The Garden Cafe

This place, as others have mentioned, is in an amazing location. It is right smack beside Botanic station, which is obviously on Botanic Avenue right smack bang in the middle of the student area. It has just opened up so it isn’t as busy as you would expect for a crackin wee café in the middle of a studenty area.
The prices here are pretty standard. You will pick up coffee and a sandwich for about £5 or £6, which is what you would expect in this part of town.
The service was excellent the time I was in. It wasn’t that busy so they took the time and extra care with my order that I really appreciated.
I’d definitely recommend this place, just don’t expect it to be too banging.

The Garden Café is in an excellent location, right next to Botanic Station in a busy student area. Student love coffee, I do not know if it because they are always hungover or because they spend so much time cramming late in the library. But one thing is for sure The Garden café is cashing in on their love for the dark stuff, coffee not Guinness.
I went in today and instead of the packed coffee shop I expected to find I instead entered a morgue with one pensioner pushing around a sausage on his plate while watching that cheap David Dickenson replacement on Bargain Hunt. It was super quiet, the staff were txting and enjoying the antiques on TV.
But this meant I was able to get a coffee and go. I did just that, I had planned to stick around and kill some time while waiting for a train but I decided the platform was more exciting than this place.
On the plus side a large coffee to go was only £1.70 and I was sipping it all the way to Bangor while trying to look sophisticated while passing through Cultra. The service was good too, despite their boredom the staff were attentive and I got served in a flash. I just wonder what is going wrong in the Garden Café?

I popped back in here recently again a bit sooner than I had planned to give it another shot as I was contacted by a member of staff claiming to be getting the blame for the bagel? Anyway, It’s great that the management obviously care about customer service and satisfaction so good job guys! I decided to go for the healthy breakfast which is eggs (scrambled or poached), with bacon, tomato, wholegrain toast and I got a cuppa tea, good price too at a fiver. The food was really great to be honest (not that it wasn’t last time) and there was plenty of scrambled egg which I love! The girl serving was really friendly and efficient. I’m glad I popped back with a little more time on my hands and would certainly be back again for the breakfast! Much more efficient this time and perhaps just having an off day before.

I popped in to Garden Café yesterday with my friend for lunch. Great location & a pleasant atmosphere & very nicely decorated. Waiting staff were average but seemed a little disorganised. I had the toasted steak Ciabatta with caremilised onions, peppers & salad & my friend had the Caesar salad. We were very pleasantly surprised. We had our meal in less than 10mins. The presentation was beautiful, the food was very fresh & the ciabatta was cooked to perfection. Compliments to the female chef who brought the meal out. Will definetely be back again.

How disappointing my garden café experience was. This bright green, vibrant looking café hasn’t been open long and I decided to go in as I was hungry and they were advertising a bagel with a filling and a coffee for £2.50. I thought this was a good deal and so I went in. I looked around for a menu listing the available fillings but I couldn’t see one so I asked the lady behind the counter what fillings were available for the deal, she looked confused then directed me to some ham on a tray and two or three tubs with fillings such as chicken tikka and tuna and sweet corn. That was literally it, there were no more fillings on offer and it began to dawn on me why it was going to be cheap. Anyway she took no money and told me to sit. There were about two other tables taken and one was close by me and I could hear the people grumbling that they had been waiting for ages. Anyway, I waited and waited and waited, then, about fifteen minutes later my cup of tea arrived by an apologetic waiter, then a few minutes later another waiter came to take my order! I explained I had already ordered and had been waiting a while. He apologised and said it wouldn’t be long. Eventually the girl who served me bought me my dry bagel with tuna and sweet corn slapped into it — I could have done a better job myself in less that 5 minutes. She apologised for the wait and assured me that the food would be on the house. That made the long wait slightly more bearable. I ate and I drank and I went to the counter hoping to be told that the meal was on the house because of the wait — instead I got charged full price. I hate to make a fuss so I paid. I won’t be back.