This really is a 'secret' garden…read more My sister and I were seeking a venue for a little treat and she recommended we try here. Afternoon tea without the ridiculous price - perfect. At £24 for two this really is a steal. Sandwiches of your choice, scones (with the usual accompaniments) and some yummy traybakes. This is more like non pretentious, Northern Irish style afternoon tea. With the tray bakes including mini fifteens and malteaser squares. If you are looking for something cutesy, scrumptious and not breaking the bank then look no further! Will definitely be back. Don't forget to check out the gift shop for some trinkets and the perfect gifts for mums.

Well what can I say my mum took me out for lunch to this place over Easter week and I was a bit…read moresceptical. Tea rooms attached to a garden centre, tend not to have the most out there reputation. I'm glad to say my scepticism was blown out of the water. This place is definitely a little gem of Belfast. The actual tea rooms/restaurant are an elegantly appointed building with stunning views of the countryside. You feel like you are in the great hall of some stately Victorian home. Sumptuous décor and a varied and delicious sounding menu. As we were there during the week we availed of the two courses for £9.99 (I think that was the price so apologies if I got this wrong, my mum was paying) We both ordered the soup for starter, Butternut Squash, chilli and coconut. Very tasty and a huge portion, I couldn't finish mine because I wanted to leave room for the main. My mother ordered slow cooked beef brisket, Mash and roast root veg while I had the smoked haddock, creamy bacon and leek sauce and the same sides. I cannot fault the food, it was delicious. My only tipple would have been that a selection of different sides for the fish may have been a little better, Maybe some samphire and potato croquets or some such. We also caught a glimpse of their cram tea on another table which looked stunning (I think the Waitress said it was £20/25 per head) Overall an amazing place for lunch, but it doesn't end there. They also offer a dinner menu Thursday to Saturday and it is BYO so definitely cannot be doing wrong there. I highly recommend this place for lunch or for dinner! If you go for dinner though I think you have to book as this place is making its mark on the map and seems to be getting ever more popular!

I tried the tea rooms for the first time, last week with my treatments at the spa. £30 for…read moreafternoon tea for two. We had vegetable broth and wheaten, sandwiches (3 or 4 fillings), a large warm scone each and a plate of sweet treats. Everything was delicious, the top tier (desserts) were my Least favourite, but I'm a keen baker and fussy about my desserts. They just weren't my fave. Too sweet and not entirely worth the calories. The scones were amazing, the sandwiches were fresh and plenty for two and the soup and wheaten were delish too. The service and the girls here were excellent. Friendly, helpful and never let our teapot go empty!

All home baked food and treats. Staff are so friendly…read more Opens one Saturday a month from 10am to 4pm during North Down Craft Collective fair. Second Sat of month. Their ginger scones are lovely. Soft yet crunchy. Also their sandwiches and soups are lush. The tea room is in a wee room at the back of the hall. Not many seats. Parking can be difficult outside. Park across the street in the church.

What a great wee find. This is my local now. A really nice, small little cafe/tea room. Its…read morefanatastic. The owners are friendly as are the staff. The food is fantastic, and the atmospherewell everyone is welcome. Directly across from Burns cottage, and always full of tourists, its a great place to meet new people. In Alloway, this is the best place to eat.

friendly service, good home made food & yummy cakesread more

This is such a lovely wee place and I am very fond of it. I have been in here more times than I can…read moreremember over the years, and it's like going back in time, but in a good way. The interior is all wooden panelling, even on the ceiling, with blackboards advertising the specials on offer that day. I normally just have a cup of tea or a light lunch here. Their soups are homemade, and absolutely beautiful, as is their carrot cake, amazing! They do do more substantial food too though if you want something more filling. It's usually quite a busy wee show, but there is plenty of on street parking available, and there is also a lovely veranda with outside seating, which is an absolute sun trap on sunny days!

Well I'd guess you could count the number of these soup, coffee and cake places around the country…read moreon one hand and likely have fingers left. When they say here that the food is home made its exactly that; this charming place is part of the home where the delightfully genteel couple who live here with Freddy. Freddy is a Doberman that one could, for now, hold in one arm and love. They had a dog called Charlie but alas it seems Charlie is no more and as anyone who owns pets knows the heartache at their loss we didn't enquire. We had our own Charlie on tow. Well more accurately on his lead. A rather demented and playful Bichon frieze - not ours but our son's. So another plus it's dog friendly even senseless, playful ones. So here we were. To use a Northern Ireland expression we were in the arse end of nowhere surrounded by fields in part of a house where soups, brown scones and cakes are made from scratch on the premises. I've photographed the menu. I had cauliflower & channa dal soup which came with two warm brown scones 'straight out of the oven' and served with a generous wedge of butter. Five star all the way, but if I were being very picky I'd have preferred the scones to have been baked a while longer and some more salt in the recipe, but that's personal taste. The soup was delicious, served hot and it was gently spiced. My wife opted for their vegetable soup again with two brown scones. There was a tomato & red pepper soup on offer too which was impressive given that the cook was operating in a space smaller than our bathroom at home. We were told that their lemon drizzle cake was ace so after the soups we had lemon drizzle and ginger cake. Again truly home made and darn good. Two other cake types were also available one chocolate brownie style and I don't remember the fourth. There isn't a coffee machine so no lattes frappos nor cappuccinos. I had French press (cafeteriere) coffee and my wife opted for hot chocolate. A selection of teas is also available. It's also a craft place with books, paintings, knitwear and similar for sale. As we enjoyed the food and the company I thought about James K a Yelp friend who writes wonderful reviews. He focuses on environmental considerations (green stars) and we should all remember there's no planet B, the earth is our only home. I guess like me he too would approve of the fact that there's no disposable plastic cups here, there's no coffee to go and there's an environmental sawdust eco toilet out back. I bet James that there's not many of these toilets in coffee bars in California and if that doesn't warrant 5 green stars for this place then I don't know what would.

