Bridges Cafe and Bar in Birmingham

We came for a hot drink before visiting the cinema. Very busy, slow moving queue but friendly service, nice hot drinks, reasonably priced.

The mac and its previous bar, cafe, restaurant and courtyard seating areas with wonderful cheap (in price) food in the canteen is no more. What the millions of pounds of refurbishment have been spent on has reduced all the seating to the cellar-like dungeon of a restaurant and some seating area in and near the bar. One could be anywhere. Previously the outdoors were view-able from both the bar, and restaurant areas with sliding doors opening onto the courtyard area inches from your table in the restaurant or bar areas. Now in the bar, in the summer months, the sheet glass "windows" create a stiflingly hot, stuffy atmosphere that you can't wait to get out of. The wonderful courtyard with its tree growing in the middle, and lots of circular cafe tables and chairs is gone. The very edible menu of the subsidized canteen - chickpea curry and rice, tuna mayo jacket potato, etc., have given way to trendy inedible over-priced junk - all fashionable ingredients and no taste.. The tea costs an arm and a leg - and some cheap tea bag too.. I don't see families there with children the way it used to be. It is altogether quieter and far too often you see the forlorn, the frantic, misguided and the plainly not very well. And whatever they did, they didn't use and sound-proofing materials. If one is sitting in the bar area, you can hear people or a child from as far away as the bottom end of the restaurant area. If there is a show going on in the theatre.cinema, you certainly can't read a book. So who was the Architect? Did he not understand how unbearable the deafening din was going to be? They have destroyed what was good and what worked with some misguided attempt at moderniizing the place. No wonder people avoid the place now. All it has become is a restaurant area. You couldn't sit quietly on your own, doing your own thing, without being forced to spend a fortune on bad food and indifferent tea.

Despite your response to my critical comment in 2017, MAC, you still have no improved the quality of your food, nor the value for money of your profferings! We are ALWAYS disappointed at what you have on the menus and the specials. There is always lots of stodge and any protein content is thin on the ground! PLEASE can you either sack your managers of the Bridge Cafe or send them back to college. I don't come to this Quality facility, the MAC with all its wonderful events, to eat in this Fast food junk outlet!

This cafe is located inside The Midlands Arts Centre within Cannon Hall Park Birmingham. I used to visit it every couple of months if something was on at The Mac like a food or craft fair and its not a bad little cafe. However the council has now introduced car parking charges of £2 for up to 4 hours which has really put me off visiting this place. People may think this is a minimal charge but when you are spending money on everything else an extra £2 every time soon adds up. If you do visit i have always generally had a good experience and the food from there is nice food. The cafe is always busy though and full of kids which can be off putting at times if you want a quiet lunch but its just one of those things as this is a place that does activities for kids and so caters for them with a kids menu. Its a shame they don't do zones for adults only so you can have a more relaxing time. They always do decent chunky chips and in the winter nice soups. It used to be tradition to always have a Christmas dinner there but the last time they missed off the pigs in blankets and stuffing and the potatoes were overcooked. On my last visit we had fish and chips and a southern fried chicken wrap and fries. These were both nice but the wrap was a little dry with not much chicken so found i needed to add more mayo. So if you don't mind the parking charges its a decent cafe where you get a nice selection of food.

MAC is a wonderful creative space, one of Birmingham's gems, situated in the wonderful Cannon Hill Park - which is a vibrant, urban, community hub and breathing space. The cafe is, therefore, an important meeting place and should be at the heart of MAC. Sadly, the redevelopment made the previous excellent, but small cafe into a large and impersonal barn of a space with, strangely, not enough tables and seating for its heavy use. The cafe space itself is impersonal, hard and uninviting. The food used to be great here and there are aspirations for it to be so. The menu is varied enough and appealing to find something for everyone as well as being orginal and appealing. I opted for a baked potato with feta cheese, sundried tomatoes and basil which was an unusual but inspired filling. The food arrived very quickly and, while the filling was tasty, the potato looked as if it had died of depression. It was dry and limp and had obviously been heated for a long time. It was served up with a plain salad that, similarly, had lost its lust for life. No dressing, colour or presentation. Just leaves. On the other hand, the Green Tea Sponge cake that I had afterward was absolutely delicious, was unusual and had some wonderful flavour contrasts in it. The food was slightly on the expensive side, I thought Now I know that the MAC has had its budget drastically and ( in my opinion) wrongly slashed - but it doesn't cost much to add in a bit of red and green pepper and a splash of light dressing. Come on, MAC. You can do better than this - and you need to as good food will be a huge income generator for you.

