Vanhage Reviews 69

Been going to Van Hage for years and always ended up buying something but after today’s experience, will never waste my money or visit again! See reasons below:

1. Asked my friend to order Prawn Marie Rose sandwich from menu. Totally my fault didn’t realise it came in a seeded bloomer so when it arrived, took it back and explained that I am highly allergic to sunflower seeds so could they do either white or brown bread. They snappily said had we checked till receipt and I said again it was my mistake. Was told only alternative was vegan bread as they don’t do white or brown bread so agreed to that. Our flat white coffees had arrived before meal and were lukewarm. My friends’s meal of honey and mustard ham, egg and chips arrived so told him to eat before my replacement sandwich arrived. Well, I’m going to leave it to anybody who reads this review to decide if this was honey/mustard ham or just the cheapest wafer thin processed ham you’ve ever seen. Eventually my vegan bread prawn Marie sandwich turned up (minus dressing for “salad”. We decided to make a complaint. Dressing did turn up twice so left hand doesn’t know what right hand is doing. After meal, my friend tried to complain but was just told no Manager was available. I decided to try again. Spoke to young lad behind Deli but chap on till quickly intervened. To his credit, think this was because he was either a trainee or special needs so waited to speak to him. Queried, very politely, whether honey mustard ham was real or just very cheap processed ham? Immediately he put his hand up and said he wouldn’t deal with aggressive people. Said I was only querying integrity of honey mustard ham that looked suspiciously cheapest of processed ham. He referred me to two supervisors. One supervisor said she had checked with Chef and it was definitely home cooked and she could remember how delicious it smelt that morning. When I showed her photo of ham and said does that honestly look like honey/mustard ham, she said she never eats ham so couldn’t comment! Said I could see how busy they were so would it be easier if they gave me email of someone who dealt with complaints. A bit of activity, someone went to get a piece of paper to write down Emily’s email but was then told that if we still had our receipt, we could scan code and then make a complaint. Ye Gods, can’t even believe I’ve taken the time and trouble to write this review (at least 30 mins of my life I won’t get back) but the whole experience at Van Hage today was crap. Been going there for years - used to be a nice little afternoon out but it’s now a noisy, overpriced, wokey employees who put their hand in your face when you’re trying to discuss an issue. I will never go back and know that my friends won’t either.

Van Hagues Ware.
Still a good garden centre but the outside toilet for gents is shabby and smelly.

Awful experience at the cafe. Revolting food, with a hair in it. Dirty chairs and food everywhere. Avoid!

Visited today. Enjoyed the whole experience. Cafe was busy but the colleague handled a rude customer very professionally. Yes we were told food and drinks would be delayed but we accepted that. All colleagues gave great service. I had an issue with a coupon and the female colleague was very determined to sort it out but unfortunately it couldn't be actioned on the till. I work in customer service and I would rate all your colleagues highly. At this time of year its very stressful for all of us shopping. Thankyou. And I shall return.

Terrible Santas grotto. Paid £26 for my 18 month old twin boys . We must’ve been in there less than 30 seconds. As soon as we walked in it was very awkward, there was no conversation or Christmassy feel, we were just asked to pose for a photo immediately. Santa then handed them two random pink fluffy toys which they weren’t interested in , they weren’t even wrapped. We were then ushered to a photo area - the photo wasn’t included in the cost and the cheapest option for a print was £12.50. I would’ve paid it to have their first photo with Santa but the “elf” had taken three photos of us, all of which had my husbands head cut off in. When I said to the “elves” at the photo desk that I couldn’t buy any of them as none had my husbands head in, I thought they’d say go back in and get another photo but they just said oh ok and were completely unbothered. It wasn’t worth the money or the queue. They had a much better time on the train which they were free for!

Visited Van Hague Santas Grotto with my three year old grandson and his brother who is a year and a half.
Disappointing is all I can say.
haven’t visited for many years and felt it had lost the feel good factor,no signs for santas grotto and when we arrived the entrance was not exactly inspiring,we were met by elf’s who really were not interested and then shown to Father Christmas who be it a jolly fellow was more interested in trying to get the children to pose for a picture ( extra money for the print) when they didn’t conform they were both given a present that was not even wrapped and handed to them by a uninterested elf
The elder of my grandsons was really upset that his present was not wrapped and that was all he kept asking as we left “why had Father Christmas not wrapped his present”
van Hague you have managed to destroy a small child’s excitement,would never visit again.