Had brunch here yesterday and couldn't recommend it highly enough for choice value and service!…read moreIf you haven't been it's worth the drive out to sample the delicious home style cooking on offer. There's a gift shop which stocks a range of items from quirky wedding favours to baby gifts and some stylish costume jewellery. Well worth a browse and I did! You can also purchase a selection of yummy baked goods to take home from the Pantry bakery. The tea rooms are on 3 or 4 different levels so there's plenty of seating and it's not too cramped either. I had a toasted bagel with cream cheese and bacon. There were 3 thick sliced pieces of lean bacon and a little pot of cream cheese. My friend had a bowl of porridge and honey with a mix of soft fruit on top. We both had a cappuccino which was hot frothy and a good hit of caffeine. We ordered and paid at the counter and our food was served to out table by a friendly chatty member of staff. The place was spotless as were the loos. There's a nice outdoor seating area for those warmer summer days but as it was a mixture of pouring rain and sun so we sat inside.

Went there yesterday as a party of six. The elder waitress who seemed to be in charge was extremely…read morerude. She watched us push our prams to the table, when we finally got to our table and sat down she asked us to take our prams down and leave them outside. No help given on where to place our babies who where too small for a high chairs so we had to set the chair seats on chairs(which took up just as much room). We had phoned ahead to say there would be babies/prams going and it wasn't an issue then. Everything we asked seemed to annoy her and she made us all feel very uncomfortable. The Christmas dinner was edible but not worth making the trip out for. We didn't stay for dessert.

We happened across this place by accident when looking for a place for lunch and finding an open…read moreparking spot right in front of Pots of Pleasure. What a happy accident! This is a very cute cafe, much larger than it looks, and we really enjoyed our meal here. I had the jacketed potato with prawns while my husband opted for a soup and sandwich. The soup of the day was an apple and parsnip soup, and it was quite good. My potato was loaded with the prawn salad...a much larger portion than I was expecting...and it was absolutely delicious. We had an excellent meal for a very reasonable price, and I would highly recommend Pots of Pleasure!

I do quite like surprises, and Pots of Pleasure was an inadvertent one. I wish, for reasons I will…read morelater explain, I had been a tad more prepared on this occasion though... Lunch time + hungry Lynne + ravenous sister = huge requirement for food. On our dash around Ballyclare, which moments later resulted in our feasting at Deb's Diner (there's a review for that...), we hastened past Pots of Pleasure, I made a mental note to later check out the gift shop, unintentionally omitting the fact that it was actually a coffee shop too. Darn it. When we did eventually check this wonderful little gift shop, I was completely awestruck that there was indeed a little tea room snuggled away at the back, but also incredibly disheartened that I had missed a tremendous opportunity to join the numerous customers who were sipping, eating and chatting away. As soon as you step through the door, the buzz is overwhelming, and you notice that the place is astonishingly busy. Not wanting to part with the pleasure just quite yet, I decided to have a nosey around the gift section. The most exquisite scarves from Spain at thirty-something quid lay neatly folded on the table, beside a whole lot more luxurious outdoor accessories. My eye was also caught by the shelves of musician gifts - little ornaments and figurines with musical notes, and lots of other associated gifts. A whole repository of colourful Bridgewater candles, cabinets filled with beautiful jewellery and 'Enhance' accessories, shelves stacked with Emma Bridgewater home ware, cute arrangements of Crabtree and Evelyn toiletries...such wonderful choice. I would love to pop back one day and check out the actual pots of pleasure (in coffee terms), but I have to say, that gift shop was something else...

We went for a quick bite to eat while walking along the beach in Cushendun. The Tea Rooms are a…read moresmall, cosy little cafe just on Main Street. There's an upstairs with around 10 tables and a downstairs with 5 or 6 tables.(You can also eat on picnic tables outside, but the weather wasn't too kind when we were there!) I ordered a breakfast bap, while my husband ordered the fry. We also had a coffee and hot chocolate which warmed us up rightly! The service was very friendly and fast (although there were only 2 other customers there on a wet Wednesday afternoon so they weren't busy!) I would love to have checked in at the time, but there is no free wifi which is a shame because people would promote the fact they are there! Our bill came to a respectable £14. The Tea Room perfectly matches the village- small, friendly and homely!

Yes I know it's a little out of the way, OK, a lot out of the way, but if you're down this neck of…read morethe woods then it's worth a visit for the baking alone! There's a great range of cakes and sweets on offer, the helpful and smiling waitress had them all of pat and I opted for a meringue, my mum told me it was big, I didn't believe her, it was, see the picture! I managed to finish the crunchy sticky toffee mountain that arrived but felt like a nap after it, all the food here is home made, it's won prizes and if you care to try you'll see why! There's also hot food and snacks on offer, all looked fantastic from what I saw being delivered to other tables! On a side note there's the Keil caves and the footprints of Columba, the saint, not the TV detective, down by the beach where dozens of seals can be watched baking on the rocks, with Ireland on the horizon as you look out to the south.

Fantastic classic Scottish cooking. If you are on the peninsula it is worth the trip. Visiting from…read moreUSA. Came down to check out the end of the peninsula. Had a late lunch. Delicious sausage and mash, coronation chicken, soup and sandwich. Everything was wonderful. Carefully prepared with fresh ingredients. You can tell there was a lot of attention paid to small details. The soft drinks came to the table very cold in their cans! The desserts were fantastic!! Real whipped cream between the layers of sponge cake. The toffee meringue was spectacular. Get the half portion. I highly recommend it. Worth the trip