Mad Hatter Cafe

My friends and I went for lunch here one day. There were few issues I’d like to point out about this café… In bullet points:
1. There was no hand wash in the bathroom. I asked for some from the kitchen and they said they were out of soap and had none in the café… They were preparing and serving the food we all ate with those unwashed hands. Is that even legal?!
2. I ordered a skinny iced latte. The waitress got the order wrong-​which is ok, it happens sometimes, we’re only human! However, I was then told that they were «out of ice» and therefore could not make another iced latte for me. What food establishment runs out of ice? They told me they could make any hot beverages… I was unhappy as it was a hot day but ordered something else. We had already paid the price of the iced latte, and the waitress was not a bit concerned that what they brought me instead was a cheaper product.
(I couldn’t even be bothered anymore to ask back the change)
Apart from that, the food was mediocre. Relatively small portion for the price, it definitely wasn’t worth paying in my opinion. An amateur could cook what they were serving.
Customer service was unprofessional.
Overall, I am extremely disappointed and will never go back to this café.

I had smoked salmon baget and it was very nice. I liked that place and especially girl who served us. She was very smiley and nice.

Great hot chocolate here. Rich and creamy, but not overly sweet, a real delight.
This is a quirky café on Western Road that offers food, drinks, free wifi, and papers so it’s the perfect place to wile away a couple of hours if you have time to kill, meet friends for a catch-​up, or take the laptop and catch up on some work.
I haven’t tried the food get but will definitely be back to do so. The menu features unusual sandwich fillings, falafel, burgers and brunches.
They also have a selection of great looking cakes, very rustic in appearance and certainly homemade.
Oh, and they are currently offering a 25% discount to Elves — Nation Elf Service ID required!

I was interested to read the Madd Hatters’ website description of their work force. That being:
All staff are highly educated, articulate, loving and most importantly honest with their feelings. You won’t find any fake smiles and empty ‘have a nice day’ ‘s at this café.
This was borne out as I observed one of their ‘highly educated’ members of staff deigning to take my wifes order whilst whilst carrying on a far more important conversation with another ‘articulate’ member of staff. The ‘highly educated’ member of staff then got our order wrong. However she was ‘honest’ enough to tell us that we would have to come back to the till to collect it.
When my 3 year old decided to start crying loudly (for reasons known only to three year olds), our ‘highly educated, articulate and honest’ waitress came over to him (not us. just to remind you again… he’s three) and said ‘Can you be quiet, your spoiling it for everyone’ and proved that in the Mad Hatter staff ‘You won’t find any fake smiles and empty ‘have a nice day’ ‘s’. Possibly we were lucky enough to be there to experience the staff’s ‘Honesty with their feelings’.
The one adjective we were deprived of in our time at the Madhatter was that bit about the ‘loving’ staff. Maybe next time… Sorry I stand corrected as my ‘articulate, loving and, most importantly, honest about his feelings’ son (age three) has just informed me there wont be a next time.
Our experience: Not family friendly
Footnote:
My three year old son persuaded his mum to write and complain about his ‘mad Hatter’ experience. Luckily Nick Saxon (the self confessed creator of the Mad Hatter Café and, who according to his Mad Hatter bio, has a ‘vast and wacky energy’) proved to be more prompt in his response than his staff were with their service.
After thoughful consideration of the points made he emailed back (quoted in full):
‘moan, moan moan, moan — you must be uptight or something — so boring that email I didn’t even read it all!.‘
I concur with Nick when he writes on the Mad Hate4r web page:
i’If you do come across the Mad Hatter Café then you would be foolish not to step inside and sample the distinct aroma’
Nuff said Nick…

Food is okay, tea and coffee selections are so so. One thing to remember though: make sure you bring a pair of ear plugs as this place is ridiculously loud!

lovely café in a prominent location. has nice natural light coming through the windows on a sunny day and is quite relaxing and not too noisy. very casual and laid back. Coffee is ok. they have a nice selection of smoothies which are my favorites. but slightly on the pricey side in my opinion. Otherwise this place is pretty cool. I quite enjoy the wall hangings of featured aritsts as opposed to the generic photos up at a costa or starbucks. Have yet to try the food… Been there a couple of times and staff is very friendly and has free wifi.

I ordered poached eggs on toast, and I got: a plate with two poached eggs on it, a pile of dry toast, and two sachets of butter. Somebody needs to have a word with these people… My advice: try the Green Tomato opposite — a proper café.