Not only was the food good, the service was quick and the staff very friendly. Despite being busy, the tables were cleared promptly and everywhere was clean.

Visited on new year bank holiday Monday and obviously expected it to be busy. The park is a wonderful and well used resource but is badly let down by Bridges Cafe. Live in Moseley so was a frequent visitor but am getting very tired of the terrible service and mediocre food. Cafe, foyer and bar area were full of families so why on earth wasn't the bar open for coffees etc and only one person on the till in the cafe itself. We queued for 25 minutes for coffee and soft drinks. Many of the tables were grubby and covered in dirty dishes. The staff, although not unpleasant, appear to have a very slow work ethic. Maybe they are demoralised? Management need to get a grip here and take some responsibility.. This situation has gone on long enough. Take my advice and use the little park cafe or perhaps not. No room for me then!

The food was good at the Bridges Café, and service was prompt – important when having to eat before the show starts. There is ample choice for vegetarians, and our pizzas, promised to be delivered within ten minutes, arrived on schedule. They were well prepared, and not too heavy. We thought prices were reasonable, too. We also had time to sample their delicious cakes. The food was good at the Bridges Café, and service was prompt – important when having to eat before the show starts. There is ample choice for vegetarians, and our pizzas, promised to be delivered within ten minutes, arrived on schedule. They were well prepared, and not too heavy. We had time to sample their delicious cakes too. The restaurant is quiet, without musack. We are sorry to learn about other people’s bad experiences, but ours was different – at least when we visited earlier this week. The restaurant is quiet, without musack. We are sorry to learn about other people’s bad experiences, but ours was different – at least when we visited earlier this week.

My partner lives in Moseley so Cannon Hill Park is very handy for us both. We often enjoy a stroll on a Sunday morning and a cuppa in the café there. Prices are ok with a good slection of cakes and a small menu of meals there. The ambience is very airy and a very popular watering hole for all ages families very welcome. Well worth a visit.

Visited this cafe pre cinema. The cafe tables were uniformly dirty. Even the chairs were dirty. The floor was littered with food and debris. Not sure why tables and floor could not be cleaned. Really poor.

good if you're peckish or if you want a full meal, nice prices and good for families. Arts complex hosting theatre, dance, music and comedy performances, plus cinema and workshops. Brilliant staff!

Para la primera, y espero que la última vez que tengo que dar a un establecimiento un "terrible" clasificación. Es realmente uno de los peores sitios que hemos visitado. Las mesas no se habían resuelto que hace que el lugar parece totalmente y displicente desordenado, cubiertos cambiadas, la escasez de personal, y sin duda escogeremos incontrolable niños haciendo un estruendo y corriendo por todos lados. Tuvimos que las edades de cola para coger dos cafés. lugar horrible.

This cafe is based in the middle of the Midlands Art Centre, it is over priced, food is not all that and some of the staff are not customer focused, you come out for a lovely day out and then you get ripped off in the cafe, why should you have to pay £7 for a breakfast, why can't the prices reflect the customers who come instead of trying to reach a snobbish audience??? Birmingham is supposed to be a diverse community and this venue should celebrate that instead of serving out dated food like fish finger sandwiches and beans on toast for £2.95 really!!!!!

Bridges Cafe & Bar is located in the MAC contemporary arts space set in idyllic Cannon Hill Park. The light airy space serves great coffee, tea, snacks and delicious cakes. Lemon sponge sandwich and old fashioned bread pudding are especially delicious. Although its pay at the counter service, tables are clean and cleared frequently and staff are friendly and helpful. Nearby is the Arena Bar for evening drinks if attending the cinema or performance.