The Grand Café in Tanda

First time ever that I am told after I placed my order that I am not allowed to open my laptop per whatever policy. Likely explains why this place is empty whereas the other one across the street (where I am sitting nowis full. My 2 cent rationale is that owners might think that this would improve customers rotation. True but only with one time customers

Bad attitude from the waiters. They just take advantage of the fancy building and the location. When we asked for an afternoon tea and what it included, the staff was like ‘I dont know if we have scones…’ We werent expecting that ‘You eat whatever you find’ attitude for such a pricey menu. Just a tourist trap. If you want good scones with lovely service go to ‘The Rose’ down the road.

Nice cafe, friendly staff. What makes it special is its history: first coffee house in England, 1650.

My friends came to visit in oxford and wanted afternoon tea. Our first choice is The Ivy but they dont serve afternoon tea until 3 pm. We walked along to the High Street and end up at this place. At the entrance, we have been told that we cant only have drinks but need to order food as well. I though its fine as we were going to order afternoon tea set priced at 21.95 per head. The servers were miserable, it seems that they hate their jobs and forced to work there. One server was drying cultury loudly, which we wont expect to happen in a High tea place with nice entrance. The tea set isnt nice and too pricy for the quality.The bill is over 80 pounds. Its not worth it.

Appalling. One of the worst places to ever go to. The real score given is 0/5. Visited for a family outing. The staff were slow and unfriendly during quiet times. Everyone was given the wrong hot drink. Then the scones were tasteless and bland. We ordered scones for six adults and they gave us two small little taster size amounts of clotted cream. Everyone was shocked. Especially when asked if this was correct. It was obvious to us all they were trying to take the p*** and pulling a fast one on would be tourists. The waitress look confused, unamused and slow to reply, pretending she did not know what we were saying. Only nice thing about this place is the entrance. Save yourself. Stay away from these scammers. Incredibly expensive and horrible staff. You have been warmed.

This is perhaps the most overpriced and underwhelming place to eat in Oxford.Three of us chose to dine here; two had BLT sandwiches (£14 each), and I chose to have a toasted teacake (£11).The teacake was covered with a thick layer of powdered sugar, and the sandwiches were nothing I couldnt have made at home.Service was slow and uninspired.Overall, a lacklustre experience. Would give 0 stars if possible.

Quality not really good. We had a high tea, tasted like the cheapest stuff you can find at a Tescos.

We came to the Caffè which was available only with dining..we have not been hungry so we have ordered the carrot cake. The coffee was not nice neither carrot cake. Staff was very rude and not attending as my friend wanted to order some drink but nobody came to us. The bill was not able to split. I would not recommend and I would not came there again.

The waiter who welcomed us was utterly uninformative and unsmiling. Then the waitress took forever to get our order. The worst part was that the waitress washing the dishes kept coughing in her bare hands and putting dishes away at the same time. She also wiped her nose with her hand without ever washing it, and kept on cleaning dishes. Utterly disgusting after 2 years of covid. When we complained about it, she just kept going and didn’t even put on a mask. Won’t be coming back.

For such a historic Coffee House in Oxford, we were very disappointed. Cold welcome, extremely restricted menu even though we arrived 1 1/2 hours before closing time. Slap dash, miserable service and the value for money was poor. Many people turned away from coming in even though there was only four people in the cafe, including us. Dont waste your money, there are plenty of better, quality establishments around. Unwilling to prepare a sandwich from the menu, but they would do if you paid for a set Afternoon Tea. Such a waste of £21 for a cup of tea and a scone for two! Avoid.

Veneer of quality.Prices disproportionate to what was served.The tea was ok, but everything else was terrible and cheapest quality possible. The jam was terrible red gel, the clotted cream not especially creamy and scones were dry as the Sahara and with a mouth feel reminiscent of the cheapest quality white bread.I should have seen the writing on the wall when they were labelling Kraken and Sierra tequila as "premium".Also there was no wi-fi which would have been fine if not for the absence of a phone signal.

It was impressive to drink coffee in the cafe that opened in 1650. Coffee has been sold here for 372 years. Every place has its defects. Dont think and feel the place 🤗

The coffee is about as low quality as at Starbucks, Nero or Pret, except here they’ll charge you over £4 for a double espresso lmao. You know the coffee’s gonna taste like mud when they mask its taste by making it boiling hot.Mediocre English breakfast, complete with rubbery, cheap hotel-style scrambled eggs, chewy back bacon and wet tomatoes. The sausage was the only decent thing on the plate, but they only give you one, despite breakfast costing you around 14 pounds. No fried bread, no beans, no black pudding, no mushrooms. Only disappointment.

