Friends Cafe in Derbyshire Dales

Everything you could ask for whether it be breakfast, lunch or coffee. Fantastic service, quality food and the perfect spot.

Recently taken over by new management from the local George and Dragon pub, really friendly and welcoming and went above and beyond with customer service, the coffee was delicious, I had oat milk (at no inconvenience!), and the breakfast was tasty too, carrying the Friends cafe torch which was a joy to us as we have always liked the place

Fantastic vegetarian breakfast, especially sausages were superb 👌 😋 lovely atmosphere, lovely coffee, we will be back! Thank you!

Their scones are absolutely amazing. Lovely place. Staff are really friendly. I would highly recommend to family and friends

Table not wiped. Poached eggs extremely snotty. This was rectified but they shouldn’t come out like that. No butter on muffins and only in the very centre of my bacon cob. Not nearly as nice as it used to be and rather expensive.

I was her with my Wife and my Dog. Its a cafe normally not much to talk about but this place is very nuch talking about. First off this place is super dog friendly a big tick. I ordered the ham egg and chips. Omg wow the ham was real cooked ham not some junk from a packet, totally superb yummy egg and crispy chips just lovely. This was my first trip to derbyshire, it will not be my lastm its a great place and go to Bakwell after and enjoy.

Stopped off for coffee and scones during our visit to Ashbourne. Lovely ambience, staff friendly and establishment very clean. The only disappointment for us was that the beautifully made scones were served with synthetic cream rather than clotted cream.

Disappointing, meal poor, salad not fresh , didn’t get what ordered. Didn’t eat most of my meal. Plenty of staff on, but felt the food was rushed out. Couple on next table sent their meal back. Won’t be returning.

Came here this week and we all went for the burgers , I had the salt and pepper one with smiley faces ! Loved it ! The burgers here are incredible and have good flavour.

Warm, cosy and friendly! We stopped in for lunch on our way to the Peak District. I had egg, chips and ham which was delicious. My other half had the full English having seen other peoples - delicious bacon, sausages and scrambled eggs with chunky hash browns. It did look good but he wasn’t up for sharing! Good tea and coffee and lovely service too.

What a great improvement in customer care and efficiency. Also the food was piping hot. Having recently changed hands it’s improved for the better, breakfast was amazing and dogs still welcome.

A good find in Ashbourne. Right in the centre. Helpful staff very efficient. 2 flat whites. 2 toasted tea cakes. Very reasonably prices

Disagree with other review, definitely not a greasy spoon and gluten free options were great. My daughter was over the moon with the gf pancakes, berries and cream and my eggs benedict was lovely. Staff really friendly and tables very clean.

Just been for breakfast at Friends Cafe. Very warm welcome with very friendly staff , gorgeous food and a lovely setting. Would really recommend this place if you are in Ashbourne. We have a full English breakfast, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs and poached eggs on toast with hollandaise sauce. All beautifully cooked and very quick service. Thank you

staff were very friendly well mannered, we had drinks and cakes all was very yummy. Thanks friends cafe , we will be back

Re-Opened under new management/owners! Now just a greasy spoon, gone is the great menu of locally sourced produce and the many gluten free options. The tables are sticky and the chap that served us was well out of his depth, but very friendly. Great shame, used to love it there 😞

Great place which always delivers 1. Coffee available with real cream (not Elmea which is not cream but vegetable oil based) 2. Proper cooked whole food 3. Cakes made with proper butter and again with real cream. Dog friendly Great service Clean tables What more could you ask for?

Absolutely brilliant place, a real gem, excellent service and food the miners stack is beautiful, excellent coffee, stunning cakes the staff are friendly and professional, manager is brilliant, best cafe in Derbyshire.

Good site, with a pleasant view of the square & fair decor. Welcome and service was excellent. The full breakfast was well prepared, but not what I'd call generous either at the price or compared to most other full breakfasts. Nothing wrong with the place, but only the service said 'I must come back'.

