Stray's in Newark and Sherwood

Short stop for a coffee and a snack. Sticky table top is never a good start but the coffee was good and the cake was 4⭐.

Delicious starter, nice staffs and good environment. Scheduled with friends for future gathering

Not big choice of cakes. Latte and tea are so-so.

Just coffee and cake but lovely.

Lovely relaxed meal in comfortable surroundings. We had olives followed by pizzas with salad & chips and thoroughly enjoyed them. Staff were excellent too. Many thanks!

Nice decor, was expecting to have a sandwich or something light it was more of a restaurant type menu .we shared a pizza and had Tuscan potatoes with a side of chick peas the pizza was nice the potatoes lacking the Tuscan seasoning and the price for the small ramekin of chick peas was ridiculously.when our food was bought to the table the sever didn't leave any plates ? I had to ask for some plates .one of the waiting staff was more attentive than the other which was a shame hence the three stars

1st time in 20+yrs since goin in the ossington, strays have turned the place into a fabulous place too eat

Limited normal seating - a lot of very low chairs and tables which isn't ideal for eating but the food was absolutely delicious - both risotto dishes 👌🏼

Ordered a full English it was fantastic and presented beautifully on the plate. But unfortunately the fire alarm was triggered by a small fire in pizza oven the smoke and smell where quite bad, we were told stay seated it's false alarm? But the smell was to strong so had to go outside leave breakfast . I am sure it would of been amazing. My issue is not with the food but with the after service no sorry no 50 %discount cause I didn't get to finish my breakfast or coffee. So left feeling rather disappointed.

Food a bit expensive but ok service was slow due to the staff chatting and laughing amongst themselves and it wasn't busy at this time

Lovely place, great atmosphere, food & location! Staff super cute too! 😍

Come here every week. Staff are so friendly and chatty. Helpful and proactive. Service excellent. Treated myself to a breakfast today. Fresh, beautifully presented and very tasty. Can't reccomend enough.

Absolutely awful visit this week, food looked like a dead dog and tasted like it had been cooked on a go Kart engine. Atmosphere was okay but a bit much going and was overwhelming. Service was good but our waiter was very rude and abrupt, he was tall and very posh sounding but seemed like he’d rather be doing something else.

Nice food and venue. Staff helpful and friendly.

Unfortunately our visit was disappointing 😞 my meal was good but the rest of the party were very disappointed with the portion sizes and quality. They said it felt like a starter and the prices were expensive. A friend told the waitress her opinions and the waitresses reply was the portions are purposely small to encourage you to buy desserts!!! My friend sent almost £40 on a small main, desert and a small glass of wine. The staff were friendly but it had no atmosphere at all. So disappointing

Stunning building, staff were incredibly helpful and the pizzas were awesome!

I ordered a caesar salad. It was lovely, fresh, crisp and very tasty. Also treated myself to a dandelion and burdock ! Sat outside, very pleasant

Absolutely the best coffee in Newark. Located in the Ossington building it is a perfect place for relax and some jazzy climates

We had our wedding reception at Stray's in June. The best pizza ever, cocktails and live jazz - all at the beautiful Ossington building. What more could you want? Stray's is now our favourite place to visit in Newark.

Lovely place with nice garden in town centre 😃

Really lovely. Sat outside in the sunshine, great service and great food. Efficient and friendly staff. Would recommend.

Nice sunny garden to sit outside in was the main reason my friend and I came here but I wouldn't rush back. Quite expensive for what it was. Preferred the simplicity of the old menu when it was on Kirkgate but that's just my personal opinion.

Went on a Sunday afternoon with some friends. Friendly and warm welcome but service was a little slow but it was Sunday afternoon! Food was pleasant but the vanilla ice cream wasn't good! I should have mentioned something at the time but didn't want to complain but if someone from Stray's reads this.......please change your vanilla ice cream, it really wasn't very nice.

Expensive ,stick with the pizza .

Returned back for the 3rd visit. 2nd visit wasn't a pleasant experience. Has improved but the choice was down from the original visit . Would I go again ....... Yes but not in a hurry.

Absolutely beautiful cafe and a stunning garden area that's by far the best in Newark plus attentive and friendly staff, good food and good prices... But... Accessibility is really poor. There is one ramped entrance that's poorly signposted and it leads to a door that can't be opened from the outside. Instead, someone has to go inside via the steps to ask for the door to be opened. As a result, you cannot visit Stray's if you're on your own with kids in a pram or if you're a wheelchair user on your own without making a hullaballoo. Not sure if this is legal but it certainly isn't cool. If that's not an issue for you, the cafe is firmly a five star place.

