"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."
