Shoppers have hailed John Lewis' huge The Place To Eat café in Cheadle "The place NOT to eat" in a string of furious reviews on Tripadvisor. The upstairs café inside the department store has been slammed by customers who say it's an "absolute disgrace" and "chaos".
Reviewers have complained about the "ridiculously long queues", "weak and lukewarm" drinks and "repulsive" display of uncovered cakes as you walk in. The café sits on the first floor of the huge John Lewis store on the Cheadle Royal shopping park.
Of 339 reviews on Tripadvisor for The Place To Eat, more than half are either "terrible" or "poor". It leaves it ranked as the 56th best place to eat in Cheadle... out of 56 restaurants in Cheadle.
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Customers were left unimpressed with the queuing systems for the different stations for hot food, drinks and the tills. Other reviewers complained they were "disgusted" to see a table of cakes uncovered as they walk into the cafe.
A spokesman for John Lewis said the company takes "all feedback seriously" and will now be reviewing the Tripadvisor reviews as a matter of urgency. It has added that the cafe does hold the top 5 star hygiene rating from Stockport Council.
Reviewer Sarah R headlined their review on Tripadvisor: "repulsive" saying: "A table of UNCOVERED cakes, pastries and scones is the first thing to greet diners. Absolutely beggars belief.
"I saw a toddler with her nose a couple of inches away from one cake. I can’t believe this meets food hygiene standards, but it was just the same when I last visited a few months ago.
"We played safe with wrapped sandwiches that were behind a screen - acceptable - and cold drinks as the queue for hot was ridiculously long."
The uncovered cakes also upset Tprimero, whose review said: "If you don’t mind choosing cakes, scones or biscuits left uncovered on a display which customers can cough on, sneeze on and even dangle their sleeves on then this is the Place to Eat. Not for me…Yuk!"
Andreas K said of his visit in February: " A very poor selection of sandwiches. A stone cold smoked salmon bagel with only the very strong taste and smell of the red onions coming through.
"Very weak and lukewarm americano coffees. Two coffee dispensing machines out of order. Charged for five americano coffees although we only had two. A refund and an apology was issued after I questioned the bill. This is definitely "The place NOT to eat" ever again."
Ann D said: "This store is local so I've visited The Place to Eat regularly but I've seen their standards decline rapidly. The self service in general is chaotic with people everywhere, one queue for cake, a queue for hot food, a queue for cold food, and all of them seemingly intertwining with those those waiting for hot drinks.
"The food choices are minimal and the toasties are so thin and flat that they resemble a piece of cardboard. There is a long wait for hot drinks that are served luke warm whether you have tea or coffee, and there is often a shortage of clean cutlery and condiments. Finally, you guessed it, you queue again - this time for the cashier till. By the time a clean table is found any ‘hot’ food and drinks are luke warm/cold."
UKYorkshirelass summed up the mood saying: "Come on John Lewis, wake up to the terrible comments this place is receiving and do something about it. The low ratings are in sharp contrast to your reputation as a great retailer."
ChattyCathy was left fuming after being served cold tea. She wrote: "Don't bother with this. Sainsburys cafe at least serve hot tea." She continued: "Absolute disgrace to be charging people for cold tea. If they can’t get that right no wonder the John Lewis name is going down the pan."
However there has been one five star review since the start of the year, from Lynn S who praised the service she received. She wrote: "Just visited cafe for a quick coffee usually a bit of a slow service but today two gentleman one in till one doing the drinks. Their symptoms [sic] was working really well lovely customer service from both especially guy doing the drinks I think one of them was called Peter anyway very impressed with their service well done x"
John Lewis were asked to comment on the different issues raised and said it would be looking at all of the reviews as a "matter of urgency". On the issue of queues it said there are certain times of the day that are busier than others, but will now consider what measures to take to reduce the amount of time customers have to wait at busier times.
Chris Southerton, Deputy Brand Manager for John Lewis Cheadle, said: “We want every single customer to be delighted with the experience in our cafes and we are very sorry that some have been disappointed.
“We take all feedback seriously, and one bad review is one too many, so we'll be reviewing these comments and looking at these urgently."
On the issue of the open cake counter, the company further added that all of its "Hospitality Partners" receive detailed training on food standards and safety. They say in accordance with guidelines they "supervise the patisserie and bakery area to prevent any products being mishandled".
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