Waitrose Cafe in Ipswich

Terrible service. No gluten free chips. No leaway I wanted vegetarian breakfast as it’s gluten free. Can’t do after 11:30 but have nothing else to substitute

First and last visit i must say. Husband ordered us two sandwiches which are put in the toaster bit into my one cheese and mushroom barely warm outside and inside cold so gave to husband and he found his one the same which was cheese so took them back to be re warmed up, I had a bowl of carrot and coriader soup that was hot as i asked would they make sure it was, Finally had a coffee barely warm was the milk in it which made the whole drink cold. Daughter who was with us said it has gone done a lot here you get better food and drink over at the David Lloyd Gym opposite, On way out used the disabled toilet by the lift that was dirty with paper all on the floor yes said report it but could not be bothered really as feel although they state toilet checked regularly it is like a lot to do with Waitrose it states one thing but the reality is another, They should have staff going in these toilets every half an hour to inspect them not rely on customers to have to find a staff member toreport it ,

I was walking back after dropping off my car at the garage so I thought I'd pop in and get some breakfast. The A14 was blocked so there was hardly anyone there. But the service was incredibly slow. Once I'd placed my order - just some toast, I went and sat down. 10 minutes I was still waiting. Ridiculous.

Terrible idea to do way with pots of tea. Given some hot water and a teabag in a cup.!!! £2.35 for the privilege. Told it was a trial, if so then forget it. Where gives you that this day and age. Very poor

After waiting for 30 minutes in the queue watching the staff incompetence. Scone dry. Hot chocolate and coffee was the worst we had every had.will never go back totally disgusting

Disappointing attitude to people with allergies. One of my party eats vegan because she is severely lactose intolerant. Staff shrugged their shoulders and told us to read the labels but actually none of the cakes or biscuits were dairy free. Very poor in this day and age.

I had to drop my car off for it’s service and decided to kill the time looking around the retail park. Before hand, however, we chose to have breakfast in the Waitrose cafe. My wife ordered a toastie and I pushed the boat and decided to have a Full English. It was probably the worst Full English I have experienced. The bacon was cremated, the sausages were burnt and hard and the tomatoes overcooked. All served in, what I consider to be, a souplate, which made it difficult to eat. Not a great experience by any stretch of the imagination, and to cap it all, overpriced.

I have had consistently positive experiences with Waitrose & Partners. The stores are always clean and well-organized, and the staff are friendly and helpful. The quality of the products, including the fresh produce and meats, is consistently high. One of the things I particularly appreciate about Waitrose & Partners is their commitment to sustainability and ethical sourcing. They have a wide range of products with eco-friendly packaging, and they have a number of initiatives in place to reduce food waste and support local suppliers. I also love the convenience of the online shopping service, which makes it easy to place an order and choose a delivery slot that suits me. The delivery service itself is always reliable, with the groceries arriving in good condition. Overall, I have had nothing but positive experiences with Waitrose & Partners and would highly recommend them to others.

We often visit Ipswich and normally pop into John Lewis. Whilst there we stop for a drink and a bite to eat in the cafe. Up until our most recent visit - several days ago - the service was relatively good, however, our latest experience was disappointing. We found the service well below the standard one expects from Waitrose: there appeared to be a shortage of staff and there appeared to be an inordinate delay waiting for food. Moreover, the food was cold when delivered. I’m sure this was simply a blip in.

Popped into Waitrose for a coffee and snack at around midday. Service at the counter was painfully slow. No ham toasties available so we had a cheese and fruit scone which were both extremely dry. Pastel de Nata tasted of nothing and the base was doughy. Coffee was ok though. Many tables were left uncleared and we had to put the rubbish onto another table do we could eat. Considering this is supposed to be an upmarket store we found it very disappointing. I doubt we’ll be back any time soon.

No gluten free cakes or pastries, just offered something processed from a packet. Not really good enough from a large retailer like Waitrose!

