Muffler in Ards

Arrived for coffee and cake, soaking wet with 5 other cyclists. Staff couldn’t have been more helpful. No problem with us sitting in their cafe, dripping wet and cold. Coffee and cake are great and then they were happy to mop up after us. Great experience !

So, here I am, wrapped in my linen, my ‘Still Alice’ novel by Lisa Genova sat on my lap, I am unable to keep reading knowing that a business like this is still terrorising my local community. I am sorry to say, but I visited today with my niece and was greeted with friendly staff, all was well, until I ordered a triffle for the child, to my horror, of course, mutton dressed as lamb, a glass of Hartley’s jelly, barely melted, and a cheap Tesco’s whipped cream. If you’re looking for a triffle, you would be better off getting Liz from town to cook it up in her mobile home kitchen, I’m sure she would even pass them in hygiene ratings, even if it was cooked with her feet alone. Distasteful Regards, Cmc xx

This place has gone downhill, went today and ordered a bacon butty, and scrambled for my daughter, it eventually came after over half an hour, and the bacon was mostly fat, the scrambled egg was aweful, and had to ask twice for a cup of tea. the place was freezing, and the 2 staff seemed under real pressure, a couple actually walked out as they were aiting too long and got a refund, the prices are horrendous, £2.40 for a chocolate brownie which was hard, will never be back.

Since i was last here has been taken over by new "Manager" Peter B not owner but renting! what a major disappointment and the great menu i had on my last visit has disappeared only thing that has increased is the prices! Some of the same friendly staff still there others gone sadly no home baking no specials nothing looked fresh or appealing new manager is not pleasant sits in restaurant and glares at customers seems to have issues with children and speaks rudely to staff & customers coffee was cold and food was ...awful burnt & cold entire place dull and dirty no wonder 1 star rating very disappointed & sad at the demesne of a place which had the makings of a fab place i was afraid to complain as "Peter" was nasty & rude to another customer with an issue

Took my daughter there for breakfast. We ordered identical breakfast fry. What came was very poor value for money and the difference between hers and mine could well have come from two different kitchens! Her potato bread was un-cooked, whereas mine was burnt. Her egg was runny whereas mine was rock hard. Her bacon was nicely done whereas mine was burnt. Both breakfasts were less than warm and served on cold plates. All in all, a rather shabby breakfast and far from cheap. Won't be back!

I remembered visiting Mufflers Restaurant one Saturday afternoon when I was exploring this area of County Down with my sister; so having spent a couple of hours browsing inside the Crafty Fox I suggested my husband and I took some time out before moving on.It was a good move. There is an abundance of car parking space to the rear of the Spar shop but until today I didn’t realise that the coffee shop, hardware store and the general store were all linked together. I think during my last visit I must have gained access to Mufflers Restaurant directly via a door into the conservatory? These doors didn’t look open when we arrived so we walked into what appeared to be a hardware store and continued on through hoping to locate the restaurant. We stopped when we reached the grocery store at the front / road side having passed through a farm shop area where there were bakery products on sale e.g fresh soda bread, fruit loaf and other equally yummy pastries and cakes. The grocery store offered all sorts of fresh fruit & vegetables, dried goods, magazines & newspapers along with all other usual items one would expect to find in a local store. But where had the restaurant gone?I hadn’t spotted a door to the right just before the bread / buns counter, but thankfully my husband took the lead... and sure enough once through the door the pay counter of the restaurant could be seen straight ahead.Due to the time and the fact that we had missed lunch I took an unusual interest in all on display. Finally hubby chose a scone and coffee - the pleasant the waitress offered to heat the scone slightly and told us she would bring it to us when it was ready.It’s unusual unusual for me to to have something sweet when I crave an afternoon coffee - but I just had to give in this time. If there are any readers out there with a real passion for tinned cherry pie filling I’m sure they will understand!!! A slightly heated slice with a black coffee were my selection, and having ordered we went through to the conservatory to select a table.The inner part of the restaurant appears to be set out with various nooks and crannies which felt a little claustrophobic for me, but these areas would serve a family or small work groups well.There was only one other party In the conservatory area when we arrived - it appeared to be a pre-Christmas family get- together.... gran, grandpa, mum, dad, daughter (approx. 6 years old), and baby brother who was toddling around (possibly 3 years). The comfortable sofa’s, coffee table and chairs suited the group perfectly - we sat at a table for 2 at the opposite end of the rectangular shaped area.I was interested in the paintings / drawings displayed around the walls and took time to wander to see them (prices rangefrom £50- £360) and the variety of topics was appreciated.Our beverages & snacks were served to us within 5 minutes - and we happily tucked in. The cherry was delicious (as expected) and fresh cream was certainly a worthy accompaniment - Regretfully the pastry of the tart was so very thin that it couldn’t be tasted (or crunched). Hubby enjoyed his scone and I enjoyed a quick catch-up on local / N. Ireland news as I read one of a selection of complimentary news papers.The family has left and another couple of ladies had joined us.The cafe was due to close at 5pm, and whilst the girls replaced glasses etc. on the shelves. There were crayons and colouring in available for children, so all in all Mufflers appears to welcome customers of all ages.Sorry I can’t say much more about the food as we didn’t partake!The cleanliness of the restaurant was acceptable throughout and the tables had all been cleared at the time of our visit.