Breakfast on a Saturday morning did not disappoint. My son had a fantastic bacon sandwich- lovely fresh soft bread, generous slices. I had the eggs florentine, lovely hollandaise sauce eggs were well cooked and spinach. Served on toast rather than English muffin but very tasty. It isn’t the cheapest for breakfast in Ashbourne but is well cooked with good ingredients. Staff were attentive and food was prom. Will return

I don’t know if I’m more offended by the price or by how the ‘chef’ makes his ‘scrambled egg’ £17 British pounds for a full English with a latte. They charged me extra for scrambled egg as well because they use 3 eggs instead of 2 lol. The eggs probably the worst I’ve ever had right ingredients creme fraiche chive but they’d been cooked on far too high a heat and it’s been served like two fried eggs whisked up with a fork. If you’re charging people extra do better. Sausages cheap rubbish, bacon decent, 2 door stopper slices that bent the fork. SEVENTEEN BRITISH POUNDS 😂😂😂

Friends Cafe provides everything you might expect from a cafe. Good coffee and delicious cakes. Plus a range of hot and cold drinks including alcoholic drinks. But the specials menu takes the cafe experience up a couple of notches. It may not be a huge menu but it delivers bistro quality food. We ate there twice during our week in the area.I’d be surprised if there’s a better cafe in Ashbourne.

Came here for breakfast. Lots of good choices on menu. Fresh, locally sourced ingredients, cooked perfectly and presented beautifully. Friendly and attentive service. Cosy cafe, with little touches, such as pretty cushions and flowers on table. Highly recommend breakfast at Friends Cafe, Ashbourne.

Best Breakfast in Ashbourne! Soo Yummy! Love the heart shaped fried bread! Staff are super friendly!

The irony of someone so unfriendly working at a tearoom called Friends. Never, in my 31 years, have I been met by such a rude person as the waitress at this café. From our very first interaction with her we felt we had inconvenienced her when all we asked was “do we come inside to order”. She looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language when I’d ordered something off the specials, she got our drinks wrong and stared at us until we said “erm… can it be changed please?” Gave me a butter knife to cut a steak with and stood and stared at me. It was the most bizarre interaction I’ve ever had. Our table discussed between ourselves what was going on for her to be this unnecessarily rude. The food itself was good but none of our table will be returning due to this girl’s attitude. The dirty side eye looks we had from her were so confusing. Even on a very bad “someone has died” day, I’ve never been that rude to a stranger and certainly not a customer at my job. Perhaps she’s in the wrong profession or maybe needs to just sort herself out.

We come here very often and are always blown away by how great the staff and welcome is. The food is fantastic. We came for afternoon tea today and have to say it’s one of the best I’ve ever had. Normally it’s the miners stack for me, and wow!!! Our dogs are always made very welcome, and can’t recommend friends enough to anyone looking for a great place to eat, with fantastic cake. Thank you to the whole team, our favourite place to come to in Ashbourne

Excellent selection and food quality. Friend wanting gluten free said her food was some of the best she'd had. Woukd definitely recommend and use again.

Lovely cafe with pleasant friendly staff. The portions are HUGE and very good quality and tasty. It is also dog friendly which was great for us. Chairs are comfy and cakes looked amazing, although we were too full to try them! Will be back next year.

We always make a beeline for this cafe when we visit Ashbourne. Warm welcome and friendly efficient service. Excellent menu choice and freshly cooked and tasty food. The portions are large and the the whole experience represents 5* quality and value for money.

One of the best afternoon teas I've had and lovely staff too. They'll give you a box to take away what you can't eat too

One of the best coffee walnut cakes that I've tasted, and I've had a few! Friendly staff and nice environment. Coffee was tasty too.

We stopped here for lunch as we wandered around Ashbourne. The weather was good and we sat outside. The service was great, the bacon sandwich was excellent as was the fish finger sandwich.

Fantastic breakfasts. Excellent service would definitely recommend. This cafe was recommended to us by a friend and as we were passing through we called in and so glad that we did. Thank you.

A very good selection for lunch, lovely food and excellent service. The Miners Stack and Mushroom Risotto are recommended!