We decided to stop here for some lunch after a visit to Trinity Park. It was around 12.30pm, I thought it would be very busy, but was quite quiet for a Sunday. Several tables were available but full of past customers crockery etc.& lots of cleaning needed. I had to request our table to be cleared & cleaned?? We ordered soup & asked for gluten free bread as my daughter is a Coeliac. The staff member appeared phased by this request & shrugged her shoulders. Chicken stew & a child's picnic box, along with drinks were ordered. After a very long wait for the soup & stew I asked the staff member if they could provide gluten free bread to go with the soup. She said 'no'. I said this was unacceptable considering their own supermarket was below the Café & stocked gluten free bread. I also asked why we were charged for bread they couldn't supply. I received a very blank look!!!! Wake up Waitrose, how you are managing to survive with not supplying essential dietary requirements & staff who couldn't care less beggars belief. We won't be rushing back.

Similar experience to what others have reported. Arrived at 1pm hoping for coffee and a snack. Was told there was a 30 minute wait for all hot food, including soup. No savoury food available apart from a few sandwiches. Very poor choice. Staff appeared disorganised. Won't bother again. They need to up their game.

The service here is the slowest I have experienced anywhere. Management need to step in and get things sorted.

What a disappointing cafe experience we had when visiting this branch. Neither my wife nor I wanted anything complicated, but what I decided upon was not available - a cheese and tomato toasted sandwich - or a 'toastie' as described on the menu. We were early lunchtime customers so were surprised to find not a single cheese and tomato 'toastie' available. Plenty of chicken with pesto, in fact a surfeit! One 'Ultimate Cheese Toastie' remained, so I chose that. The soup of the day was advertised as Tomato, served with a choice of roll. My wife chose this option. While I waited to pay, she found a table. I asked for a receipt which was tendered and this I put in my wallet. Had I checked it I would have seen that I had paid for Winter Vegetable soup, and not the advertised Tomato. Should I not have been told of this menu change. Because food had been ordered I received a number to place on the table - for the benefit of the serving staff. While waiting for our food we watched the staff serving and clearing. Fascinating! When our food eventually arrived, the soup was not as ordered and the description of what I received could never realistically include the word 'Ultimate', unless 'Disaster' was also appended. It looked OK but one side of the bread used had not been toasted AT ALL and the cheese on top, which could have been soft at an initial stage when placed under a salamander or grill, had been forgotten. As a result it was dark, hard and unpleasant. I did eat what I could because I was hungry but it was only the addition of English mustard that gave the 'Ultimate Cheese Toastie' any taste. My wife's soup had taken so long to arrive it was tepid. Waitrose is purportedly one of the 'best' supermarkets available in the UK. Other local retail enterprises are able to operate very good, efficient, good value and friendly café services. Whoever is responsible for the café catering, needs to sharpen their pencil.

Had breakfast in the Waitrose cafe, thought being Waitrose/John Lewis it would be ok but how wrong. Shortage of staff and those on hand seemed quite miserable except for one young lady. Food was appalling. So sad to see this partnership go down the pan but visiting the JL part seems well on the way. Do hope they manage to turn things around.

Is going on with this restaurant. My son and I have been regular I customers for several years but the place has become a fiasco. Twice in past few weeks has been closed due to boiler problems,not just for a few hours but for days. It's time to sack whoever is responsible for maintenance of the system!! You are running a top grade supermarket not a corner shop. The quality of the coffee you serve is very poor the food products available are hit and miss. These comments are not a reflection on the staff who are very polite and professional and struggle with these matters. Time to deal with these issues if your reputation is to be retained.

Really disappointing visit. Very slow service taking hot food orders with no apology for the 20 minute wait. Table was cleared but dirty. A further 20 minutes wait for a bland tasting parsnip soup which I ordered with a brown roll but it came with a white one to the table. They did change that straight away but shouldn't have got it wrong with the order receipt in front of them. The xmas wreath cake was fairly dry too. Let's hope they do better if there's a next time with speeding up the order taking.

The best Welsh rarebit I have ever tasted. Breakfast today. We went at 10.15. Service a little slow even though there were 4/5 staff in the background, they seemed a bit disorganised. but the food more than made up for it.

You expect to pay a little over the odds when using a Waitrose outlet but then you wold also expect exceptional food ... the breakfast was very average and compared to cheaper options, this will be missed next time round

Coffee was tasteless, had to ask for tea spoons and napkins to be topped up as neither available. Quite expensive for what they provide. Staff cheerful and helpful

We've been a number of times, usually weekends. Staff are usual lovely people, working hard for the 'partnership'. However, unless you allocate more resources to this facility it will not survive! Dirty tables, long queues, excessive waiting times (quoted 25mins took 45mins), and many veggie items 'off' menu just make this cafe hard work.We like John Lewis and Waitrose but this place is stretching our patience yet it could be turned around with some reactive management.

