Akamba Heritage Centre

Akamba Heritage Centre

Akamba Heritage Centre
4
This location was reported permanently closed
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  • Candice
    Hinckley, United Kingdom23 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Lovely afternoon out
    We visited as a family of six adults and one toddler and I was pleasantly surprised. The food was tasty, even the basics like chicken nuggets or fishfingers. They tasted fresh, looked appetising and there wasn’t a complaint in sight at our table (and trust me - that’s not an easy feat!) The staff were so lovely and the outside area gives off a holiday vibe. The only reason I haven’t given 5 stars was the sticky and uneven tables and dusty floors. It wasn’t a huge issue for us, as we disinfected anything our toddler dropped on the floor, but may be a bugbear for anyone who hangs a coat on the back of their chair as the bottom would get filthy. Another thing to mention is the uneven flooring throughout. It adds to the authenticity of the place and should not be a problem but extra care should be taken by those who have difficulty walking or young ones toddling along.
    Visited June 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written June 8, 2024
  • jarock49
    5 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Akamba wins again!
    I chose Akamba Garden centre for a birthday celebration on 18th August 2024 as I knew my family would have a great experience. The staff were very friendly and helpful, everyone enjoyed their meal, whether it was a caribbean meal or some or the many other options available. The service was good and pretty quick, the atmosphere always upbeat, and the dining room spacious and cleverly designed. Thank you Akamba for creating a place that is unusual, quirky and beautiful.
    Visited August 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written August 19, 2024
  • Donna L
    Birmingham, United Kingdom29 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great find kids loved the restaurant will all the animals
    We had a lovely lunch with our 2 grandsons. They loved all the metal and wooden animals on the restaurant and outside. The food was great my husband said the jerk chicken was amazing. Friendly staff, very welcoming and spoke to the children made us all feel welcome. Will definitely be returning.
    Visited August 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written August 24, 2024
  • Tasneem A
    Birmingham, United Kingdom1 contribution
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Visited a few years ago. Excellent experience as free entry, parking and clean . Interesting African themed garden cent
    It seems the place is permanently closed from my Google search. Not able to phone them on the listed number. What a Shame. Was an amazing place 😍. Sad to see it has closed- will ask my niece to go to the venue and confirm - as she had mentioned before there was threat of closure and the site being used for housing I think. Perhaps they might move their operations elsewhere. But saddened if lost forever.
    Visited February 2024
    Traveled with friends
    Written January 14, 2025
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.0
4.0 of 5 bubbles719 reviews
Excellent
360
Very good
180
Average
71
Poor
40
Terrible
68

cls995
Solihull, UK11 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2022 • Friends
Top of the Pops Night Event
We had a great night, the music was very 'us'. The venue is also unique although a bit nippy at the beginning of the night prior to warm dancing bodies doing their thing. The food was really good and reasonably priced. The DJ did an awesome job of playing top hits from the decades which everyone was up and dancing to. He created a good atmosphere.
The only thing I would say that let the evening down was the card machine trouble, I know this can't be helped but it was a real inconvenience especially as staff didn't have a plan in place and we had to leave earlier than planned due to having no cash. The other thing was the lack of staff, it took a really long time to get served although staff were friendly but there could have been more people behind the bar to reduce waiting times.
Written October 9, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

David95
Birmingham, UK217 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2022 • Friends
We last visited before Covid started. Since then it has become even more delightful to visit. They have many more metal animals on display that really give the place a tropical feel, like you are on safari!
They are of course a garden centre which offers unusual plants, and the range available has also increased considerably.
There are several areas inside and outside where you can get snacks, drinks or full meals. The shop sells unusual items made in Africa. You can easily spend a pleasant morning or afternoon here even though it is not very large. They have regular evening entertainment.
Altogether a different and very pleasant experience. Staff are very friendly.
Written July 22, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Abbieebailey
Nottinghamshire, UK89 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Apr 2022 • Couples
Travelled an hour to visit this place, first impressions was amazing. Nothing like I’ve seen before. It’s such a beautiful place. Food and drink was delicious too but a little bit pricey

I must say, they seemed to be very short staffed, a particular member was staff wasn’t very helpful and seemed to not have a care in the world. A lot of things was closed. I.e the tropical house. The only thing that was opened was the beach.