Following reviews we visited for lunch - really good food and friendly staff. Overall an enjoyable experience.

We called at lunchtime today and managed to get a table. The menu and specials had many lovely options, we were spoilt for choice. We both had specials which were exceptional, very tasty and quality ingredients, well presented. Service was very good. The tables either...

Lovely little Cafe. Presentation was adorable. I had the full English and it was adorably presented and very tasty. Staff were attentive

As locals we have been to friends cafe on many occasions, my wife booked a month prior to our visit and even went in personally to arrange our booking, she wanted a special birthday breakfast for me and a family sized cake brought out after...

This place is fab. Wait staff are attentive, friendly and welcoming. Nothing is too much trouble and the food is fresh, quick and superb. They have a great specials board which changes every so often and specifically the Miner's Stack is really good, deffo should...

Stopped here for lunch, choosing goats cheese salad and miners stack. Food was delivered promptly and presented well with plenty of salad and rustic bread. Both dishes cooked and garnished to perfection. Very busy but wait staff so helpful and prompt. Lovely venue with full...

Best breakfast ever! Everything was cooked perfectly just what we needed after a weekend walking and the Atmosphere was very welcoming .

Lovely cafe and lovely fresh food. Some staff are really attentive but it can take 10-20 minutes to get even a drink order taken and by the time food arrives your drink was finished long ago.

Wow! What a brilliant find, absolutely delicious food, wonderful variety of dishes something to suit every. I had the fillet of beef salad which was just delightful. Every dish is cooked freshly to order using local ingredients where they can. Lovely atmosphere and very friendly...

Almost a bistro with anything from homemade soup to imaginative and fresh salads. Friendly and efficient staff and dog friendly! Could do to be twice the size as so busy at lunchtime, but booking is available.

A lovely little place right on the main square with charming young staff and really excellent food. We had the garlicy wild mushrooms on toast with parmesan, truffle oil and rocket and I had to find the chef to tell him how great it was....

Made a beeline here on the basis of the reviews and we weren't disappointed. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast and there was a lot of choice. The service was excellent. No wonder they were so busy! Also dog friendly.

We stopped off at 'Friends' en-route to Tideswell. What a supa-friendly place and the best cake I think I've ever had. Huge portion but sooo light and utterly delicious (Salted Caramel Sponge and Lemon & Poppy) Staff attentive and welcoming. We want to come back...

At the time I had a nice meal, but a little too much mustard in the chicken stroganoff with linguine. However I’ve not been off the toilet since. Had a bad reaction to this dish! Service was very good. Has anyone else had problems?

Excellent quick service with a smile,, even though it was very busy. Food was superb and Harvey, the Chef surprised me with a piece of Birthday cake

Can't speak highly enough of this place. Staff are super friendly and always seem to be on top of the work. The food always arrives quickly. The menu is varied but not too much, and the ingredients are absolutely delicious and are all locally sourced!...

Perfect food, quick, tasty SUPERB food. We got lost, ended up here and were extremely happy and satisfied (despite being shattered from the 12+ mile walk instead of the planned 5 miles) Needless to say we will return as it was excellent and well worth...

Breakfasts here are really nice the best we have had in a while, staff were friendly and welcoming. Would recommend

Probably the best afternoon tea we’ve ever had (and we’ve had a few). We’ll definitely be going back. It’s worth noting that afternoon teas have to be booked 24 hours in advance

A stunning little cafe on the town square!! A very warm & friendly welcome, with brilliant service. We stopped in for breakfast on Sunday morning & it was such a lovely cafe, the food was super yummy too.

Lovely place, sometimes cannot get a table and they are rather crammed in, service is slow but the food is very good, the breakfast sandwiches are lovely quality . would be helpful if you could pay at the table as my dad is not good...

Amazing local produce in huge portions and could not believe they had 8 home made cakes to choose from!

We stayed for one night celebrating my wifes birthday near Ashbourne and booked a table for lunch in this wonderful Cafe. When we arrived a lovely table was laid out for us with a birthday card for my wife signed by all the staff. Excellent...

