The Place To Eat at John Lewis Reading in Reading

A pleasant place to dine and eat cake!

I was very late getting lunch, as I had an appointment earlier, so there wasn't much choice, especially as I don't eat red meat, so only egg mayonnaise or tuna and cucumber. I always begrudge paying for egg mayo when it is so cheap to make, so I ended up with a tuna and cucumber soft baguette. I prefer the crusty baguettes and it was disappointing as it was very dry as it did not have any spread on the baguette and not a huge amount of filling, so just tuna mayo and cucumber. I did not enjoy it at all. It cost around £6.00 which is a lot for something you didn't like. I also had a scone with butter and jam, which was nice, and a pot of tea. The service was slow and not enough people serving. I have had fish, chips and mushy minted peas here before which was very expensive at £12.95, but really delicious, large portion of fish in crunchy batter and lovely chips. I would much rather have paid for that which only cost about £1 more than what I had, but no hot meals due to the lateness. I will definitely come back as when it is earlier they have some lovely food.

Don't really come to this cafe but fancied something to eat while shopping here.came on a weekday and it was packed noticed that its mostly elderly people who like to eat here.it was very noisy and felt like I was in a school canteen! Food prices can be a little pricey depending wat you order.not much variety.but food is still good.worth a try I guess.

Had a lovely ice cram here with my mother. The food is excellent and the service has been brilliant every time I have been here.

Been here a few times and each time has been great. Staff all okay no issues and they make amazing chai lattes Food is also good - I usually grab the full English with a desert. Would recommend to all since it's very spacious and they even have another cafe below which I will need to go and try someday

Very good for a simple place to eat right in the town centre. The children like the kids bags which have a good selection of healthy and not-so healthy items to choose from. Our eight year-old likes to eat here. Wouldn't recommend for breakfast time. We have visited a few times for breakfast, and while the food is good, it is incredibly slow to get served and there always seems to be some form of confusion behind the counter.

We had tomato soup which was really not that warm. The whole wheat roll that we took was not warmed up so the entire dish fell a bit apart due to that. The carrot cake with pistachio cream was amazing...the brownie was bit eggy so wouldn't repeat that. Service was nice and place was being turned over quickly.

There are so many option like costa, Starbucks, cafe Nero..Love to enjoy variety of cakes and their cappuccino & Mocha. Just perfect

Absolutely used to love this place but unfortunately has gone down hill. Please avoid unless you want to make yourself ill. Ordered two sausages in a roll, sausages were partially cold one side hot. When told the staff they couldn’t care less. When told how dangerous This is, the reply was they are cooked, l already I explained if they are not requested correctly this can make people extremely ill. The manager didn’t seem to care. Really disappointed not only with the food but also the service I used to go here a lot but I won’t be returning after this experience! Josh Lewis need appropriately trained staff!!!!

My son loves the Children’s Lunchboxes. The staff are always really polite and will always help with my tray if I’ve got the pushchair! Cakes are really tasty!

A pleasant place for lunch and tea. Love the coffee as it’s brewed with medium roasted beans. Staffs are nice and pleasant. It’s adjacent to the Thames so don’t forget to select the window seats.

Very rude staff on till. Food inedible (see photo of stale cinnamon bun). The restaurant manager did talk to the staff member involved and provided a refund, but then tried to defend the person by saying there were extenuating circumstances. We have been happy on previous visits, but will probably never come here again. Try BBs in the Oracle for a much better experience. Here are some useful phrases that you may like to train your staff to say: 1. Sorry to keep you waiting (after it has taken 3 members of staff and 10 minutes to put the 6 items of the previous customer through the till). 2. Would you like a receipt (after someone has paid, but shows no sign of moving). Certainly don't try to charge them again, or rudely tell them "you should have asked for a receipt". 3. I'm sorry, I'll refund your card (when they ask for a refund after you have charged them for 3 coffees instead of 2). Certainly don't say "are you sure you didn't have 3 coffees". 4. I'm sorry I don't know how to process a refund (rather than shout for someone else to help you, and when the customer tries to explain to the person that has come to help, shout at the customer "you should be talking to me"). 5. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again (when dealing with a customer complaint). Certainly don't try to blame the previous customer for diabolical customer service (I saw how the previous customer was treated, and they didn't do anything wrong). 6. Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude (when a customer points out how rude you are being). Certainly don't try to justify your rudeness by saying "I'm a person too". Better training of staff on how to use the till for offers may be helpful (hint: if it is a scone, cream and jam offer then you need to enter all 3 so that you can apply the offer, even if the customer doesn't want jam).

