RSPB Waterside Coffee Shop in Conwy

Living locally we have visited often but food quality is now very poor. On the last three visits we have ordered bacon baps, on the first food was good three rashers of bacon on a fresh buttered bread roll, second visit still three rashers of bacon but on unbuttered toasted brioche bun which was awful, very sweet, third visit still the disgusting toasted unbuttered sweet brioche bun and now only two rashers of bacon. If you now only offer a toasted sweet brioche bun with bacon please detail this on the menu as this is not what is expected when ordering a bacon bap as detailed. Cake is hit and miss, good, not available or stale. Poor selection of cold drinks available. Hot drinks okay. Service is always very slow but not due to lack of staff or queues but due to the strange set up at the counter and lots of talking. Shame about the decline as this used to be very good busy local cafe and we prefer to support local but unless things improve we are unlikely to continue to visit this cafe.

Having used this cafe before and been told that it had been updated and remodeled I was really looking forward to visiting it again but what a disaster!! We sat down and managed to find a menu and found that many of the meals that used to be available where no longer on the menu and that it was now just soup and snacks. We decided to have some of the items but when we went to the counter to order we were told "sorry we are not doing that today" so we changed ou order and then we waited and waited and waited but eventually our snack arrived before the soup we said that we would like our soup first so the snack went back and, eventually, the soup arrived but it was leek and potato not the one on the menu! I have to say that although the meal experience was somewhat of a disaster I noticed that the staffing (volunteers) /managing arrangements seemed very odd with just one person serving at the counter and the rest having to rush around trying to get the meals out from the kitchen. Finally when we went to order some tea cakes at 2.15 to finish off with we were told "sorry we've finished serving food now" Overall not a good experience to say the least!

Slow at counter one person serving , asked could I just have a cup of tea not a pot , said they could put half the amount of water in the teapot ,, but would be same price as a pot of tea !!! Choose the “ultimate cheese toastie “, literally just a warmed cheese roll cut in half with a very small pot of chutney no salad garnish ! £5,95 I was confused because all other dishes came with a salad garnish at same price, my sister ordered cheese and ham croissants which was over microwaved one very small slice of poor quality ham , again no salad garnish , coffee tasted ok but not hot enough all in all POOR ON ALL LEVELS OVER PRICED AND LEFT DISAPPOINTED with a feeling of been ripped off ,,,over £8 for a pot of tea and a warmed cheese roll ,, really !!

We visited the coffee shop at 4 pm having been advised that they were open until 4:30 pm. There was a sign at the entrance advising customers to wait until they are called forward. There were two staff members in the kitchen chatting. They had seen us waiting but decided to continue chatting. Eventually one of them walked over to the counter and stood there looking at us, no hello or can I help you. We took this as our cue to approach the counter and ordered two filter coffees. They were served in takeaway cups so we asked if we could sit inside. We were told we could sit in the corner. As soon as we sat down they began mopping the floor even though they weren't closing for another 20 minutes. Fortunately the coffee had been sat on the filter hotplate for some time and tasted quite stale so we didn't hang around to drink it all. I have never been made to feel so unwelcome in a coffee shop in all my life and will not be in any hurry to return.

I checked online that the cafe was open before I arrived and the website said they had Welsh Rarebit. Soup, sandwiches and jacket potatoes only. Settled for jacket and asked for salad dressing on my salad. No salad as “only two volunteers allowed”! How many people does it take to open a bag of salad leaves? £5.20 for a medium jacket in a polystyrene box. Had to ask for it to be put back in microwave as part were raw. No offer to carry my coffee to a table though I was using crutches. A customer carried it for me. Will avoid until normal service - and Welsh Rarebit - is resumed.

Beautiful view of lake and hills from cafe window. Lots of birds to spot with in house binoculars. Coffee and cake good too!

If you are in the Conwy area a visit to the shop and cafe is highly recommended. Try the local Welsh dishes, friendly staff and a view to die for. All 1 mins drive off the A55. Pop across the roundabout for the cheapest petrol from Tesco. Why use the expensive services?