Nevertheless, it was a good experience and I’m glad I visited. I will return again.
Written April 16, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Lorna S
9 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2022
I visited Akamba today with my son, friend and her young grandson.. We went into the food area, we got the menus, went up to order My friend ordered a jacket potato with cheese which comes with coleslaw and side salad or so the menu states, meals came out friends coleslaw is missing, she went up to ask about it where halfway down the cafe I could her the server telling my friend it does not come with coleslaw in what I would describe as off hand, she said she'd speak to the chef, she came back and said no coleslaw comes with it, my friend pointed to the menu and showed her that it does indeed come with coleslaw.no apology to my friend, this really was a whole new level of rudeness I have experienced in my time as a paying customer. so she then brought over the coleslaw to my friend, we started to say thank you and talk to her, she continued walking away, even though we were talking, say what you want but she new we were talking to her, she was so uninterested it was passively aggressive. my son wasn't comfortable on his chair he lifted the cushion to find the chair was indeed broken, so a male member of staff took it away, saying oh yeah we know there is an issue with them. we finished our meal, my friend then caught her clothes on a screw sticking out of a chair... we wnt outside to have a look around where a blonde female approached us and told us that children aren't allowed to sit on the animals as they could dent them and they are for sale ( he's 4 yrs old) we apologised, I asked if there was a manager available to discuss an issue with, she asked what it was . So I and my friend told her about the staff member in the cafe and how rude she was, I said that I was so unhappy with the service ( which I genuinely am) and said that I have every intention of writing a review about the cafe as I was really unhappy, she said ohh we're used to it, I said pardon, she said we are used to bad reviews with working with the public.. my friend asked if there was somewhere that her grandson could get an ice lolly and the member of staff said she didn't know if they had any, she came back with a cold bottle of water.. she did say that she hoped we would come back..

so many points here that leave me mind boggled, the staff member who was rude and walking away when trying to talk to her.
that she and nor the chef didn't know coleslaw was with this dish
broken chairs
screws poking out to potentially hurt customers and the fact that it's a known issue
that someone openly admits to the fact that Akamba is used to getting bad reviews ( as it's due to working with the public)
There are no signs saying not to sit on the hippo, I myself think that most parents/grandparents are going to see it as a photo opportunity, I'd put a sign/s out there saying no sitting/touching the animals.

If you know this garden centre it's aimed at being family inclusive, pre covid they had a reptile house, they still have a beach area either don't encourage us to bring children or put up signs saying items are not to be touched by children ( or even adults)
Dreadful day out avoid at all costs, not worth there money, food is not cheap for what you get and 2 slices of tomato and 3 of cucumber very small amount of red onion are a garnish not a salad
Written July 16, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

SuperTay360
Solihull, UK143 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2024 • Couples
Despite having had great experiences at Akamba and enjoyed our previous repeated visits for coffee and cake, a spot of lunch, evening dinner and purchasing plants, there is a very hostile member of staff on site. The lady in her 60s with shoulder length hair was very very rude to us on our recent visit. She was hostile and aggressive. We arrived with two small dogs hoping to stay for a spot of lunch. As were entered our one small dog (miniature Dachshund) had a wee up a plant pot and accidentally poo'd at the same time. Whilst sorting out a poo bag and in the process of picking it up the member felt it necessary to demonstrate her dissatisfaction, standing in sight, staring at us and shaking her head whilst making hostile comments. On entrance to the site it says dogs are welcome but must be kept on a lead. I am part of the Kennel Club Good Citizen Scheme who takes dog ownership very seriously and I am also disgraced by dog owners who do not pick up after their dogs. There was absolutely no need for the member of staff to react this way when she could see we were removing the poo. Very disappointed and suggest dog owners don't take their dogs. They are obviously not welcome, despite what signage may say.
Written July 20, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Nina M
1 contribution
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022
Although the food was good ("adult" chicken nuggets and chips for the kids and vegan tartlet and chips for me) we had to wait 45 minutes for it, despite the restaurant being pretty empty. We also had to wait a bit longer than that for drinks to arrive (only 34 degrees today) as the barman didn't bring them over, after saying he would! The tables looked as though they had never been wiped - we had to move a couple of times before settling on the cleanest, dirty table that we then wiped down between us with wet wipes. When the food was eventually brought to us, the waitress pointed out that the cutlery and condiments were available at the opposite end of the restaurant. It would have been useful to have been told this, when I ordered and was close to the front of the restaurant. When I went in the direction that she had pointed (with everybody's food now going cold) , there was actually no cutlery to be seen, so I had to ask her for it as she walked past. She then brought out just the amount of cutlery and condiments we needed, despite there still being nothing available for any other diners. One lady next to me was waiting for forks to eat her order of cakes. The environment and ambience of Akamba is lovely so it was really disappointing to have to wait so long for simple food, have to ferry around for things to eat it with, ask 3 times for the same order of drinks and wipe our own table.
Written August 10, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

