Cool River Cafe in Derbyshire Dales

Simply the best place for brunch (and any other light meal) in Matlock. We are a party of 8 and they coped admirably, all of the breakfasts coming out at the same time and hot. Reasonable prices and being located in a (long stay) car park helps.

What a fabulous find, just off the main rd near the park. Amazing coffee and tea, great attentive staff. Didn't eat but will be back for those bacon buttys… they looked amazing

Long way from home ,but thoroughly impressed very clean &tidy excellent

Lovely place. Not often the coffee is better than the pictures suggest. So uploaded a more recent pic as well.

Outside tables, parking, freshly prepared food from local businesses - which you can taste. Friendly service.

Beautiful to sit outside on a sunny day! Gluten free options

Superb baked goods and great as a coffee/cake spot. However, the prices for a cheese and ham toastie at £13 and a small (tiny) quiche with side salad at £8 feels completely overpriced. £35 bill for a snack just isn’t proportionate to the portion sizes. No criticism of the quality of products or service, just purely on price point.

Good food and service. Like most places prices have ?? yes really increased

Great breakfast service was slow to start but picked up

Fantastic food and service - do book in advance, especially on a Sunday for breakfast.

Faultless service and food quality has always been great. Coffee is better than Costa or Starbucks in my opinion! A must visit in Matlock.

We had a lovely brunch here! Very clean cafe, great service that were very accommodating to getting us a table and to our dietary needs! We had a delicious full English, eggs royal and scrambled eggs and bacon! Beautiful coffee too and yummy flapjack! Thank you so much!

Lovely coffee,really good brownies and fabulous ice cream .

Heard good things about the Bistro night , we did manage to get a cancellation.. so glad we did the food is absolutely delicious, enjoyed every course , all perfectly executed especially the chocolate fondant which can be difficult. All the staff are really efficient too .. Looking forward to more Bistro Nights ..

Lovely and friendly service, nice location. The eggs were nice, but could have really, really done with some greens or salad on the plate. Otherwise it was all a bit out of balance in terms of flavour

Called for coffee and cake very nice place worth calling in very friendly staff nice outside seating area also.

What a wonderful, professional, competent, warm and friendly staff team. Fabulous menu, top quality ingredients Service with abundant smiles Great location You’ll not regret coming here!

Probably the best sausage cob I have ever eaten.

Excellent food and service in a relaxing setting after a walk to Hight Tor. I would like to thank in particular waitress Sophie for a lovely cheery service.

The Food was amazing seasoned well and when you bite into it the flavours come out. Very neat and tidy place,Atmosphere was amazing felt welcome and very friendly staffs. Food presentation was on point loved it 😍

Lovely welcoming cafe. Great menu including all day breakfast. My husband had fried eggs on toast with a side order of perfectly cooked bacon and I had ham with mustard mayonnaise and salad on a very tasty foccacia roll with crisps. Service provided by Sophie was friendly and efficient. We wouldn't hesitate to return.

Fabulous little place. Good Coffee. The lemon meringue slice was lovely, light & not overly sweet. Good Cannolis too! Staff are polite and friendly. The cafe also has a selection of books for sale.

Pitstop on way back from a holiday in Cheshire. Great pastries and nice coffee with a public P&D carpark next door. It was a Sunday afternoon and service was a bit slow (around 20 minutes for takeaway) but it was busy. Clearly a popular location.

Took ages to do even though wasn’t busy. Well done bacon sandwhich could of walked away on it’s own, barely cooked and smelt of old grease, burger wasn’t much better. Never again and won’t be recommending. Disgusting. Sorry this review was meant for the kiosk not this Cafe. I wish I had of eaten here now. I do apologise to the owners.

Good coffee excellent cake best we've had in a while

This morning returned for our annual visit to the Cool River cafe for breakfast. As usual the food was lovely, best coffee in Matlock and the staff although very busy were friendly and efficient. They were very very busy so the service was rather slow, but the staff did their best under pressure.

