Afternoon Tea at Chesford Grange

Dreadful.
Good service from staff but the afternoon tea itself was the worst I have ever been presented with. Doorstep sandwiches cut into fat fingers (no delicate titbits here). The fillings were quite obviously from supermarket sandwich filler plastic pots; egg mayo, chicken n bacon, wafer thin ham and cheese and pickle. Very boring. The bread was dried out and if it hadn't been so thick no doubt would have been curly. Neither were the crusts fully cut off.
Being with friends I didn't say anything as I didn't want to come across as a party pooped but when we moved on sweet treats (2 scones a mini frozen chocolate éclair dripping in condensation) we were in for further disappointment. The scones were stale and hard. I complained to the waitress who was lovely, she apologised and assured me she would get them replaced. A waiter (or manager? Not sure) arrived with what he told us was fresh scones. It transpired they were exactly the same scones after a few seconds in the microwave.
This is really not good enough.
After expressing our disappointment and annoyance about such shabby treatment we left without paying.

This chain need to seriously change the catering supplier used. None of the items were as depicted in their promotion photograph and the quality wasn't worthy of a 1 star B&B let alone 4 star hotel. Until the food gets improved I would leave Q hotel group well alone.
Disabled Toilet sink had been ripped out, no alternative hand washing provided - this fails health and safety requirements - disgraceful.

Very disappointed. Table set up in main bar area lots of noisy children around. Food wasn't great and tea quality was poor

I was very happy with the food and drinks we had. However, I wasnt impressed with waiting at the bar for 45mins to be seated for afternoon tea when the restaurant and terrace was empty. There were no staff to speak to. After 3 visits to reception we finally were seen to. Once seated again, it took over an hour before we got our first drink. I chose this place for our anniversary, driving 3.5hours from Manchester as I wanted it to be special. We left a little disappointed.

It was okay. Far too much emphasis on the sweet things, nowhere near enough sandwiches for five people. We also had to track down our own serviettes, knives for the jam etc., etc. Staff were courteous and our fault for not asking for the things we needed. Food itself was nice but not what was advertised on their website. Where were my macaroons!!!

The food was really good, sandwiches were tasty and had loads of filling (the mustard with the beef was a bit spicy for my tastes but that's just personal preference). The scones were great and there was more than enough cream and jam. The mini brownies and mini lemon cheesecakes were amazing.

Unfortunately I can't say the same about the service. We arrived at 2pm and it wasn't until 3pm that our drinks order arrived. Only 4 plates and cutlery sets were brought out for our table of 5 and we repeatedly had to ask for things like extra milk, napkins, etc. No one ever cleared our table away and we were never brought a bill either, we had to go to the bar to pay but if we had been less honest could have just left without paying quite easily! It was a beautiful day to sit outside but we were never checked on once we had our food or asked for a refill of tea.

The food is not as it says on the menu at all. The menu on afternoon tea.com needs updating. All the cakes and scones were almost certainly shop bought which is not what I'd expect for afternoon tea. The sandwich choice was very limited and the waitress did not understand that salmon wasn't vegetarian. It was edible and a nice location but I feel a bit duped by the experience if I'm honest.

The range of food was really good and there was plenty to go round for the four of us. The chef came out to check everything was ok :) there was staff around when needed but was left most of the time which was lovely.
After we had afternoon tea we went for a walk about the hotel. It was really Lovely!

A wonderful afternoon spent with my family
The sandwichestate and cake were wonderful and so plentiful we hado to bring some home with us! The only criticism would be if we had been given a choice of scones - a few family members would have preferred to not have chocolate ones but I'm sure if we had asked we would have been accommodated - the staff were just that right amount of 'present' and we had a wonderful time - thank you.
I wI'll definitely be back and will certainly recommend here to everyone !

I don't think the restaurant were expecting us. That's the only conclusion I can draw for what we were served. The menu we made the booking from comprised of delicious savoury options and amazing sounding sweet treats, with a selection of scones such as cinnemon and white chocolate. What we actually received were a mass of poorly made sandwiches and what looked like prepacked tarts and a plain scone. Hardly the "luxury afternoon tea" we booked and paid for.. disappointing in summary. I queried with the hotel but yet to hear a reply.