Market Café in Castlereagh

Food delicious. Plenty to choose from. Something to please everyones taste.

The coffee was excellent I didn't have anything to eat.

Quite a number of reviews on here lamenting the service & sadly with good reason as I learned on my first visit (having not seen any reviews prior). it was a hugely drawn out procedure just to order & await 2 coffees to go, it seems front of house aren’t on the same page at all. Nobody greeted us coming in, guy at counter didn’t take our order, then half took it without listening, then asked another guy to take it while he ran off. Total confusion ensued then over what to charge me, I was asked to pay later despite wanting the coffee to go, then charged me £12.80 for 2 coffees & 2 little protein balls (?!) Cafe is v pretty, & coffee was nice to be fair, something needs to change with the service as it’s hard presently not to leave feeling sour

Called into for coffee ☕ & it was lovely so relaxing our wee shih tzu loved it he was treated like royalty girl bought out water & treats for him place is so friendly will definitely be back

Had a lovely lunch in Market Cafe, the food was delicious and finally something different to what is being offered at every other brunch spot in belfast at the moment, with new specials all the time catering to sweet and savoury, I had to try both! The staff were so friendly and catering to us and all in all had a great experience and will definitely be back.

Very glad of a dog friendly coffee spot that’s in walking distance to me. They even offered treats and water for my dog. The food and coffee is good too!

Came here with a friend. Had good intentions of this place as my friend spoke highly of it. We were given menus and the staff had not approached us with 10 minutes. There were 2 other tables, who had already been given their food. Waiting patiently and trying to get the staffs attention came to be a bit of a struggle as they were too busy discussing their antics amongst one another. After another 5 minutes I had called over and asked if we could have service. This was the poorest service I had experienced in a quiet setting in some time. I was very disappointed. They had no concern for customers. But the food was top notch 👌

Very pleasant atmosphere and friendly service, lunch menu a bit restricted.

Food is amazing and staff are so patient with large groups - even when many prams are involved!!

Lovely breakfast recently. Everything was excellent. The kids plates where large for toddlers, they're really sized for older children although both enjoyed what they could eat. The staff were friendly and the cafe was spotless. Will definitely return.

Second visit to Market Cafe. The food is delicious and the staff were very friendly. They even made our visit special by acknowledging my friend's birthday when they discovered we were meeting to celebrate that. Highly recommended.

Delicious food and lovely staff!

What a beautiful meal we had. Exceptional French toast. The best avo toast I've ever had. The service was impeccable. So happy we stopped in.

Lovely food, good quality ingredients. Welcoming staff, particularly the person who made our coffees and teas they were very chipper. It's lovely that it's dog friendly, we've brought our pup here before and they are always welcomes with treats. It does get busy but we have always been served within a timely fashion.

Good spot for brunch with lovely staff!

Love market cafe! So handy from my house and have never had a bad experience

Great food, great service. New management are awesome!

I go here probably 3 times a week as I live close and out of all the restaurants nearby Market is the best. They do a nice mix of traditional cafe foods like fry ups but also more modern stuff like miso caramel french toast or avocado toast. They do specials that change every few months that are normally great too! Can't recommend enough tbh.

My partner and I are regular customers here and always have a lovely meal. The staff are fantastic, coffee is great, and food is always tasty! Great spot for brunch/lunch

I made a Happy Face with my Brunch! OK Sooo... I've not had a breakdown :-) This post is about good service. Michelle Gilchrist FCA and I popped into Market Cafe on the Saintfield Road in Belfast. We go there quite often because it is always good however today our food was delayed by about 15 minutes because of a problem with the order system. When I checked up on where our order was the manager apologised and explained what had gone wrong, brought us another tea and coffee and then told us that the whole meal was on them. They really could not have done more to fix what was really not a big issue. However I was grateful for the effort they put into this and I am telling you and will be telling anybody that asks me for a recommendation of a good coffee shop in South Belfast. These are the type of standards and care that we work hard to implement in Gilchrist & Co - Chartered Accountants and it is always a pleasure to see other small businesses fighting the good fight! :-) Hence the Happy Face! :-)

Delicious brunch spot on the Saint field road. I opted for scrambled eggs on toast, mum went for mushrooms with pesto on sourdough and sis went for the breakfast bap. Very friendly staff, clean and well kept cafe and toilets. Tray bakes looked lovely too so will have to return to try those! A few vegan and vegetarian options too.

