Marks And Spencers Cafe - Belfast

Great place to meet visiting family. Brilliant staff and good views. We met family who were stopping off from a cruise from Canada. My uncle wanted to meet at M&S cafe as he used to ‘court’ my aunt there in the 60s. Now I will say this. It’s obviously popular meaning it’s extremely busy. However the staff could not have been better, allowing us to rearrange the seating to accommodate our large group. They were clearly under pressure and to be fair to the manager I heard him thanking his team for their efforts. The food was good. The coffee and tea great (I loved the pots of tea). To end one of the young lads offered to take a group photo so we’d all be in it.

This restaurant is a disaster. The staff is nonexistent, there are long lines, tables are dirty, and at lunchtime there were empty shelves where food should be. There are no warnings about nuts in the self-service cakes, and the serving utensils were all mixed up. The room was dirty, with smeared windows. The mugs are cheap and the fancy cups and saucers are nowhere to be found. This is a prime example of a major UK retailer failing in customer service and the basic concept of a cafe. The staff is uncaring and haphazard, quickly slamming a mug of coffee in front of you without care. It's clear that proper training is sorely lacking.

Before starting shopping, decided to have a coffee, looked at queue which was quite long but decided to see how it went, was most impressed how quickly queue was managed today, two hot drinks counters with most efficient teams on duty, very quickly served and seated, top marks to teams today.14/4/22 13.37

After waiting in the queue for around 15 minutes, I finally reached the counter and ordered a cheese toastie (no ham please). I was then told that the sandwiches are pre packed and no vegetarian option was available. OK, what vegetarian options are available. Tomato soup no thanks, do you have baked potatoes. Yes, but only with cole slaw (no dressing). Does it come with a cheese option? No, sorry. At that point I gave up and left. Vegans and vegetarians need to be fed as well but that does it for me for the M &S café I'm afraid.

When we arrived at 12:10 on 29th November '19 the queue was short ie., it was before the cafe got really busy. At the outset there were no trays. We ordered soup lunches and were told to get trays! The soup was only just warm. The little baps were nice and fresh. The tables hadnt been cleaned. This M&S cafe may be understaffed in which case I feel very sorry for employees.