Cactus Cafe And Kitchen in Darlington

Very busy, but staff were friendly and hospitable despite having to face some very rude customers. Breakfast was beautiful, coffee fantastic. Will definitely be back...although maybe when it is a little quieter.

A small group of friends gathered for a friends birthday breakfast. I’ve been a few times before but will not be back ! Far better when it was Tea with Alice. Orders were messed up, one breakfast was inedible, 1 small pot of milk with 2 teapots for 2 separate people at either ends of the table. Not a good experience. Eggs Benedict served with ham not bacon. Staff seemed miserable and not interested, and frankly quite rude. We didn’t complain too much, but were also not offered any reduction in price for the points above. I personally will never return !!!

Popped in here for breakfast with my wife and had a lovely full English, and I must say that the black pudding was spectacular My wife had bashed up avocado on sourdough bread, which was very enjoyable There is a nice ambience about the place, and as I say the staff were lovely, but the only letdown was the toilet facilities were not particularly good One was closed, and only the disabled loo was working, and it wasn’t particularly clean

This establishment closes their kitchen straight after lunchtime even on a Saturday. It’s no surprise that it was largely empty and that there was a 30 minute wait for food at the nearby pub. I have never known a cafe to stop serving food so early, it must be a Darlington thing. It goes without saying, we won’t be returning. Believe the low star reviews.

Just took my sons there for pancakes and ended up being told to wait in the corner until a table was free, despite there being 3x unreserved tables free in different part of the cafe, because they told us we had to wait until they had seated the group of 6 friends in front of us first. Got lots of glares from the staff while we were waiting patiently so after 20 mins we just left - not sure how much longer we would have had to wait until they could find a table for 6 first. Several other people also came and left due to the seating situation while we waited. Ridiculous.

I used to come here regularly however not as good as it used to be in some ways. It was very busy and with only 2 staff waiting on the tables at least 4 tables needed clearing when I was looking for somewhere to sit. The staff were very pleasant and the food arrived quite quickly . Unfortunately one of the menus had food stains on it , there was no hot water or hand sanitizer in the bathroom. The food and coffee were good , eggs cooked perfectly . A bit off putting when someone came out of the kitchen wearing a grubby chef’s top although it was later in the day so it could have been clean first thing . It would have been nice to see serving staff in some sort of « uniform » or matching clothes. The atmosphere was not as comfortable or as pleasant as it used to be but the food was good . Attention to detail would make it really good.

This was our second visit within a few weeks. The first was also poor, but on the thinking that anyone can have an off day, decided to give them another go. Unfortunately we now wish we hadn’t bothered. We are an elderly couple, one in a wheelchair, and as we attempted to enter one of the staff walked right past and made no attempt to hold the door or help in anyway. Menus took a good while to arrive, and were just dropped on the table when they did. The food menus were nicely laminated, the drinks menu just a dirty, well thumbed, piece of paper. After another long wait we ordered and our drinks arrived, but they were both cold by the time the food arrived and we ordered more drinks at that time. The young lady who brought the food said the bowls were really hot, and they were, but the food itself was at best lukewarm. Nobody came back to see if the food was OK so much of it could not be eaten. We assumed, wrongly, that we could address the cold food issue when the drinks arrived, but they never did. I went to the counter to complain and the attitude of the staff was really off hand. An apology of sorts was offered, but no offer to make it right, or even to expedite the second set of drinks made. The attitude was don’t bother us. So we paid and left rather than make a fuss. We will not be back. This place could be a goldmine if the attitude of the staff towards the customer was changed, the menu is quirky, the food would be good if it was hot.

Lovely lunch. Can highly recommend the Yorkshire puds with proper gravy- so tasty 😋 Very dog friendly too.

This used to be one of my favourite places for breakfast, however I was extremely disappointed with the service and food. Drinks were brought over as a can of Fanta, no glasses. I chose the whipped feta on sourdough with tomato and poached eggs. My other half the breakfast. The sourdough was so thin, dry and Inedible. The tomato tasteless and watery. The breakfast was also the same. We left the majority of food and weren’t asked if everything was okay when they came to clear the plates. Not sure if the cafe has been taken over, however such a shame. We won’t be returning

Needed a dog friendly place for lunch close to A1M and this cafe was perfect. 2 minutes off the motorway with free parking outside. Cafe was clean and welcoming and staff were very helpful. Good menu for all day breakfasts and lunch from 11am Food was excellent - hot and tasty and great portion sizes. Clearly freshly cooked so worth the slight wait. We will certainly return when passing again. Recommended.

