Cartgate Lodge Cafe in South Somerset

Food is fine, service is good. Shower available, parking free.

Always a welcome break on our travels from home in Cornwall to visit relations in Hampshire and Surrey have been stopping here since the 80s At the moment the outside toilets are being refurbished. So there temporary smaller toilets. The picnic area and cafe are still available.

Rude server when asked if we could bring dog in, suggested update of website, to which she tried to argue against rather than agree, when showed her evidence. Problem was her attitude not the face we couldn't take our dog. She said dogs haven't been allowed in cafe for 4 years. Mediocre breakfast, overcooked eggs. Pass through few miles if heading to Cornwall and go to farm shop, or pub that serves all you an eat breakfasts.... Disappointing visit.

We've been here a few times before. My partner ordered some chips and was shouted at by a very rude lady we don't serve chips until 11.30. It was 11.25 my partner apologised and said he was willing to wait. To which the chef brought them out and particularly throw them at my partner. We thought ok maybe just having a bad day really not an excuse but we all have them. On wayhome we popped in as I need to use toilet.I ordered 2 cheese and onion pasties to which we we've both given steak pasties both of us are vegetarian so waist of money Lady was aggressive in her manner.im unsure if she's a little hard of hearing or just naturally loud but if she wants to go to the kitchen and talk about customers really she should lower her voice . Very bad service will not be returning.

Just popped in for a coffee extra shot as like it strong, shock horror 2 coffees £9.50. Coffee was so disgusting tasted like muck couldn't even drink it so left untouched absolutely appalling.

Can I just put on this page The Toilets have Nothing what so ever to do with cartgate Cafe ,Highways agency is Totally in control of them ,so if you have any negative comments please direct them on there google site

Good place to stop and fascinating decor. Quite a surprise, that.

Disappointed, this has been a favourite stop between Cornwall and Sussex for years. Currently have temporary toilets, not enough of them, no water so no flushing toilets or washing hands and no hand towel. Went into the cafe to change my 5 month old baby to be told they don't have a baby change even though I know they do as I've used it before! Food usually good but pre packed cakes used to be lovely now not so good. Shame.

The cafe was closed yesterday, it was boxing day. Temp toilet block, needs looking after better.

Great pit stop for your journey.

Avoid at all costs. Staff would not allow my wife and 6 month baby use the baby changing facilities as it was for 'staff only'. One member of staff was then very rude when questioned about it and raised her voice in front of our child.

Stopped here through necessity and boy am I glad I did. The size of a services with a huge picnic area and that friendly personal service you just don’t get anymore with chains. Food was hot, quick of such a good quality if left me gobsmacked. With the many issues on the A303, knowing this gem amongst the trees is here is a welcome relief.

Great place for a decent fry up whilst traveling! Good food, clean dining area and nice staff.

Great stop on journey for coffee and comfort break

Absolutely fantastic place. Staff friendly and helpful. Drinks were hot and able to take away.

Nice stop free parking and lovely food

Bit of a building site and work in progress at the moment outside the café. Portable loos still available but all ok.

Much better than the usual mainstream services. Good food at reasonable prices

They are carrying out works on the toilets, but still maintaining their standards. It is ideally situated, and the cafe is good.

Always a great place to stop. Alot easier than normal services and cheaper and friendlier.

Convenient place to stop, stretch ya legs, have a wee, and maybe even a picnic 😉😊 Quite pleasant location, but the only thing that 'Lets it down' are the toilets which are often quite smelly! BUT (as at 171124) seems like they are 'modernising' them! Temporary ones in place.

Don’t bother…worst coffee and expensive greasy food…stop at South Petherton Greggs…save yourself the embarrassment…

Yummy sandwich, wanted to sit in but no dogs allowed thought tbh it's not exactly nice inside. Good staff though and good food.

Great. Nice, clean cafe. Very friendly and obliging staff and great food. Plenty of choice for both meat eaters and vegetarian/vegans. Able to sit inside and outside. Perfect for a lunch stop.