Leisurely coffee stop at McCanns, ate in spacious conservatory area, catchup with friends over coffee and muffins, were not hurried so nice relaxing visit. Enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and viewed the local art exhibition. Coffee was good too.

Oh dear, has this place changed ownership or what? Seriously deteriorated since last visit. Chai latte - what?? Rhubarb tart - plenty of rhubarb but where did the pastry go to? Seating far from clean (especially the sofa along back wall) and, cushions, 'grubby' is a very kind description! Shame as it was always nice to have a cuppa while visiting Crafty Fox across the road. Could not / would not recommend.

A simple order you’d think. Two cappuccinos please. What was set before us was served in cappuccino cups, but that’s where the similarity ends. A cup of burnt milk, no froth, truly disgusting. Clearly no training provided. Peter, please, please come back!

Great service, good wholesome food and a great atmosphere. Great for kids, colouring books and crayons are on hand to keep them amused. Staff are great, nothing is too much trouble. Fab desserts too!!! I have also grabbed take away food here too and it's been as good as the sit in.

I was last here in October when it was just ..ok...went today and as well as new professional friendly and helpful staff lots of new items on the menu i had homemade thai green curry which was really tasty and then home made carrot cake which was ...amazing lots to choose from & reasonably priced was told by the staff lots of new items being added to the menu...will be back soon to try them out 10/10!!!! :)

Called in on Sat afternoon on our way through to Newcastle. It was 4.25, the lady who served us was not impressed and said they closed at 5! She said she had been flat out all day and was closing up. We asked if we could get a cup of tea, she begrudgingly said we could. I asked for a herbal tea, she began looking at boxes of teas on a shelf near the floor, one would have thought they would have been on the counter, my husband got a regular tea. She said is that it and asked for the money. I then asked for a traybake which obviously inconvenienced her. We were told our order would be brought to us. My herbal tea was brought in a teapot and I was asked if I wanted milk!! We had half an hour to drink our tea which is ample time but we felt rushed and left quite quickly. Upon leaving the floor had been mopped and was wet. Surely this should be done after customers leave. The whole experience was just disappointing as we normally love going to this cafe. Doubt we will be back.

This is a brilliant wee place and a regular stop for my friends and I at the weekend! The food is reasonably priced, great variety and always tastes good! Selection of cakes and tray bakes is always top drawer! The only thing letting this place down is the organisation and poor service from some (not all) members of staff. During my last five visits (all Dec-today), only on one occasion was our order brought to the table within fifteen minutes of ordering and the whole order was correct. The other occasions as per usual, it takes over 30 minutes for food to arrive at the table, orders are often missing items or have the wrong things, staff are very apologetic but clearly can't do anything to improve the situation. Today, one of our sandwiches was missing one filling, child's meal was forgotten about, when it did arrive there were no chips, coffee had to be requested twice, when I was in before Christmas it took three requests to get a coffee, and while staff were quick to apologise this is the norm so surely something can be done to improve the situation! Like I said, we are regular customers and would rarely complain and it's a convenient, friendly and tasty place to stop! However I couldn't recommend it and my husband no point blank refuses to come in! Please do something to improve the situation as it's my local favourite!!!!

I'd suggest you check your bread or possibly bread products as mine had blue mould. Coffee is still worth the visit ... Food not so much.

Lovely food, bright cheerful surroundings. Great cakes and scones. just order at the servery and hey presto, the food and drinks are on the table

Me estaba muriendo por una taza de café realmente buena. No una búsqueda en Internet de tiendas de café cerca de mí y no estaba muy impresionado. Entonces me acordé del silenciador del café. Tomó un ir a verlo y estaba encantado. Los propietarios obviamente conocen y aman el café en sí y se nota en la taza. Sin duda volveré y lo recomiendo a cualquiera.

