Courtyard Cafe, alnwick in Northumberland

My second visit with my wife first a bit chaotic due to our young granddaughter, this one more civilised my wife had fresh quiche and salad myself the chicken club sandwich the best I have eaten generous amount of chicken and bacon served with fresh coleslaw and salad a side portion of chips I struggled to finish it well worth the money with good attentive service.

Ordered toasted sandwich with side of fries to share. Large portion, freshly prepared and very tasty. Service friendly but not the fastest. However for on site catering in a historical attraction this was a very satisfying experience; often quality is lacking in places like this but that’s absolutely not the case at Alnwick Castle.

Oddly it isn't IN the courtyard - that's outside seating full of people eating fish & chips with immense gusto. This is a large, cool, rather dark cafe inside. Relatively limited choice of dishes but all good and well presented Service is efficient and friendly

I have been here on a couple of occasions recently and enjoyed the ambiance very much. The restaurant is very nice decorated and there are tables outside in the Courtyard of the Castle. Service is not fast and I think prices are too high. You will find much better value for money in the town. They serve pleasant scones and pastries and quite a wide ranging menu of more substantial meals, but be prepared to pay over the top for what you have.

We were hear just on a year ago and there have been some big changes. Last year the Courtyard Café was a cafeteria style café. This time around it's "Wait to be Seated" and waiter/waitress service at the table. The food and drink is a little on the pricey side but just look at the venue. The staff were friendly, helpful and efficient.

Definatly would not visit again 3.00 for a single ice cream all overpriced and with the entry price as well you can spend 100 for entry and a basic meal

Expensive food and on our visit- restricted access to 'club' members. No help from staff. It was difficult to see what the restriction was for ... other than to keep out the hoi polloi???

Disappointing last meal at the end of a holiday week. Expected better standards at alnwick castle cafe. Went with family me and mum and the quiche of the day with new potatoes and salad. It said it was mushroom and cheddar but when it came to eat it, it was tomato, cheese and onion. The salad was not freshly made it was just sat waiting on a plate so that was dry. I had a couple bites of quiche and took it back as was not cooked properly (still runny in the middle) so took it back they asked if I wanted anything else so decided to go for the Pasta Bolognese with garlic bread and salad. The pasta was at least cooked but only luke warm not hot. The waiter clearing the tables didn't even clean them.

Only choice was Swedish Glance icecream caramel toffee. Not good! There should be at least two vegan options: hot food and cold + pudding! Extremely disappointing for all vegans after an amazing tour.

There are two choices as you enter the café building - right for fish & chips in a traditional fish and chip shop or left for other food. There was a good selection of hot food on the counter but it looked a bit sorry for itself and it was only 1215! A good selection of cakes but a tad on the pricey side. The ordering/paying for food and drink was a bit chaotic to say the least - they need to separate the ordering/collecting/paying area. We went to the upper seating area - plenty of empty tables but a lot of dirty plates/cups on several of them. Once we found a table and moved the dirty plates etc. they were soon cleared away, so maybe we just hit it at the wrong time. There is also plenty of seating outside in the main courtyard. The scones and lemon cake were nice as was the tea.

Waited 10 mins to get an americano and green tea at the bottleneck of the dreaded coffee machine staffed by minimum wage workers who dont care if they serve a customer every minute or ten minutes. A barista isn't a career choice guys. I object to £2.95 for a cup of green tea. This is not London. i also dont think £3 for 1 scoop of ice cream is customer friendly either. We arrived mid afternoon to be greeted with a very unappetizing cake display which was well and truly obliterated. The one remaining 'slice' of carrot cake should have had euthanasia as it was well beyond a going concern. This side of the operations lets down the whole A castle experience.

We were staying just around the corner from the Castle so had an early start for our visit. We headed for the State rooms which are very impressive. It’s tiring looking at all this history so we headed for the cafe before it got too busy. Unusually there was freshly made hot pizza available by the slice with some salad. Very nice with a cup of tea plenty of seating with some repacked sandwiches available.

