Southwell Minster Refectory in Newark and Sherwood - Phone Number, Reservations, Reviews

The food is very good here but my sister wanted only a small sandwich and asked for the children’s menu sandwich. She was refused as an adult cannot order from the children’s menu. There was no rationale for this and she had nothing to eat. Very disappointing as I was taking her as a guest and had recommended this place.

Went to Southwell and nipped in here for breakfast. I wont lie, we baulked at the prices and settled for coffee and toast. Took an age to arrive and the toast was barely cooked when it was placed in front of us. Not to point too fine a point on it, it just wasn't very good. If you can get toast so wrong I'm just pleased we decided not to take out a mortgage for a full English. Disappointing.

Ideal place to relax over a delicious coffee and freshly made cakes - a range available for various dietary requirements including glutenfree, vegetarian and vegan. Relaxing atmosphere and excellent service. Situated in the grounds of Southwell Minster. Well worth a visit.

The table service does not work. Go back to the old way and lower your prices. Hardly anybody in a full restaurant had any food. The menus were limited. Saw this as a bad sign and left. Also to charge £6.50 for an ice cream without a cone? No way. Other restaurants in the town center offered good food at a reasonable price.

Lovely fresh food, friendly staff, ok atmosphere, but utterly ridiculous prices for the portion sizes.

Excellent place to sit and relax over a delicious coffee and mouthwatering cake. Wide choice of drinks and cakes available to choose from, including gluten-free and vegetarian options. Set in the grounds of the picturesque and historic Southwell Minster, it also is paet of a shop offering unique gifts including jewellery, scarves, soaps and books, to name a few, birg religious and non-religious. Worth a visit.

On a recent visit to Southwell Minster with my nephew and his wife, we decided to have lunch in The Refectory. The food was outstanding and the staff, led by Abi, were superb. I would highly recommend a visit.

In the area to visit an exhibition at Southwell Minster and popped in for a drink but decided to have some breakfast. Staff were great, friendly, welcoming and polite. The food was fantastic, I couldn’t fault it at all. It was fresh and tasty, piping hot and although perhaps on the slightly pricier side, I felt it was worth it for the quality. I will definitely visit again.

2 children’s basic toasties, 2 milkshakes, 2 coffees, £25.50. 2 hungry grandparents who won’t be back. Friendly staff and, strangely, plenty of tables free in the school holidays.

the cafe seemed to have a nice decor but that is about it.i had 2 scoops of chocolate ice cream for 7 pounds which i thought was daylight robbery.a salad was 15 pounds.i saw that advertised on the specials board.i really dont know where they get thier prices from.i will never go there again because of thier ridiculously high prices.if you are rich then go but i would never recommend the place,save your money go somewhere else

With a visiting choir who were singing in the Minster, we had lunch between services and rehearsals. Due to the numbers of us, they accommodated us with extra specials which were cooked fresh. I had the wild garlic risotto, this was delicious, tasted clean and fresh.

Beautiful venue, friendly and efficient staff and one of the best fish and chip meals I've ever had. Thank you! I love the way you've even paid attention to the sound deadening with tasteful kneeler arrangements in the rafters.

Cauliflower cheese and roast potatoes absolutely delicious. Full marks. Would be great if they always had it on the menu.

Ideal place to go for breakfast, lunch or afternoon tea. Menus are full of freshly made dishes using local produce wherever possible. Plenty of gluten free, vegetarian and vegan dishes are available. Set in the grounds of Southwell Minster, a beautiful location. Gets busy at lunchtime so get there early- though menus change at 11.45 from breakfast to lunch, though its good to get a table. Well worth a visit.

I had lunch here recently with my disabled mother. The food was excellent and a nice ambience. The toasted ciabatta and the coffee and chocolate brownie I had afterwards were very good.

Located next to the Minster church this barn shaped building and gift shop provides excellent food and service.we had a pie and and a chicken dish. Perfect pastry. Wide range of cakes but a little sweet for my taste. Obviously popular with locals especially children....

Nice décor, excellent and helpful staff, very good menu> Very enjoyable cakes and pastries, nice tea and coffees. A very good start to our walk around Southwell Minster.

We ate on the outside terrace and had to ask for the table to be cleaned. The meals (lunch) were small portions and expensive for what they were. Service was minimal. Limited vegetarian choices.

Reserved table for 4 of us for breakfast at 10:45am. At 12:00 noon, the (very unsmiling) waitress literally slammed a “Reserved at 12”slate across the corner of our table and walked off, muttering under her breath! We took the hint that we were expected to...