Hate to say it, as it used to be so good but the food and service has gone downhill so much. Went this morning, 2 adults, 2 kids (1&5). Waited an age for the menus and then again for them to take the order. Food eventually arrived after about an hour, by this point, we’d left to go to the local shop to buy a snack as our son was starving. Two breakfast wraps arrived, Sausage lovely, everything else greasy. It’s so expensive for what you get. Used to be able to justify it with quality food and good portions but not now with very poor service and slap dash food.

OK so me and my friend were heading to the Open Gardens Event in Walworth today (Sunday 13 Aug/23), and I searched for a nice cafe nearby to have brunch before hand and I found Cactus Cafe & Kitchen, and thank goodness I did find this place, as it was beautiful, lovely cafe inside and out, staff lovely and best of all the food was quality food, lovely produce. I had Eggs Benedict and my friend had the Granola, and the Coffee was lovely too :) And it's open SUNDAYS FOR BREAKFAST! And parking is right outside and free up to 2 hours, Perfect! If your ever that way this is a must go to :)

This establishment states they are dog friendly. Please be aware that if your dog barks whilst you are there they will ask you to leave. I totally understand that if a dog is barking excessively then that would annoy other customers. However if you state you are dog friendly you need to have some tolerance . Dogs bark. I was told to leave after my dog barked twice. If you have zero tolerance of barking you need to state this on your entrance under your dog friendly sign and on your Facebook page and website. This will save other dog owners being embarrassed and humiliated like I was

the vibes are amaze at this place, staff are so lovely and helpful, food is incredible!! the cute doggos and cakes really seal the deal. would recommend to anyone !

Can’t believe it’s taken us so long to try this place, I’ve recommended it to everyone I know since we came - so so good! Food was delicious, the cafe is lovely, friendly staff, great coffee. Good value for money too! Especially as the pancakes were so huge I probably won’t need to eat for the rest of the week haha.

Awful service. Awful food. Waste of money. We ordered at 11am on a Sunday morning. They forgot some of our drinks which we had to chase for. Food then took 45 minutes to arrive - eggs Benedict was cold through- eggs over cooked, sauce very cold, muffin felt frozen in the middle, ham was stone cold meaning it was all cold. Pancakes were raw in the middle. When we complained we were told that we should have complained when it first came out and there was nothing they could do. Staff member was then very rude - no apology. Toilets were dirty with no toilet paper. This used to be a great place when it was Tea With Alice. Gone massively downhill. We won’t be going back and I suggest you go elsewhere too. Sooner it shuts down and someone else can try again the better. Hopefully they will teach their staff some service skills and the chefs how to cook food properly.

We walked into the cafe in the pouring rain with my disabled mother in law at 230 on a Saturday. We were told that they were closing at 3 and had too much cleaning up to do for any more customers. We were turned away. The website says they are open until 4 and their facebook messenger reply states last food orders at 3pm on Saturday. I wish them all the best for the future but we won’t be back.

Really disappointed. Went for brunch today, the waitress and I couldn't hear each other and instead of getting the eggs benedict with pancakes, I was given pancakes with bacon, potatoes and sour cream. We'd waited that long I said I would eat it, but it was inedible, just not a good combination of sweet pancakes and sour cream. I barely ate a third of it, and was stunned when I said I wasn't happy with it to be told 'Sorry' but charged full price for it! We won't be returning.

I went in as they opened at 8am - no food or anything else on display at all so I opted for the simplest - coffee & toast…. Got a coffee but by 8:30 still no toast & it’s seemed as though they really couldn’t care less. Shame it looked a nice place :-(

This was v much a curates egg of a visit. Went for breakfast on a Sunday morning. Arrived early-ish. The Sunday brunch menu is heavily abbreviated from the weekday one for some reason.. weird given that Sunday IS brunch day. Sat down. Took 15 minutes for server to take our order for drinks. Another 5 for them to arrive. Ordered food after that.. food arrived exactly 50 mins after we walked thru the door. In a very sparsely packed restaurant. Now the good part.. the food was really great. Freshly prepared with great quality ingredients. Generous portions. Waiting staff were nice enough though they almost outnumbered diners when we arrived and still there were delays to getting served. Lots of chatting amongst themselves, faffing about and laborious demeanours. Nice and friendly though. This could be a little gem of a place but they need to get it together. Warning folks of 40 minute waits for food in an empty Sunday morning restaurant on what should be your busiest morning of the week is an owners nightmare. The idea is to be absolutely packed with a queue outside but make the place feel like it's humming with rapid and efficient service of amazing food. Waiting staff ned to up their game, manager need a kick up the ass and the kitchen needs 2 or 3 more cooks. Then this place could be quite something.