Alnwick Gardens are lovely and so happily brought my parents for the afternoon. We started with lunch in the cafe. My first interaction with a member of staff had me spoken to like a 4 year old. The next member of staff was unhelpful and again, looked disdainful when we asked how we actually paid for the food. When the food arrived (paninis) they were tasteless, poor quality ingredients, no garnish and cost £6 a pop. Coffee tasted nice enough but was luke warm. If you visit Alnwick Gardens enjoy lunch in one of the lovely cafes in town before you enter the gardens would be my strong advice!

What a difference a great cafe/restaraunt would make. 9" pizza £9.50 and cold chips not a great lunch. Total lack of variety and good food, so disappointing at such a great tourist attraction.

I ate lunch at the courtyard cafe yesterday. With it being part of the Alnwick Castle I expected it to be really nice quality. It wasn't. The cafe did have a wide range of food including sandwiches, ice creams, pizzas and cakes. However, even though it was a rainy day, the cafe was packed, and so it was hard to even see most of the food. Because the castle is popular, you would have thought that they would have made areas big enough for crowds, but apparently not. The food was very overpriced, however this was expected with being at the castle. I decided to have a macaroni cheese, which turned out to be disgusting. It tasted highly processed and I could only bare a few mouthfuls. That being said, the rest of the family really enjoyed their food, especially the sausage and gravy baguettes, so perhaps just avoid the macaroni cheese! There was seating downstairs and upstairs from the cafe, and the tables and ambience was very pleasant. However, there wasn't any ground level seating indoors, and so it was difficult for my infirm grandmother to get down the stairs. The staff all seemed very nice and did try to divert parts of the queue to other tills to reduce the crowding. Overall, there's a lot to choose from, it's expensive, avoid the macaroni cheese, go there for when it first opens to avoid the queue! Considering the standard of the castle, this was disappointing.

Teníamos dos trozos de pastel - delgadas, pero sabroso, y una taza de té "para dos", que nos proporcionó 2 tazas y un poco de té. Se podría pensar que el agua es escasa en Alnwick. Lo razonable de £9. 20. El café estaba limpio y bien cuidado. No pensamos volver a menos que estés desesperado.

Tomamos un almuerzo ligero hoy aquí con mi esposa.

Two scones and two coffees £10.80. Scones large (I couldn't eat all of mine). Nice but overly priced.

Met with a cheery welcome and ordered coffee and roast beef baguettes - both were excellent.

We had lunch here. Very overpriced and absolutely awful food. The kids lunch box was a disgrace. I abandoned my tuna bap halfway through. Do not recommend eating here. Go into Alnwick instead

Después visitamos los Jardines Castillo Alnwick paramos para almorzar. Fuimos en el Courtyard Café y pescado y patatas fritas y té. Era muy buena y sabrosa. También sirven platos de pasta, pizza, sándwiches, pasteles, etc. Estaba justo al lado de la tienda de regalos. , abierto desde las 10 am hasta las 4; 00; 00. Todos los días.

Nuestra hija nos compró Té como un presente. Fue espléndido. Nos dieron una botella de Prosecco, unos sandwiches, una gran bollo con mermelada y nata y muchas tartas preciosas. La camarera fue muy amable y servicial. En resumen, una experiencia genial.

We visited Alnwick Gardens one Saturday in March, we loved the gardens but needed some lunch as we had had our breakfast very early, so opted for this cafe. It was about 12 noon and we expected them to be serving meals. They had a sign up saying that they were serving breakfast which I remember being around £8. Being a vegetarian this was no good for me. The only other food available was pre-packed sandwiches, cakes and scones. I opted for the only vegetarian sandwich which was cheese savoury and my husband chose the tuna sandwich. We ordered a coffee and a white hot chocolate and also a brownie and a very small milky way - this came to £17.My cheese sandwich was apalling, the bread was stale and it was full of mainly onion. If I wasn't as hungry as I was I would have returned it and waited until we had finished our visit of the gardens. My husband said his sandwich was just edible. The coffee and white hot chocolate was awful, the chocolate was powdery and just tepid. We had asked for a filter coffee but was told it was not available and were given the option of an americano. Later when leaving the gardens we noticed a fish shop and the treehouse restaurant - we wish we had known. The cost of the meals there were about the same that we had paid for a sandwich.All in all very disappointing.

