Stokes Lawn Café

Food was average. Service was poor.

We waited almost 1hour from being seated to finally receiving out order, and it was half empty.

Portions were a little small for the price.

Service: 3/10 (VERY SLOW service)
Waiting time for food: circa 50 mins
Price: 6/10
Quantity: 6/10
Cleanliness: 8/10

Difficult to describe but all too often it seems like the staff are trying to be helpful but they really aren't. I get this vibe from coffee shops a lot, if you don't know the system then you're screwed because it won't be explained, they only tell you about the bit that's different today. The McDonald's flat white advert speaks the truth!

We went to the cafe as a party of 3 in order to have an afternoon tea. This, like certain other menu options, did need to be pre-booked.
The staff were welcoming and friendly. The food, which arrived within a few minutes, was served in the traditional way on a 3 tiered stand. There was a excellent selection of sandwiches, savouries, tiny, tempting cakes and warmed scones and the portions were generous. There is a choice of tea or coffee; all of us opted for tea, which is served in Japanese style iron tea pots. These are charming and pour well but it is perhaps worth noting for those with arthritis or children in the party that they are heavy for their size and, although the handles remain cool the rest of the pot is very hot indeed.
The cafe is quite spacious and there are also tables and umbrellas outside. The decor features recycling in a major way, from the old coffee sacks used to cover the chairs to the re-purposed piping that now supports shelves. The more you look the more you see. Probably the most notable feature of all, as long as you look up, is the life sized killer whale made of car bumpers and old coffee machine parts which hangs from the ceiling.
We obviously did not use the menus that day but there was a good variety of food and also a fairly extensive list of teas and coffees.
The toilet area is immaculate and there is a separate mother and baby/disabled toilet.
Access to the cafe is good for the wheelchair bound and less mobile as it is all on one level and close to the (pay & display) car park.

Great service. Lovely weather and view of a castle wall. Had the granola which was delicious. Latte was nice. Dogs not allowed in so we ate on the terrace.

Visited on 1/10/22 and attended at around 4pm . There were 3 of us and only one person was requiring food as they hadn't any lunch.
We were greeted at the door by a young guy with glasses who just greeted us with "takeaway?"
We said no because we wanted to sit in. The same guy visibly sighed, and took us to a table. We sat down and he THEN thought it was a good time to tell us the kitchen was closed ! !
Another guy came to us to take our order. Two of us chose a coke which was so overpriced at 3 pounds 30. The 3rd person asked if scones were available. The man said yes. What sort? was asked and he replied with a shrug and "....well scones!" . Surely he should have known there were at least 3 different scones you could have!!
Food and drinks were brought swiftly .
However for the next 20 minutes we could see and hear the original man counting and complaining about his tips for the day.
This was the first time we had ever visited stokes and will probably come back but these 3 events with the service that just happened in the space of about 30 minutes has put us off coming back sooner

Wow, quite pathetic.
We arrived 4 adults and 2 children, they clearly had a lot of free tables for 4 so asked whether we could put two tables together and were told no we can’t do that, even though there were two tables right next to each other. They were using the blue room which is pretty big and there was plenty of space but nope, we were told that it’ll be 30 minutes for a table. So we went and spent £65 at the cathedral cafe instead where the service was excellent and they laughed when we told them what had happened at the lawns cafe. It’s a shame because my wife and kids often ate there but won’t be coming back. That’s a few hundred pounds a year that they’ve lost by being unreasonable and unhelpful.

Amazing Place! They were packed when we visited during the Lincoln Christmas Market. We had to wait 15 mins to be seated, but it was worth the wait. We had the Club sandwich and it was amazing. The best I have ever had. Well worth a visit. Good value too.

Stoke Cafe at the lawn is a lovely place to have breakfast, brunch, coffee, cake, tea, or bunch. I highly recommend the pancakes or the poached eggs on avocado toast. Great for catching up with friends or a solo treat.