Tiplings - Bradford

This is a super tea room and gift shop. My favourite for lunch here is the cheese and tuna toasted sandwich. The cakes are great too and I have noticed the scones and afternoon teas always seem very popular. Staff are mostly fairly young ladies who are always friendly and the owner herself is a very chatty and friendly lady. If you have a dog they are more than welcome they often get treated to a bowl of water and a bit of ham on the house and there are usually seats outside under a canopy should you turn up with a very muddy parson russell terrier.

I was extremely disappointed with my experience at Tiplings in Ilkley. My husband and I were looking forward to visiting Betty's, but the line was too long and we were short on time. We decided to try Tiplings instead, and despite the busy atmosphere, we were able to find a table upstairs. Unfortunately, the service was slow and our drinks were not up to standard. My daughter enjoyed her hot chocolate, but my latte was served almost cold. I regret not waiting in line for Betty's instead.

Our visit to the restaurant last Saturday was disappointing. It started off well with tasty sandwiches and toasties. However, after finishing our meal, the dirty plates were not cleared and we were not asked if we wanted anything else, even though the venue was quiet. There was tension between the young girls working there, which created a negative atmosphere. When we finally got attention to order dessert, we were looking forward to a cake and coffee. I asked for a freshly made scone, but what arrived was a small, dry shop-bought scone. The waitress informed me they had run out of scones, but still charged me full price for the disappointing scone. I ordered a coffee with the scone, but it never arrived. We were disappointed that the manager was not available for feedback. As experienced professionals in the catering industry, we expected more from this Ilkley tea room.

Absolutely awful experience. Myself and my husband ordered a well done bacon sandwich, an orange juice and a coffee. We received our drinks first, my husband received his coffee, no sugar, when he asked for sugar it was brought to the table and the contents of the bowl were sugar cubes, one of which looked as if it had been used then popped back into the bowl. We later received our bacon sandwiches, the bread looked and tasted like low value range and the bacon was very fatty and tasted disgusting. We have never seen anything presented with such little care, ever. We do feel for businesses that are struggling in these difficult times but this so called tea room should be looking after the paying customer with serving decent edible food. Needless to say we would never return or recommend. Avoid at all costs.

On our first visit to Ilkley, my wife and I decided to try out Tiplings after seeing the long line at Betty's. Despite being short-staffed due to illness, the two employees working made an effort to provide good service. The food was decent and the latte was particularly delicious. With additional staff, the experience would have been even better. Management, please take note.