Archers Rest Cafe Bistro in Bedford

Lovely bistro... Stopped by for a snack and a cuppa. Great service.

I visited with a friend and very mch enjoyed the sausage roll, brownie and tea that I had. Very well fitted out and comfortable, a real asset to the local community. Friendly staff too.

Looking after my grandson, whilst the parents do a park run. Bought him a mini milk lollipop. Amazed that it set me back £2. Total rip off! 😞 After the Saturday park run, we decided to have a brunch meal. My bacon, sausage and egg in a vape was all badly burnt. My wife's was similar. The delivery took a long long time, and the hot drinks arrived after the meal had been concluded. Very dissatisfied. We didn't bother to complain in order to replace the meal because it took so long in the first place. In fairness, the place was very busy, but that should not be an excuse to deliver such poor quality food.

Little gem! Ample free carpark, next to a large playground which is safe and well equipped. Great coffee, nice food. I tried an English breakfast, waffle with bacon and sausage sandwich on different occasions> Great 100% of the time.

Place should be renamed to " Day light Robbery". For Calippo ice lolly and Solero exotic, I was charged £ 6.50!!!

We love popping in to The Archers Rest. It's the perfect place to grab a bite to eat after the kids have been playing at the park. Lots of seating and plenty of high chairs. Food always comes out quite quickly.

Really lucky to have this fab café on my doorstep. Great menu that caters for all tastes. Great coffee and cakes. Love their smoothies which are made fresh to order. Bacon butties are 👌. Great friendly service and welcome dogs too 😊

Fabulously friendly, dogs love it too, highly recommend as there are beautiful walks and also children's play

Great place and idea. The coffee and food are great quality as well as the cleanliness and location. I've been a few times now. I was served a cappuccino instead of the flat white I asked for but was completely okay with that. Good coffee regardless. I also ordered a full English breakfast, it was beautifully presented but I was given a vegetarian meal which I did not ask for. When I bought it up, the person on the till was fine, but it was a bit awkward with the person in charge and I feel after a decade in the industry myself, the response I recieved was so poor. I would know if I accidentally let slip the word "vegetarian".. I felt awkward and did get what I suggested as an outcome, was surprised by having to instigate the solution and the feeling that I had made a mistake rather then a simple apology and correction. I don't believe anyone should be put off going, but the staff should remember that if they don't like their job, don't stay-- or do stay, but don't make the customers the problem when there is a staff error

I come here regularly with my kids and for work meetings. A great vibrant atmosphere that meets so many needs. Smiling faces and great food. Coffee and cakes to for those sweet tooth days. Excellent

Wonderful experience and amazing food. It was really busy but the staff were patient and helpful with me trying to pay by card on the machine. I overheard a table berating a young gentleman who was part of the staff for the service being a little slow, but it was completely unwarranted, rude and disrespectful given how busy it got so quickly. The staff there do not deserve that type of treatment, they make incredible food and coffees with exceptionally quick service when it is not as ridiculously busy as it was on this particular day. I have already recommended this place to my friends and coworkers, and I will be returning soon for another perfectly made caramel latte and carrot cake. Thank you.

Sunday morning bought a sausage roll and halumi roll, the service was great but the rolls were stale and the sausages were undercooked. Will avoid Sundays in the future.

Yesterday I had parked up to go inside and was met by two lovely young girls with their dog. They saw I had mine too and they had just told us they left because their dog wasn’t allowed to sit on their lap. I turned around and got straight back in my car. I have been here many times before and have always had my dog on my lap. They must have new management and I will not be returning again. There are many businesses that truly are doggy friendly and I will be taking my family there instead.