Scone is not good dry and bad, the waitress attitude is so bad ngl. Don’t feel like in cafe feel like I own her something or I need to service her. Honestly great decorations and nice environment. But is not cheap the service and food I’m sorry not my type

They clearly have enough one off passing trade to forget the basics and remain in business. 15 of us met up for cocktails before a reunion. Nearly empty when we arrived. ‘No, you can’t push tables together, you all have stand’, ‘sorry but we’re shutting half an hour early’, ‘no you can’t pay in small groups - someone has to pay the whole bill’ etc etc. had they answered any of the emails we sent in advance we would have gone elsewhere, but we all have fond memories from a different time, and certainly a management with a very different understanding of service. In short, absolutely nothing to facilitate, help, or make us feel welcome. Took our money (or my money at any rate…), took ages to give us flat, mediocre cocktails and told us to leave so they could go home early - which we happily did.

WORST SERVICE EVER.I never in my life got kicked out from a restaurant.We booked a table for 8 one hour in advance and ordered + PAYED for two slices of cake to eat later. An hour later, we entered and asked the owner if we could sit 6 in a table and 2 in another since there was no table for 8 available. The owner suddenly came and advised the server not to serve us. He said this is his restaurant and told us to leave. We replied by asking to return the money we paid for the cake. He refused and told us to leave.This is a pure act of racism, seeing that we are an Arab family, which he clearly did not prefer to serve.I would never recommend this cafe as the owner himself doesn’t respect his customers.

Underwhelming. Service and food was like a motorway cafe. We had breakfast which had no beans, mushrooms, black pudding for example. Service was lack lustre with a poor attitude. £5 for some tea - not even anything fancy in how it was presented. Clearly they just take advantage of tourists and dont expect repeat custom. Avoid unless you want to go to just say youve been.

I can only speak for the (simplesandwiches which could have cost me ~40p to make at home but cost £13 here. Staff look like they dont want to work there. Places (tourist trapslike this make my blood boil. Better quality from a Tesco meal deal.

Wouldnt even give one star if I could. Absolutely horrible experience. We went cause they said it was the first coffee shop in England but more like the worst coffee shop in England. The staff are absolutely so rude and disrespectful. When we asked a question, the waitress (black hair, looks like she does not know how to waitresswent to the back and her and her manager started laughing at us, right in front of us. Extremely rude and uncivil.

I went here today with my husband for tea. We were greeted by someone who asked if we were here for lunch and we said "no, we are here for tea" and she seated us.The space is small, but we waited a long time because it is poorly run and disorganized. I had to flag down the waitress who greeted us at the door to place my order after waiting over 15 minutes. When she arrived we told her what kind of tea we wanted, she wrote it down and asked us "what else are you getting, you cant just get drinks."She then started calling her staff out one-by-one trying to find out who was responsible for not telling us the "rules". We reminder her that she is the one who greeted us, we told her exactly what we wanted, and she seated us knowing this.She then said "you can get tea, but you cant just have drinks." Im glad were in Oxford because that means she has access to a very good dictionary called the Oxford English Dictionary. If she looks up the entry for "tea" she will see that it says "The leaves of the tea-plant, usually in a dried and prepared state for making the drink". If you have special rules that fall outside of the basic definition of what "tea" is... communicate that with your customers before wasting their time, blaming your staff, and embarrassing yourself.

In Oxford for the day. This cafe was a disappointment. Severely understaffed and their attitude was one carelessness. Place was shabby for the price tag. Ordered a cup of tea, my jaw dropped open...£4.95..extortionate! Simply a place to rip off the tourists...

Lovely place, friendly staff, good food and excellent coffee!!

The best scones I’ve ever put in my mouth. I’ve been to fancier afternoon teas in London and this was honestly better.

Even though it is a little pricey, it is nice to treat yourself now and then. I come to this cafe each time I come to Oxford. This time arriving around 10:30am for an early “elevenses” before much of the Oxford stores opened up, therefore pretty much had the pick of the tables.It is a smaller cozier cafe so one would understand, come summer months with all the tourists, you might have to wait a bit to get a table. However, my experience once seated the waitresses have always been prompt and are helpful in their service.As far as the teas, I have only once had a question, flagged my waitress down who was only too happy to take care of the situation once explained. Good service thank you.

They claim to be the oldest cafe in OxfordIt’s very pretty but very small. They don’t take tables larger than 5.The desserts and coffee were very good. I thought that the best thing was the Belgian waffle with ice cream and syrup.It is fairly pricey so be expected to more than usual for desserts.The hostess was very friendly and service was quick.I would recommend.