Just had an amazing meal of chicken stroganoff with tagliatelle for lunch chosen from the specials board. My husband chose the bacon Brie and cranberry hot ciabatta with pink coleslaw and vegetable strips.in a wonderful dressing. This was the best meal we have eaten for...

Very very clean, excellent staff, food really nice and freshly cooked. Extremely generous portions etc

We were pleasantly surprised after stumbling across this cafe in Ashbourne. The service and food was absolutely sensational, I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting. We will certainly be back!

Amazing little cafe/ bistro . Amazing food reasonably priced Staff very welcoming and prompt service sitting outside on the little tables . Will defo be back !

Visited this cafe/bistro twice for breakfast whilst staying in Ashbourne I’ve Easter. We had breakfast both times, and on our last visit, we bought some slices of there fantastic cakes to take home. Food was great, service was great, and the place is lovely and...

Great staff, fab food, we had breakfast, twice, and cake to take away, really good Clean and tidy, Highly recommend

We popped into Ashbourne on our visit to the Peaks and were in need of a cuppa! We found this cafe by accident and thought we would give it it a go- fabulous is the word I would use. Good service from start to finish,...

Everything tastes homemade, fresh and delicious! Milkshakes are amazing, especially the Biscoff one. Prices are also very fair.

Absolutely amazing afternoon tea, perfect balance of savoury and sweets, sandwiches so fresh and full of flavour, scones and cakes on a different level, Nicki and her team always deliver excellent service and food, best cafe in Derbyshire such a wonderful place to go, thank...

Spent a perfect afternoon in this fabulous cafe. The food was delicious and so plentiful we could not manage a dessert, but can’t wait to visit again to try the tempting cakes that were on offer. The staff were wonderful - friendly, courteous and allowed...

On a snowy Thursday afternoon on our first visit to Ashbourne, what a find this lovely welcoming Cafe was. Fantastic chalk board selection of dishes, great coffee and sumptuous cakes friendly staff a great find, will return to Ashbourne again just to have brunch there

You can see why this tea room is so popular in the town, well positioned on the high street with some seating outside if you are lucky as the sun was shining. It’s attractive inside with a bright and fresh aspect and the first thing...

Get their chips! Probably the best I've ever eaten. The rest of the food and the coffee was terrific. Lovely atmosphere and service as well!

Visited for breakfast with my partner and our dog. Very friendly staff - who also treated our pooch to a plate of biscuits which was a nice touch. I had the small fried breakfast which was good - only negative was that the egg was...

Visited with a couple of friends... lovely welcome, lovely staff and fabulous food. Would definitely recommend if you visit Ashbourne.

A very warm welcome, speedy service when I explained to was in a hurry. Hot drinks served with a homemade cookie on the saucer. I delicious, well presented, generous and tasty portion of Avocado on toast with 2 poached eggs- thank you. Just wish I...

Went a number of times during a week’s break walking in the Peak District in February 2022. Great food and coffee and relaxed but attentive service. Dog friendly too.

Everything you want in a great breakfast. We were a group of ten and everybody had something different. Coffee, teas, juices and milkshakes, full English (me) eggs Benedict and much beside. It was all perfect and not one of us had anything but praise. Fast...

A most excellent coffee and walnut cake made fresh that morning on the premises. Lovely. Black forest cake was missing the kirsch...but nice anyway

Went for Afternoon Tea as a special birthday treat and it was fantastic. The sandwiches and cakes were so fresh and everything tasted delicious! The presentation was beautiful and we were made to feel really special, even the puppy got treats and water brought to...

We arrived in Ashbourne for a short break and decided to visit a local tea room as we also are tea room owners. From start to finish we had the most wonderful experience. The staff were lovely to us and made our dog feel incredibly...

A fantastic find for lunch on our way back from Chatsworth. An incredibly warm welcome even though the cafe was very busy. The cafe is beautiful inside. Fabulous food with plenty of choice. Homemade delicious cakes. The staff and owner were all friendly and super...

