I take my lovely nana for lunch every fortnight and sometimes I let her pick a new place that isn't a 5 minute drive from home (usually I have to work around school pick up!)
So on Tuesday she asked could we visit Johnstown Garden Centre, she is a wonderful gardener and had also heard that the cafe was nice. So off we drove in the direction of naas on a beautiful sunny day.
As we passed Avoca and I dreamed longingly of my happy place in their food court, I looked forward to trying the competition.
We arrived at the garden centre. It's huge!! Airy, well laid out, garden furniture to drool over, fabulous unusual plants, clean toilets (always a deal breaker for me) and we strolled through with a quick look on our way to the cafe as food was the priority first.
First impression - airy, bright, bustling cafe. Gorgeous outdoor seating area which would have been perfect if it wasn't so so sunny as I'd not put my usual inch thick layer of factor 50 on.
The menu read nicely, it was Carvery style. The sandwiches sounded promising but I was in need of comfort food.
Nana went for quiche Lorraine, chips and some carrots, I went for the "steak" burger with "pepper" sauce, chips and a side of coleslaw.
Do the "" give away my feelings on the food yet?
€24 for 2 Carvery meals and 2 bottles of water.
The burger in my opinion, was not good. It tasted like cheap mince beef and had a really bizarre texture. The chips were really awful. Overcooked, dried out and had that awful greasey taste I can't describe but maybe old oil?
The "pepper" sauce. This is a real bug bear of mine. Do not call gravy with peppercorns in it a pepper sauce. It is not the same thing!!
The coleslaw was lovely.
Nana's quiche I can't comment on, I'm not a fan. She said it was "grand". This can be translated as "meh"
Despite the fact the desserts looked yummy, we left quickly and I was so cross I couldn't even browse the shop properly then, I just got more and more irritated by the over priced items, €3.50 for a cake board I can get in tesco for €1.50!
Now, to be fair, the homewares and BBQ sections etc all had great choice and some really lovely things but I wasn't in the humour then to browse or part with any more money.
Oh, and 2 disabled spots by the door, really! Not enough, they were full, I parked in a mother and baby spot and put nana's pass in the window. My apologies to the mammy's that might have needed the spot, but there were 3 more of those empty. read more