I am foodie and have had the fortune of visiting cafes all over the world and I have to say I do understand some of these negative reviews. I have been to market numerous times over the past few years and the food and coffee for me personally has always been of the highest quality. One of the nicest coffees in Belfast in my opinion. They are dog friendly and my wee dog loves going to market, they are so accommodating and friendly her it’s great and so well appreciated.

I have been to market many times sampling different plates from their menu and have enjoyed every one of them, I'm not a coffee drinker but my husband always speaks highly of the coffee they produce. He loves going there. Having seen some of the negative reviews, I don't get where they are coming from, since I've moved to Belfast I've eaten in a lot places up here and have always enjoyed market. Big plus is their dog friendly also. Staff are always very friendly to me and my family.

Great food and excellent front of house service but kitchen orders can be slow. Highly recommended for coffee and snacks. Unfortunately however, ordering from the kitchen often involves a long wait for your meal to be cooked.

Lovely scran. Good coffee. Spot on

The food is great, but the service is just so incredibly slow. Went in for a takeaway earlier and was made to wait 45 minutes! I only ordered two breakfast baps, and the place wasn't even busy. They should maybe invest in comfy seating for takeaway customers if they're making them wait that long

Disappointing. Non-existent customer service, a very long wait (35 mins for breakfast) and sub-standard when it did arrive. We won't be back.

Me and my girlfriend have driven past this spot loads of times and finally decided to stop in. Awful experience from start to finish we were ignored for 5 minutes before we even got seated and then once seated we’re ignored for another 5 minutes before our order was taken. We ordered coffees French toast, eggs Benedict and some water for the table. There was no sign of anything for 20 minutes when my girlfriend asked about the coffees we were then told “oh sorry must’ve lost the docket” they then got her order wrong and my coffee still didn’t arrive because there weren’t enough coffee cups. It was busy when we arrived but only 1 other table was served in the time we were there and the table beside us was not cleared after. When we finally got our food my girlfriend was happy with hers but mine was significantly smaller portion size than expected and was served with no apologies for its lateness. You may at this point be thinking where is the water for the table, well you and me both never showed up.

This is the worse place I have ever had breakfast, and I have been around the world. Had better service in Poland last month, they could teach the staff a thing or two. Firstly ordered eggs on toast, was told their egg hadn’t been delivered that was 9.10 am. Someone was going to get eggs, now tesco is one minute up the road. I got my food at 10am. Ordered a hash brown on the side I think it cost &1.50 my hash brown was smaller than a 50 p coin! And I think the coin would have been better. The girls were more interested. I. What was going on on their phones than service. When breakfast came I asked for more water for my tea, the girl said I will make you a new one on the house like she was doing me a favour! After 50 mins I should not have had to ask! Plus no sauger or salt on table, you need to ask for that, £3.00 for a tea wow that is rough. Menu not great either if you like chilli jam your in luck because most stuff was served with chilli Jam. I’m not a fan so all I had was egg on toast couldn’t even get a good fry no soda bread!!!!! Thanks but no thanks

Great food but shocking staff attitude. Ordered breakfast at 8.45am, told kitchen doesn't open until 9am and then waited 50 minutes for food to arrive. Rude and curt attitude of staff, tasty food, full breakfast with drinks is the same price as a city centre hotel so guests deserve much better

Lovely Cafe, food was delicious, kids portions are probably the best ive seen in a long while for the price , clean environment, friendly staff ,quick service

Just been to the cafe for breakfast and ordered the full breakfast, cinnamon French toast and kids bacon and toast. French toast was delicious however the fry was very poor. 11 pounds for a gristly sausage, ate about half of it, cheap beans, bacon with white fat not cooked properly, not eaten, heavily fried potato bread which was inedible as so oily. I wasn't even eating that and the look of it even put me off to be honest. Just the poached egg and slice of sourdough eaten. Very poor for 11 pounds. My child had the same bacon and it looked the same, very large amount of uncooked fat and white bits all over the bacon (which is unrendered fat) and I didn't want her to eat it to be honest. There was a lovely waiter guy who served us but the girl who took the payment seemed confused and thought it was funny that I had given this feedback when I was asked if everything OK. She made me feel a bit uncomfortable so I said I would pay the whole bill. I wasn't expecting to not pay but there was no offer of taking it off the bill or anything. She didn't apologize or say she would feedback to the chef. People who are spending money nowadays expect a certain standard of food and service now and that has left me not wanting to go back now. French toast was beautiful and a good portion size.

