Cafe Nero in Darlington

The best coffee ever compared with other

The coffee is good, very nice. The staff are always pleasant, and the coffee is very competively priced.

Just like every other Nero you get what you expect

First time in Darlington Cafe Nero, the service was very good and quick, really friendly staff, a good place to work/study write and quality drinks too

Great ! But one does not want to be negative but Keziah and saying sooo slow . I think she is correct. You will see from my reviews I have been visiting Caffe Nero s all around the country this year. And this one is absolutely great. But because it is, it is clearly very popular. But the long queues or even waiting a longer time when shorter queues seems exceptional. And as I have not seen in other Caffe Nero s. But being only one Caffe Nero in town here might be a key factor. At least one couple left back of the queue this morning. And ladies in front I heard one saying to another : " good job you are not having to get into work today ". Yes, no chance for a quick takeaway before work . ...Maybe a quick service till option needed for quick coffee and cakes customers?? Anyway... Dear Caffe Nero I think there is room for improvement here. If I want a second coffee today I would be waiting a long !! time . So although I wanted to get one and because they are made very well here, and today by the trainee man it was, ...I decided I had to move on and elsewhere! Can I question 'number one', too : Why staff prepare orders for those who sit at home and press the buttons to jump the queue, by ordering a click and collect so. It seems to me that such should strictly only be prepared when there is virtually no queue and or extra staff on duty. - Today only two, very helpful polite young men but one is a trainee too. And there was a waiting, waiting non moving queue. Maybe you could open a second Caffe Nero in Darlington!! Only one for such a town is maybe a bit mean !? How many do we have in Bristol my home city eg !?? Ten would it be !?? ?? ...Judging by how buzzing busy and lovely atmosphere as other noted of late maybe there is a market or good room , for another in town . Anyway it really is 5 stars here I think,... but just taking off one star because this service wait here does seem to be out of the ordinary. The staff are working hard and kindly though and great stuff and atmosphere. Pain au raisins seemed a little unusually dry and stale, and maybe they need to keep an eye on that? But many thanks to staff here and Caffe Nero. Very!! good on my tenth visit is it now . On a stay . I nearly left today though and went elsewhere as the queue was not moving waiting early- ish morning when want to get on, and they were preparing click and collect ! ... Anyway many thanks and works in good progress as us all one hopes seek to do better in the days. Great stuff to be improved further. And cheer many folk in the days helpfully as do so.

Great service and atmosphere. More vegan choices in food needed though.

Even though this place is usually busy, the staff are always friendly and helpful. For a chain coffee shop, the atmosphere is lovely for sitting, dog friendly too which makes it all the better🔥

Great friendly staff. Great service.

Won't go anywhere else. Coffee is great, staff are greater. Seasonal drinks are always good, food is expensive but delicious.

Got a deliery from deliveroo. Had only 1 item out of the 5 or so I ordered. Got a note saying to say sorry they had included 3 free drinks. There were NO drinks. Horrific.

Good town centre coffee stop, nice friendly atmosphere and staff. Good seating and dog friendly.

A classic cafe at Darlington town centre

All good apart from the que to be served

Lovely coffee , staff were pleasant and atmosphere 👍

Nice produce, cafe could do with a facelift

This is my Darlo go-to as it is dog friendly. Lots of my friends meet here and we all love the coffee.

Always great service and coffee, staff are great.

Not a bad place to go for a coffee staff were polite and helpful

Nice place to spend some time with family and friends drinking coffee and enjoying a sweet treat.

I love to sit and read here. Excellent friendly staff.

Stopped by for a quick bite and coffee during breakfast. Overall good and can certainly recommend.

For me, Cafe Nero is my favourite chain coffee shop as it's a step ahead of its rivals.

Great place, so nice relaxing by the window . Staff very friendly and nice coffee

Very good coffee, friendly place for dogs

Love the coffee, absolutely love seeing dogs allowed in, love the food that we have but I would like to see healthier options like wholemeal bread being offered.

Very busy but a good cafe,large choice of coffees and teas.

Toilets filthy. Avoid. Coffee good but slowwwww.

Quality service a day dog friendly

Fairly busy but order came pretty quick once I was served. Coffee was ok.

Baristers are all so friendly, great service, they remember there regular customers, and the drinks they have.

Pretty alright place. Cool that it's dog friendly. The staff so far have always been nice. It's the place that everyone loves to go to for a sit down coffee. It's personally not my kind of place as I prefer quieter places for sit down, relaxing with tea. And it does get very busy and noisy in there a lot. Not helped by how densely packed the tables and chairs are for max capacity. But I've gotten through meet ups there before so it's manageable. Better off reading reviews from coffee fanatics as they'd have a better sense of the menu. The tea I've had is good, above average.