Made to feel little and common when I tried to order 3 small meals for my two children and myself! Staff are horrendously unfriendly and rude

We sat outside where we had a view of the Minster to our side. A lovely group of young ladies took our order and delivered us an excellent pot of tea for two. So great value, restful location and welcoming servers

I met friends here for a late breakfast. Local sausages on ciabatta, eggs Benedict and poached eggs on toast all delicious. Good service and clean tables. I believe the tables outside, in dappled shade, in the grounds of the Minster, have the best view from...

Great location . Friendly , attentive staff . Quality of food and presentation very good . However we considered £30.45 very expensive for two people , considering the amount of food we were given . It also states here on Tripadvisor that the menu includes...

Popped in for a coffee and scone on our bike ride, excellent food, courteous prompt service and a great setting.

Strolling around southwell on a Monday we noticed many cafe and coffee shops all closed. The refectory however was open, nice and spacious inside (plenty of room for our pram and easy access too). From our table we quickly spotted the freshly made cakes. Drinks...

Terrible service I ordered a two scoop ice-cream Which they decided to put as two separate scoops I explained this when they gave the bill and they didn't care. I don't see why I should pay for their mistake.

I had one of the many seasonal daily specials - Breaded "Chicken of the Wood" mushroom Katsu wrap with fries and salad. It was so good. I love the fact that, as a regular visitor, I can have interesting seasonal food that is different each...

Always good quality food here, with menu regulars being supplemented by ever changing seasonal dishes. The well priced food is invariably served quickly by a well trained and enthusiastic staff. Highly recommended

I visited here on Sunday, and really enjoyed it. The food was good, and the girls that served us was lovely. Will definitely return ☺️

Food was lovely but the service was appalling, we did not feel welcome at all. My husband and daughter approached the counter to see what cake was on offer, and were rudely told 'Sit down at your table!' Our food was brought to the table...

Popped in for coffee very quick service. Hot tea cakes arrived within minutes shortly followed by the coffee. Very impressed. If I was to be critical it was very noisy because all the services are hard, this did not affect my wife why is slightly deaf, but it was uncomfortable for me.

First visit to Southwell and what a find. The cafe is part of the Minster and delightful in every way. A friendly team and great ambience. Most excellent vegetarian breakfast.

A popular eating & meeting place. A good variety of choice on the menu from light snacks to main meals. We had a ploughman’s each & there were 2 meats (ham & beef), 2 cheeses (cheddar & blue vein), green salad, tomatoes, pickles, onions, bread, grapes. Almost sufficient to share rather than one each. Good value. Friendly staff.

Went to a table only to be told abruptly “that tables reserved!”. We went to another empty table only to be told the same thing. Reservations said “Reserved At 1:30pm we were there for a coffee at 11am. So it was assumed we were going to be sitting there for two and a half hours? It was our last visit, staff need to go on social skills course! Not worth 1 out of 5!

Purchased meals for three adults and one nine year old. Nothing out of the ordinary for the price. Moved on to the attached gift shop. It's staffed by elderly ladies who do not like children. One of them upset my grandson badly. We replaced everything we intended to buy and left. Won't be returning.

Excellent place to go to for lunch, offering a wide range of hot and cold snacks and meals suitable to all tastes including particular dietary needs, including gluten free. Food is freshly prepared and well worth the wait. Menus suit all ages and include breakfast, lunchtime and afternoon tea choices. Set in the grounds of Southwell Minster, the staff offer a very relaxing and friendly atmosphere and are willing to help if you are unsure about any aspect of the menu. Good value for money and suitable for families. Set in the same building as the Minster shop which is also well worth a visit. We'll be back!

We come here every year and love it. But this year since we arrived later we checked the opening times which stated they shut at 3pm, however when arriving at 2pm they had stopped serving food (literally as we arrived). It should be made clearer when food is served, and staff should be more customer friendly. Very dissapointed.

Full English very filling for an adult. Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup more than enough for a 13 yr old girl, worth the money.

We had breakfast here before our journey back home. Everything was well-cooked and locally sourced, the bacon in particular was very good. The staff were willing to make changes to the printed menu to suit our tastes.

Sometimes this restaurant can be good whilst others it is far from so. The staff need to better understand customer care. A shame as the location is excellent. They need to up their game I suggest.

Went here today, ordered a crab risotto on the specials board for £10.50. When it came out it was in the smallest bowl with about two tablespoons of risotto. Well I left hungry. It was overpriced and more like a starter but expensive starter at £10.50!

Lovely food, but it is rather expensive, especially if there are children with you! If your children dont eat much I would suggest you order one lot of sandwiches between them as my Grandchildren found them a little too much with the crisps as well.