Este es nuestro lugar favorito para lattes y pasando el rato - también para el desayuno el sábado cuando estamos alrededor. Es un verdadero centro de silenciador de la comunidad con el mejor personal y servicio más amable. El invernadero es luminoso y un lugar encantador para relajarse. Gran variedad de opciones para hornear, almuerzo y trajes de los trabajadores, familias, ciclistas y nosotros! Venga al silenciador!

Amazing food and really great service, have been a few times and we really love it. Great for meeting with family.

Este café es increíble yo estaba allí hoy y recibido una comida excelente. El servicio también fue excelente, el personal no podía hacer lo suficiente para mí. Yo sin duda volveremos.

Was here with my partner and as I am coeliac I asked for the gluten free menu I was offered a toastie, we received our meal and it was very poor the toastie was eatable and was served with a garnish which I did risk eating as we didn't know if the dressing was gluten free, They obviously know very little about cross contamination as I am now suffering from the effects of eating Gluten.Staff very unhelpful

The Muffler is a lovely friendly coffee shop. I work locally so get carry out coffee at least 3 mornings a week and occasionally sit in for breakfast or lunch at the weekend. Service is always great even when it is really busy. Food is very tasty and reasonably priced. The conservatory is a lovely place to sit and all the papers are available to read. Highly recommended!

I went on Saturday with my aunt and uncle for afternoon tea! It was the nicest afternoon tea we have ever had! It was beautifully presented but the food tasted even better! There was a range of different sandwiches and buns all home made which is what I love:) all the staff were very friendly and attentive. I will definitely be going back again! A little hidden gem

Headed out for Saturday morning breakfast and called in to mufflers, amazing fry, lovely friendly staff and great food, we will definitely be back. Highly recommended.

When working in the vicinity I love to pop into the Muffler Cafe for my morning coffee break! Whether I'm starving for a fry or peckish for a scone, I'm never disappointed. The food is delicious and reasonably priced. The staff are always pleasant and eager to please. Love sitting in the 'conservatory' environment catching the sunshine whenever it appears. Well worth the visit!!

Great place always top class food and the warmest welcome by great staff ,always recommended to friends and family

Friendly staff well welcomed me. lovely seating area in consveratory. Beautiful hot chocolate. With outstanding fresh sandwich i enjoyed my visit to mccanns muffler.

Mufflers is a well stocked hardware store with a bright, spacious cafe at the back adjacent to a spacious car park at the rear of the store. The cafe caters for wheelchair users and there are numerous tables with a variety of seating available. There is a good selection of homemade pastries, tarts and cakes. The cafe walls show a range of paintings by local artists with different subject matter. The staff were friendly and helpful and I have no hesitation in recommending this cafe and shop. Will be back.

Get your hardware and then a quick coffee with lovely buns. Hard to beat and good value. Lots of car parking too

Just had another enjoyable trip to Mufflers . Excellent scones - Caribbean ones are packed full of fruit and just delicious!

I regularly visit this place with family - Great coffee, fantastic food and excellent service - well worth a visit !

Lunch was scrumptious. So enjoyable and in a pieceful setting in the conservatory. Friendly staff. Amazing desserts. Highly recommend.

Delicious food in a pieceful setting.Delicious desserts and friendly staff. Highly recommend A*!!!!!

Great service and food in the muffler would eat here regularly staff are friendly five star service

Exceptional food and service especially for catering to my nephews allergies. A perfect stop for breakfast, lunch or an afternoon treat. Thankyou Christine for all making our visit worthwhile

Fantastic service the waitresses could not have been nicer and the food was up to the highest standard all over I recommend this Cafe to the public and also the coffees are gorgeous to. Fantastic would go again.

Lovely lunch - called in on spec - cafe was busy - but food and service excellent. PS Chocolate Brownies to die for!!!!

Took the family for a late lunch to this gem of a place and was treated with great food and fast friendly service. Food was of a top quality and cooked to perfection. The kids who are exceptionally fussy cleared their plates which is a good enough review in my book. Restaurant was spotless and staff could not do enough to help. All in all a place worth a visit if your down in this neck of the woods.

Super lunch with a gorgeous homemade salad dressing, will definitely be back! Great menu with something for everyone :)

I've been visiting the muffler for a few years, always for lunch. The staff are very pleasant and helpful. Most importantly the food is delicious with a great selection of sandwiches, toasties and hot food.