I liked the fact this this particular branch in Darlington is dog friendly. This is the main reason I have been willing to set aside the shabby rather unclean environment. It's practically impossible to sit at a seat without first having to clear away the previous customers mugs plates and at times dirty tissue. This said they have now purchased a few new chairs to replace the existing ones that in reality have been tattered for years. I was however recently informed by a rather sullen staff member that dogs are no longer allowed on the new seats. Now, I have a miniature Shihtzu who fits adequately in my lap at all times. Nonetheless despite this, all laws of physics were ignored. And my loving little pooch was demoted to the floor where of course he would not settle and coffee wasted I had to leave. Before I did I spoke to the manager about the importance of using common sense. Of course it makes sense for a 30kg hound covered in mud to sit on the floor. But in my case ....? Unfortunately, no common sense was to prevail and cafe Nero have now lost a frequent customer. A note to other dog owners who enjoy sharing a coffee with their furry companion. Influence an independent shop does good coffee and is entirely dog friendly. Even better, Echo 3 on Clarksyard, offer fantastic coffee and treats, and are the most dog friendly place I have visited anywhere. They are worth a separate review at a different time.

Good location. Nice atmosphere. Nice but rather expensive coffee (circa £4). Lovely staff. But the place is let down by the little things such as cleanliness, lack of investment - fixtures and fittings looking tired. Bins in bathroom full. Bits of litter strewn around the place. Hand dryer not working.the entire place needs a good scrub.

Not one of the best coffees I have had in Cafe Nero around the country, weak taste of coffee and poor froth on milk minute amount.

The last few times I've been in here, Caffe Nero has been appalling. Very few choices of cake and I generally go elsewhere. Today however I took a chance and the cake that I had was stale. Tables are not cleaned, cages of milk just left sitting in the middle of the shop. Extremely disappointing.

Very friendly staff and great service

Great coffee and a better experience than Costa. The building & toilets are in need of refreshment.

My favourite coffee chain . Best coffee by far

Better than Costa, but toilets could do with an upgrade.

Lovely food and lovely coffee Staff are fab

Love cafe Nero but the toilets are absolutely terrible.

Friendly staff, good choice, comfortable environment - the best chain 😁

Great service. Food, coffee and atmosphere. Best coffee shop around.

Only 2 staff on at a lunch time on a Saturday so not a good experience 😕

great busy atmosphere and superb friendly service

Nice environment and not too busy

its freezing cold anywhere you sit :( pls turn off the aircon its literally like 5 degrees outside

New furniture at last..needs a bit more work on it though as still shabby. Coffee and staff are good

Nice Friendly Staff at the Cafe Nero.

My favourite coffee ☕️ café in Darlington, comfortable chairs great next to the window looking out over the market and High Row

Smelly and never seems clean, try looking under the very tired leather cushion's you might get a few surprise's!!!! Hate the place!!! No change in this place still lacking in cleanliness! Update March 2023 no it still horrible!!

Ordered a tea, a hot chocolate, and two cakes. The mug and teaspoon for the tea were filthy - had to ask for clean ones. The cream was off for the hot chocolate. Table hadn't been cleaned; when the cakes were brought over they were plonked on top of the filth - not even a blink to consider wiping the table down. Another table had a tray of empty mugs, which was eventually picked up, but, again, the table wasn't wiped down to clean up the spilt coffee.

Large coffee shop with beautiful preserved Victorian frontage in Darlington town centre.

Always amazing service and the staff are great !!

Great coffee and food and very clean surroundings and friendly staff Great place for lunch break 😀

The place was absolutely filthy with dirty ripped seat wouldn't take my dog in ther to be honest

We came for coffee however the table we sat at was so dirty it looked like it hadn't been cleaned ever. The floor was dirty where we sat in the window. The toilets weren't clean and only one available. Looking at previous reviews there is no acknowledgement of constructive criticism about the cleanliness. Quite possibly a health and safety hazard!

Staff very friendly and accommodating great coffee better than Costa in my opinion

Lovely coffee and biscuits Great, as usual.

Great little place to chill with a newspaper and coffee. The shabby chairs and tables all add to the atmosphere, very busy but the service was faultless from it's 5star staff.

Cheeky chap charged me an extra 30p for the Brazilian roast without checking. Not very kind way to treat your customers. Seemed to be a regular tactic too.

This used to be my favourite place for a chill out and good coffee, but changing my mind….place is seriously ‘grubby’ , dirty chairs, tables, cutlery and toilets were shocking! The choice of cakes , snacks etc needs changing The staff are smashing though, always friendly and working hard but at busy times rushed so obvs need more ! Come on Nero headquarters, sort this one out or you will lose out to competition!

Needs a deep clean, sat in window seat, ripped chair and put my shopping bags on floor and wished I hadn’t as was really dirty, the fridge and counter also didn’t seem clean, our tray with drinks on yucky felt uncomfortable using the spoon as laid on tray, it just needs a really good clean and organisation, would expect more for the prices !

You close the business because of staffing issues bit still are still open to serve Coffee in take away cups... Hhmmm not good and today every other local cafe was packed. So Nero you have lost many customers, who will not return. This is not the first time this has happened with the same Nero branch. For this reason, only one star !!