A wonderful place for a break with a huge choice of drinks and food for any time of day. Very friendly and helpful staff, everything is clean and regularly sanitised. Quality of drinks and food is excellent, also catering for those who must, or prefer...

Yet another fabulous lunch at Friends! Delicious tagliatelle, a new dish from their specials board. It’s our venue of choice to meet friends and family, as you can always guarantee the quality of their menu and a friendly welcome by staff. So nice to see...

Such a delightful and welcoming place. Lovely and clean with very friendly staff. Superb range of food with wide variety of dairy alternative milks. Wished I could have stayed for more than a coffee and a tea cake but will definitely be back. The cakes...

Visited on many occasions always been to a very high standard, visited on the 26th of October for cake and coffee and was totally blown away by the caramel cake, absolutely amazing, best cake I’ve ever tried, staff always welcoming and knowledgeable, excellent, best cafe...

Today we travelled to Ashbourne for a short break. We visited the Friends Cafe for an afternoon snack, tea and cake. We were greeted with a warm welcome even though they were about to close the kitchen. We enjoyed a nice sausage sandwich and moist...

I visited friends cafe yesterday to catch up with an old friend who had never been in before, we ordered some coffees and cake the cake was so fresh and light, and the coffee’s had a lovely pattern on them and was so lovely and...

We have visited this cafe in the past without any issues but on this occasion drinks were cold, we were not given forks for the food no spoons for drinks, no serviettes etc, etc. No I did not make a scene and complain we will...

Came here twice, for Coffee and Cake , Well the Cake are very tasty and very large potions, Extensive menu. Lovey place to go and very friendly service

I came to friends cafe in Ashbourne with mum earlier today and I was absolutely blown away with the quality of the food and cake that was served! The staff were very polite and looked after us very well. I would 100% recommend this cafe...

Went for lunch on Monday last week, we had been before and it was great. I expect to wait as all meals freshly made, took ages for waitress to take order but they were busy that was fine. 20 minutes for the drinks to arrive...

Stopped to break a journey, not much to look at from the outside but very busy and I can see why. Very clean, each table was marked whether it had been sanitised after the last customers and very friendly staff. I had an egg mayonnaise...

I live in Ashbourne & at every given opportunity I visit whether its breakfast, lunch or a quick coffee with cake & it never, ever disappoints. The food is amazing, wonderfully presented & delicious. The coffee is hot, decent sized & well priced. I'm gluten...

Had an amazing lunch today including chilled prosecco : busy but friendly atmosphere with great service : josie and Grace looked after us very well : service from everyone was good

Had brekkie with family, I had Full ENGLISH, small[ delicious Wife and daughter had scrambled egg with smoked salmon, white toast was nicer than brown, overall superb and v tasty

Absolutely lovely all day breakfast! Have struggled to get taste back after chemotherapy & I really, really enjoyed your food today! Great flavours, quality produce well cooked. Really nice staff, friendly & genuine. Thank you.

Busy and popular place but we were seated quickly and served within a reasonable time. Staff were really friendly and helpful. The breakfast was outstanding. The scrambled egg with smoked salmon on bread was so delicious. All fresh locally sourced food. We had a little...

Pleasant staff, warm welcome and service excellent, food was delicious and a little bit out of the ordinary would highly recommend

In our weeks holiday we went here twice. Lovely food. Proper fish fingers and burgers. The warm salads haloumi and cajun chicken were so tasty. Food fresh and tasty so was the tea. Don't start me on the cakes. They are very dog friendly and...

I wentI for lunch today with two friends, the meal was excellent. All the food was freshly prepared and well cooked and presented. Tghe staff were so friendly and heplful. Highly recommended

I visited Friends today to celebrate a 50th birthday. The food was delicious, sandwiches were very fresh and the cakes were yummy. Thanks also for the excellent service - extremely good.

Lovely place and the breakfast was outstanding. All fresh locally sourced food. Loved the heart fried bread. Would of like to come back for afternoon tea but was only here for two days .