Purnell’s Café & Bistro at Charterhouse in Coventry

Over-priced minuscule portions of indifferent food. £9 for a medium sized glass of wine. Really?!! The venue deserves so much more than this establishment offers. Listen to your customers.

I visited the venue today yes the food was lovely what really disturbed me was the fact that the older lady was doing all the work and two younger members of staff just stood by the coffee machine laughing and joking and general messing about and the other lady was doing all the work. Where is the respect for staff. I can understand why this place is closing down. This is my second visit to the venue and the same staff were on doing exactly the same thing

Underwhelmed. very disappointed by customer service and quality of food. Surprised chef Purnell has his name attached. Must improve to survive. At 1pm had run out of several items ‘you can see we’re busy’ not a helpful response. We had booked! BLT without the T, cheap sliced white bread, one rasher streaky bacon, very sparse sad sandwich. No garnish or crisps. No smoked salmon option. Brusque response from staff.

Smoked salmon, poached egg with hollandaise ordered. Hollandaise not available. I didn't mind that omission. One small cold slice of toast with salmon, two poached eggs, one of which was cold and hard the other acceptable but lukewarm. The plate on which it was served had a chip on the rim. Cappucino coffee was milky and insipid. I said the food was not enjoyable and that one egg had clearly been cooked for some time ahead of the other one. Rather than respecting my opinion as the consumer and perhaps empathising with my disappointment, it was challenged by the staff member. Payment for the order was cancelled but that gives me no confidence to think of a return visit or to recommend to friends and the interest groups to which I belong. The Charterhouse is a must-visit, remarkable place being run by a superb group of volunteers which makes this experience in the Glynn Purnell cafe/bistro additionally disappointing.

Poor service. Rude staff. Lack of options, despite being booked in. On spec customers given priority. Poor quality. Many options unavailable due to running out of stock. Very disappointed indeed. Had high hopes.

Absolutely dreadful. Very rude manager, service charge added to the bill with payment upfront before you've even had any service! (Which was non existent) was told I should have said beforehand that I didn't wish to pay it, as apparently it's in tiny writing at the bottom of the menu. Asked for crispy bacon in my sandwich, but what was served had hardly even had a look round the pan. Hot chocolate served 3/4 full so had to ask for it to be topped up, came back just the same. Overpriced and pretentious. This is Coventry, not London, perhaps they need to remember that. Will never visit this place again. Awful.

Excellent. Eight Tapas and a glass of Prosecco each. Beautiful food. Couldn't fault it (maybe a bit hotter). Wonderful staff. A really lovely afternoon. Must haves Pork Belly, Croquettes, Roast Leeks, Burrata and Tomato 🍅. Would thoroughly recommend.

We we're lucky to have a voucher for a choice of 8 tapas (3 light bites, 1 meat, 1 fish, 3 vegetable) from the main menu and a glass of prosecco each. We had no difficulty making our choices. The food started to come in stages, starting with 4 after only a short wait. Those kept us going until the next two arrived. All nicely spaced out. The food was delicious - really very good indeed. Highlights include the tomatoes and burrata, pork belly, sea bream, mixed green vegetables and really everything else we tried! We added two more glasses of prosecco and dessert (at menu prices) to round things off - although 8 tapas was more than sufficient for a very enjoyable lunch. Great service, too. Having visited the Coventry Charterhouse several times before, it was nice to try Purnell's at last, too. I was pleased to see a leaflet for the Charterhouse with the menu - I hope diners at Purnell's will go and buy tickets for the Charterhouse and garden after their meals - a fascinating attraction.

Our experience was underwhelming. The location was uninspiring and needs lots of attention. The restaurant glass roof was filthy on the outside. The environment was cold and I inviting.

Seen lots of reviews so keen to visit and overall it was fine but not exceptional. For me the bistro lighting was overly bright for an evening and art work of a row of old garages and a tower block seemed dissonant. The food was all fine - some of the portions were tiny. We ordered 3 dishes each as our server recommended - the sea bream was literally two bites (although we then ordered another so the others could try and the second portion was bigger). Lots of the early flourishes like caviar with the sea bream, edible flowers, tempered chocolate sails on the chocolate tart that Id seen on instgram are no longer part of the dish. Nearly £200 for four (including a bottle of wine and two beers), Happy to have tried it out but we agreed wouldnt be back - other places we much prefer

We were really looking forward to trying this out for lunch. On the whole the food didn't dissapoint, nice clean place with modern decor. However, sadly our lunch was rather spoilt by the inattentive service. The sandwiches took quite a while to arrive and when we had finished nobody seemed to want to clear up or offer us the dessert menus. There were 3 waiting staff standing at the bar chatting, oblivious to what was going on in the restaurant. When we went to ask for the bill, we were asked if everything had been OK mentioning the lack of attentive service they seemed completely unperturbed. It would have been ice to have been treated with a bit more care and attention.