We visited for breakfast and both ordered eggs Benedict. It was pretty horrid. The béarnaise sauce tasted like salad cream, the ham wasn’t nice at all and the eggs were over cooked. We were given a refund as it was inedible.

Visited the cafe in John Lewis early one morning, ordering a large breakfast. Due to not wishing for tomato or baked beans, the lady offered me an extra sausage in replacement which was kind of her for the offer.Once the breakfast arrived, was great portion sizes, good quality & fairly priced. Couldn't fault it.

I have been visiting several Waitrose branches for many years and most, regrettably, have serious problems with their cafe/restaurant services. I have spoken to management but no change is made to make the cafe experience good.

Had an excellent coffee and scone served by one of the best assistants, Dan, who was very polite and efficient despite the fact he had just had to deal with a very difficult lady customer

Nipped in for breakfast before work. Simple breakfast - poached egg and mushroom. Only 3 other customers there. It took forever to arrive. Another lady had already complained as they’d forgotten her. All staff looked like they’d been sedated - no smiles, wondering around aimlessly. Food was ok when it came - and maybe they all sparked into action when it got busier - but I will not be visiting again.

The food is of good quality, the service pleasant but moving down the counter is glacial - mostly due to the time it taked to dispense hot drinks.

Met a friend here for brunch, thank goodness we arrived when we did as the queue to order after we’d got there was v long - it wasn’t our fault, I hasten to add. I ordered pancakes with bananas and maple syrup which were scrummy and my friend had sourdough toast with butter and jam. The staff are lovely but there’s not enough of them. Food quality is good but the cafe itself needs more prompt clearing to ensure a high standard that you come to expect from any good quality cafe.

Decent range of cafe food but terrible coffee: I've been a couple of times and each time it was like someone had tipped an ashtray into my cup and poured some warm milk on top.

There was quite a queue on arrival, which made it a very slow process. On a positive note it gave plenty of time to choose breakfast. There was some disruption due to "equipment failure" but fortunately, my choice of avocado on sourdough toast topped with bacon was still available.

I have been to this cafe several times when shopping in Waitrose and the tables are always uncleared and the surrounding areas dirty. A simple way to solve this would be to employ a couple of extra staff to concentrate on clearing tables. This might have the benefit of encouraging customers to stay longer in the cafe and spend more money, as well as creating new jobs.

went to our local Waitrose cafe for a treat. Ordered two breakfasts.

We visit this cafe when shopping. It generally has a good selection of choices on offer. However, in spite of the fact it has several members of staff, the tables are slow to be cleared and often not wiped clean, we have taken to wiping our own table . Food is often slow to arrive. There are 2 order points, a ‘fast’ one for cakes and drinks and a much slower one for cooked food etc. At busy times queues are long and slow. This used to be a very nice place to come to, but I feel that recently the cleanliness, staff tidiness and general ambience has not been up to standard..

Quite nice; good coffee...but so slow. Only pop in if you have at least half an hour to spare queuing.

I come here on my 1hr lunch break and it's the slowest service possible, it took 18mins to be served....

Had a gorgeous breakfast of sourbread with avocado & bacon with a lovely cup of tea. Friendly staff and complementary...

We came to get a quick lunch my wife is coeliac and asked what they had Gluten Free.She was told...

Food here is pretty good. Good choice of snacks and cakes. The thing that spoils it is the long queues,...

I use John Lewis and Waitrose a lot and have used the cafe many times. However I have stopped doing that now as particularly at the weekends the queues are so long resulting in such a wait, due to the young untrained staff not being supervised. It's not their fault but the fault of the management there who see fit to allow this system to continue. I have spoken with several people who say the same thing, and frankly it's not worth bothering with, so my advice is go elsewhere.

Cake was run of the mill. Coffee wasn't great. The queues (and the speed at which they move) make it something to avoid unless there are no other customers.