Terrible service! Avoid Been here before and the service is terrible. Waited for service and then were overlooked and people who came in after were served first.. On another occasion - Second time coming for food. (Trying) Told to wait for 10-15 mins for a table. We obliged as it was busy and that’s fine but then got the seat and were told we would be able to order but it would then be 10-15 mins wait before the order was placed. This was not explained earlier. Or communication generally between staff and kitchen very bad. Not ideal if you have young family. Not handled very well. Didn’t give a rating of food cause never get the chance to eat. Likely would have to sit and drink coffee for another half an hour before food appeared. Cancelled the order and left. My issue isn’t with a place that’s busy but I find the service here to be flakey and no one never knows what’s going on. Food and coffee can get you so far but barely get to try it anyway. Service is key. Given this place a couple of goes and now il give it a miss. Service is so bad I won’t be back. I think that’s enough. Judging by the other reviews not the only one who is experiencing this kind of awful service

Lovely cafe. 1st time but will return

Food excellent as always. Service surprisingly disappointing with sullen and very slow waitress.

Got served a latte and told it was a double espresso

Coffee isn't great. Pastry are bad. Service is worse. Been here a few times and have never been all that impressed. But after my most recent trip I won't be back. Got ignored while waiting for a table to the point where I gave up and decided to get a take away. At the counter the staff were fairly unpleasant. No hi/hello or even please/thanks. I didn't feel like the order and been recorded properly, after a pretty long wait I wasn't surprised that it was wrong. What I got in the end wasn't worth the hassle.

First time visiting, will definitely be back. Excellent food

Friendly staff and wonderful food. Place was really busy and staff very attentive. Definitely be back!

It's just ok and quite pricey for what you are getting.

We have been here a few times and always found that the food is lovely but the service (aside from the basics of taking orders and delivering food to table) is non existent - the atmosphere is quite negative, no pleases or thank yous, definitely no pleasantries and each time have got the feeling that customers are an inconvenience. This is particularly true of one girl, who is quite frankly, just rude. The last time we were there, there was 5 of us with 2 young kids and a baby in pram, there were plenty of sporadic 2 seat tables but nothing for us all. We were happy to wait if it wouldn’t be too long but when asked were told ‘I don’t know’. There were a couple who just had drinks at their table and we questioned with the staff if it would be possible to ask them to move up a table to allow us to pull tables together, and were told ‘I’m not going to but you can if you like’ - so we did and the couple were very accommodating but the girl working there charged over and made such a scene that made everyone so uncomfortable (including the 2 seated, who then promptly left). Our table was set up, but we were made to feel unwelcome with dirty looks from staff as if we had done something wrong, it was incredibly uncomfortable and really took the shine off the food. At this point we only stayed as it was late and the kids needed something to eat. 3 of us had been before and couldn’t wait to go back and bring new people - safe to say none of us will be returning! Plenty of places that do a breakfast sandwich and are hospitable!

Went down for a bit of brunch today and was pleasantly surprised how amazing the coffee and food was and how fast it came out. Definitely be back by the end of the week guys.

On arrival we were ignored at the door for 10 mins, and when we attempted to sit at 1 of the 3 empty tables (no one in-front us in queue) we were shouted at by the rude waitress (young, dark hair) to “just go back to the door!” Drinks orders taken immediately but didn’t come for 15 mins, orange juice was in a plastic cup??? and cappuccino was luke warm. No sugar available. Rude waitress chose to ignore us, so our order was taken a further 20 mins later by a friendlier waiter (young, dark hair). He was nice enough and was trying his best, nonetheless it still then took 40 mins for the food to come out. Food was hot and nice enough, no condiments or salt/pepper offered. Atmosphere was dull considering everyone around us were either getting up to leave after having waited too long, or complaining about the wait. Really don’t recommend.

Absolutely will not be back! 20 minute wait for a freezing coffee, sat for almost an hour waiting on our food only to be told the kitchen hasn’t received the docket! I understand Wi-Fi issues but not once did they update us on why we’re waiting for so long. Absolutely wild!!