Was meant to be a 10 min stop only but ended up buying 2 delicious pasties

Always stop here when I can, whilst using the A303. Reasonable prices for roadside services and the toilets are usually clean, with some nice extra touches! Staff work hard to please and there are vegan options which have been good quality and decent size portions. Details below are regarding my latest visit but have often dined in for brunch, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner!

Such a Shame ! I have been coming to this cafe for over 30 years going back and forth to West Country, seen this cafe go from a 24hr stop with great honest food at a realistic price, over the years it has reduced it’s opening hour ( which I do understand due to cost ) but the food had gone down a little and prices have now risen which I think is now over priced, there are now more pre packed sandwiches and cakes which are pricey, I went in last week and asked for scrambled egg on brown toast to which I was told that they cannot do scrambled egg on Saturdays as they are to busy and only fried eggs were on offer, I went with the fried eggs and another plate of baked beans on toast, food arrived quickly on white toast, beans not really hot and fried eggs hard, two cups of tea and £15:00 later. Not great value. I think that in future if I want poor food with no real option I will go to the fast food chains that are increasingly available on the A303…please do not advertise that you can cater for individuals when you might be able to do that when it is not busy or is convenient for the business.

The best breakfast by far.....great service, fantastic food. Plenty of space and plenty of parking spaces. 👍👍

We always stop here on our way between Devon and London and we always get a warm welcome. The staff are friendly and it has a good "vibe".

A must when travelling, free parking, wheelchair friendly, toilets, food lovely.

Plenty of parking, good cafe , just don’t put A393 on your sat Nav. It’s the A303 near Yeovil Somerset not in Cornwall. .

Not much to say really Clean rest area, watch the dog crap on the grass Breakfast in the lodge is amazing and go large of you can eat it Staff are a little odd but friendly enough

Quick stop for a comfort break and food. Fresh food is available most of the day. Outside toilets being refurbished.

Service was fantastic and very clean and tidy the meals excellent and value for money will visit again

To small and couldnt cope with a coach load of customers

Been going there for over 30 years has an hgv driver.still working and visit often.still very good.don't like it when it gets busy .takes ages to get served.hey ho.

Great breakfast, reasonable price, very friendly staff. Always clean and tidy inside and out

car drivers park like dick heads. lorry driver have to park up by law yet can't always do this due to thick headed car drivers

Although the food (sausage and egg bap) was very nice, at £5:50 I thought it was overpriced. The cafe was doing a brisk trade with plates of breakfasts being brought out of the kitchen at regular intervals. It was clean and tidy in a peaceful location so perhaps this is what your paying the extra for?

Good menu at reasonable price. Plenty of parking and staff friendly.

Really peacefully place and reasonable parking for HGVs plus it's free, food is spot on reccomend this place

2 bacon rolls with 2 dry rashers of bacon with no butter a coffee and a tea £9.90 RIP off wouldn't bother again

A great little stop off on the A303. Staff very friendly, quirky decor, a good range of food on the menu and at a reasonable price. Outside there are picnic tables and dog bowls and a good area to walk the dog and stretch your legs. Plenty of parking.

Not a very nice cup of tea. Staff were nice though.

Great little find but queues can quickly form when big groups arrive. Really good selection of food for all times of the day. It's rare to find services not owned by one of the big chains. No paper shop though

Great place to stop for a break good food , drinks, clean toilet block

Stopped here for a coffee and a cornish pasty very nice.

Helpful, speedy, friendly service. Reasonably priced tasty bean burger and fries. Quirky and interesting decor.

We stop here all the time great spaces to stop good food and dog stop

Ideal stop halfway to Devon and Cornwall

Lovely place for a break on a long drive, there are toilets and a cafe. Perfect if you have a dog as there is a grassy area big enough for a leg stretch!

It is a useful pitstop for drivers ( I drive a Minibus). Easy parking. Toilets. Indoor and outdoor seating. Expect it would be busy over the Bank Holiday weekends.