Lovely snack/breakfast. Light. airy seating but the ambient noise makes conversation a little hard at busy times. Some pleasant seating areas.

We use this cafe most weeks when we do our shopping in Waitrose, the food is always of a very high standard and very good choice on menu.But service is always very slow and although there seems to be plenty of staff no one seems to clean the tables unless you make a complaint. On to days visit although there was plenty of empty tables you could not use them as they were full of dirty cups and plates.This is never a problem in other Waitrose cafes we use.

Excellent bacon and sausage rolls. Rest of the cakes etc looked very good, but we resisted. Only slight criticism is that it seemed very popular and the staff sometimes seemed overwhelmed with the queue vanishing into the distance. Worth the wait - generally.

Friendly staff and generally cleanly seating areas. Had a light breakfast which was served promptly and professionally. Would not chose to visit here over an independent cafe

Having visited the store decided to stop to have a coffee. Should of just had a take out coffee. Everything just seems average... tables needed cleaning and there seems to be a large amount of staff for the mediocre service level and cafe cleanliness.

Popped in for mid morning coffee the other day and was somewhat disappointed. The whole place reminds me of cafes from years ago, little 'atmosphere' and a bit crowded and noisy....Coffee was fine but no gluten free options (cake wise).Was expecting so much more.Won't be back....

Sounded like an odd choice but what a good choice ! Delicious... try it and I know you will love it !

The coffee and food are great but there are always long queues. Not too good when folk come for a sit down. I know it gets busy but the staff always seem to be rushing around, collecting clean crockery and more items of food from the kitchen, especially on the coffee and snacks counter. Having said that, they are cheerful and they clear the dirty dishes away frequently.

Yummy Avocado on toast with chilli & my gran had buttermilk pancakes which were amazing aswell. Very busy when we went but staff very helpful & working there socks off

A nice clean restaurant on the upper floor of the store. Nice healthy choices available. Good place also if you just want a coffee prior to shopping.

Bearing in mind the 'quality' the brand is known for we were disappointed with our experience. We had to wait 15 minutes in a queue to be served and there was only one cold sandwich left in the cooler (arrived just after 2 pm), although you were allowed to go into Waitrose and buy a pre packed sandwich and bring it into the cafe! There was a clear lack of cold drinks on offer and tables were not getting cleared quick enough. We visited on a saturday and perhaps the issue may have been with 'saturday' staff however thats only an opinion and I can't be sure.

Lots of people buzzing around behind the counter but no real barista staff. Coffee was burnt and luke warm and took far too long to make. Unfortunately this place doesn't give you a good experience. People don't eat and drink here because its good value, the eat and drink here because they want an experience. Staff are too young with nobody appearing to be in charge. There is no smooth running, the service is flakey. The cakes are actually quite good but that doesn't make up for the lack of over all quality.Perhaps I expect too much but then I'm spoilt for good barista service elsewhere.

Go to Waitrose on a regular basis around the UK., but the poor service,lack of staff,lets Ipswich down.Long queues-slow staff that are on duty-lack of teapots etc..,uncleared and dirty tables. Needs to be improved to JLP standard that is expected.

We like to use the cafe at Waitrose, Ipswich. However today was not a good experience. The queue was long and slow, the stack of trays were not clean -top one swimming in tea, third tray down was OK. Tables were being cleared but not all wiped clean.I had to return a cup for a clean one. The food and drinks were fine. The staff pleasant and helpful but clearly overstretched.At the checkout the operator was fast but had a long queue with baskets and unmanned checkout points next to him.The store was busy and clearly needed extra staff.Angela

I absolutely adore waitrose and visit many but every time I visit Ipswich/John Lewis my heart sinks for the very very very slow queues. Some staff are excellent but some are NOT. In the face of huge queues when they are alone on the till/making teas they will leave the cafe unattended to go and get tea pots; then go to get sugar, then go to get milk. then slowly clean out the coffee grounds. It is quite ridiculous and the staff need retraining to collect items when there are no customers to to call one of the many wandering around staff to collect the items not go themselves.once i counted 5 times a young lady left the cafe unattended to collect items whilst serving just 2 people.