I’d been wanting to try here for ages, tried it & never be back! I don’t need to email to take it further Cus enough is said here and reading the other low star reviews, I’m not the only one. Wee boy serving & sniffing constantly 🤢 was not welcoming, went to serve the guy behind me having seen me standing there first! The latte was dreadful I had to bin it. I went to good old French Village Montgomery Rd to take the taste away for a lovely chai latte & cinnamon swirl.. far nicer and cheaper too!

Had a nice Sunday breakfast here lots of selection from the menu

Poor breakfast with long wait- Eggs very small and overcooked,bread hard, no butter provided.Long wait. This is the second time now and im afraid ill be giving it a miss in future.

Was lovely. Good was fantastic and the staff were lovely! Good was delicious, really recommend.

Always a delicious meal & lovely coffee. Food is excellent & well priced. Pleasant staff & service. Great that it’s dog friendly.

Great local cafe, staff were excellent when we visited we will definitely be back

Can’t judge the food as we never got to eat. The Farmers’ Market was on (highly recommended!) and the restaurant was busy. So we were prepared for a wait. But when we haven’t got our food after 30 minutes and other customers who had arrived after us had been served, I checked when we would receive our order. The server apologised and offered fresh tea and coffee. After a further 10 minutes, the tea and coffee hadn’t arrived. Neither had the food! Meanwhile people who had only arrived continued to be served. Left hungry and frustrated. Poor show.

Great Breakfast, coffee & atmosphere.

The food is good but the service was unpleasant. I understand that it was busy but the staff lack even basic pleasantries. Will not be back.

Tastiest brunch I have ever had Brioche French toast with berries and mascopone and a real nice pot of tea.

Poached eggs on sourdough were lovely. Never asked if I wanted salt, pepper or anything. Tea was nice with a decent pot but again not asked if I wanted sweetener or sugar. Couldn’t see any place where condiments were set out either. Wasn’t asked if I wanted full fat, semi or skimmed milk but I should have asked. Just could have been more welcoming. Cost £7.50 for the poached eggs and tea. Car parking in lay-by and at the rear of the Inns.

I have been a few times. The food is amazing, setting and atmosphere is good, coffee is alright , prices are fair. But I have never come across such a rude person in a cafe or restaurant in my life except today in here. I wanted to be fair to the other staff , they were very nice and tried their very best. That’s why I couldn’t say service is bad, that’s not right either. Now EXCEPT for particular one who I find rude . She has no manners at all. A robot can even say a word “ thank you “, she can’t say that simple word. No interaction or welcoming word . She made me feel like I don’t want you here. Just drop an order beside you without saying anything, not a single word. Even before that over the counter I ask a favour of something, and she just said go back to your sit I’ll bring it over , with a serious grumpy face. No hi or hello what can I help. Then just drop the milk beside you without a word. I think She forgot she’s working in hospitality sector. Because of her rudeness I am never coming back.

Thought this place was a bit pricey having checked out the menu before going. Now I’ve been, I can say it’s worth the price. The food was great. Staff were friendly but the coffee was probably the nicest coffee I’ve ever had

Really good experience. Staff were polite and efficient. The food was delicious, I had the brisket benny special. Would recommend. Great to see this local cafe busy and thriving under new ownership!

50 min wait for food and the order was wrong. Sent back and asked how long it would be to sort it out.. we waited a further 15 minutes but gave up waiting and left without eating as my partner had finished his food. The Coffee was mediocre and we had it finished before any food came out. Staff were clearly under-pressure due to kitchen issues however were actively ignoring customers as others were also complaining about the long delays with food service. Was offered a free pain au chocolat for the road but it was stale. Wouldn’t go back, over priced food, coffee not great, atrocious service.

Great coffee and even better menu!

Great service and the best French toast!

Really good variety, pleased to see they had gf bread. Staff were really attentive despite it being a busy market Saturday. Loved it!

Amazing food, service not so much. I have eaten here a couple of times now, the food is wonderful! The price is a quite over top yes but the food is so good it’s ok. The service on the other hand… not great. You walk and staff either ignore you or wait for you to come and ask for a table. They look at you like you shouldn’t be there or don’t look at you at all, no manners,. No eye contact, no acknowledgement at all…very strange!