The best restaurants serving British food in Tiptree Colchester East of England

Good food, only delayed due to non available item, all resolved thankyou

Came down from Nottingham to catch up with family, they could not have chosen a better place

Best food I have ever had out of tiptree and will keep going back. Service is great and staff are always talkative to pass the time

If you ever find yourself at Perrywood Garden Centre and think, “Oh, I’ll just pop into the café for a quick bite”—brace yourself. It’s less ‘pop’ and more ‘prepare for takeoff’ with the long queues that greet you. The setup is rather canteen-like: drinks and hot food on one side, then another queue for cakes. Yes, it’s a two-stop journey before you even find your seat! You’ll need some first-class queuing patience for this one. Now, onto the food: it’s fine, but for the prices, you’d hope for something a little more gourmet. £70 for three people is steep for what we had—three soft drinks, two salads, a panini with chips, and three slices of cake. And while the cakes are fairly priced, they’re not exactly flying high in the flavour department. But hey, they weren’t bad enough to ground our experience completely. What’s saving grace here is the garden centre itself, which is, quite frankly, excellent. It’s like a glorious first-class cabin of plants, so I get why people flock to the café. If it wasn’t attached to such an amazing destination, though, I’m not sure the café alone would have the same pull. Still, I’d go again—because, let’s face it, the plants are worth the visit, and if you’re already there, might as well refuel. In summary: not bad, but not quite the high-flying experience one might hope for. Keep your expectations grounded, and you’ll be just fine!

As with all visits to Wlikins' tea rooms, the food was good quality. This time we had toasted sandwiches with tea to drink. The problem was with the service. It took around 20 minutes for our order to be taken; 20 more for the tea to arrive and then another 15 before the sandwiches came. By which time we'd finished the tea. They did offer us a free second pot, although when it arrived a different server gave us a bill for it (although this was retracted when I carefully explained). The issues were clearly that (a) not enough staff (b) staff covering too wide an area - there are three zones - inside, outside and the marquee- and staff appeared to be flitting all over the place. We weren't the only ones - st least two other couples walked out and one couple had a similar wait for their cream teas. And this was at around 2.30pm, not the lunch hour rush. Sorry it out, Wilkins We love your products but this has really put us off your tea rooms. Which is a shame.