Very poor soup nothing like butternut squash, flatbread greasy and drinks had to be drunk at once as only just warm.spent nearly £30 and left more than half . Not good Waitrose

Lovely cafe with a great choice of hot and cold food as well as an abundance of cakes. I like that they put a notice up to say how long the hot meals will be, so if I'm in a rush I go for a sandwich. It's great to use my Waitrose card to get a free drink too.

We've popped in here a few times for a snack and today, Sunday thought we'd grab lunch. We were given our hot drinks at the till but had to wait over half an hour for food and that was after a reminder. Tables were not cleared. We had to ask for cutlery as baskets empty. It all felt a bit of an effort. Chicken flatbreads ok but not much chicken. Come on Waitrose, you can do a lot better!

I always pop in at Waitrose for meetings or lunch and food is always good , I like their coffee as I am a coffee person , much better than costa

We visited for breakfast, we waited a very long time for the food to arrive which was average, my toast was burnt and cold and I asked for it to be replaced, we had finished breakfast and still no toast despite many other orders coming out after, we approached the very surly waitress (who was more interested in chatting to friends than working)who accused me of being rude to her and it would be done is due course! I asked to speak to a manager and told none was available. I then went downstairs to the store and spoke to the duty manager about my horrendous experience who was apologetic and told me he would deal with it. Thank you to the manager and I really hope action is taken to sort this cafe out which falls way below anything thing I have ever experienced in a Waitrose before.

Came here on the way back home from being at the park for some lunch. No sandwiches out, kids lunchbox selection was shocking esp at £3:75. Only had water out and fruit. Had to ask for everything. I ordered a jacket potato and when it arrived I had to laugh the smallest jacket I've ever seen at £3:95, was very good but very small. Over priced and poor staff. Asked twice if they could clear the table from pervious customers. No cutlery out. Had to ask twice for that too.

Pancakes yoghurt and honey with blueberries sounded so nice but I was assuming home made pancakes not packet ones so although okay it was a bit disappointing. My other half had sausages in a rustic roll with a fried egg on the side which was very nice apparently. Nice coffees and ambience. Newspapers provided. Delivery of food a little slow but a load of orders came out all at once so maybe they were having issues in the kitchen!

Had amazing breakfast here, Bacon chilli & avocado on toast it was very filling, hubbie & farther in law had the large cooked breakfast & both said how amazing it tasted.For 3 breakfast & 3 hot drinks (only paid for 2 hot drinks as got 1 free with my waitrose card came to £23.50)Service also very good, area also very clean will come back here again soon

It's very easy to blame the staff when people who are career complainers and who do it to get freebies or extras.Put yourselves in their places when they are understaffed at peak periods which is a management decision,Put yourselves in their places when you are faced with a poe faced serial complainer who really makes a staff members day.I have found the staff to be friendly and polite and the food good but perhaps the same could not be said of the miserable serial complainers who they sometimes have to serve....

What I really like about this cafe is the well mannered, polite, friendly front of house staff. Most of these staff are starting their working career and what better way to learn customer service, respect people and how to deal with constantly changing customers. Ok so there is a bit of a wait to be served and queueing is inevitable but the coffee is good quality, the food is freshly prepared and hasn't been sitting on a warming tray for an hour. Cakes and snacks are well presented. Tables are usually cleared promptly ensuring customers coming in have somewhere to sit.A few minor tweaks and this cafe could be top of the list. Well done Waitrose

It's what it is- the Waitrose/ John Lewis cafe.Busy, busy, busy...Average beverages and snack food.Charming and friendly staff .Daily paper available.

Not actually bad, but the standard of service has gone downhill and frankly it is quite expensive (cue the Heard in Waitrose jokes...)

We visited whilst out shopping. Had coffee and some cakes, no hot food. We enjoyed what we had and the staff were pleasant enough. The tables were slow to be cleared, but I asked for one to be wiped etc and this was done immediately,,The table beside us were not happy at the time they were having to wait for their order.We would return, the layout etc was nice, and although I have been a waitrose member for years, I don't mind paying for something I enjoy and to be truthful, I never made use of the free coffee as I always ordered a cake anyway ; )The Edinburgh store should open a cafe like this, the people here are lucky to have it, light & spacious!

My advice is bring War and Peace to read whilst you wait for your hot food you will complete it before your food arrives and if there is more than one of you expect a ridiculous lapse of time between each of you getting your food. Definitely won't be visiting again.