Went to here for brunch after finding it online , it didn’t disappoint! A very friendly welcome from all staff and great food! Very tasty and good portion sizes too.

wonderful local produce, one of the best full English breakfasts I've ever enjoyed 👍

Stunning little cafe. Breakfast was coffee and their muesli bowl - both delightful. Outdoor seating in warm August sunshine. Highly recommend.

Very nice selection of cakes and coffees available here . The deli sweet counter is always appealing and pulls in many tourists over the course of the afternoon. The lunch menu is a good size too, they provide good sized portions and add plenty of salad to their dishes which are very nice a cut above your usual lettuce tomato cucumber combo. The servers are friendly and knowledgeable about their menus and ingredients too, if you have food intolerances this is a good place to eat as everything appears to be made on site .

I’ve seen this cafe so often as we use the car park right next to it. Today we decided we’d go here for breakfast. So glad we finally decided to eat here. The food was absolutely delicious, good choice, decent prices. Arrived quickly too. The staff were polite & helpful. The whole place is clean, nicely laid out & has a little selection of books inside so I took something home for my son. Will go again for sure.

Lovely well presented food, that was really well cooked. The service wasn’t great as we had to ask them to for menus and then to take our orders etc.

High price for very little food, quality of sausages and bacon was lacking The breakfast does not validate the £12 price tag

Been here a few times and the service has always been fantastic, the girls that have been working are all so attentive and checking for allergies and drink preference. The coffee is always delightful too

The coffee is particularly good here and the staff very polite.

Delicious frothy coffee. Good size tea cake. Friendly and helpful staff. Lovely sitting outside in the sunshine. Will certainly visit again with pur loyalty card.

Great little cafe who were very helpful, attentive and polite on our visit, it was nice to see staff who were all smiling. The food was great also 👍🏻

Really lovely friendly staff, nothing is too much trouble

Cool river cafe is something else the staff are so chilled and good to chat with. I give credit to Fran for being chilled and fun and good to chat with xxxx

The coffee at cool river is spot on and the staff are friendly and is chilled place to unwind and relax.

We have visited this cute cafe several times and we have never yet been disappointed. We usually go for breakfast and when we do, it’s usually for poached eggs. However, the chef is here they have certainly mastered this dish consistently. Have you any idea how difficult it is to find a place that can actually make eggs Benedict just right over and over. The coffee is also excellent and they have a good choice of vegetable milks in lieu of cows milk. The staff are super friendly and very polite. We would highly recommend this café to anyone.

We dropped in for a pot of tea and cakes. The selection of cakes and pastries was very tempting, It was hard to choose. We were greeted with smiles and served promptly, despite it being quite busy. The cakes were delicious and it came with a decent sized pot of tea. Would definitely return to have lunch, everything looked and smelled so tempting.

Nice place for a coffee and a sarnie.

Came to Matlock from out of town, to visit friends, and they brought us here. They helped our party of 8 with breakfast and of course, caffeine. Wonderful food (the full English breakfast is tasty) and had tea there with a cafe latte to-go.

My wife and I went for lunch and really enjoyed it. Food and desserts are very nice and good quality. Staff were very helpful and welcoming. Also the staff were quick to clean the tables properly once customers had left. Will definitely return when we're next in Matlock.

Great pot of tea and lovely slice. Polite and friendly staff.

Lovely staff, so friendly and helpful. They were lovely when I brought the pooch along with me a few weekends ago.

Lovely cafe with great home grown food.

Welcoming, friendly and efficient service Great menu, good choice of food, drinks and patisserie Indoor and outdoor tables Eat in/takeaway, book for private functions We attended as a family and ate breakfast. All cooked beautifully and well presented, good portion sizes. Good coffee! Will definitely visit again and would recommend!

We sat outside with our dog. Very friendly staff, lovely lunch with very nice coffee. Only downside was the brought coffee before sandwiches so would have been cold if we had waited for the food.

Excellent cafe by the river. Proper poached eggs on toast , definitely will return. Not over priced,breakfast choice really good and staff were friendly, warm and polite.

