M&Scafe in County Durham

This place has changed, service was disinterested, no Diet Coke, was pointed in the general direction of the fridge. Coffee used to come in a nice cup & saucer with a tiny biscuit. Not worried about the biscuit but I honestly drink coffee at home in a better cup & I don’t get it slung In front of me with a shrug On arriving at my table I find I have no glass for the water, j asked the person cleaning the table if she could get me a glass please, she also seemed fed up & slightly annoyed to be interrupted Meanwhile I’m trying to watch out for my 93 year old mum. Unlikely to be back, not value for money or relaxing & certainly not what I expect from M&S

The ciabatta rolls for the breakfast buns got smaller and smaller and now have disappeared all together. The replacement is dry and tasteless. Cappuccino was pathetic, watery, no froth. Price still high so another place we can cross off our list.

Clear and clean tables, lovely girl washing floor. Speedy service at last, huge improvement. The new Magic coffee is lovely but small and expensive so doubt it will catch on in BA. I will go back to my usual Cappuccino but glad I tried it. Best scones around and good Bacon roll, will always pop in when shopping. Well done M&S in these difficult times. Love the shop also.

Great service from Emma …Had to review this as this young lady had been abused by the customer behind us waiting in the line to be seated. She remained very Calm and professional but didn’t deserve to be spoken to like he did over having to wait to be seated. One Word RUDE CUSTOMER.!!! Great hot food and fast service this young lady is an asset to MSRKS AND SPENCERS…

Same as others around the country in that the place was freezing cold! Why can't they try and segregate the cafe from the store?

Stopped here for lunch today with my mum. Queued at the entrance and we each picked a toasted sandwich. Suddenly we were asked in quite a abrupt manner to complete the track and trace. When we looked Confused she started pointing at signs and then started shouting at everyone in the queue behind us to also read the signs. She said "There's signs all over!! Then started pointing at them and saying you don't have to wait they are quite clearly displayed! There's even one at the entrance!! She said. I downloaded a QR reader on my mobile and we scanned the code and completed the track & trace. Might I add this is a great idea for a techy 30 year old like me but.. I think is very complex for their general demographic to download QR readers on their mobile devices. Had my mum been alone with my father they would not have known what to do and been Confused and the lady wasn't helpful. It was taking ages to be served for hot drinks and we were at the front of the queue, so my mum said to me to take the bags and go and get a table. As I walked Into the cafe from the queue I sat at the first table on the left that I came too. I looked around to make sure it was OK for me to remove my face mask, suddenly this women who was clearing the table appeared and looked like she was going to tell me. Off. I looked at her and thought she was going to tell me to put my mask on. Suddenly she said "excuse me, next time use the proper entrance!" I said excuse me? She said I'd entered through the exit. Which I clearly had not given the length of time I'd spent in the queue. I explained she was wrong and she walked off with no real apology. My lunch with my mum was ruined by this waitresses sheer ignorance. Why tell someone off like they are a child in a school canteen when you haven't even witnessed them doing anything wrong. I am not sure what these staff had for breakfast this morning but it quite clearly wasn't a lesson in customer service. Sheer ignorance. Next time I'll go elsewhere.

We usually come here every week for either breakfast,lunch or late afternoon and they don't Dissapointed the food they serve is what they also sell in the store not like other cafe stores .First f all I would like to say yes they do have busy times and some of the tables may still have used cups etc that haven't been cleared but like all other cafes you can't serve and clear tables at the same time if you have a toastie unlike some store cafes you get salad with it as other st,ores you just get a toastie and nothing else . We enjoy coming here and hope when all this virus thing is over that the cafe will reopen again

Nice food but the service is so so slow all staff should be serving when people are waiting very understaffed tables not cleared and cleaned very quickly not very easy to get around if you have a pushchair

a nice place but small and the carrot cake was dry and not the most tastiest of cakes and my daughters chocolate cake was also dry for the price i paid it was disgraceful

Only had drinks and snacks here but always very slow to serve, never any clean knives for the scones on the afternoon tea, they tell you to take a seat and they’ll bring one, had to keep asking - coffee cold by the time they remembered it!

Very handy good coffee and the usual m&s high standard of food. I always pop in for a scone when I’m shopping.

Called in to get a takeout coffee. They do a lovely decaff. Staff friendly and helpful. You can have a small biscuit with your drink but you have to ask for it now as they don't automatically dish them out any more. I visit this cafe a lot and I think its great.

Called in for a cup of tea and a scone at 1pm on a Friday lunchtime and wish I hadn't bothered! I chose my scone and was about to ask for my tea when a member of staff appeared and asked if I all ready had a seat? I said no and was told there were no empty seats and other people were standing with their food waiting to find a table. This member of staff was quite unpleasant and unapologetic so I left and as I walked out I noticed numerous empty tables cluttered with used crockery and cutlery! So there were empty tables but the staff appeared in no rush to clear them for other customers! It was the same at the till too as I waited to order my drink. The waitress took far too long in my opinion to serve the lady in front of me one cup of tea and a pre packed sandwich - that shouldn't really take 10 minutes! Disappointed and won't be back!