A good selection of cakes and hot food. Very little, or nothing at all, for someone who is gluten intolerant. It doesn't take much to offer more choice for those who are, so that friends can eat together and enjoy the atmosphere in a spacious area.

The only gluten free sandwiche available was dated 30th October, the date I was there in the afternoon. Asked if they had any other varieties and fresher ones, they checked and said no. I don’t think paying full price for a sandwich with less than 3 hours use by date left is acceptable so didn’t want it. Especially as their gluten free savoury choices are virtually non existent. So I went to the hot food counter, as per usual was offered chips or soup as all their quiches contain gluten and so does the batter on the fish and chips. Don’t know if their other sold out dishes were gluten free or not. Ended up with a gluten free slice of cake and a pot of tea. A staff member I asked about the sandwiches told me there was a gluten free cafe in town. Helpful but not if friends are not gluten intolerant and want to eat in John Lewis. They have a great system with the gluten free cakes, where they don’t say gluten free but instead don’t have gluten products on the description. So why not do this with the hot foods like fish and chips, quiches etc.

Their hot chocolate just tastes like hot water, no chocolate taste at all and it was made with half water and half milk. They either want to change their brand or put more chocolate powder in. Their prices for a tiny slice of cake are a absolute joke.

Foods quite nice & there was one helpful girl at the till. But a very miserable looking n slow woman cleaning up the plates n cups, a smile wouldn't go a miss 🤣 not great vibes from her.

The young girl at the first till was dreadful in the morning. Didn’t smile and made me feel like an intruder. Wasn’t very helpful when I was trying to find out what cooked breakfast they had and it was very hard for to point me in the right direction to the cashier

I like getting Scones and jam and tea the people are friendly and helpful

Lovely man on the tills around 4pm. Helped me out when he realised I had had my toastie yet.

Good food and service. Thank you.

Coffee awful. No teacakes available. Apparently this us hit food which stops at 3:30. How hard is it to toast a teacake?

Service sometimes a bit haphazard but genuine staff and a good range of breakfast until 11:30, cakes & sandwiches

had a brilliant breakfast sandwich at this cafe, with quick service at a good price! lots of space, and friendly staff - would go again!

I visit Reading quite a lot and this is my first stop when I arrive. Very good breakfast and lunch also tea and coffee with a pastry everything you could wish for lovely seating and helpful staff .

Located in first floor of John Lewis Shop in broad street in town centre. Really good place to meet someone or just to have a pit stop and go. You have a lot of variety of foods for breakfast. The place is clean and tidy and all waiters are really kind and helpful. If you are in Reading you need to go at least once.

Food was terrible and I was overcharged. Luckily I noticed before I left and was refunded for the overcharge not for the awful food

Ideal place for a really good meal. Visited 3 times over last 2 months. Fish and chips excellent, if they have it. Chips, outstanding. Soup - disappointing. Teriyaki chicken- no sauce, not a veg in sight, dry rice @ £10.50. Definitely NOT returning. However, their cake selection is excellent and very tasty

Toastie £5 - sour dough breat with ham hock and cheese filling. Absolutely divine.

Lovely . Nice cake and coffee and good company

Popped in for a sausage sandwich and tea. Ask for it to be untoasted, arrived toasted, still nice though. The lady behind the till was polite and attentive. I noticed that when she was not busy, she was cleaning tables 👍. As for the atmosphere, no Christmas decorations, no music and no heating, I can understand, possibly no heating due to Covid !! Anyway, they need to put some life into this place.

Woman serving at breakfast counter - no smile to me or the person in front of me. Crabby, no attempt at any cheer or friendliness, no smile. Ordered the avocado on sourdough with poached egg and smoked salmon. A lovely man brought it to me. (One of the stars goes to him). It looked pretty (the other star), but stone cold and poached egg hard, pale and grey. An utterly miserable experience, and this is John Lewis?? I see other poor reviews and can only assume that no one is reading or acting on these, so this is probably a waste of my time. I'm a Reading resident but don't think I'll ever go in there again.