Slow, slow, slow, and then cold, cold cold. Must try harder, Waitrose. Lunchtime and didn't seem that busy.

I know its the festive period but surely at the weekends there needs to be more staff . The staff are all very polite but seemingly slow.. The tables are not cleared quickly enough and in general it seems to be poorly Managed .

Too busy, not enough staff. Now charging members for drinks. Witing time for meals excessive. Perhaps it should just provide drinks, snacks and pre-made sandwiches?

I love Waitrose and John Lewis, but I'm sorry to say that the cafe is poorly managed such that more often than not you have to clear the previous people's mess away from the table as the staff rareily get around to do it for you. It's well below the standard I would expect from Waitross, more like a down market supermarket

I have a my waitrose card which is worth getting , entitling you to a free coffee (with a cafe purchase ) every day! The cafe is always busy and sometimes very hard to get a seat, staff are very friendly and helpful,there is also a large John Lewis in the same building. A good place to go.

I hate food shopping, however due to Biology we have to eat and therefore I have to take on the tiresome task! As a Waitrose card holder, I always enjoy a free tea before to ease myself in to the mission ahead of me. The cafe is always busy so service can be very slow, however the food makes up for it. Last time I also had the chicken wrap and shared some chips which was delicious! Until the 14th of April, there is also 20% off hot cross buns for card holders so you can enjoy one with your free tea or coffee!

We had breakfast in the café recently which we ordered at 8.50am but when the time approached 9.30 with no breakfast in sight we enquired as to what had happened to our food. We were told that the printer hadn't printed the kitchen copy of our order out - hence the delay. Our food arrived eventually at 9.40 with apologies and a fresh top up of tea.The food is always good and wholesome and the staff are generally helpful and polite, but the service leaves a lot to be desired on occasions.The last moan is why oh why won't the café give the customer the choice of bread with the traditional breakfast? We've been informed at the counter that they will only serve sour dough bread with the hot breakfast and no other - as per the menu board. WHY!

Having a Waitrose Card we use the cafe quite often. It is always busy which is good, BUT, considering there are two food counters the service is very slow. It seems to take forever to get 2 cakes and 2 pots of tea. The cakes are really nice and the tea flavoursome, but the water could be hotter.

Last time I was here was about 6+months ago, then it was still up to the top-notch standards as when I first reviewed this not long after it first opened. Now I decided to try the Waitrose/John Lewis café again for breakfast, firstly I noticed that the breakfast menu had changed (expanded a little but not much) and I noticed that my favourite sausage in a roll had changed to a rustic (crispy) roll - fair enough so I decided to try it with some toasted muffins (new on the menu). The sausages were still the top-notch high end quality ones - lovely, the muffins were excellent, but the rustic rolls as nice as they were are a bit too bready for my liking so ended up wasting half of them. They should of kept the soft rolls on the menu as an option for those who don't like rustic rolls especially as they cost a lot of money, as I don't like to waste money. The other gripe is that the restaurant was a bit too busy (especially with kids), you expect that at ASDA not a high end place like Waitrose, certainly weren't like that in the past. This café/restaurant is still reasonable with the quality of food but now Tesco gets my vote for the best supermarket restaurant in town for breakfasts!

As other reviewers have pointed out, the good value here is based on the free coffee from the member's card - which is nice although it's not the greatest coffee in truth. The food is usually very good and the restaurant has a nice atmosphere. The staff are invariably nice and efficient.

Comfy settees ,if you are lucky and great service.The cakes are too yummy but I am more into savories !

I've always enjoyed my 'Waitrose card holder' complimentary coffee in the comfort and quiet of the upstairs cafe, so I thought that I would give their food a try and I wasn't disappointed. Most of their ingredients come from the shop floor and so is of good quality at a reasonable price. The portions are a good size and the food comes well presented. The staff are always very friendly and helpful, the cafe area is a good size, with plenty of tables, good lighting and free wifi. The only negative point is that service can be on the slow side.

enjoyed my free cup of tea after shopping in the store and treated myself to a butterscotch pecan nut yum yum, and it was exactly that! Staff were friendly and helpful as ever, nice relaxing experience