Grand caffe is indeed a nice place, but the staff is very unprofessional and tactless. We went on the afternoon and there were plenty of free tables but when the waitress asked what we were going to get and we said we were interested in the bar, coffee, she immediately said there were no seats. as I was taking a look at the place and letting it be known that there were plenty of places, she added: only if you get any cake then yes. We certainly thought of getting something else but the way she judged and expressed herself was totally inappropriate. And even during the stay we had those kind of looks that expressed we should finish quickly and leave. It’s Oxford, should have standards of Oxford.

We looked up and was so impressed with the photos . We mad a trip to oxford , fighting traffic and heat. So excited to see the small and beautiful decor and the charm.We ordered a high tea. We were so looking forward, it was our sons birthday who was not with us. When the tray came , I WAS SO DISAPPOINTED TO SEE THE FOOD. AND THE SCONES WERE LIKE BREAD, JA,M CAME OUT STRAIGHT FROM THE BOTTLE , SANDWICHES WERE LIKE A DELI SERVING.ITS SAD THAT WE HAVE FORGOTTEN THE TRADITION OF REAL ENGLISH TEA.

Would not serve sandwiches at 6pm even though sign stated it would be served til 6.30p.m. Scone quite doughy and seemed undercooked. Nice location and setting. Pleasant waitress. We could see our orders sitting on the counter for quite a length of time. Very overpriced at 27pounds for a scone, a cake, a lemonade and a hot chocolate.

Always a good place to stop for a snack. Its a bit faded these days as it used to look grander before but still ok

I ordered expensively-priced bread and butter and olives, and Earl Grey tea.The butter was margarine, the bread two pieces of packet sliced, the olives spooned out of an average jar and drowned in brine. The Earl Grey tea was tasteless. I complained that the butter was margarine and asked for butter. The waitress, who was very nice, said there was no butter, only the margarine. I felt tourists were being ripped off here. The building is beautiful; but in my experience last week the food does not match it.

Staff are disinterested and offer very little in customer service. Prices are okay as the cream tea is nice. Tables are too small for groups of three or more.

Popped in for afternoon tea and was pleasantly surprised. Great service and presentation. A wonderful way for this American tourist to enjoy a British Tea.

Over prized, low quality, service with a frown, in nice architecture.So we went there for afternoon "high" tea. They do charge £29 per person for this, including a glass of "Champagne". Which was of questionable quality in itself to start things off. The sandwiches were okay but the amount was not what I would have expected in a tier for two when going for tea. When we politely asked for seconds, we were told there were non to be had. The patisseries, instead of the two each I am accustomed to when going for Afternoon tea for two, were only one (tinyitem of each. The scones tasted mostly of baking powder and the jam was less tasty than a regular Bonne Maman. We did not see any of the staff smile once, our waitress especially and overall felt that we were a huge imposition on the staff, daring to come in a mere hour before closing, interrupting their cleaning. Unless directly addressing the staff, we were completely ignored. Our bill included an added £5 gratuity we decided to ignore in turn, as there was nothing really the "service" made us feel grateful for. Our waitress however felt compelled to tell us that the we had stiffed her on the bill.The Witch, the wardrobe and the audacity of that .........My partner was nice enough to politely inform her that a gratuity is a tip to be earned, which she had not, so we did not need to pay it. Which was corroborated to her by her manager, which was the best part of our experience at the "Grande" Cafe in Oxford.In summary, I cannot recommend it for anything unless you want to experience the quintessential tourist trap experience, in wonderful, historic architecture.

Wow! We had a fantastic afternoon tea here today at the Grand Cafe. Our waitress Eleonora was lovely and so kind and friendly. Our scones and coffee were incredible. I highly recommend a visit here.

Lovely exterior to the Cafe & great part of history however a bit underwhelming when inside. Don’t expect much. Some gluten free options on the menu and the gluten free beetroot tart I got was actually really nice.

Lovely place for Afternoon Tea. A bit more clotted cream wouldnt go amiss for 4 scones. Lovely sandwiches, petit fours very nice too.

Proud and blessed to have a taste of England coffee house in the earliest site. Impeccable Vibe, Service, Food and Drink!

I had the worst scrambled eggs and orange juice in my life at this cafe. The scrambled eggs was way too dry and it tasted horrible. The “fresh” orange juice was extremely sour. The quality of food doesn’t deserve the price they charge.

Food is actually good, especially the individual pastry. The high tea is over priced. Don’t get me wrong, the scones and sandwich are not bad, just that £20 for one person portion… I would expect a bigger portion in a nicer environment. The worst of all is the service. Service is awful. The waitress didn’t smile at all. It feels like she doesn’t want to serve anyone at all. We asked to move to a side table if any comes available and she simply refused to help…. people coming to The Grand Cafe to enjoy a nice afternoon tea as it promotes… but this server will NOT make this place to become a nice spot for tea unfortunately…

Elite, historic, resplendent! Loved every bit of it. The place is always busy because of its popularity among locals and tourists.. so be prepared for a loud cafe experience instead of a quite and cosy one.. but all worth it! You might have to queue for 10 to 15mins, if not more, to grab a seat for yourself, so plan accordingly. The coffee varieties are nice, especially the Government Java Coffee. Do try a slice of the warm and delicious chocolate brownie if you have a sweet tooth.