Better than the average attraction cafe, the Courtyard boasts a wide range of freshly prepared hot and cold food choices along with decent coffee and a range of cold beverages. The prices are fair and the views over the gardens are spectacular.

Visited on a day when many coach parties were visiting.....Cafe under pressure but staff handled the situation well and remained pleasant. However, the food that remained was looking tired and not cheap..But would visit again.

This cafe has a good range of food, friendly staff and a great setting, however it could be so much better. Granted we were there on a sunny August day and it was very busy so the pressure was on, but it was apparent there were a number of customers who simply did not understand the system. It needs to be more clearly signposted, and on a busy day at least one staff member should have a roving brief to guide customers. On a personal note, looking only for sandwiches, these are set before hot food and coffee, and then the till. With a long queue for prepared hot meals I tried to collect a couple of sandwich packs and withdraw to either till, only to be met with a fusillade of complaints from queuing customers accusing me of trying to jump the line. I therefore had to move to the back of a long queue, patiently wait for full hot meals to be served, then collect my sandwiches. Luckily, finally, two people in front of me awaiting hot food released I was ready to pay and let me go ahead. All of this hassle could be avoided by having a sandwich collection point on the cold side of the cafe, where the other till is situated. Think it through.

me and my husband have visited here many times and whilst expensive entry, we have always enjoyed it. if you did not fancy paying to enter for the full visit you used to be able to walk around the castle garden, sit at a picnic bench and enjoy the view for a short while, not now! very disappointed. you now have to have a ticket here too. I bought two lattes at the coffee house, which are not cheap, they were both warm. when I complained I was told they cater for the American market and they will sue if they get burnt from hot coffee! instead of making a fresh cup he said I will keep pouring out the cup and adding hot milk until it is hot enough for you! really? how ridiculous! we did not stay long as the que was huge for tickets. how sad that this has become all about Harry Potter and money.

No es un restaurante gourmet, pero si visitas el Castillo de Alnwick es una muy buena opción. Además del clásico "fish and chips", hay también un autoservicio de pizzas, sopas... y se sirven cafés y postres. El precio es bastante razonable. Recomendable.

This is a self service café with a good choice of sandwiches and hot food. Staff were very helpful and the food especially the pizza slices delicious.

Fish and chips. The chips were burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. £14 for 2 fish and chips. Daylight robbery for what they are offering.

Along with the gardens this must rate as one of the finest venues in the UK.The amenities are superb as is the food.Incorporating a fish and chip café is no mean achievement !!

The facilities were good, but the food on offer was very limited outside of the "lunch hours" and overall seemed expensive for the quality.

like this place alot, the food is decent, proper tea, decent coffee, and clean and well presented with nice staff. it is not the cheapest place in the world as when in the castle you are a little trapped, but last time we went I expected it took the cash and the hit for the pricey but decent tea and lovely cakes.

Stopped cooking burgers at outside stall at 2.30 pm! Very poor!Went inside, asked for a bowl of soup but forgot to say that I wanted it hot! Very poor!

Changed format was a waitress last visit now a self service, good basic food reasonable price. Lovely surroundings, childrens meals we enjoyed it

The outdoor grill doing burgers was great, but I was disappointed at the cafe. Having asked if they could do a children's portion of soup in a mug they then charged me full price. I did get money back after I had to raise it with the manager. A small thing, but adding a kids price soup to the menu is easy and probably a good sales idea anyway.