The Riverview Cafe - South Holland

We have had lunch here probably once a month for some year, and enjoyed the food and friendly atmosphere. The view is great, although I find the the chairs uncomfortable. This time there was a new menu. We always enjoy some salad with a panini or toastie or sandwich. However we were told this was not available all these options are served only with crisps and coleslaw. Hardly a healthy option! So my husband chose a BLT; (bacon lettuce, tomato) evidently they did have salad! We did not eat the crisps. My husband had a cold drink, and I had tea and I asked for an extra cup for him to have a little tea also. Not Allowed! I don't think we will return. There are other pleasant places to eat in Spalding.

We are frequent visitors to Coneys restaurant in Spalding. Breakfast is a favourite of ours with the best poached and scrambled eggs in the area! Lunch is great also along with their themed evenings when you can have a three or four course dinner. Wine and drinks from their Prosecco Bar just add the finishing touches. We look forward to their new menu which I gather will be out soon.

We visit Coneys on a regular basis. A great range of clothes and gifts along with a large selection of house ware . We finish off the shopping with a coffee or a lovely meal in the restaurant upstairs. Five stars

Prebooked the Festive lunch and what a treat it was. The best Christmas lunch I think I’ve ever had. Plenty of food, piping hot, amazing Yorkshire Puddings. So much food we had to take our puddings to go. Staff friendly and attentive, even though it was very busy.

We pre booked a table for one o’clock for afternoon tea. At twenty five past one we still hadn’t been spoken to or had a drinks order taken, and we felt that we were sitting there twiddling our thumbs. As it was an afternoon tea, we assumed that a small range of teas or hot drinks would be offered and that we would choose from a menu but that wasn’t the case. Just before half past one, a member of staff came over to ask us what drinks we wanted but gave us no options and there was no list or menu to look at. One member of our party doesn’t drink tea so asked for an alternative drink and that seemed to cause confusion and the staff member disappeared off to ask. As this was happening, we spied that the afternoon tea platters were being brought out. We started eating and still not a drink in sight yet! Luckily (or perhaps unluckily), the drinks were then brought out. Several of the tea cups were dirty but at least the tea itself was fine. The food however was extremely poor. Firstly, everyone had a mishmash of different items. The afternoon tea platters were shared between two and each platter was missing something that another one had and vice versa. Another issue was presentation and portion size. It was obvious that certain pieces of cake had just been cut into two, which would be fine, but one half was a tiny slither and then the other a big chunk. Also, there was one of something and two of something else. Understandably, we asked for the other items and were bluntly told “no,” which we thought was an attempt at humour but it quickly transpired that it wasn’t. We probably could’ve forgiven the mismatched, badly presented food and poor service if the food was at least tasty but it wasn’t and lots of food was leftover a rarity with afternoon tea! Our booking wasn’t last minute and the cafe wasn’t super busy so we were a bit bemused as to why they performed so poorly. Whilst we were there we witnessed some other people walk out and complain so this obviously isn’t a lone opinion. We went for a birthday celebration but there certainly isn’t anything to celebrate here.