Came from London to visit a family member and was told about this amazing dog friendly cafe and fields. Finally went today and I asked before entering if they could confirm they were dog friendly to which they said they were. We sat in the corner out of the way and propped my dog up next to me. My baby is super well behaved she sits at the table she doesn’t move from her spot and doesn’t bark. There was another family opposite with their dog on their lap and a table in the middle. A Karen from the table in the middle went up and complained about our dogs on our lap. Instead of them saying sorry this place is dog friendly they decided to come to us and say we are dog friendly but they have to be on the floor because we sell food. I own a food business myself and selling food has nothing to do with the shop floor. Dogs just aren’t allowed in kitchens. And forgive me if I’m wrong but I have a different understanding of friendly because that is far from it. Cafe Nero and Starbucks are well established establishments who allow dogs on laps so what makes this place so special? As you’d expect we left because I was not about to give my business to someone who treats 2 different tables like that because of one Karen. Don’t go to a dog friendly place if you don’t like dogs! And don’t clame to be dog friendly when you’re not.. Make it make sense. Disguising behaviour from Karen and the staff. This place is NOT dog friendly.

The lady who I assume owns / runs the cafe needs to go on a basic coffee making course. If you enjoy a nice cup of coffee I wouldn't come here. However, if you prefer your milk burnt in a latte then this is the place for you

Best burger n chips l've eaten!! Seriously well cooked, food so fresh from crispy lettuce, tasty flavoursome dressing, onions & salad!! The chips... omg!! Beats any I've had before too... seriously crispy outside with fluffy inside, not at all greasy and all well presented!! The weather was very very warm... and the staff had been on their feet all day serving many hot meals. Their service, friendliness and excellent cooking l could not fault... and l'm known to be very fussy!! Reasonable prices and worth it!! 😊

Always friendly staff and customers. Lovely food and drinks

Great cafe,dog friendly and great walk round park

How can a twister lolly be £3.75 & a milk lolly be £1.50. That's just pricing markup gone mad!!!! I know everything has gone up, but not this much. It wasn't just me & a friend,I heard another table complaining too. Such a shame!

Prices are getting a bit ridiculous… I was charged £5.75 today for a mini-milk and a twisted ice-lolly. It’s a nice place and I would like to support it but I won’t be going back for ice-cream.

Visited Archers Rest for breakfast. Went for a breakfast stack and avocado on toast. Disappointed the avocado was a paste rather than slices but the stack was great.

Cannot fault anything - arrived a little after the breakfast cut off, but they still offered to put breakfast on. Said breakfast was spot on! 👌 Will deffo be returning soon!

Loads of gluten free options I had the veggie melt is was amazing definitely will be going back x

Great location, food and atmosphere. Just let down by staff. Ordered a pizza but needed to leave after 25 mins as my 2 year old daughter was getting impatient and wanted to go to the park. So I asked how long the pizza would be and decided to have it to go. I heard a female staff member (short hair and glasses) taking the p**s in the kitchen which I didn’t appreciate. Suspect she thought I was at the table as opposed to at the counter where I could hear her.

Lovely place to go with friends and family

Passed by as was visiting family. Was greeted like royalty, served timely and the food what cam out was fantastic to say the least. Could really feel the friendly atmosphere. The professional staff and local community clearly make it work. Nice to see a dog friendly place with a park close by for kids too. Would defo recommend checking out this place for it's BISTRO on Friday or Saturday evenings. We were well catered to and made to feel comfortable and we had great fun.

Amazing afternoon tea for Mother’s Day :)

Super little place, great community facility, jammed when my group was there.

Nice varied menu and tasty food. The cafe attracts lots of dog walkers because of the location. Some dog owners could and should keep their pets under better control. Some outside seating and nice green-field location.

Possibly the best waffles and crispy bacon I’ve ever had. Great food, good quality, great price and tasty as hell

Always friendly service, nice food and great coffee!

Lovely cafe, great menu, welcoming friendly staff. Will definitely be coming back 😀

Excellent food and service highly recommended new menu great choice

Lovely food, nice and relaxed, recommended. 'Bees Knees' cheese on toast pictured, very nice.

Love this place and so do our two dogs. Whenever we walk near they pull to go in.

