A friend mentioned this place was in Carrickfergus and I was excited to try it. Upon arriving we realized that there is a cafe - open from 9 every morning, and a restaurant, open from 5pm.
Since it was lunch time, we walked in to the cafe and stood at the counter waiting for someone to welcome and seat us.
Standing drooling and looking at all the amazingly presented tray bakes, it wasn't immediately obvious if they served lunch. In fact, were it not for the other customers in the cafe I'd think it was closed as the staff, despite walking back and forward behind the counter, had left us standing staring and were busting themselves - and yes, they had seen us.
Husband spotted menus, so I grabbed one, confirmed they served food and I actually had to ask the lady behind the counter whether or not we could seat ourselves. She stared at me gormlessly and a man came out and said "are you here for lunch?" I said yes, do we seat ourselves? And he said sit anywhere.
I grabbed another menu for husband and we sat, no one came near us for a long time. The vibe wasn't right at all. We were surrounded by people chatting and drinking tea but the staff were inattentive or just didn't care at all.
After an extended period of time my husband said, I don't like it in here, I asked if he wanted to leave - he's NEVER like that, so I was astonished when he got up and said yes. So we left the delicious display of tray bakes behind and left.
So, so disappointing. The menu looked great, on street parking, enough ice cream and cakes and tray bakes to shake a stick at, but either we had our invisibility cloaks on, or were just being ignored.
I'm glad business is so good for them that they can just ignore customers, but it's not my kinda scene. read more