Good selection of cafe food, fast service and reliable

Came up at 4.50pm for a coffee and a sandwich at the cold counter. A sign in the sandwich cabinet offered toasted sandwiches. I asked for two. The server who was very young didn’t understand what I was asking for. He looked confused and said that “hot food” finished at 3pm. I hadn’t gone to the hot food counter. I was asking about the toasted sandwiches advertised in the cold counter sandwich cabinet. He then said that “he didn’t have any”. Why are John Lewis advertising food which the staff don’t understand and which they then say they don’t have? Gave up and went elsewhere. The place to eat has definitely got worse lately in terms of choice and availability but this was the first time of poor customer service as well. Not good enough JLP.

Took 10 minutes stood at the breakfast stand before I was acknowledged and had my order taken, sat and waited a further 40 minutes with no food being cooked or served without us knowing. No communication and we had to ask for a refund on two breakfasts we never got. Others were asking for refunds and there were other very unhappy customers in the ques on the way out who were also not being informed that there were staffing and food issues. No manager available and it was the serving staff getting the brunt which was really sad to see.

On arriving at the hot meals counter at The Place To Eat, JL Reading, customers were warned 'We've run out of almost everything'. And they had, too; I was able to order a steak pie and chips (certainly not my first choice) and that was 'the last one'. The time was barely 1.15pm. When the meal arrived I was told 'We've run out of peas.' However do you do that?!! And with a cup of tea it came to £11.90, which I consider over the top. I've given it three stars because of the efforts of the staff to be apologetic and pleasant. I was given a side salad in lieu of the missing peas (!) But I was remembering wistfully the days when eating at Heelas was a real treat; they made wonderful crêpes with lovely toppings, such as apricots with ice-cream and Cointreau. Those were the days. Today the main focus seemed to be on flogging a tea and cake special at £2.50. Is that really your core clientele? I hope you'll respond and explain.

Not sure how anyone thinks the coffee is great. It comes out of a machine, a nespresso would have more taste. The cakes are very average as well, they look nice but have very little taste. The decor inside isn’t the best either, it’s more like a motorway cafe. John Lewis really need to up their game

Good food, reasonable price, staff very helpful. Don't help yourself to trays... They will be given to you.

Excellent breakfast, friendly staff!

Great service and tasty food and drinks

Lovely atmosphere since the refurb a few years ago. Even if your not shopping in JLP good go to their anyway

Honestly probably one of the cleanest places to have a cup of tea in Reading. Everyone is extremely nice and welcoming. I’m very pleased with our visit.

The choice of food was very limited. However their procedures for the current situation were excellent.

Lower prices= Lower quality! The scone was cold, the latte was cold the room was cold and had a boring view. Overall dry.

Very safe place to go for tea and a cake. I felt well looked after

Couldn't rate this place high enough, extremely clean. The staff were really helpful. Me and my sister felt safe here in terms of cleanliness and COVID.

Great tossted sandwich and coffee!

A good store with a quite good customer servicing. I have heard that John Lewis is closing some of its store. I hope that Reading store is not one of them. Nina Johansson

Reading is not a town renowned for its culinary excellence; the fact that Starbucks hits the Tripadvisor ‘highest rated’ café list at no.22 says it all. Admittedly, there is l’Ortolan (Reading’s only Michelin starred restaurant) – but, if you don’t want the 5 Course lunch at £39/head, the only other vaguely acceptable option in the town centre is probably John Lewis (aka Heelas), where the limited and unimaginative offering is also indicative of ‘Never Knowingly Undersold’ clearly being ignored. We came here quite regularly after visiting my parents-in-law and to be honest it was hard to decide what part of the trip was more disappointing. The quality of cooked food is very poor. The cake is often dry and tasteless. The coffee is made by machine and tastes of nothing. The sandwiches are passable – but of limited variety and very expensive. It’s astonishing that JL gets everything so amazingly right when it comes to customer service but scrimps on The Place To Eat. If it’s any consolation (and I hope it isn’t), the flagship store at Oxford Circus is just as bad.

The berry cake was amazing and did like the self service drinks machine. The cakes selection was great. I’ve not tried the savoury yet.

Lovely selection of good. Friendly, helpful staff

Highly recommend. Best place to have a coffee and a snack on Reading Broad St. A great selection of Cakes,Sandwiches, Salads and meals. Has Wifi. Spacious, family friendly but very noisy at peak times.

Always a welcome break whilst the wife shops..

Really good hot food and a great selection of drinks, cakes and kids food.

Lovely food and helpful staff. Tables not cleared very quickly though.