Mad Hatter’s is a lovely little café/​lunch place on the Western Road, and is a fast favourite when going on a morning stroll with the missus! It’s unpretentious, affordable vegetarian fare is the perfect accompaniment to a morning stroll, and very tasty as well! The slightly hippie vibe is quite pleasant, as is the artwork plastered on the walls: constantly changing, always local. There’s even yoga and acupuncture upstairs, if that’s your bag!
The food is what I always come back for, and it’s a wonderful mixed bag of delights: veggie sandwiches, falafel, salads, and a lovely veggie breakfast. It’s nothing special, really, but the love and care in effect here does go a long way with me. That, plus plenty of tea, coffee and fruit juice choice, is one of the main reasons I recommend Mad Hatter’s so highly.
Apart from the lovely food and drink, Mad Hatter’s is also pleasantly convivial. The atmosphere is pleasant, friendly and open, evidenced by the table full of flyers by the front desk: everyone’s welcome, to some extent! Come down here for a breakfast or lunch, and enjoy the atmosphere: it is a really special place, and a Brighton classic!

The Mad Hatter is a fabulous little café just a little out of the city centre on the way towards Hove. It’s bright turquoise, so it’s a little hard to miss and has a fantastic outside area on Montpelier Road where you’ll find lots of people having a coffee and soaking up the sunshine.
Inside you’ll find wooden floors, comfy leather sofas, plant pots and a lovely atmosphere I find this place really homely and a great place to chill out with a coffee and one of their absolutely DELICIOUS gluten-​free chocolate brownies. Totally worth trekking along Western Road to get my hands on.
Aside from their amazing chocolate brownies, the rest of their menu is actually pretty healthy veggie curries, tasty salads and tortilla wraps. With a wheat intolerance, I’m fairly limited here in what I can actually eat as a lot of it is rather bread-​related. But at around a fiver for a lunch, it’s pretty good value. If you want a little bit of a sneak peek, they have pictures of most of the menu on their website to salivate over!

The Mad Hatter has always had a faintly anarchic, traveller feel to it as if part of its heart still lies glowing on the Khao San Rd or somewhere in India. Maybe it’s because the staff used to rotate so often, returning with Goan suntans and fresh henna tattoos. These days it’s got new management and little has really changed — the smoothies are just as delicious, the tunes are good, there’s loads of veggie food and they’re happy for you to work or read in there over a coffee or two for the whole day. The notice board is useful too. A hallucinogenic trip through the Looking glass to see the Mad Hatter? Not really but the acerola juice is pretty special and there’s a thai massage /​yoga centre upstairs.

I keep trying to like this place because the interior and the food are great, and the prices have stayed low for years. I don’t understand the staff though. Maybe they’re just depressed as I’d hate to think they’re actually being haughty! Lots of sulky faces behind the bar and a general irritability at having to serve.

Good food, nice selection and reasonably priced. The service, however, was appalling. I stood at the counter for ages each time I needed something and was made to feel like I was interrupting. When I got served, it was unfriendly and indifferent.

The Mad Hatter is a fantastic unpretentious café on the Brighton & Hove border, Its always a little hub of activity and great place to peruse whats happening in Brighton as its always stocked full of venue brochures and event flyers.
Its a great place to stop when tackling the epic walk down Western Road. The Mad Hatter does tend to stick in peoples minds due to the venue’s conscious effort to make the café as individual as poss, particularly with its exterior décor and unusual name.
I experience an impromptu jazz performance from a local musician who rocked up with his keyboard, which was great in a relatively small establishment. Upstairs oddly lies the Dragon Acupuncture clinic which is open Tuesday to Friday.
Food wise its a simplified choice of the usual continental Brighton menu including falafal, salads, soups and smoothies. One of the fab features is the outside seating which is rare of such a central establishment. Great place for lunching if your on a health kick.

The Mad Hatter is one of those neighbourhood cafes that seems to be busy all four seasons. It’s success lies in the fact it’s on a sunny corner and has ample seating inside and out. The coffee and tea are nothing to shout about but for some reason, they always taste better when it’s a warm day and there’s free papers and magazines to flick through.
The breakfast menu includes croissants, toast, museli, scrambled eggs and full cooked breakfast and the lunch menu includes salads, sandwiches, wraps, quiches and soups. The portions are generous but like the drinks are nothing special. In fact, the best thing on the menu seems to be the delicious smoothies and hot chocolate.
The reason it only gets a 3 when other neighbourhood places get a 4 is because of the consistently unfriendly staff. I’ve been here to meet friends on dozens of occasions and have yet to recieve a smile or a hint of acknowledgement. Thankfully, the dozens of chilled out customers usually make up for the bad vibes reverbating from behind the counter!

An excellent independent café with an alternative vibe: named for the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, with big Mad Hatter murals and magic mushrooms on sale at the till, this is one of Brighton’s more eclectic coffee shops. The portuguese tarts are superb and there are always good home-​made cakes and excellent seasonal salads on the menu.
Upstairs at the Mad Hatter is given over to meeting rooms for a variety of New Age and alternative groups and events. Toilets are upstairs and there is no disabled access to them.

Very laidback, deep leather sofas and nice small tables and chairs. Also has loads of interesting leaflets and groups meet in their function room upstairs. I love the menu blackboard illustrations, too.