I did struggle a bit with the noise in the refectory - lots of older ladies who abhorred silence as Nature does a vacuum.

We were very pleasantly surprised by the excellent food on offer here. We were not expecting to be able to eat at the minster.

My friend and I needed a decent cuppa but wanted to take a baguette away for lunch as the dogs had been left in the car. I ordered two coffees to drink inside then asked for two baguettes to take out.

Nice place, outdoor tables in the August sunshine, plenty of comfortable indoor seating. Breakfasts are really nice, try the scrambled eggs and smoked salmon with orange juice. This place however should definitely have table service, you take your seat and someone takes your order. Civilised, sensible and customer friendly. When you want another coffee you don't have to interrupt your meal, get up, wait in line to be served and carry your coffee back to your table. I don't know why British cafe owners insist on causing maximum inconvenience for their customers by opting for counter service. Anyway, consider it.

Asked for cappuccino coffee,when it came it was just coloured milk. Charged £1.80 extra for another shot! Won't visit again

Lovely place to stop for drinks, never eaten here, but it looks good.

The food was excellent. Decor excellent. But service pah. I know you probably have better things to do with your time and that quite frankly we are just another thing for you to do with your day but please at least pretend that by me buying a coffee and eating some food will at least mean you continue to have a job - particularly as I would have come back

We dropped in after a visit to the extraordinary minster and just wanted a quick snack, so both chose soup of the day which was parsnip and sage. It was very good indeed - served piping hot with a generous portion of bread and butter and very flavourful.

Had lunch with friends here today and were pleasantly surprised. A few different things on the menu plus nice ingredients. A sandwich and a small soup for £6-7. Staff helpful too.

Visited the minster for the first time, decided to try the refectory though sometimes cathedral food stops leave something to be desired. However this place is excellent. Good value tasty food. Good selection available, with todays specials as well. I'm sure some of the people were locals who had come in for lunch, knowing a good thing when they saw it. Highly recommended.

I love this place and come a lot. Staff very helpful and usually food very good.

I visit this place frequently since I was pregnant and now with my little boy. The service is always so friendly and attentive and we are given a lovely welcome. The food is hot, fresh and they have a great specials menu which gives variety. Would definitely recommend.

This is more than just a coffee shop; it has really nice home cooking. My friend and I had the Sunday roast and it was delicious. We both had beef, which was cooked well and the vegetables were cooked perfectly. Portion size was fab too. A very pleasant atmosphere and it's really good food at a reasonable price.

We only had time for coffee, but what an imaginative menu..."Slow Roast Pork Belly", with "asian infused rosti,charred pineapple,pea and lemongrass puree,honey roast carrot puree,and star anise and soy glaze", for £10.95. Also salads, pancakes, pasta, and other kitchen specials.

I had fish and chips very nice my friend had a salad more healthy and also very nice. Really busy on a Monday lunch time. Bit noisy but attached at a nice shop. Worth a visit if you are in Southwell.

Place closes at 5pm but at 25 to 5 the chef was prowling up and down, obviously wanting to close early! Perhaps a firework display was more important than making customers feel welcome! The girl even took our things away as I was putting my cup on the saucer! We were going to a service at the Minster so had planned to nip to the ladies but they were locked and in darkness at 4:40pm. We keep trying it but unimpressed by weak coffee, dry cake and often staff look unhappy to be there. Will try again next year, used to be so friendly and unpretentious! Now for 'artisan' read overpriced!

This is a small tea/coffee shop next to the Minster. The teas we has were just what we ordered, while it took two shots to learn how to pour the tea without it dribbling all over the table! The biscuits I had were very nice. The tables were clean and the layout comfortable. However the saucers and the cups were stained and not completely clean.

Food always good., friendly staff who deliver to the table. A nice place to meet friends for coffee and close to the Minster and shops. Even a free car park opposite

We regularly visit the Refectory when we are in the area, which is often to see our children and grandchildren. We always enjoy good service, friendly staff and food prepared to a high standard. We will be back there this coming weekend.

Visited Southwell on many occasions in the past and always looked forward to a meal in what was then known as 'The Minster Tea Rooms'.

I will keep coming to give poor reviews until you lot improve it was even worse today service actually looked away when they gave me change, absolutely awfull

We went in for lunch and ordered 2 fishcakes and a fish and chips. However there was only one portion of fishcakes left so we ended up with two fish and chips instead. The food was tasty and the chips were lovely but the fish batter was so overdone.