Atmosphere was lovely, brand new menu board design which looks greats and nothing was too much bother for the staff - one of the best almond milk porridges I've had.

Been here quite a few times. Each time I've been it's been great. Thier fry is beautiful, not oily, and delicious. Soup is amazing. And sandwiches are scrumptious and very filling! You won't get bored as an assortment of magazines and newspapers are available. Looking forward to my next visit.

Very friendly staff, nice atmosphere, great coffee and a good selection of food. Great selection of tasty traybakes and desserts.

Great soup and a sandwich. Chicken soup is awesome. Most of the staff are very friendly. Overall a very enjoyable experience.

Ordered a ham salad minus some things I can't eat. It was absolutely delicious. Three huge, thick slices of ham. My husband had to finish it. Friendly staff. Serve the best cappuccino I've ever tasted - and I've tried a lot!

I really don't know were to start, we arrived for first time for lunch. On arrival no one at all greeted us, not having been there before we didn't know the format. So we sat down at a table and asked a looming waitress is it self service or what, she said yes go up to counter order and then we will bring tea/coffee etc. I went to counter to order for us all(still hadn't been spoken to) stood for a good 5 mins whilst two people were faffing around . Aventually a guy came over to me still not speaking just nodded as if to say what do you want. We waited quite a considerable length of time for our food. (wasn't worth waiting for) it was cold! plates stone cold too and we had ordered hot food! It was practically inedible, bacon cold and overcooked fried egg like rubber! Even when paying I wasn't spoken to. I have never been in such a dour unfriendly place in my life! never again !!!

This Cafe/ restaurant is atrocious service wise, food is ok but could be a lot better, I was greated in a terrible way saying just 1 person then, on the 26th October 2016. I thought the girl could of said it a bit nicer, I was really disappointed as she had no smile and looked like she wasn't wanting to be there. Once my food was served it was a bit cold I didn't want to say to the girl as she didn't look to friendly to ask today, it wasn't like they where to busy either. The girl behind the till was very nice and pleaseant but didn't like to say the food wasn't great. I'll not be recommending to friends or family unless there is a change. Was really disappointed in other words with the service.

Quality local food served by friendly staff that take time to chat to our elderly dad. Apple and rhubarb pies delicious as our their paninis too! Delicious Americanas and lattes too Comfortable surroundings. Set in an excellent food store with delicatessens too!

I always go here for beautiful tea, coffee, and cakes. The scones are simply amazing. But the sausage rolls are 3/10 and the Chef seems new or just bad. I recommend for a nice cup of tea and a nice slice of cake, other than that be ready for a par core experience.

This is our favourite local for coffee. They offer a great selection of cakes and tray naked as well as breakfast and lunch menus which are pretty extensive.We often have breakfast there, fresh eggs, excellent French toast, full fry on offer. With free papers, nice music, friendly staff and fair prices we will be going back again and again. A loyalty card is another bonus. Thanks guys!

Exceptional friendly staff. Good food with a wide selection of meals. Nice comfortable place to eat. Very popular with the local community.We have been hear many times and never disappointed

Great place for a coffee and a chat. Lovely food - great for breakfasts!!! Good variety of devilish pastries all calorie free of course - not. Friendly staff.

Poor customer service. We ordered a meal and waited for it.....35mins later when I asked where our food was as I had to get back to work, the waitress returned to our table, left the money for the meal and said the order had got lost and walked away. Later realised she had charged us for our coffee! Needless to say we will not be back.

Called here for breakfast on the way to Newcastle the fry we had looked as if it had been put in the deep fat fryer everything was over cooked, solid eggs and burnt bread, sorry now we didn't send it back. Is it now under new management as we have been two times previous and the breakfast we had then was just excellent, we don't often have a cooked breakfast and see this as a special treat, needless to say we shall not be returning, the server even told us to fetch our own cutlery not very customer friendly.

Really excellent coffee, staff are all trained to make it properly so it is consistently good. Free papers and wifi, friendly chef, top class sausage rolls, scones could be better. Very relaxing but atmosphere is lacking a bit. Would definitely recommend.

I got two takeaway sandwiches from here, having paid £9.50 it was a bit pricey but I thought they might be decent, nope! Terrible.No salad, stale bread, barely any filling and a tiny handful of soggy crisps!!It might be ok for a coffee and a scone but nothing more.

Nice relaxed place to go into with papers and magazines to read. The coffee is the best in the area but scones aren't just so good. Nice home bakes cakes and generally friendly service. This is somewhere I would be happy to go into on my own and not feel awkward.