Wow, for a community cafe, this is very disappointing. If 3 young kids (youngest 3) with a childminder come in to shelter from the heavy rain, you don’t tend to kick them out. Show abit of compassion!! We all live in great Denham and will cost you more with us now avoiding your cafe, due to such rude staff. BE KIND

Lovely carrot cake. Quick service

Great location, and it’s clean, tidy and nicely decorated. Have been a few times and mostly it’s been a lovely experience. Only thing I’d say is although the staff are friendly, they lack attention to detail. For example, bringing food or drinks over and not picking up the used plates. Or spilling coffee on the saucers and not bringing m napkins to clean it up or even really apologising. Devil’s in the detail! Would be near perfect otherwise.

Pros: -Location. -Parking. -Great stop-off point if you're walking/cycling along the river. -Dog friendly. -Plenty of seating. -Good looking premises. -Really good coffee. Cons: -The food is expensive and relatively average. -Staff were a bit indifferent. -Menu is a bit boring. Comments: -Had to ask for extra bread to go with the £16.50 sharing Mezze Board we ordered. The meats and the hummus were great, but really skimpy on the bread and the oil. -We also ordered some Spanish style croquettes, which were lovely, but £6.50 for three normal sized croquettes and nothing else was frankly a bit of a rip-off. -I have no issues with ever going again, but only for coffee.

Given 4* only because the coffee is very inconsistent.. this latte however was beautiful this time, perfect temp, not just boiling hot milk with 0 texture. Always lovely service, this coffee and sorry for the comment was made by a lady who wasn't white but of other heritage with glasses I believe.. can't remember now but hats off to her, it was Thursday 24th I came at around 12.30 if that helps you send some praise her way. Dog friendly and always have spaces available. Cheers guys

This is a nice place for a coffee and a pastry, with a children's play area and they are dog friendly.

Lovely place to go when on a dog walk. Lovely food, and very welcoming to us and the dogs! 😁

Had high hopes of this place but was ultimately disappointed. £6.20 for two regular coffees is crazy, even by current standards, and my black Americano was at best average, certainly no better than a McD’s black coffee at £1.29. Slow service and my companion overheard a woman asking why the long wait for her food and it turned out the order hadn’t been out through to the kitchen.

Ideal location for the playground.

Quick cappucino after park visit. Superb cappucino, in nice decorated clean

Great café & location but a bit expensive. Coffee & hot chocolate drinks are good, but sadly tea is served in a mug with the tea bag left in it! Their bacon baps are also good as well as their cakes & pastries. They do offer a couple of gluten free cake options but at extortionate prices. (Eg A tiny 4" square of lemon drizzle cake costs £4, ie £1 per small mouthful.) No prices are displayed on the counter so you don't know this until you have to pay. Will happily go back from time to time, but checking out the prices before ordering.

Popped in for a quick coffee after a 5 mile walk.

So nice to be able to take my dog into this lovely friendly cafe. Food is excellent, and all dogs welcome inside and out.

Lovely little dog friendly cafe. Tasty cakes and homemade sausage roll. Pizza looked pretty good too!

I went here on a very hot Saturday lunchtime. The staff were very friendly and helpful. The cafe had a lovely look about it, clean, looked after with lots of space. The food was decent enough, with freshly cooked pizzas available, if a little small for the price. The cafe is situated right next to a massive play area, with loads of kids playing. But even with all this, the cafe was dead! There were only about 10-12 people in there, and half were children. I think the prices may have, unfortunately, had a lot to do with that. I understand the loss independent businesses have made over the last couple of years, but I found it very difficult to pay nearly £10 to get myself and 2 children an ice cream each. Perhaps their overheads are massive, or maybe they prefer to make the short term profit, I don't know. Would I go back? Yes, the service was great, the coffee was nice and the play park was perfect, but I think I'll be careful what I buy from there.

Very busy food good Dogs allowed and they get dodgy treats can be noisy with children but seating outside for you

Visited this cafe when attending Great Denham Parkrun....would have been rude not to as it's right next to the start/finish line! 🙂 Nice food and drink at reasonable prices.