Enjoyed my fruit scone, lovely atmosphere

We took our grandson here for lunch at Half Term. The meal comprised 3fish fingers and 6 chips, all of which were cold by the time they came from the upstairs kitchen. No drink or dessert included so really expensive for what it was. No menu and staff didn’t know what was available. Not a good experience. won’t be doing it again.

It’s fine if you eat bread rice pasta potatoes or anything that comes under the 56 different names for sugar. Would have thought in their day and age you could accommodate all of your customers. It’s no wonder there is a big issue with obesity if this is the food your cafe provides.

Convenient, good value, nice coffee and cakes. Totally free too with My John Lewis Rewards. That's twice now within a month!!!! I'd love to display my artwork on the wall...

Great coffee, food and cake selection. Good value too... I would love to hang a few of my fine art prints...

I love going into John Lewis in Reading as it’s a great store, and one of the highlights is to pop into the restaurant and have a tea or coffee with a cake. I often have a John Lewis reward which entitles me to a free hot drink and cake ! I always find that there is room to sit down which there often isn’t in small coffee shops . It is self service now but that’s not a problem . The selection of cakes, scones and flapjacks is good. There is also a counter where you can get hot food, soup and salads. There is a lovely view from the window of St Marys church which is an ancient church in Reading .

As a regular user, the breakfast is very good, I can recommend this location. The staff always enquire about my life on a boat and in the summer they wish they lived on one. It's even better in the winter. I'll miss all the staff and I'll miss going in there.

Nice large cafe gets busy but does what you need for a refreshing pit stop during retail therapy

Nice coffee and a lovely chocolate and toffee brownies

Haven’t been here since few years , though we used to visit few times a week.Moved with the time , nearly self service where I got the cake of my choice then prepared my preferred drink , only dealt with a staff member at the check out for payment.The new seating arrangement accommodated more tables which are very close / tight.Will visit again hopefully during the week as today Saturday was very busy / crowded. Staff are good.

Nice and civilised, but very expensive and range is very narrow. The tall chairs overlooking the windows are ghastly for anyone over 60. Oh, for cosy sofas and armchairs - now, that would make a visit there a real occasion.

Lovely lunch. Very helpful and friendly service.

Un lugar bien ubicado para un almuerzo de domingo. Cuando todo está comprado, este es el lugar para comer. Servicio de bienvenida, comida fría y caliente, fantástica taza de té. Buen servicio y ambiente agradable para comer. Volveremos. Vi gente comiendo pasteles que parecían enormes, ¡si eres goloso!

Just used it as a coffee stop. Plenty of room, light and airy and selection of food looks pretty good.

Nice for coffee and a scone or a breakfast. Also for meeting friends there.

Very busy at lunchtime but kept clean.Hot chocolate didn't taste right don't recommend.

Food is very nice, especially their cake selection but the hot meals are excellent too. Does look a tiny bit tired though, could do w a bit of a spruce up.

Great value wholesome food, though the pies ran out at 1pm!

Dropped in for a quick cuppa and scone. Absolutely fine

the stem ginger cake was delicious,child friendly, helpful staff... The latte was right strength and we had great snacks for kids. May be more expensive but it's clean great to see chatter tables available too.

Nice as always lovely cup of tea and very delicious cake my treat when shopping and you can't better it in other coffee shops.

Nice oasis for a relaxing break

Pidió algo para comer, bueno, todo lo que puedo decir es que no te molestes [a menos que tengas uno de esos cupones gratis]Se ha convertido en una cantina de autoservicio. Haga las suyas, recoja sus propias cosas] La elección era muy limitada, café de una unidad de tipo expendedora que distribuye lo que desea, no cómo le gustaría. es decir. tibia y con leche enteraAlfombras sucias, un ambiente terrible parecía que se estaba apagando.Una pequeña miga positiva fue el pastel, un tipo de horneado verde era diferente y sabroso.No puedo recomendar lugares mucho mejores para comer en Reading

This should really be 5 stars but how many more times do customers have to say COVER YOUR SCONES WITH SNEEZE SCREENS. Great Christmas advert though

A bustling place, but coffee is good,

My friend and I wanted lunch whilst shopping in John Lewis Oxford Street. What a disappointment. There was only soup, breakfast finished at 11:30. An array of rolls and ready made sandwiches. No hot food. We settled for a smoked salmon bagel and a cheese and ham roll. Only the ready made sandwiches had the allergy advice. Two extremely dissatisfied customers. I had spent about £600 and we were looking forward to a hot lunch.Enough said.

