Life Café at Ilfracombe Harbour in North Devon

A very welcome find when not much else was open on a wet post- Christmas morning. The menu looked interesting and delicious although we were only there for a coffee which was excellent! A nice atmosphere with friendly staff.

We came in yesterday to get out of the rain. The staff were so friendly and helpful nothing was too much trouble. The coffee was delicious. My only complaint would be how cold it is after moving tables we couldn't get away from the wind and the staff were shaking when handing over coffees as it was extremely cold. We will definitely be returning soon but hopefully they will have found a way to warm up the cafe first

Came in here a couple of months ago and only had drinks as the menus wasn’t to our liking, we thought we’d come back as it’s the only cafe open on the harbour and we’re delighted to learn they had offers on and hopefully a change in menus coming up. Had a couple of their fishermen’s breakfast deals which was much better priced compared to some of their older options. Staff were lovely and offered us everything we needed, sold us some lovely homemade brownies and drinks along with our food. Great cafe however we couldn’t stay long, the cafe has no heating at current and you can tell the staff are freezing, we were informed of heating hopefully being put in place soon. Feel so sorry for Them! And had to ask for them to slide the door shut a little as the wind was blowing directly into the cafe. This can be a fabulous cafe! They just need to get their heating sorted:/

Excellent service and smiley friendly people. Wonderful views of the harbour and will definitely return again

Excellent service. Came here most days in our hols. Thank you for being so friendly and the great coffee and food.

Well went here 26/9/23and ordered regular strawberry milkshake and black coffee with hot milk on the side not cheap nearly £8 what we got was see through coffee and oat milk went to counter to exchange oat milk for hot milk ,got served cold milk ( total lack of interest from staff) did not bother complaining wife’s so called “milkshake “ turned out to have that much ice you could not taste any milk or strawberries needless to say took them to counter and complained all my wife got was an “ oh well “ so guess what another place we won’t go to and business wander why they lose customers.. they don’t so much lose them they just throw them away then the answer to lost business is put the prices up to cover low footfall ! Whoever is in charge of this business seriously needs to train there staff

I have to say that my experience here is, without doubt, the worst experience that I have had in a cafe in many, many years and thank God that we didn’t order food, if the quality of the drinks is anything to go by. I have tried this cafe before, when they first opened and it was good, but my recent experience was beyond dire. The staff simply couldn’t care less. Even when I took the tray back with our unfinished drinks on and told the dark haired girl behind the counter how bad they were, she couldn’t have cared less. The coffee was so bad that my husband simply couldn’t drink it - and that’s a ‘first’. I had a ‘milkshake’. Milkshake is far too good a word for what i was given. I thought something described as a milkshake should, by its very descriptive title, have milk in it. Not so here. It was iced water with strawberry flavouring and a minuscule amount of ice cream in it. The more the ice melted the watery and more tasteless it got. I couldn’t drink it - not only was it tasteless rubbish, there was so much ice in it that it kept blocking the straw. I visit Ilfracombe almost daily for a walk and a drink in some local cafe or another. However, I will not use this establishment again and would urge people to ‘walk on by’ and use one of the many other coffee shops or cafes in the town - mainly because having read other comments on here and the generic replies from the owners, it is obvious that unless something drastic happens to their clientele, nothing will improve. So vote with your feet, like i intend to do.

A stunning location. Excellent food and superb service. A fantastic vibe. A lovely way to while away a few hours in Ilfracombe.

Visited with my children for a quick lunch after visiting the aquarium. Staff were really friendly and all working away cleaning and serving. They were really kind to the kids and service was quick. The menu makes alot of the 'fresh locally baked bread' on offer.... in fact almost every dish is served with bread or on toast. I know there are some really good artisan bakers in the North Devon area, so decent bread can be sourced but this bread was not that. It was very thick sliced shop bought perhaps and quite stale too. My little boy wanted the margarita toast from the children's menu which I told him would be a bit like pizza (there is a picture on the front of the menu which looked quite appetising) so I thought that would be okay. We were served a very soft slice of bread with ALOT of what seemed to be tomato puree or passata and gloopy melted cheese (seemed microwaved rather than grilled). This concoction turned to a soggy mush as I tried to cut it up for him... he did his best but really didn't enjoy it so we relied on good old snacks from the snack bag until I could find him something elsewhere. I had a bacon sandwich which was fine (other than aforementioned stale bread) but you'd have to go really wrong to mess up a bacon sandwich. It could be a really nice cafe but I feel like the standard just isn't living up to the marketing at this time... won't go back for food with plenty of little cafes and teashops in the town.