Bad coffee (decaf option came from a sachet but caf wasn't much nicer to be fair), extortionate prices, extra charge for non-dairy milk, unfriendly staff, and no wifi. Haven't tried the food but the selection looks awful - barely any vegetarian options and nothing for vegans. Take a 5 minute detour and go to the Eatery (the other cafe in Great Denham) - so worth it!

Excellent hot chocolate’s and service!

Lovely place to enjoy a coffee and a bite to eat. We sat outside as the weather was fine - plenty of space and a great atmosphere.

Met a friend here with our children, two babies under one and a toddler. Child friendly, nice setting and lovely coffee. Plus the halloumi breakfast bap was sooooo good. Can’t wait to go back for another! 😊

Fantastic local cafe to meet with friends. Met with a friend, had three children aged three and under with us. Extremely friendly, welcoming and helpful staff, who didn’t mind cleaning up the mess the two babies made (we did offer). Service was quick and food was yummy 😋 Would definitely recommend to families with young children 👍🏻

Love this coffee shop . Can take your dogs in and all very welcome . Staff are always happy and friendly

Came in for brunch after a solo walk with the dog and had the halloumi bap and had a banoffee muffin for a sweet treat! The halloumi was absolutely to die for and will be back again very soon. Very friendly staff and offered me a free dog biscuit.

Spent mothering sunday here with family, food was excellent. Had a full English breakfast and it was spot on and was reasonably priced. Staff made us feel welcome. We keep coming back here for the 'real' coffee!

Came into archers rest for a coffee and some food, with our two dogs one of our dogs barked once and we then had which I assume is the owners daughter who rudely and very abruptly told us to keep our dogs quiet after one bark. The service was poor and felt very unwelcome. Another family with dogs then started to bark and the same lady didn’t seem bothered but seemed to single us out. We won’t be returning and will be passing this review on to our other friends with dogs. This place is not dog friendly and we again felt awkward and unwanted. If you do attended archers rest, please make sure your dog is a mute. Awful food and awful customer service. I as a male work in customer service and i was shocked at the way we were treated and spoken to. No surprise it was very quiet.

Went into the cafe this afternoon. Appalled at the way me and my family were made to feel. We came in with our two dogs for a coffee and a bite to eat meanwhile there were other dogs in the cafe. One of our dogs barked once and the owner came over and was very abrupt and rude about our dog. Felt very singled out as there were other dogs there that barked and nothing was mentioned to their owners. Even though they say this is a dog friendly cafe I wouldn’t say they are at all! Staff also weren’t very welcoming or friendly even when bringing coffee’s over. As a result of the way that we were spoke to we left the cafe and won’t be returning again. We have a lot of dog walking friends and we shall let them know not to go in either!

Nice location but rude manager, toastie was possibly the worst I have ever had. Customer service zero. Have never felt so unwelcome will 100% stick to bromham mill at least the food is good and the staff are friendly. Begs the question of why you are so quiet!

We visited today for a hot chocolate and a cake on the way through to visit family. My hot chocolate even had a pretty pattern on it. I was so impressed I took a photo! Found the cafe completely by chance and had a well needed recharge. Good facilities and lovely clean cafe. The cafe is dog friendly and there were a few tables with dogs. Staff were lovely and very busy.

6 of us visited yesterday for Mother's Day afternoon tea. We were very impressed with the friendly service, presentation and freshness of our food. The vegetarian option was perfect too. Praise all round for atmosphere and overall experience.

Excellent Food!! Beautiful Coffee clean and Tidy and welcoming Bistro with a nice view from the window. Staff are really welcoming and friendly and lots of Options including Coconut Milk for coffees and lattes which I love. Treated my mum for Lunch we will definitely be returning the food is also very well Presented.

The place if lovely to stop mid- or after walk with doggo or without and have a nice lunch or drink. Biggest problem is that is offers little to people who don't eat cheese.

Nice location, good parking, interesting menu. Service was quick but unfriendly and abrupt staff, toilets filthy and food was undercooked and lacking flavour.

