The Lytton At Chalfont Dene

Had a lovely afternoon tea to celebrate a birthday. The sandwiches were fresh and the cakes delicious. The vegan option was very tasty too. Would definitely recommend this place.

We booked for afternoon tea, and used the postcode in our satnav, which brought us to the gate of a retirement village, with a sign which mentioned 'Lytton Restaurant ' amongst other titles. We drove in and found no further direction signs at all, just street names. Eventually, we parked in one of the few visitor spaces and wandered towards a large building which had a free standing sign outside advertising physio services to ask for directions. The receptionist at the desk chirped 'Oh yes, the restaurant is over there ', pointing behind us. When we said we 'd been struggling to find the place, we were told 'There 's a sign at the gate '. The restaurant was very pleasantly furnished, but there was a party of very noisy ladies who were hugely enjoying some stories, at the expense of everyone else in the room. Our table was not ready, but was hastily sanitised and cutlery and napkins arrived. We were offered water, which came in a jug, but with no glasses, and the waiter was gone so fast that we didn 't manage to catch his attention. Gradually, coffee, glasses and afternoon tea arrived, but the staff seemed to need prompting for a lot of things, as if untrained in the procedure. The sandwiches provided were nothing out of the ordinary, as were the warmed scones, but the cakes were disappointing miniatures which would have graced a doll 's house. The 'carrot cake ' was a dry, cinnamon flavoured sponge with a wisp of orange peel on top, and the red velvet cake was halved for sharing. Not once did a member of staff approach to check if everything was satisfactory, or whether we needed anything we had to ask for coffee refills, after waiting to catch their attention. The plan had been to reconnoitre for a larger party to visit for afternoon tea; we very quickly decided that The Lytton at Chalfont Dene was unsuitable for anything more than a group of four, who don 't expect much in the way of service. Thoroughly disappointing, poor value for money, and we won 't be back.

Sadly I booked to take my mum here today for her birthday via this booking app. First issue is the directions, they are completely wrong and take you to a different place, when questioned about this on arrival I was told that this often happens, so just an idea maybe look at your website?! Secondly although I had booked afternoon tea for 3 people at 12:15 on arrival I was told I had booked for lunch and the restaurant could not accommodate us for an afternoon tea, I was told I had booked a lunch and not afternoon tea, I asked to see the manager and proceeded to show her how I had booked via the link for the afternoon tea and proceeded to show her that I was actually still able to book for afternoon tea whilst standing in front of her! The manager agreed that the link on the site was misleading but I had in fact booked lunch. All a bit of a joke and sadly ruined my mums special birthday lunch! Very disappointed

The food and staff were amazing. Catered for all our different dietary needs. Would definitely recommend and we’ll definitely be coming back. Thank you.

Staff very polite. Had to ask for a few more sandwiches and scones which was not a problem. Lovely surroundings and relaxing. It was very quiet and maybe staff could have been a bit more attentive