My mam and dad took my daughter here for an afternoon snack and they really liked it! The food was lovely and the cafe was clean. My daughter had a cookie and they had scones, they seemed to have really enjoyed it!

A few weeks ago, we called for a cuppa, wasnt even1pm but there was very limited sandwich choice left, and certainly none of the plainer ones. the rack on the wall was very sparce, staff were nice enough, but didn't seem to be in a hurry to clear the empty, but cluttered tables. coffee was nice enough .

Met the wife here for a 'coffee & cake'. The facilities were clean & tidy. Friendly staff (as always at their cafe), however they have their own pace to do things....

Very clean,good food,efficient staff,and a bright and spacious set up. A place to go back over and over.

About 60% of the tables had people sitting at them but not a single table was empty due to plates and cutlery, we cleared our own table to sit down! Look at the attached photo to see the quality of the sandwiches served!!!

Un salto para café esta tarde con mi marido. Como aquí, porque el personal es amable y servicial. También es siempre limpio. Tenía la sopa, muy sabroso. En invierno no suelo para sentarse al lado de los grandes ventanales de cristal, ya que es bastante frío allí, pero otras partes del café son bastante cálidos.

Se arrastrarán aquí para conseguir el té de alta que venían con sus chispas de la tarjeta. Quizás estaba demasiado lleno debido a fiebre de temporada de compras de navidad, pero fue un caos.

The cafe is very good and the seating are if the best around.Much better than Darlington and Teesside Park.The only draw back is it is under staffed and the tables are not cleared quickly.

Visited the M&S; cafe recently and found our table was dirty. One item of food the staff forgot to bring out. We won't be returning. Disappointing overall.

Ordered toast comes with a jar of jam that took home.Not enough butter provided so asked for some more. The bread is from bloomer type bread and was really hard around the edges. Disappointing

Have come for a quick bite with my gran and mother, but was quite a challenge to find anything we really wanted with only the choice of a cheese baked potatoe and salmon salad on offer. Gone are the days of vegetable spaghetti with bolognaise and a variety of other lovely options. Strangely, while they serve to table, salt and pepper are kept at the counter, which does seem a little shallow sighted. The service was quite lovely and staff were helpful.

Nice food, reasonably priced. Friendly, helpful staff, only downside is, its a very small cafe in a busy store.

Called in to do some food shopping, saw the cafe and decided to have a coffee first. Had a toastie, which was tasty.

Usual good Marks food, but the service is very poor.Very slow to clear tables and tidy up.This spoils the place because it is light and airy.

Reasonable service,very nice staff, sensible prices, but they run out of products such as teacakes???? how this can happen when they stock them in the bakery, about 30 mts . down the store!!!!!!Maybe someone can explain?

Service at this cafe is the best in the area!!! :) the staff are Brilliant!,, wot more can I say :):)

We often pop in here but its always so busy. They seem to have added more tables so feel as though Im sitting with the people on the next table. Also, tables seem to take a long time to be cleared. Staff friendly and food always good.

Popped in here whilst shopping for a quick coffee and ended up having all manner of goodies! Really lovely pleasant staff, excellent selection of food and drinks with very quick service. Lovely and clean and a really nice atmosphere. It's a lovely little cafe, and if you in the area, call in and treat yourself, it's definitely worth a visit.

We didn't realize there was a cafe in this M&S but we're glad we discovered it! The food looked really good and we were tempted by the bite sized strawberry tarts, which were excellent. The staff were lovely, only too pleased to help with any request. It was very clean and tidy and there was plenty of seating. We will definitely be going back.

poor choice expensive for what you get,, there was a bucket left on the table near us which had been used to mop the floor we were there for half hour and no one moved it..nothing special wouldn't go again..

M&S food used to be quite cutting-edge as far as tea rooms go, but they've been caught up and overtaken by more imaginative independent rivals. Their prices are always steep. Unless you are in their usual demographic then the staff don't really have the time for you. It's a real shame to see such an institution in such shabby hands.

I called in on impulse for a bite breakfast with my 2 month old granddaughter in tow. The cafe is small and there isn't much room between tables, but as it was still quite early in the day, I found a table with space to 'park' the pram. The lady who took my order was very pleasant and offered without any prompting to bring everything over to my table. I had smoked salmon and egg served on a toasted slice of whole meal bloomer. It was freshly prepared and absolutely delicious. The coffee was strong but smooth, without the bitter, 'stewed' aftertaste of many filter coffees. Again, it had been freshly made. All in all, a lovely peaceful interlude while baby was taking a nap!