Changed my mind about this place. Lovely warm day, no tables set up outside. Staff are miserable. No pleasantries, no smiles. Just “you ordering or paying”? As I had only just walked in, which they all saw, it was obvious I wanted to order. However I said “both”, that caused confusion. When food brought to table it was put down then she simply walked away. However this is not all staff. One of them who used to work in Costa is a delight. Always smiles, says hello, has a chat if time. Don’t know her name but make her manager. Stop hiring kids. Change the name from Cool River to Bland Carpark. Why the boating theme? It’s not next to the river.

Nice food welcoming staff, a bit pricey

Good coffee, breakfast was ok, eggs were a little overdone, lovely café though and the cakes were good. A little on the pricey side and a one member of staff was a little impatient when we asked her to repeat something because the acoustics (slightly echoey) meant we didn't hear her properly.

I love going here - it's a great little cafe near the park. The food is good, and the service is prompt and cheerful. They do fair-trade too, which is a plus for me

While in Matlock I googled dog friendly cafes we arrived only to find they only allow dogs outside, so not really dog friendly especially this time of year. Didn't go in we went to a nice cafe just down the road called Bod which is dog friendly.

Service is always good . Great food ... great coffees and reasonably priced.

Nice location for a coffee or a brew with a bit if a view over to the river. Convenient parking. My only thing for a 5* would be better breakfast options

Great find.. very good coffee. not a large menu but that there is very tasty. Good choice of sweet treats. Staff very good .would definitely eat there again.

We visited for breakfast. The food was fresh and delicious! Coffee great as well and caters for gluten free.

Lovely place. Loved the food. The children books displayed as if it was to borrow so my children had a play with it but then we were informed that those were for sale. I think a sale sign or price tag would help avoid that

Great venue. Good efficient and friendly staff.

Excellent cafe in Matlock, really enjoyed it here. Dropped in on a cycle ride and so glad we did. Tucked away down a little street between Matlock Bridge and Old Matlock. Super food, great friendly service and very good value. A must-visit if you're staying in or passing through Matlock.

Had breakfast, tea and a chocolate brownie here. Service was good and staff were very pleasant and helpful. It was extremely clean and naively laid out. Unlike some cafes there’s space between tables and you don’t feel like you’re sat on top of others. It’s well decorated and overall a nice atmosphere. The breakfast was lovely, very well cooked. Quite expensive but nice. The only criticism is the brownie wasn’t very chocolatey! It didn’t taste like it was made from good quality chocolate and was quite oily. From a service perspective and if I was offering advice to improve standards I would say it may be worth asking customers questions such as would you like white or brown toast? And does anyone have any allergies? Little questions like that make a difference.

Lovely cafe - really nice helpful staff, quick service, good selection of food and takeaway patisserie, very pleasant place to sit. Amazing coffee!

Lovely staff and lovely food can’t complain at all about them. However people being allowed to smoke outside sat next to other people eating, flicking the ash and cigarette tab on the floor is disgusting. Twice in a many weeks I’ve had to leave due to the smell.

Delicious food and lovely and cool.

Came for breakfast after reading other good reviews and we weren’t disappointed! Really friendly service, fantastic coffee and great food. The little pastries are a nice touch and I would definitely recommend the full English breakfast. Rare to find somewhere that does both black and white pudding and I’m all for it!

Visited for breakfast today on my annual visit to this part of the world. The food as usual was very good, the staff were efficient and friendly, the place was clean, and I look forward to my next visit next year

Limited inside seating, and the outside seats have no umbrellers, and are totally exposed to weather, in this rather rainy part of the world. Parking outside is pay and display.

Nice little café with warm food and bakery items. They have a small but fine collection of books too. Recommendation!Good service!

Had an evening retirement buffet for work colleagues and I cannot recommend Cool River Cafe highly enough. Emily and Chris have been so helpful and kind - nothing was too much for them. They and the staff were very friendly and we had a lovely evening. The food was absolutely delicious and homemade. They were very considerate regarding special dietary requirements and the people with special diets were extremely impressed. Everyone enjoyed the food. This was the first time I'd been to this cafe and it definitely won't be the last.