The cafe was busy with a long queue. Lots of uncleared empty tables. Told food was forty minute wait. Ordered cold food and coffee. Coffee took twenty minutes to arrive. After forty minutes and seeing people arrive after us getting hot food I went to the counter. Part of our order was ready but not correct. The rest of the order was not being sorted. Staff behind the counter quite abrupt. Order arrived with wrong item. Unhelpful staff unwilling to supply correct item walked away. Eventually a very pleasant lady arrived and sorted the problem. Waiting on staff were very pleasant, the same cannot be said for the serving staff. Very disappointing.

Had to wait an hour for our food (sandwiches, cake and sausage roll).
When the sausage roll arrived it was inedible. The pastry was full of oil and the meat very tough and tasted unpleasant.
It was also very expensive.

I was really supprised and disapointed on my visit to VH this week. We were in the restaurant when 4 dogs came in and then another two, they were also barking quite alot. I have nothing against dogs but please, not where people are eating food.
Please can you re- think this policy.

I don’t think I’ve ever had such poor service in a cafe the staff have no energy about them they look totally miserable and don’t interact at all .it isn’t reasonably priced either . A manager needs to attend perrywoods in tiptree . There you will see what quality service is

Van hages now blue diamond, the store
Itself is lovely and gorgeous stuff there, but do find it expensive,
Especially the cafe the coffee, cakes
And sandwiches are very expensive

Not great. Sat inside and it took a while to order. You pay as you order which I thought was a good idea at the time, but you pay upfront for sub standard food and service.

We ordered Poached eggs and a vegetarian breakfast with a side order of toast and jam. The jam came early with the coffee and our breakfast took a bit longer. Both were cold, one poached egg was over done and the other was so underdone it was almost liquid. The toast seemed to go round to some other tables and then return to the kitchen, no one approached us to check if everything was alright so we ended up moaning at the young lad collecting the plates and then left.

Won't bother going again.

I went to the Ware Hartford nursery with my wife on Sunday while there we stepped for lunch only to have
The table next to us feeding a dog with biscuits poored on the floor the dog was getting excited over another dog in ther as well as barking i think dogs should not be allowed in eating areas or have special eating area's for dog lovers

Cafe was disappointing, £10 for thin bit of bread and the prawn dressing seeping out everywhere, the tinyess rocket leaves smelt and shrivelled up. Also vanhages have to change the queuing system to get out of the building its like a maze, and returning items at the main entrance your blocking people coming in when there is more than one person returning items. I use to like vanhages

The customer service was very slow all we ordered were cakes which they just needed to put on a plate. And there were multiple instances where the staff were just stood there doing nothing. We used to be able to get the cakes ourselves as customers, should have just kept it that way. Also the staff were impolite when we questioned them where our order was. Wouldn’t recommend.

Visited VH for the first time since the foot and mouth epidemic, boycott was due to the appalling behaviour of the Van Hague family. To my horror this was not what I would call a Garden Centre. I waited 20 minutes for a coffee only to be told it hadn't been ordered by the staff member, I had to pay when ordering so decided not to walk out! The rest of the inside was was a jumble of rooms selling mainly tat from abroad. The signage is poor, the garden centre was a complete disappointment, yes there was lots of choice but a lot of plants were out of season, summer bedding/pot plants all in bloom and imported. As a professional gardener I was hoping for better, I have visited the head office site in Guernsey and it was beautiful, what has happened to this company? All reviews say it all, people go there for the café and not a lot else. Unlikely I will return.

No customer service. We are just given order about what to do in the restaurant. There needs to be a massive culture change via staff training.

I prefer Van Hages to the Blue Diamond experience.. I agree with everyone food is expensive and queues are long..and the queuing sytem to pay and leave the shop is awful, thats if you can find your way out..
Upside... the furniture section is good..nice choice and some things are resonably priced.
The plant i brought that day has withered so I will be looking to resolve that issue directly with blue diamond.

What a shame to read the reviews where people have had a bad experience. I have just returned from Van Hague, Peterborough with my daughter in law. She bought us an afternoon tea. It was lovely, good choice of food, well set out, clean and a nice atmosphere in the restaurant. The staff were attentive and Tony was exceptional. He took great pleasure in ensuring the customers were happy and satisfied. Well done to all.

Usually enjoy having something to eat at VH, but not this time……. They have changed the dining area, you now get shown to a table, given menu, order then you have to PAY before you eat?? I ordered salmon and this charred cabbage and new potato bowl ? Salmon was cold thought it was going to be hot and the cabbage bowl was so burnt couldn’t eat, so very disappointed unless something changes with menu, won’t be eating there again - shame??