My daughter and her husband treated my wife and I to Sunday lunch at the Refectory along with our 2 young grandchildren. Between us we had a variety of food; my wife and son in law opted for Mussels in Cider and Cream sauce, my daughter had some very tender squid, the kids both had a cheeseburger and I went for the roast beef and Yorkshire pud. The restaurant was busy and the acoustics make it rather noisy but the young waiters and waitresses were obliging and polite. The food quality was excellent and none of us could find fault. Food presentation was of a high standard and the portions were more than adequate. Personally, my roast beef was very tender and very tasty, the Yorkshire had obviously been made using good beef fat, the mashed potato was buttery, and the veg was just right. There was a good variety of desserts but we gave them a miss. For me, being a first time visitor, the biggest surprise was the quality of the food, it really was tasty ,

We called in for a tea and ended up with poach egg on toast and a tea cake. Not because they gave us the wrong thing it was just presented well at a reasonable price. The food looked and tasted appealing and the service was good. So we treated ourselves. Our visit was early on a Thursday morning so it was not busy. We entered through the Minster gift shop which is nice for a browse.

Yesterday the 2nd July I visited the Minster cafe in Southwell before I entered the building I met a couple a lady in a wheel chair being pushed by her husband who himself could not operate one arm I met them coming from the Minster to the cafe I held my umbrella over them as the rain was poring down and windy until we got to the door of the cafe at the rear of the building to the side of the counter where 4 young girls were standing looking at us and made no attempt to help us struggling through the door they looked miserable just standing there ( LAZY ) then my wife and I went to sit down it was busy tables were full of pots needed clearing I asked if they can clear them again the girls looked as if we had woke them up lazy staff, lack any idea of what they were there for Where's the manager

The most disappointing element of this cafe is the staff. After the refurb, a new team came to work here. Unfortunately, every single time I have been here they have been passive, do not smile or greet you, and seem to have no love for what they do. It's such a shame.

We used to be real regulars here, when it was a cosy, typical Minister refectory. It had pine tables, nice pictures on the wall, a cosy feeling and a sense of community with lots of locals in there. And then it underwent a refurb and tried to become trendy. It's now quite a cold place with no buzz. The staff aren't over friendly and the prices are high for what you get. Such a pity as we used to love it here.

A nice popular venue but maybe we were just unlucky with our meals. My veggie friend had a nice meal but was more the size of a starter than a main meal. Two of us ordered the Kedgeree which came as a pile of undercooked rice with a piece of fish sitting on the top [sort of do it yourself kedgeree?]. Our other companion had gammon which came in good quantity but the poached egg was very much on the raw side.

I love the minster what a place. The refectory was sadly less impressive. The food was average, the place was very noisy and far to busy. Needs more staff to serve and clean tables. Let's the minister down

I am lucky enough to love fairly locally and enjoy going into the Minster Refectory when I am in Southwell. The initial draw for me was that there is plenty of room for pushchairs (and I'd imagine it's also accessible for wheelchairs), this is sadly often a big issue in Southwell as many of the cafe's are quite small or on different levels (part of the attraction of the town are the independent and quirky shops but it can make it difficult to get a quick sandwich and a sit down).

Large room with plenty of seating in the grounds of the Minster. Wide range of hot and cold food and cakes. Good quality and super presentation - homemade. Cater for gluten free and are licensed too. Shop attached.

Decided to take a relative from abroad to Southwell and have lunch in the Minster Refectory as my wife and I had eaten there before.On arrival we where met with a series of reserve tables not we expected to see.We where very lucky as it seems as a party of ladies where just leaving.We sat down and waited for the table to be cleared this happened but the table was not wiped.We looked at the menu and ordered our meal and asked if the table could be wiped this was done our food arrived after a while it was very good and well presented. Food good look out for reserved tables service could be a little better.

Went here for breakfast as the local deli was full and although it's a beautiful setting the breakfast was bad, overdone greasy rather than crispy bacon cold beans and toast I think the bread was stale. Overdone fried egg. It was like its all cooked and just left ready to plate out wish I'd saved my money and cooked a better breakfast at home. We both had juices from the fridge not cold either unfortunately won't be rushing back

My wife and I often travel and usually find somewhere for lunch. This place is a cut above a café, It close to fine dining in the preparation and presentation. The ingredient quality is good too (I had home smoked Salmon last visit). It is simply a café in the Minster grounds that provides refreshment, the difference is that it is all home cooked and imaginative and prepared by a trained chef who likes his work. The fish and chips are as good as I have had and the ginger pudding was homemade and had ginger in it, most cafes would buy in and microwaved. Usually very busy but we always find room. Also do a local craft beer, very nice. Car park is on the opposite side of the road easy to find.