Excellent food, well done. Highly recommend. Friendly staff. Prices were reasonable too considering the current climate..Value for money

Called into Life cafe in Ilfracombe we had 2 lovely decaf lattes and a chock chip cookie very good very good service ideal position to the harbour inside and outside seating well worth a visit

Most of the food was unavailable when we attempted to order. Drinks were not a problem though and all tasted great. The rustic bread platter made us chuckle as it looked like whole sliced bread from the shop. See photo. The cakes as well were dry and just....bad. I needed 2 hands to cut through the mini cake. That recipe needs rethinking or supplier needs to be changed. The service though was great. The staff tried to make do of the situation. Lovely ambience but I think food wise, there is much room for improvement

Rather average despite great location and good looking cafe. Breakfast was v disappointing... The cooked breakfast would be far more appealing if better quality ingredients were used and the different elements were separated on the plate rather than piled on top of one another into a soggy heap. Coffee was fine though and waitress friendly. Could be a lot better as location is great

Nicest coffees and milkshakes in Ilfaracombe. The friendliest staff you could meet and the nicest coffees you will ever taste. If I could give this place more than 5 starts I would. Located on the Ilfracombe harbour it’s in the most amazing location you could imagine. I would recommend this place to people of all ages.

Truly horrendous. Don’t waste you time. Actually, it’s a great place to charge your phone if you’re not hungry and don’t need to use any toilets. Otherwise, don’t come here. The food took about 45 mins and looked like a toddler had made it. I’m not sure how you manage to turn scrambled eggs into cous cous, but they managed it. You also have to ask 4 times for cutlery before they actually bring you any. They don’t have toilets. They got 3 out of 7 orders wrong. Staff just walk around slowly like they’re lost.

Place is alright, everything seems a bit half arsed. They’re actually breaking the law not having the loo available to customers as they have more than 10 covers available. It’s ridiculous as there’s 4 separate toilets in the building. You have to go to the...

No toilet inside. You have to go down to the harbour toilets. You should put a sign up saying this so people know before choosing where to go. Took 20 minutes for 5 coffees. Man quite rude when asked about toilets.

Happened across this place and it looked airy and inviting. We had drinks and snacks which were good and the staff friendly. Made a beeline a couple of days later for a repeat. Was surprised later to read negative comments, it seemed like a nice...

The food and coffee in this cafe looked lovely, however, we didn't get a chance to experience it! It was 10:10am (opened at 10am) and it was already very busy with two tables spare. We were a family of four including one baby and one...

Beautiful setting along the harbour. Staff very nice, food looked and tasted beautiful. I would highly recommend. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lovely cafe, ordered coffees and some snacks, all very good. Especially liked the baby cino for our youngest daughter that came with an Oreo. Only downside is the children needed the loo and no customer toilet is provided. We asked the staff and were directed...

A beautiful little cafe in a stunning location, very different to other places in ilfracombe but certainly what the area needed. Fabulous place for locals with their loyalty cards and very welcoming to tourists alike. Staff were chatty and happy and nothing was too much...

Positives: A small cafe with nice view overlooking the harbour, and some tables in the sunshine. Coffee was decent. Negatives: Staff seemed overwhelmed with number of customers (it wasn't overly busy either). Be warned despite serving food and drink there is NO TOILET on site....

Best coffee we’ve had, perfect location too. Staff really friendly. Cake was great and so was lunch. Highly recommend.

Amazing food and loved the milkshakes. The service was swift and kind within a relaxed and calm setting.

Terrible wait staff. Highly unprofessional and in serious need of even the basics of hospitality training. Adequately and correctly limited menu for the size of cafe and kitchen area. Food and coffee was nice, but experience was ruined by a workforce more interested in seating...

Decor was nice. We found a table that suited us and as the waitress passed a few times expected her to clean it - wrong Ordered tea and sundae. When waitress brought them to our table, again she just ignored the table wasn’t clean -...

Nice spot on the harbour for coffees and to watch the world go by... A nice place to shelter from the rain ! Highly recommend a visit if you're in the area.

Fantastic little cafe by the harbour at Ilfracombe. Coffee is fantastic and the food is great quality and freshly made. Tomato and basil soup and crushed avocado on toast recommended.

great place to watch the world go by..lovely friendly staff where nothing is to much trouble and great food and drinks...highly recommend

Staying in Ilfracombe - This is a great place to watch the world go by. Coffee is really good, great food and the staff are really friendly and chatty.