Sandringham Visitor Centre

Overall, this restaurant experience was very disappointing. The hostess was too preoccupied to seat us promptly and they didn't have any high chairs available for our young grandson. The quality of the food was subpar, with tasteless cheese scones and bland pea and mint soup. The service was also lacking, with waitstaff ignoring basic health and safety practices. Children did not feel welcome in the restaurant, while a table with a dog received special treatment. The high prices for the poor quality of food make this place not worth returning to. Customer service was also an issue, with minimal efforts to address our concerns.

In 2024, it will be hard to come across a restaurant with such poor service like the one we experienced. After being asked to wait for 15 minutes for a table, the staff informed us that there were no tables available, despite letting others in while we waited. When I pointed out this inconsistency, a table miraculously appeared (not surprising since the restaurant was only one-third full). The staff were extremely rude throughout our interaction and, once seated, told us we would have to wait another 20 minutes before someone would take our order. Waiting 40 minutes for a club sandwich in an almost empty restaurant, where we were treated with disdain and disgust, was not the experience we expected when visiting Sandringham on New Year's Day. We left hungry and disappointed. 1 star.

We made bookings afternoon to have afternoon tea in the Sandringham restaurant followed by a visit to the Luminate Christmas lights. We were staying in the region, and as Sandringham is a beautiful location, it was an ideal way to celebrate our weddings anniversary. The afternoon tea was a disappointment which was such a shame. We have had afternoon tea at Highgrove on two previous occasions, both of which were wonderful experiences, so we were really looking forward to visiting Sandringham and expected tea to be as good as those enjoyed at Highgrove or better. Sadly, it fell short by a long way. The sandwiches were okay, the fillings not exciting, we were expecting smoked salmon, always a favourite with us, but not this time. However, we don’t eat meat so certainly we were very pleased not to have ham or pork products. The baked savouries, scones and pastries were over baked and the texture of some too dry to eat. We left feeling very disappointed. The local jam and cream, however, were delicious. I would like to say in defence of the Sandringham property that the staff were excellent. We voiced our concerns about the tea which they passed on to the kitchen. I don’t think it helped that there were so few people in the restaurant. Probably during the summer months when there are more visitors, the experience and the tea, would be more appealing. The lights by Luminate were wonderful. We went early evening so it was not crowded. Plenty of staff were available if required and at the halfway point, there were stalls for food and drink. It was an easy walk with plenty to see and enjoy the changing scenery, but I would imagine quite a long way for little legs!

We have visited Sandringham many times and we arrived after midday and were looking forward to having lunch there. We had our dog with us and we were pleased to see they had a dog-friendly area in the restaurant. We were shown to a table and then told we could not order hot food, only drinks and cakes We ordered tea and while we were waiting for our tea (that wasn 't the best we have tasted) we noticed meals being served to the other parts of the restaurants. Our experience of our visit was very disappointing.

Wonderful experience. Excellent customer care and service . Thoroughly enjoyed late afternoon cream tea. Will be back .