tracy l
1 contribution
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2024 • Family
Went to Akamba today ( sept 26th) following an advert they placed on Facebook of a sale on their products on the 28th / 29th September Have bought many of their metal sculptures over the years and intended to add to my collection . Sadly they had absolutely nothing for sale at all saying that all they had was sold to a trader they knew ? Didn’t know if they would be having any new stock in either . Didn’t give the impression they either knew what was going on or if they did wouldn’t say . Had a drink and left disappointed .
Written September 26, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

SGrandfield
Solihull, UK365 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2022 • Friends
We’ve been here many times over the years but I’m quite sad to say it’s really gone downhill. We had a breakfast here but it was unfortunately, not very pleasant. Eggs came out really snotty and jelly-like, not sure how a restaurant can serve eggs like it, looked like they had been in the frying pan for about a minute. The bacon on 2 of the breakfasts was asked for well-done but this was really taken to the extreme when it arrived and it was so hard we couldn’t even cut into it with a regular knife! The whole breakfast just didn’t taste nice at all despite the high prices. I’d say staff need to work on their etiquette a bit, no one is overly friendly or welcoming.

The whole place just seems a little run down. The garden area is really messy and unkept like no one bothers. Every time I’ve ever been there no one is actually ever there, it’s a bit of a ghost town!

I’ve always tried to come here over the years as I liked the cause it was for but sadly I won’t be returning again.
Written September 2, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

mia rosie
Birmingham, UK16 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2023 • Friends
I hate writing bad reviews but I’d just like to warn everyone that this should be a garden centre, not a restaurant. It’s bad. I asked our waiter if the chicken would come on the bone and he said no, and then it did, which if I’d have known, I’d have ordered something else. The rice was hard and stuck together like uncle bens microwave rice lol. the iced coffee (see photos) was.. I don’t know. It didn’t smell like coffee. It didn’t taste like coffee. It was like watered down coke. There was black things floating around in it (not ground beans, it looked like dirt). Tables were dirty and covered in dead flies. I have food anxiety so this whole thing wasn’t great. I didn’t complain at the time because I’m so shy so perhaps this review is a little unfair but I really hope they see it and make some changes lol.
Written October 2, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Deborah w
Solihull, UK18 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2023 • Friends
Went on the 25th March to celebrate a birthday! Paid £28 for food and entertainment! Entertainment was excellent but the food was absolutely terrible! The meal was just a chicken leg covered in brown sauce gravy with a cup of rice and stewed cabbage and was terrible ! I’ve been to the Caribbean over 10 times and know what jerk chicken should taste like but this was just no edible and barely warm, food safety ! Not at holding temperature ! There were not enough bar staff to accommodate the amount of people at the function so long queues were constant throughout the night and the staff were running out of everything! The small dance floor was wooden and uneven ( risk assessment needed ) as this caused people with heel’s problems while trying to dance to enjoy the night !! This is the third time to Akamba and can honestly say that every visit I’ve not enjoyed the food ! So hopefully I won’t be invited again ! As this was a birthday celebration and was not my choice of venue because I know the food not going to be up to a decent standard! Sorry Akamba but you need to invest in a decent chef that can cook Caribbean food .
Written March 31, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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*Likely to sell out: Based on Viator’s booking data and information from the provider from the past 30 days, it seems likely this experience will sell out through Viator, a Tripadvisor company.
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Akamba Heritage Centre - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2025)

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