So many flies! How this got a 'good' hygiene rating puzzles me. Flies crawling about on the cakes and food, surprised no one has been ill because of it. Mentioned it but they don't seem to care

Much better experience this visit, enjoyable space to catch up with friends over a coffee and cake :) lovely!

First class service and very friendly

Got 2 free lattes,whoop..using the app.

Staff are fantastic friendly and out going great environment and just around pleasant

Slow, cold coffee, wrong food made it even slower, just don't want to go back, shame coz the window seats are relaxing.

If you're looking for a nice coffee & snack in centre of Darlington then you can't go wrong here. All lovely staff and location and quaint old fashioned building overlooking market square. Only thing letting building down is some investment needed on smartening up the toilets.

Looking very tired now, coffee is still very good 👍

Great vibe. Friendly staff and nicely situated.

The food we bought was awful. The fudge cake was terrible. The cake itself was clearly old and it tasted quite stale and rotten. The excessive frosting smeared all over it was just to show off. I bought tiramisu which had no flavour, the cream was old and the whole thing tasted stale. Just rotten. I bought the plant based sandwich which was old and had hardly any filling inside. The vegan cheesecake and the cookie covered brownie appeared feasible but in hindsight it may have been hunger because they were the first things I tried with my family. My father hated all the food saying it was too expensive and too heavy and quite frankly I agree with him. Possibly if you are drunk you can eat here but otherwise I would not recommend it.

I loved Coffee Nero! But looks like all other chains, they are going down easy way, because of not maintaining standards 🤨🤨 So i predict Costa's future for you guys. Unloved! Had the worst coffee today. Burned, tasted like coal 🤮🤬🥺 And frothed milk wasn't nice either. Couldn't finish my cappuccino (however, the cheesecake was perfect, as ever). When did you last time properly clean your machines guys? Your coffee is rubbish now! Very disappointing. Next time going to independent coffee shop👍🏻

Great coffee and friendly staff 😃

Very handy place near railway station

One of the nicer locations, big windows and comfy seats looking over the middle of Darlington. Always cheerful service

We visit here quite often. Lovely and chilled cafe. Can get really busy at times especially if the market has events on in the square as we found out in November. It is one of the best places to get a coffee in town whether you sit in or take away. I haven’t tried food here yet as I tend to either grab a takeaway or go in early.

Excellent coffee shop with friendly staff

Nice place, right in the center of Darlington. Lovely ambience, good coffee and VERY tasty teacake with butter and jam. 4 stars as one of the staff for sure lacked customer service skills. Was a bit arsy and cranky. Plus eyes rolling. Wouldn't want to be serviced by her again.

Ok, bit slow, high price for a cup of warm coffee.

Luxury hot chocolate to die for with chocolate shortbread yummy. Gentleman serving very pleasant.

First time we have been here, the coffees was definitely not worth the money. Tescos own would’ve tasted better. Woman with dark hair & glasses - tallish. Very rude towards us. The building stunk of sewage. Other customers asked us, ‘if we could smell that’ will not be coming again.

Great spot for coffee Nice atmosphere lovely pastries

Asked if I would like to try their Guatemalan coffee for my cappuccino as it was smoother. Didn't tell me it was also 30p more expensive. Staff member could not have cared less. Not a lot extra but this should have been pointed out when offered.. Costa only doing takeaway today. That's where I'll be in future.

OK coffee but shocking hot chocolate. Pleasant staff but too few of them. Needs more toilet facilities.

Helpful and friendly staff good coffee and nice surroundings.

First time there in ages. Pleasant experience

The staff at this store are brill great customer service amd always service with a smile

The nicest capqcheno around by far. love this place.

Rude staff! Ask what we wanted, spoken to like special people, asked for a standard size coffee and was looked at as if I spoke in a different language. When it came to payment it was a simple cash or card, then “it’s on the machine” no manners or customer service skills at all. It said on the rude girls t shirt she was a trainee barista, but no excuse !

Lovely staff, once I was sat there and she brought over a glass of water without prompt so that I didn't need to leave my laptop.

Great place to chill by yourself/meet friends. Very clean. Friendly, efficient staff. Lots of seating. However, I prefer to be seated closer to the window, it's great if you like to people watch. They offer a wide selection of beverages, sweet pastries and cake. The vegan croissant is moreish, lots of strawberry jam inside. A well stocked chiller cabinet offers other snacks and drinks. Overall, a fab place to procrastinate for an hour or so, or grab a quick beverage on the go. Definitely worth a try.

Good place to have a tea and very friendly

Very best for coffee and eats, clean toilets unisex, friendly staff.

We came in here as it was convenient plus the coffee at this chain is usually good. The coffee didn't disappoint but the cafe needs refurbishment - it's dark and dingy and was stale smelling.

Great staff always friendly👍. Good coffee and always a nice mixed crowd.

Great coffee and friendly staff. I go here every day. 😊 😊

Used to be coffee of choice, disposable cups ruin the coffee