Marks And Spencers - Leeds

Today I visited for the first time since before the March lockdown. The cafe was full to capacity with queuing out into the store. Surprisingly and disappointingly the table layout was the same as before Covid. No distancing. Staff were extremely busy and were doing their best. What was most surprising was the amount of mixed households. I know its difficult to police but it was obvious that many tables were mixed households. Two ladies ordered separately and paid separately but sat together on the same allocated table. Expected better from M S.

Excellent tea and scones. Super fast service by two friendly staff. Clean restaurant with clean tables. Free parking.

How M and S has the cheek to pass off their afternoon tea for 2 as being adequate for two people is beyond me. Being a member of the overated M and S premium club they sent me a birthday treat ie a voucher for a tea for 2. On arrival we were told some story about a fire in the bakery and they had no scones. It was my understanding they baked them on the premises and this store has 2 cafes so where was this fire but in any event what stops them shipping them in from another store? In any event what we got was 2 slices of cake and 4 quarter sandwich pieces which is not enough for 2 people and so we had to buy another pack of sandwiches. 4 quarters only make 1 sandwich so according to this M and S quality approach half of a small sandwich is apparently enough for one person.This falls far below my idea of a treat and doesnt reflect online pictures of what one of these afternoon teas is supposed to look like and in my view M and S should scrap this treat and just send a £10 off voucher. Its not suitable for their diabetic customers either. Can only say I am glad it wasn't my actual birthday as it would have been even more of a disaster. M and S get your act together and that includes stocking more regular clothes instead of slim fit and tailored fit clothes which are not suitable for your primary customer base unless of course the size of your portions is part of a master plan to reduce the size of your customers

I visited the cafe today and was disappointed to discover that they had run out of fruit scones. We asked if more were available and were informed that they had just come out of the oven and were too hot to be sold. The assistant kindly offered to retrieve some from the bakery department downstairs, which she did. This gesture was greatly appreciated and enhanced our visit. I will definitely be returning soon!

We called for lunch, midweek, cafe was reasonably busy, we made the mistake of ordering fish, chips and mushy peas instead of the usual toasted sandwich which is always good. The batter on one of the fish looked burnt as did the edges of some of the chips, fish was just edible, the chips had an odd texture, rubbery inside and some were hard, the portion of mushy peas was miniscule, about a dessert spoon full! Repeated on me for a few hours afterwards. I assume these meals were heated up in their fast oven, perhaps a little too fast for fish and chips! Not cheap either and quite a limited menu! We'll stick to the toasted sandwiches in future!