Always a good place to stop on route to West Country and returning home, always friendly staff and excellent food

Bought a takeaway out coffee in paper cup. Sat putting cup on table and bottom of cup gave way and poured hot coffee through table slats onto me. I went back in and told them what had happened. No apology or offer of help to mop up coffee from trousers. Given another cup of same type and told they had complained to manufacturers about problems with cups! Just not acceptable.

Plenty of car parking spaces, toilets well kept as always, ideal stop off to have a breather & let the dog have a run around.

Beautiful spot to stop and amazing food at the cafe

I love this service stop. Great picnic area, or you can enjoy some fantastic homecooked food. No petrol garage, but some close by.

Did not go into cafe, however this service is vital for travelling on the A303.

A wonderful little cafe with indoor seating, picnic tables outside, toilets and parking. A nice varied menu from sandwiches, to breakfasts, lasagna and daily specials.

Great food, cooked to order. Lovely service and will be back as soon as I’m passing again

This place is just embarrassing, reminiscence of the old motorway transport cafes except these were actually better! How anyone on here has written the toilets where clean is beyond belief! They were just disgusting and stunk. Would strongly suggest stopping at the Mac Donald’s and coffee outlet services about 15 mins away.

I travel the A303 all the time and this has been my favourite stop for years. Really good, honest food, friendly people and it's not a rip off. I'm a vegetarian and there's always a good choice on offer for me (the veggie lasagne is the best). Also can't leave this place without a slice of bread pudding. It's iconic. There's plenty of room to park if you're in a camper van.

It's a typical 'services' area and gets pretty busy at times. Trees surround the area which is nice but there's lots traffic so children need to be kept an eye on when in the area

Nice place for a break in the drive. Staff friendly and helpful Toasted tea cake very nice

Good place to stop, picnic, stretch legs and visit toilet. Did not visit cafe so cannot comment on that. When we visited the toilets were clean and well serviced. Earlier reviewer claimed the toilets could be smelt from 100 yards; that's not the toilets, that's what we country folk call Farmyard Smells. This place is in the middle of farming land and sometimes you can expect to detect an aroma. If you can't stand the smell stick to the towns!

There was the worst cappuccino I have ever had. Lavazza is an excellent Italian coffee and I don't understand how it is possible to spoil the coffee like this. it was just hot water flavored with something, maybe it was coffee. Such a shame.

Great place to stop for a break. Free toilets. Large area to walk dogs.

Great full english and Gluten-Free options! Would highly recommend

Good proper food, reasonably priced in a nice setting.

Great place to stop for "rest & nourish" breaks during long journeys. Café offers extensive hot/cold snacks/meals with inside & outside areas for eating. Separate public toilets close by which are kept quite clean. Tourist office opposite, plus picnic area for motorists wishing to consume own food. Parking on left of cafe. (Recently, one of nature's gems decided to visit too, check out photos 🙂). Visited here on way down & return from Cornwall, weather lovely & almost all picnic tables within area being used. Enjoyed good cup of hot tea from café. Tubs of Impatiens outside toilets very pretty. On way back, toilets quite clean & plenty of paper but sadly on way down, as it was late afternoon/early evening, toilets were left with no paper & other customers had left most in awful state. So many have no shame in disposing soiled paper/nappies/sanitary items on floor of toilet, despite bins being provided for this. My heart goes out to the lovely staff who strive so hard to keep these clean, only for others to show zero respect.

Great place very reasonable price service Great, food excellent nothing to much trouble. Excellent

Nice cafe with good food and friendly staff.

Good rest area, and can park with caravan

Toilet's very clean 🫧 full time very nice lady work's there. Take's pride in her job. Cafe excellent. Nice picnic 🧺 area and a place to run the dog's. Car electric ⚡ charging etc. If on on long journey a place to break the boredom for the kids

An old fashioned transport cafe and none the worse for that. You will find friendly staff, plenty of dog bowls and very good home made cakes (the bara brith today was excellent and plentiful). Next time, I will try the puddings (spotted dick and chocolate pudding were on the menu today).