Had latte after parkrun......very good service and lovely latte. Didn't have food so cannot comment.

Rather noisy. Full of young mothers on my visit.

I really want this place to do well but every time I've been here (when it's been open) it's been lacklustre at best. On numerous occasions they've run out of basics (milk, ice) both of which are readily available at the Sainsbury's a few minutes walk away. Staff aren't rude but aren't exactly welcoming either and on this last visit it took a few minutes for one of the three staff behind the counter to even acknowledge the customers waiting to order. A simple "I'll be with you in a minute" would go a long way. This could and should be my go-to café or lunch spot but sadly to date it's uninspired. Happy to change ratings if future visits improve.

Visited today and our order was messed up twice. Manager was talking about me to collegues behind the counter (loudly!) and then decided to shout at me across the cafe. Extremely unprofessional and aggressively especially as I was with my two year old daughter. Extremely overpriced and incredibly rude!

Great little cafe to meet up before or after a walk around the parkland

Average food and drinks. Service was extremely slow.

Lovely cafe, great staff. But I would say hugely over priced for what you get in terms of quality or portion size. I know things have gone up in price but nearly £11 for a chicken and bacon salad is bonkers.

Very nice cafe, great location and dog friendly. The staff are always friendly and welcoming when we have visited. Food and drinks are nice however some items on the menu are slightly overpriced in my opinion.

Tasty food, friendly staff - nice seating indoors and out. Dog friendly.

Nice place, good coffee but too expensive for a park cafe.

Great location with a nice view. Visited the cafe a bout 5 occasion now. Prices higher than Danish Camp and the likes. Service without the smiles.

Fab cafe great service just in the right place for us walkers

Quick and friendly service Children play ground close by

Delicious coffee and loved the carrot cake

Top place really friendly staff and a great cuppa

Nice place, relaxing lunchtime coffee

Very nice cafe in a place that was really waiting for one! Coffee and cakes both very tasty, will be back to try the pizza.

Lovely cafe with an outside seating area. Bit chaotic at the till but new and they will get there. Nice toastie.

Great little spot. Will be back with the dog very soon.

Lovely cafe much needed but am sorry your prices are on the high side for the food on offer. Cheese on toast ,reading off the menu sounded delicious very disappointed thin sliced bread, hardly any cheese on the bread and a tiny spot of chutney on the toast. Needs improvement for me to make the journey other than taking my grandkids to the park

The staff are super friendly, especially the lady behind the counter that always says hello and is chirpy when delivering coffees and asks what people are up to etc. halloumi bap was amazing. Dog friendly. Outdoor seating area. Shame they open at 10 am in the week - I think as the eatery is shut on a Monday and Tuesday, I think opening at 9 am would be a great idea. Anyways loved the place. Nice toilets too. Hope they are kept clean.

Lovley cafe. Inside and out. Think the cake prices are a bit steep Tried the kinder blonde and was a bit dry in my opinion. Lovley sausage roll though!

Lovely setting and decor with so much potential but sadly as with other reviews, the service was outrageously slow today. Not enough staff in. I could see washing up stacking up, dirty tables and work surfaces in the kitchen. It wasn't worth the 30 minute wait for 2 cold drinks. Server was also having to run pizzas to the tables and customers left waiting whilst this was done. Disappointing end to a lovely walk.

Visited here this week and we really liked it ! Lovely pizzas, lovely lattes, really friendly, smiley staff! Excellent location and very clean ! I thought it was amazing, especially considering they’ve just opened ! We will definitely be back soon!

Nine of us went for breakfast this morning, staff were polite but service was very slow. My bacon sandwich was advertised as being in sourdough but it was actually in a sweetish brioche bun. Hope this long-awaited cafe succeeds, it's a great location in Gt Denham and only a short walk from Kempston.

Much needed cafe, beautifully decorated & once it really gets going properly I think it'll be very good. It has no outside seating which is a must & the service is very slow!!!! Give it time though & I'm sure it'll be great.