Arrived with my daughter for early lunch/brunch to find the car park literally overflowing. Not sure if there was an event on in another part of the complex but they certainly weren't all in the cafe. We had to park right in the entrance (to the car park) which was fortunately wide enough for us to park with enough room for other cars to get past. We were seated very quickly (as I said there weren't many people in there) and left to peruse the menu. We both chose sandwiches (New York Deli and a BLT). Not cheap but reasonable enough considering the name over the door. The sandwiches were nicely presented, with a small dressed salad and a small bowl of vegetable crisps as accompaniments, and were very tasty. Overall the service was satisfactory and efficient. For drinks my daughter chose a soft drink and I chose my usual flat white. I'm a big coffee drinker and expected (for the price) to find something akin to a Starbucks or Costas but unfortunately my coffee was pretty dire. I could tell just by looking at it that it hadn't been made in a 'proper' coffee machine. Again for the name over the door and the price expected much better than this. Sorry but unless the coffee (and parking) situation changes I won't be returning.

My husband and I have been before but this time we took our son for his birthday. Food was incredible especially the pork belly. A few specials this time included meatballs and loaded fries which were delicious. Service is always excellent and staff friendly. Our son loved it. Its safe to say we will be back soon

Excellent menu and lunch food options - all well presented, with the star turn being the pork belly - prawn tortilla stack was beautifully presented. Combined with the Charterhouse site, another hidden gem in Coventry for an interesting morning vost and a super lunch experience. Thanks again.

My wife and I visited for lunch and was not disappointed. A friendly welcome, swift service and excellent food all in a lovely location. Every dish was well presented and full of flavour. The pork belly was fantastic. We will definitely make a return visit.

End of holiday treat for the wife and I. Warm welcome, lovely surrounding and fantastic food. what more can you ask for. Each dish was well presented and full of flavour (we had 6) the star of the show was the Pork belly that just melted in the mouth. We will be making a return visit?? Most definitely

We had a lovely brunch and the staff were friendly and efficient. I was able to take my wet dogs in with me, which is a bonus for me (not sure about for others!). We had a smoked salmon and avocado and egg on toast...

Both the most expensive coffee I have ever bought and also one of the worst. Expected a premium for the name and situation - £4.40 for a flat white. If it had even matched a hand decent coffee shop I'd have felt ok but what...

I want the following to be a constructed judgment on my visit to the Bistro this morning. If you want repeat business, you must improve the quality of the product for the money you are charging. Both items in my breakfast were abysmal – I’ve...

We ate as a family at the bistro on Heritage Day. We received excellent service from friendly and polite staff. The food choice was varied and there was something for everyone. We didn’t wait too long for our food which was extremely tasty. Prices are...

I will start by saying that we went on a Heritage Open Day at the Charterhouse, and so the menu was extremely limited, only 3 or 4 choices and all priced at £7 each (more on that later) The service when we ordered was at...

We booked to go on a day that coincided with an open day at charter house . We had a pre phone call warning us & asking if we wanted to rearrange. So glad we didn’t. The staff took impeccable care of us , young...

We shared and enjoyed a variety of tapas. Not sure the Spanish theme fits with the historical setting! Would like to see more use of local produce, even in tapas type menu, eg there is a Warwickshire charcuterie that could be used instead of Italian...

This cafe/bistro is located in the recently renovated Charterhouse in Coventry. The menu offered looks fine. Meals served to adjacent tables looked lovely. However our brownie was rather dry and unexceptional. Prices are quite high. Is there an issue about cake storage or service? Service...

Well this was a surprise! We went to Charterhouse mainly for the history and ended up with a really excellent lunch added on. Very likeable atmosphere in the conservatory-style room with agreeable acoustics. Staff nicely attentive and helpful. And great tapas! Authentic Spanish dishes lifted...

Fantastic find, please go and see for yourselves, service impeccable and food sublime! Huge tapas selection with something for everyone, even made special vegan dishes Highly recommend!