Wow. I dont know what most other commenters were expecting, but this cafe is just fantastic.Food and tea: Just delicious. Scones were fluffy, jam and cream fresh and light, tea was strong and rich. Cold drink selection looks great too.Service: Amazing. It helped having a cute little one with us, but the staff were genuinely lovely, "chef" gave us a free portion of fruits for our louder/more upset than usual 15 month old.Atmosphere: Refined, relaxed and charming. Its a small space and the chairs are a bit large but with no one on tables next to us it was fine.Cost: The price is expected for Oxford, in fact Ive worked in places in Yorkshire that charge similar or more.TL;DR: 100% were going again.

Worst service I’ve ever had. The waitress (black girl long hairwas so rude and seems like she hates her job and from customers as well. We ordered 3 cream tea. They brought the tea in the tea pot. When we poured the tea in to the cups we noticed that it was full of water. No colour no taste at all. Basically they put too much water but less tea leaf. They told us to wait for 5 mins and end of 10 minutes the tea was still light colour and had only water taste. I complained and they brought new tea but still no taste. I don’t recommend here to anyone.

Lovely High tea with salmon sandwiches and egg sandwiches. Plain and fruit scones and mini cakes a wonderful treat in the oldest coffee shop.

Came here for tea and scones at around 11am while on a mini break in Oxford. Enjoyed Lady Gray tea with a scone.Feels more like a café than a tea room and prices are a bit high. No social distancing in the restaurant, staff not wearing masks, cramped all patrons on the right hand side even though the venue had more space throughout.Vegetarian options available, no vegan options so far as I can see. Service was okay. Not blown away by the venue considering the history of the place being the "first coffee house in England".Service was basically clearing our table while we were still having our tea. Didnt feel particularly welcome. Ran away as soon as both tables either side of us were full, was very claustrophobic.

TOURIST TRAP!! HORRIBLE MANAGEMENT!!Horrible experience.Bad food, bad service. We ask for an extra cup (just a cupand they said no. Moreover, we could taste that the food was microwaved. The water tasted really bad. And the food was pricy.The place was jam packed, it definitively did not follow covid regulations.The setting is lovely, but the tables were very uncomfortable. We were 5 of us, and they made us sit at a table for four while other tables were available. We asked to be moved to another table, but they said no, saying that it was because of covid, but as I said above, they did not follow covid rules as the place was jam-packed.Definitively a tourist trap. I would never go back and would never recommend it.We addressed all of our complaints with the manager, but we was not opened at all. It offered us a 10% discount after arguing with him for 20 minutes and asking for the discount. Then, he took out the 10% by removing the SERVICE CHARGE!!! We just couldnt believe it!!

Its really great to be there as it is the first coffee shop in England.Great customer service . Food, tea coffee was very good .And lovely atmosphere.

Such a lovely place! We visited in 2018 and ordered a set of Afternoon Tea (probably the High Tea set). Can be crowded in here, but we got a nice table with wonderful service from the staff.

The food was average. The risotto with leek, potatoes and brie had almost no flavour at all. When I did my order I requested to add salmon or chicken on it. But they said they couldnt. The soup was ok. But same thing, almost no flavour on it. The peach chinese tea was good. The staff was very attentive and polite. And they served it fast. The place was clean.

Well... 😐We went to this cafe with a friend of ours to enjoy some afternoon tea. We left disappointed. They do not size up the afternoon tea per person but make each person buy their own afternoon tea. So a group of 3 would need to buy 3 separate High teas. Unfortunately, asclearly visible in the pictures, the tea pot was not clean at all, the bits in the tea cup are not from the leaves (as it includes fresh leaves instead of dried onesbut are from the dirty tea cup. The expensive £12.5 coffee tastes like 50p filter coffee too. Not impressed. 2* for nice ambience and tasty scones.

Some Good & Some Bad...sadly- patisserie is beautiful. Fish platter was good BUT the meat platter was pretty horrible. The "Game Pie" had no flavour and the Venison Pate which was bright red was also fatty, salty and lacking real flavour. The meat platter was very disappointing and to be avoided in future. Good coffee, attentive and fun staff. Plus...the smallest toilet I have ever experienced. It was VERY difficult to close the door when standing inside the cubicle. I recommend using the other 2 cubicles that are available.