We stop here every time we visit family in Cornwall. It's a decent half-way (ish) location and we all happily tuck into a very reasonably priced full English breakfast. Always sets us up well for the second half of our journey.

Superb food as usual, Liver and Bacon with onion gravy mash and peas was excellent, my wife had the vegetable lasagne which was good also.

Delicious traditional English breakfast was just what we needed on our journey to Devon. Friendly and quick service. Food was great.

We stopped off for breakfast on our way to Devon and it was delicious. Traditional English breakfast was a real treat. Quick and friendly service.

Our regular stopping place on the A303

Quick stop. Food is good, service is slow

Fantastic place for a stop. Plenty of easy parking, clean, tidy and presentable.

Amazing cafe and pinic area! Food is reasonably priced and very tasty. Staff are very friendly and helpful always stop on my way down to Devon 👍

Easy in, easy out. Great facilities, toilet, cafe play area for kids

I tend to stop there on my way to Cornwall and home again, my favourite, egg and bacon sandwich.

A nice place for a short break during your journey. A cafe with nice staff, tasty coffee and quite edible food. The toilet is clean, there are plenty of tables. You can even take a walk to stretch your legs.

Really nice picnic spot just off the A303 with reasonably-priced cafe (eg fresh coffees under £3)

We always stop here on our way to Cornwall and home again lovely friendly staff. Nice and clean.

Cartgate has been our cafe pilgrimage and resting and eating place for a very long time. Cool trees to sit under and eat your picnic or purchase one of the many wonderful dishes on offer from the cafe. I would highly recommend Cartage picnic area and cafe. Very clean lavatory facilities with baby changing area within the disabled toilet area or in the outside Lavatories . Seperate male and female Lavatories are inside and outside of the cafe. Good cooked food and a good selection of cakes and sandwiches to takeaway. Eat in or outside. The tables have umbrellas for the protection from sunshine. Everyone working at Cartgate are very friendly and kind. There are little colouring activity packs to buy for a £2.00 donation. There is enough space for wheelchairs and access inside and outside is good. The decor inside is very interesting. Items made from mechanical paraphernalia of good quality and cleverly constructed. The interior is light and airy with comfortable seats and non wobbly tables with a variety of free sauces. Teas and coffees and soft drinks to. Soya milk or cows milk to add at your discretion. The vegan/vegetarian and English breakfasts is lovely and are available in small, medium or large . Specials are offered to. All food prepared on site by a brilliant chef. Well worth a visit. Parking facilities are very good. Whether in car, camper van or motorcycle. Thumbs up for Cartgate. Do hope that the visitor centre opposite to the cafe will reopen one day. Thank you to all at Cartgate for your service.

Nice little service area right on my doorstep. I noticed they had installed Swarco car chargers, which I thought would be great... That's half an hour of my life I won't get back! Won't accept credit cards or rfid you have to download their app. It then won't accept the location code because as I found out from swarco cust services. They had put a full stop on the code that the app won't accept...Life is too short to waste, go somewhere else to charge.

Good cafe on the a303 for a breakfast stop. Nice tasty breakfast.

Friendly staff Good breakfast

Always a good choice of food / snacks

Good honest food and much better value than Costa or Starbucks

Pulled in to cartgate at 16:20 today ordered food to be told they close at 17:00. I said that was in 40 minutes time. They said they had already started cleaning down in the kitchen and where not cooking food. I only wanted a bacon & egg bap and a jacket potato. This is not the first time this has happened. They should wait until the place closes and then clean down. Why advertise that your open until 5pm and not take orders 40 minutes earlier.

Very clean and friendly ,and lovely food all freshly cooked.we have been coming to cartgate for years.on our way ,to and from Holiday..

Good no frills food, ideal for the hungry traveller. Excellent value for money, friendly staff and service.

Nice area to stop. Dog bowls were full of green water. Unacceptable in my view. Luckily we had our own.

Handy, but uninspiring and gets really busy (queues for loos and drinks). Exit back onto main road can be slow if lots of traffic - although better when travelling eastbound.

Good place to break the journey back from the south west