Fantastic food, great service a real jewel in Coventrys Crown, the tapas style menu meant we had a chance to sample some great food. Highly recommended! (Oh and great company too!

A really surprising place. Just off Coventry ring road, it’s a really quiet little oasis. The staff were welcoming and efficient, our waitress was friendly and accommodating but never rushing us. We loved the choice of tapas dishes and everything we had was delicious. The...

This is a lovely spot. Service great and delicious cake. My only complaint is that I think £4 is far too much to charge for coffee made in a ‘bean to cup’ machine. At that price you expect proper barista coffee and also for the...

Great atmosphere staff were very good attentive and couldn't do enough for us. My note of concern was the fact that we ordered 2 sandwiches which acording to the menu came with kettle chips and salad? While the sandwiches were very good NO salad arrived?...

I reckon this could be 5 stars as the service was superb. The greenhouse setting was lovely and bright even on a miserable evening. The food was really good but 80% of it was only just warm. I don’t get why, and I should have...

Disappointing meal today August 5th, the poor rating is for the food only, the staff were pleasant and helpful. Myself and my wife had 7 dishes between us, we left the restaurant feeling disappointed as the food simply was not worth the price. We had...

It’s so refreshing to find this oasis hidden away in urban Coventry. The tapas menu was fabulous. We wanted to try everything and will be back again and again. For a newly opened business. My other half said she wouldn’t mind offering her services to...

Booked this with a group of girlfriends for a summer evening out. The setting is beautiful, a stunning building. The food was just as good as we had expected when we had heard Glynn Purnell was involved - small plates, a wide enough choice, perfect...

What a really lovely experience at Purnells. Husband and I went out for a Thursday ‘date night’ and chose Purnells as we wanted to try something a bit different. The evening started with a lovely welcome from the staff who provided a really friendly service...

We had a really lovely time at Purnell’s and the food was amazing! Coventry doesn’t have a lot of places like this. Small plates- each one delightful. We really enjoyed all the flavour combinations- aubergine fries- what a revelation!! Dessert was gorgeous- love love loved...

The cafe is small and disappointing. The visit we made to the Charterhouse itself was interesting but the menu in the cafe is very limited for breakfast/brunch - only four items to choose from. We spent 17£ on two flat whites, sourdough toast and a...

After going round the Charterhouse ( very interesting and well presented) we had tea at Parnell's and then returned in the evening for dinner. We enjoyed very good food on both occasions and in the evening had excellent and fun service from Julie. The food...

I visited on the opening day, but was unable to leave a review at that time as it wasn't yet on Trip Advisor. Most of the issues were related to opening day hiccups, but it was odd to have someone come to my table and...

Finally somewhere nice to eat in Coventry. We need more publicity to keep this hidden gem open. All tapas dishes were so tasty, with a real mixtures of flavours and high quality ingredients. The sea bream topped with caviar my particular favourite. I have come...

On arrival, the staff were attentive and helpful with how many plates to order, we found the place very friendly! We ordered a number of small plates which were all delicious, the seabream was particularly lovely! Dessert was a chocolate delice which was divine, coffee...

Went for breakfast with a friend but didn’t end up staying. When we arrived there was nobody to seat us and we had to wait until a workman at the site told a staff member that we were waiting. We were the first to arrive...

All I had was toast. It was the best toast I have ever eaten. Poshest toast ever - served like I was the queen. Yum! I really want to go back for the bistro menu.

Went with a friend intending to have Brunch but ended up having lunch. A decision we didn't regret. On the advice of our lovely waitress we ordered six small plates between us,which was just the perfect amount. Each dish was delicious.Well presented and served quickly....

We arrived to find a very busy noisy cafe, we were told all restaurant tables were booked but it was empty apart from two tables, it did start to fill when we left. I felt the waiter was a bit abrupt to other people who...

My friend and I visited for lunch on opening day. Glynn even popped in for a visit! The staff were clearly still being trained so a discount for soft opening day would have been welcomed. The food was delicious though. We both ate from the...

We planned our visit to Purnell's cafe for this bank holiday weekend, we arrived not long after the cafe was open. Walking in and we waited to be seated, and we picked close to one of the many windows. Our waiter was quick to take...

After checking the website which states 'Access to the cafe is free and there is no need to book' i arrived here on Saturday. I asked for a table for 2 and they advised they were fully booked! I was advised we could have a...