As a member of the RSPB we do visit the Conway site as much as possible but mainly in the cafe for lunch. On a recent visit we stopped for a coffee and shop. I was appalled at the Cappuccino that was served to us. We paid £2-55 per cup but when we looked over HALF of the cup was froth. I took them back to the counter and complained to the YOUNG woman serving saying that I expected more coffee than froth. I had never had a cup like that served there before. Her blunt remark was "it is a Cappuccino which has froth". I said yes I know but there is a limit to the froth on the top and that was a hell of a lot. She then made another which was better, but not much more, and slammed it on the counter, no apology. Typical younger attitude these days. So be ware you will get more froth for you money than coffee. Puts you off served by people like that.

This small, friendly café serves a basic range of snacks. Some of the best views of any café I've ever visited. Complimentary binoculars available to use are a great touch. We regularly drop in here. There's even a range of second-hand books to browse/ purchase. Convenient toilets.

Good simple fresh food served in a lovely bright and light cafe with a view of estuary, hills and birds - what could be better!

Delicious bacon butty, lovely cuppa and friendly service. Recommended, get to the reserve early and indulge yourself

Called in for lunch, which we have done several times before. Pleasant service, not a great choice but the Welsh rarebit is delicious, as is the soup. You can birdwatch whilst you eat as the cafe overlooks the lake. If you only want a snack there very tempting cakes available to have with your drink.

The coffee shop and staff are lovely and the view is great, but the prices have gone up quite a lot and the Loyalty Card has been stopped. We used to go every week, but have limited it to once a month now. All the other places we go for coffee have loyalty cards and, as pensioners, this makes a difference to us so we feel it was a bad move to discontinue this. They should have lowered the prices when the card was stopped.

Friendly service and a very good bacon butty. Oh that they still did Edwards Welsh Oggies ! never mind - we've found the shop now !

What to say it's a cafe nothing very special and the farmers market is a dead loss. 4 traders do not make a market.

Pea soup of the day wasn't eaten due to tasting like a bowl of pepper and expensive. Fruit scone - expensive and crumbled to pieces. Reserve looks nice bit expensive to enter - didn't see many birds, binoculars are expensive to rent. If you plan on coming, bring your own food.

Great rspb coffee shop looking out onto the pond/lake nice and warm and great food and a warm drink after a walk round the reserve

I regularly visit the Waterside Coffee shop - lovely to sit and watch the birds outside, and great views of the Conwy mountains. The staff are very pleasant. I generally just have a sausage bap and a coffee, which are great. The rest of the food looks very tasty. It's good to come here just for a coffee - you don't need to pay to enter the reserve.

Came to the location...nice walk around the reserve with lovely views of the Conwy estuary and Conwy castle. This is a paid for attraction and as we are not bird watchers we cannot comment on this aspect of the location.Cafe could have been a lot quicker...in the queue for about 15 mins...only 2/3 customers ahead of me. They had one person front of house doing the drinks, food, money...whilst they had 3 cleaning in the back. I know hygiene is important..but they could have used a little initiative here to get customers served.

Lovely place to visit and stroll round the reserve and walk along the River Conwy. Usual good RSPB shop and café - but Oh disaster this time no famous Welsh Oggies available from the local butcher ! Never mind, the sausage rolls and bacon butties are good.

The service in the cafe was terrible today. Just one poor newby taking orders and making coffee etc while more experienced staff hovered in the background. Why not have one person taking orders and the other making coffee tea etc. It took ages for the orders to be done and the staff were really grumpy! It took ages to be served in the shop too but I guess I was served by a volunteer.

Nice food with great views over the River Conwy and bird reserve at Snowdonia. Excellent place for kids also.

After doing the local park run here many times I thought it was time I visited the cafe So met my husband here I need someone to pay !!Had a lovely cup of tea and a bacon sandwich which was lovely and not short on the bacon Lovely clean cafe and friendly staff Will definitely call again and take our family as there is so much to offer Called into the shop and which had a wide range of things will call back when in the car as we had a walk back so did not want to carry our purchases Good parking on this occasion we walked to and from the cafe Very helpful staff and a place to take our granddaughters they would find this great seeing the wide life I noticed a nice play area as well Well worth a visit

Brought a group of school children here on a trip. Decided to have my lunch in the cafe. Service was fantastic. Lovely cappuccino. Food really tasty and to top it off, very VERY reasonably priced. Totally satisfied

Called for lunch before visiting the reserve, excellent welsh rarebit and coffee. The facilities are excellent.