We live I Southampton but for a change we decided to visit Reading for some early Christmas Shopping. As we normally have lunch in Southampton JL as it's always very good we thought we'd go to the reading one a go as assumed it would be just as good. OH DEAR....It was awful. I only had a jacket potato with cheese and beans so nothing that could go that wrong but I was wrong. The beans must have been sat there for hours as they were sooo reduced and dry there was no sauce and what was there was to strong. Wasnt hot either as the cheese didn't melt at all.

The John Lewis cafe used to be a destination. Now its is shabby and cluttered with limited and unattractive offerings. John Lewis is not offering what customers want and seem blind to their shortcomings.

Soy madre primeriza y ¡encontrar algunas de las cambiantes instalaciones de g en Reading son pobres!

Excellent soup and great cake selection

The fish and chips & peas were amazing

Buzzy vibe, great food, very helpful friendly staff

Me gustaría comenzar diciendo que no espero que todos los cafés de gama baja en los que me encuentro ofrezcan una opción vegana, pero John Lewis tiene prestigio y debería ofrecer esto. El personal parecía enojado con mi pregunta '¿alguno de los pasteles es vegano? '. Solo voy aquí cuando recibo la tarjeta de bebida gratis de la aplicación My John Lewis.

No es el lugar para comer en Reading, las bandejas de comida no se ven bien, el té y el café de autoservicio lleva una edad y luego hay que esperar en la cola para pagar un servicio no muy bueno. Por qué alguien debería soportar este tipo de servicio no es bueno para John Lewis, no es un parche en la tienda de High Wycombe.

Una pequeña mejora con los pasteles sobre la mesa. Algunos ahora han visto a través de las tapas, mucho más saludables. Pero todavía están expuestos aquellos pasteles cerca del borde de la mesa, donde las pequeñas manos, etc. pueden alcanzar. Elegí la esponja, era un poco pesado para una esponja, no tan bueno como podría ser por el precio que es. No me acercarás al mostrador de autoservicio de bebidas, por lo que siempre es bueno que puedas obtener una taza de té o un café en el otro mostrador. El personal es amable, que es una ventaja, y un montón de espacio para sentarse.

Good service, pleasant environment and good for families.

No me impresionaron los sándwiches, ¿por qué tanto cohetes y pedacitos extra crujientes? Sólo haz butties sencillos. Y en cuanto a las ensaladas, tratar de ser demasiado a la moda. Solo quiero ensaladas ordinarias sin toda la lujosa quinoa y extra peculiares extras. Pero el café y los pasteles son encantadores?

Nice, spacious but should have more character

Llegó a repostar después de una concurrida mañana de compras. Lo único bueno de este lugar era la selección de pasteles, había unos cuantos para elegir.

Afternoon cream tea with a fresh scone, clotted cream, pot of jam and pot of tea. It's a classic and I don't know anywhere else in Reading that you can get it. If you sit over on the far side, in the raised up area, you're in the sunshine, if there is some to be had. The staff are always friendly and you can while away an hour without anyone bothering you. Tip: you don't have to make the tea yourself or take the UHT milk! Ask at the counter and you'll get fresh milk: they are happy to help.

I went there with my husband for breakfast on a Saturday morning in March. For some reason the service was very slow, not a problem I'd experienced there before.

self -service coffees are a sign of the times if JL have gone that way...tables along the wall have no view otherwise a decent food stop

What have you done to The Place to Eat at your Reading store? It is AWFUL. I remember the glory days of the cafe when the store was Heelas and although the last iteration of the cafe was nowhere near as good as it was when it was Heelas it was way better than the tacky, drab, CHEAP, cafe you have now. The Place NOT to Eat. BTW - don’t wreck any more of your eating places.

Enjoyed a lovely large cheese scone here. Nice place to spend some time that’s not too busy like Costa or the usual places. Would come again.

Cafe does nothing to give a good customer experience, food presentation poor, used to have freshly prepared sandwiches and lovely displays now everything prepackaged and self service. Water not hot enough for decent cup of tea, trays all stained and look like they had better days. Time for another revamp to bring it up-to-date and more appealing for a nice lunch or afternoon tea out whilst shopping rather than a canteen experience.

Good, functional cafe, perfect for recharging the batteries before the journey home. Nice soup, a good selection of cake for those who indulge.