Overpriced usual tray bakes, dull school dinnerish meals. No atmosphere, virtually empty and disinterested staff.

I visited this place with my 80 year old mother it looked really nice until we got the food + bad customer service, We ordered soup which was tomato + I have to say it tasted more like dish water it was horrible, I told the girl + she stuck her finger in the soup which I thought was disgusting, she then said would I like the veg soup so I said yes okay, there was nothing like I am sorry about that or coming back to check was everything ok no customer service not even a smile, my mum and I only got a soup each a tea coffee and 2 tray bakes 16.95 we were charged in my option 2.25 for a tray bake is over the top, never again will I eat in this place poor food and customer service.

The Muffler is both affordable, local and delicious. It is friendly and local to me. If you are more of a city person though it is a lovely spot to have your lunch or a cup of coffee when you want to venture into the countryside. It is handy to both a convenience store, hardware store and a gorgeous gift shop just across the road, as well as the famed Balloo restaurant and so is a popular choice for people to eat at when they want a day out. The one thing I would say is that Muffler is not located in Comber, or Saintfield as the map suggests but is located right next to Balloo Bistro and there are very good parking facilities there so just follow the address for Balloo Restaurant and you are there :) A great place for a family lunch, coffee between friends or a catchup with an old friend or potential love interest! The Muffler is a warm, inviting and affordable place to have a bite to eat and a cup of tea. I go on a regular basis

What a very pleasant surprise. There are 2 entrances to this cafe, not very obvious or well signed. Food was made fresh & served hot by friendly staff, homemade chips a must. Will definately be back & on a regular basis!!!!!

It was only through shopping at the Spar that we found the Muffler tucked away at the back, and have become one of the regulars. The coffee is excellent, the food has a home made taste, and there is a good variety on the menu.

Enjoyed a nice roast lunch here couple of years back so thought we'd take the mother-in-law there last week for a Mothers Day treat. Not sure what the problem was but the young serving girl took quite a while to acknowledge me standing at the counter and male member of kitchen staff stood to one side was no more welcoming. I ordered 2 pots of tea and a coffee that was way too strong, one very small jug of milk to share between the three of us so my coffee was like syrup and quite bitter. Why are so many establishments eschewing good old filter coffee these days? I really cannot abide the barista-machine kind. My sausage roll was awful, microwaved, and the meat filling was unseasoned and tasteless. I gathered from the time we entered, around 3pm, that they don't welcome custom at that time of day on a Sunday, that's the impression I received anyway. Felt like we were intruding.

Ate here today and the food and staff were lovely. Unfortunately though I wont be rushing back as there are no nappy changing facilities which is must when you have a 6 month old that's needs his nappy changed. The lack of nappy changing facilities meant that we had to rush our lunch! This would definitely put families with young children off visiting but is very easily fixed!!

You enter by the conservatory door (you do not need to go through the hardware store!) and the decor is bright and cheerful. Staff very helpful and the hot food is great, especially the chowder. They also do gluten free if required. Try Muffler. You'll love it.

Food generally is good, however, the entrance is a bit of a mystery if you haven't visited before. you have to go through the hard ware shop. However good food and coffee and then a visit to the Crafty Fox across the road, a lovely couple of hoursmout.

I have been here a couple of times, the last time was a fry up which was pretty disgusting I have to say. The cake and coffee is fine and the scones are lovely but I wouldn't touch the hot food, it always looks like it has been sitting out for ages and is crusty or has a film on the top. Considering there are so many good eateries about this area and the area is packed with abundance of fresh food its very disappointing. No effort seems to be put into it at all. They could do so much more with it.

Hidden away at the back of Mcgann's Store in Balloo this is a great place for a coffee or light lunch. Such a shame they are no longer offering a roast lunch on Sunday's as that was excellent value and very good!

Down to earth food and reasonable prices. Ideal spot for a quick lunch.

Fantastic and original selection of cakes - lemon and ginger, raspberry and chocolate, pecan to name but a few. Yummy!!

Three of us visited this coffee shop in September and were very impressed with the food.To get to the cafe you have to drive up a small alley at the side of McCann's General Stores near the cross roads in Balloo. The cafe is in a conservatory and we were assured by the owner that the interior is soon to be refurbished to improve the ambience.The food selection is wonderful - all fresh local produce from the farm shop within the general store. One of the dishes was a chicken quiche which had a complete chicken breast portion on top accompanied by a lovely salad - there are a variety of salads to choose from. I had a delicious salmon dish. We recommend this hidden gem.