Great food, great service, highly recommended 🙂

Wow, somewhere to take your lady or fella, table service, good size coffee cups and tea pots. Will be making that 90 mile trip to visit again. Back for a trip out on bike. Food is really good, as allways.

Great find in Matlock. Next to the Derwent river. Reasonable prices.

Afternoon tea was absolutely excusite.. thank you very much !

Lovely relaxing cafe to visit, very much enjoy our pot if tea

Lovely little cafe, you can’t see the river but it is there, sat outside you are kinda sat in a car park. Quick and efficient service, food came quickly and everything was very tasty. Amazing selection of mini Italian pastries. Eggs Benedict and eggs royal were eggsellent. Little book store bit at the back. Plenty of seating and pay and display parking right there. Would recommend the cornflake brownie which was very rich so shared it 😁

£3.80 for a double espresso macchiato, eek 😳 - I assumed it was a mistake on the bill when I pointed it out, but unfortunately it wasn't. Hopefully pricing is reviewed as other than that it's a nice spot.

We’ve been to the Cool River Cafe and have always enjoyed a coffee and a cake or to but we decided this time to have a proper meal. Incredible food of a high standard. My wife can only eat gluten free food and by golly...

We booked this for a family meal and were all very impressed! Food was delicious, cakes were super yummy and the service was excellent. Lovely friendly place with a nice atmosphere, would highly recommend!

Absolutely beautiful breakfast and cannot do enough for you

Booked a table for four of us this morning greeted by very pleasant staff , the coffees and all the food was lovely has it has been every time we have visited 10/10

Great, very clean, good food ,tea cakes and marmalade delicious.nice friendly staff.

Fabulous luxury hot chocolate. Service by staff excellent.

Omg!!! This place deserves 100 stars! Gluten and soya free and vegan is basically Impossible to come by. It was completely wonderful and has made my day. The staff are super understanding and knowledgeable about intolerances and couldn't do enough to help me. The wonderful owner has even said that they can make us a menu for Mothers day for our intolerances! Thanks so much for everything guys, you will be seeing a lot of us!

Great coffee, great choice of lovely cakes. Lovely staff 👌

Decent location and good service.

Just what's needed at the end of a walk.

Best coffee in the neighbourhood and contemporary setting at edge of park.

Had an excellent lunch - managed to seat 8 of us and two children with no reservation and were very helpful. Had lots of vegan options and all 5 vegans were catered for! Even had two vegan cake/brownie options. Multiple milk options too. Plenty for...

Had an excellent lunch - managed to seat 8 of us and two children with no reservation and were very helpful. Had lots of vegan options and all 5 vegans were catered for! Even had two vegan cake/brownie options. Multiple milk options too. Plenty for none vegans too and couldn't fault service! Would definitely recommend.

Cosy cafe with tasty food and hot drinks. Staff were very lovely and accommodating to our large group of 7. Only disappointment was there was no kids menu.

Great cafe. Awesome scrambled egg, really the best. Place is perfectly clean as well. Would definitely come back here again.

Great food but service was a little slow, especially the ten minute wait for a takeaway coffee after we had enjoyed our lunch.

A popular spot. We were looking for breakfast and liked the look of this very busy cafe. The breakfast was really good quality and served quickly. All the staff were really efficient and friendly. Very reasonably priced.

Lovely coffee,very pleasant staff.

My friend and i visited Matlock this week. The standard of food in this area sees to hold it's ground. Cool River café stood above all. The staff service is second to none, and the chefs culinary skills are outstanding. As we are far from...

Just off the high street but worth looking for. Loverly atmosphere, great coffee and a nice choice on the menu, food superb and a bit different. Will definitely be back, for a coffee and maybe a piece of cake or two.

Absolutely love this place the service the girls the food all 5 star..my new favourite place