Often when I find my self between meetings and on my own in Conwy I pop to the RSPB cafe, nice venue, with good coffee. Simple menu but delicious and good value. Nice shop too for cards and gifts. You do not need to be a bird spotter to enjoy!

Enjoyed a nice brew after a bike ride, as it was more than blustery we sat inside Was a little disappointed that the warm food had stopped at 2... Excellent coffee

The Coffey shop was the meanest and over priced for it food the portion's were so small for what we got charged for could not believe what we had to pay big rip off

The place was nice and clean. The kitchen looked clean and tidy. They had the usual British type menu; sandwich, soup, cakes, tea, coffee, etc. Being able to relax with the wetland view was probably why birdwatchers would come along. I'm not a birdwatcher and still found myself trying out one of their telescopes. Great place to bring young kids. It's just off the A55. What I really liked about the place was that they employed old people, in fact all ages. Good to see an organisation that appreciates the different contribution of people of all ages.

A nice setting overlooking the nature reserve. Experienced staff and lovely food. Would definitely visit again.

Stopped off here for lunch after the Conwy Half Marathon - a very pleasant cafe and shop awaited. The cakes and snacks were lovely and the service was efficient and friendly. I would go back if I was in the area.

Visited the cafe for a snack about 2 p.m. today. There is a sign that says they stop serving hot food at 2.30 p.m. but I would think half an hour is long enough before discontinuing hot food to expect a descent snack. We were served with 2 very small portions of luke warm homemade leek and potato soup - I think both portions would have just made an adequate single portion. Our cheese sandwiches were just two slices of wholemeal bread with the thinest spread of grated cheese inbetween - price £3.80 each! No garnish, etc. The total charge was £15.20 which I consider extortionate. It would have been better value to get sandwiches and a drink from Tesco and there would have been more filling in the sandwiches. Very disappointing.

We visited by chance today as the weather was lovely. It is so easy to find - off the roundabout from the A55. The parking was well laid out with plenty of space. All very clean and tidy. The shop/café were well presented with lots to choose from. The café has large windows overlooking the lake with the back ground of Snowdonia. We really enjoyed our visit.

Great here, with nice staff in shop. Lovely play area for children as well. Walks are nice and views over the Conwy Estuary are fabulous. Plenty of parking. However the cafe was not good. There is nor enough room there and everything is too much trouble. I went there at 4.10 last Monday with my little grand daughter and she was starving. As they were closing 4.30 they were not interested at all. I actually asked them what they could do and that she was hungry and although they were very polite they told me to go to Tesco where, if I was lucky I would get a sandwich ( I did ,and it was good). When we went there on Saturday the lunch time meal was cold and unappetising, my potato skins were dreadful to be honest. Won't be going again.

We called in here really for a snack lunch and an opportunity for our grandchildren to spend some pocket money in the shop. We are RSPB members - so are our grandchildren - and this was a flying visit on the way home from our family holiday in Anglesey. It was an ideal stopping place for a snack and a bit of education for the children. The staff were very helpful as always and we were able to do all this without the parents having to pay an entrance fee as we were not going round the reserve. Lovely place !

a very convenient place to meet a friend of mine after work. always friendly staff. cakes are always too tempting! only complaint would be that the tables are not always cleared when you want to sit down

If you have never stopped off on your way along the A55 you really must. This is a fantastic reserve and great to stretch your legs. The cafe is lovely with a fantastic outlook, nice food, very friendly staff, good prices and lovely facilities. Can get quite busy and sometimes there are not always seats available, but when you do get a seat it is well worth it. Lots of parking and a lovely little shop too.

What a wonderful spot for food, views and bird-watching. In the cafe there are home-made cakes and scones for coffee time and afternoon tea, and home-cooked lunches. Second-hand books are for sale. There's the cafe telescope to catch a closer glimpse of that bird you can't identify. The adjoining shop has lots of gifts and cards - a good place for browsers.