes 😋

Very good service and nice setting

Called here I had chicken burger and chips with coleslaw husband had hot beef sandwich both our chips were undercooked burger overcooked coleslaw was old and chewy.30 min wait but cafe not really busy ? Used to come years ago and was lovely hot taps in toilet s not working and hand sanitizer empty mentioned it to the staff but they didn't seem too botherd .garden center it's self ok good disabled access throughout .

Been for lunch many times always a great experience.

We had an excellent Festive afternoon tea - slightly difficult to book on phone but got there eventually- the table was laid up beautifully and food was delicious. The staff were really friendly and helpful , especially Charlotte who waited on us and made sure we enjoyed everything . Highly recommend

It has been quite a long time since I have eaten here. It was a busy lunchtime, butlhave to say it was really good food

Café service was very poor, we were told by staff that the kitchen wasn't big enough and there was not enough staff on shift

Went there years ago when it was Wyevales. Went today, lots of items for presents, garden and pet items and lots more. Restaurant had lots of choice for food and plenty of nice cakes. Staff friendly and food arrived hot and tasty. Only thing to let the restaurant down was it having one till. Will definitely pay a visit again.

Lovely place and great restaurant

I enjoyed a simple but pretty decent lunch. The service was quite good and the ambience quite reasonable. The only thing it was dinged on was the vegetables were rather damp. Worth a visit!

Ben Ford had a great day when we took him there. Had the jumbo breakfast and went away with a coffee and walnut cake for himself....greedy !!!

Needed a cold drink after a big hike around town and we had to wait 40 minutes to be served. There were 4 people in front of us a d they said they were short staffed.... most only wanted a coffee or tea because it was about 3.30 so why the long delay? We were so thirsty we waited but if there had been somewhere else near we would have walked out. And 4.50 for a small slice of cake is outrageous.must try harder.

What an amazing experience. Best afternoon tea around, amazing value for money. The manager Louise was wonderful what an asset to the company she is nothing was to much. Lovely staff clean restaurant. Food was excellent

I went with a group of 11 and had the most wonderful afternoon tea. Lovely food and a waitress who looked after us so very well even to rearranging the tables so that we could all sit together. I think her name was Grace. I would highly recommend the afternoon tea. Loved the way it was presented too.

Lovely lunch with my Mum. The food was delicious and our waitresses Amelia & Abi couldn't have done more, brilliant service. Look forward to returning soon!!.

Menu option for sandwiches was a sandwich platter with coleslaw and chips or you could substitute salad for chips. If you’re a fan of very thick bread this is your place. If you’d rather have medium slices with a decent filling then maybe this isn’t your cafe of choice. The substitute salad for chips was less than a tablespoon of lettuce with a quarter of a chopped tomato, maybe if I’d have had the chips it would have been a minute portion too of two chips in which case this was a fair swap! The chicken breast and chorizo filling was disappointedly lacking in chicken, three pieces. The coleslaw I didn’t try it didn’t look at all appetising. The cost of this was £7.99, most of which I left on the plate. I realise hospitality wants to recover some of their lost Covid income but this is not the way to do it. £5 would have been a more realistic charge for a disappointing lunch.

Clean, fresh, delightful. Nice cafe with fresh food. A selection of cakes including gluten free and nice, helpful, friendly staff. Lovely view if you sit by the windows. Conservatory style seating. Very happy with the food and the attention to detail given by the staff.

This is the cafe in what used to be Wyevale and is now Hitchin Garden Centre. They’ve done their best to make it as light and bright as possible and the staff were friendly. The food is ordinary garden centre type. COVID measures were a bit perfunctory, eg tables were mostly being wiped between visitors but chair arms were not.

you walked yourself to the table, then had to get up & get a coffee, & order your food. When the food came we asked for salt & pepper had to get up again to get it. So social distancing re Covid did not exist. Food was ok, had to get up & pay. Compared with Populars Nurseries who have it 100% organised, this was scary after being in lock down for 5 months.

We visit weekly as staff so friendly and has a lovely atmosphere, great selection of food from breakfast to lunchtime with yummy puddings and cakes,and numerous beverages to choose from.