Been here a few times since it opened by the river, staff are always super friendly, great selection of cocktails and the food is great value too.

Very confusing menu: I took the pictures only to be disappointed 😔. The pizza was very bland. We were told that the hamburger could only be served medium-well. Desserts looked great yet not very tasty. Vanilla ice-cream was lacking flavour. Enthusiastic staff not particularly knowledgeable. Very pricey! The band was lovely

Lovely atmosphere. We called in after lunch for a nice cake and cappuccino. Enjoyed.

Stopped here for a coffee and cake. Coffee was good but we had a long wait for the cake. The cake was not great. It had been in a fridge for a long time and was dry.

Just had coffee and cake but they were delicious. Lovely place with a great atmosphere

I am American and having lived in Seattle, the home of Starbucks, I consider myself a latte expert. The mocha latte, the Moroccan cauliflower bites, the raspberry iced tea, and the superb service of the wonderful Nicola keeps me coming back. This is my third visit this week and I’ll keep coming. The atmosphere is easy going and I was able to sit with my book and thoroughly enjoy my bites and drinks. Thank you Nicola for making this experience the best in Newark. Your positive energy and kind smile make you a standout. You are appreciated.

Nice place to visit though very noisy difficult to hear the performance

A memorable, happy afternoon spent watching the Trio jazz band at Strays, in delightful company and a wonderous, pleasant atmosphere. Such a great place to dine, enjoy the ambience and musical talent. Food was hot, tasted and looked fantastic. Great value for money - family friendly 👍

Me and my family went for afternoon tea for a hen do. The food was awful cakes were dry my guess was they needed to use the cake that were going out of date. They were meant to offer sandwiches of choice but they only sent out what they want. No one ate the chicken as it tasted off. No one came over to ask if we wanted top ups of tea or coffee. No ome asked if everything was OK or if we needed anything. We were meant to have a alcoholic drink of our choice that comes with the afternoon tea no one asked what we wanted I had to ask about it as they seemed to of forgotten. They asked us if they could take pictures of the food then proceeded to post a fake review with these pictures on newark spotted page saying this was lovely a week after we had been which I find very sad that they had to do that. I know it was the picture of what we had gotten as its me I'm the background eith my face missing. If I could give 0 stars I would. I will be avoiding this place and suggest people do the same. This cost £25 per person with very minimal tasteless out of date food service was very poor and I know good service. It's a shame they've moved to a lovely building and can't provide the standards for the price they charge. Posting fake reviews just shows how bad the food and service is

Tried to fake reviews on a local Facebook site, postage pics they had taken, saying it was lovely, cutting the people out but they still recognised themselves. How poor must the food and service be to have to fake positive reviews

Fabulous setting for my daughter's birthday party! The staff were very friendly and welcoming and catered for all our needs. Thank you for helping us to make our daughter's birthday extra special x

Great place for either a full on dinner, snack, or just a drink. Live jazz music really relaxing

Food we had cake and drinks. Food really nice . Loos have a very bad smell as you go down 🤧 stairs sewage.?

Fantastic pizza 🍕, will be coming here again 😋

Service and atmosphere is good. We ordered the avocado on sourdough bread with 2 poached eggs. Food doesn’t reflect the price. Given normal untoasted bread instead of sourdough and avocado was just a light coloured paste rather than actual smashed avocado.

Great pizza! Love the new location

Great atmosphere, food, and wine. Great host, thank you, Colby, for looking after us so well for Michelle's 60th birthday

First time in here since Stays opened,my Mum was in a wheelchair and they were very helpful, but be aware that the ramp up to the entrance is quite steep.We had a great mocha and latte. Dog friendly . Would recommend 👌

Great venue, amazing menu, lovely staff, Nicola in particular is always class!

We went to Strays today for the first time since they have moved, nice place and good polite staff but let down by the food. Ordered breakfast, place wasn't busy but what a wait we had, about 40 minutes, whilst waiting other customers were complaining about food and 2 customers walked out and left the food. When our food arrived the waitress knew we were not happy and apologised for the wait, food was luke warm at best and certainly not worth £28-15 for to breakfasts 1 tea and 1 coffee. Certainly won't be visiting again as there's some fantastic eating places around Newark, unfortunately this is no longer one of them.

Me and my eldest son stopped by on a busy Saturday, we had the choice of outdoor seating or indoor, we chose indoor and we where please we did as we had great seating and could see the cake sellection (better than starbucks). Charlie had a Caramel slice and Mocha while I just had the Mocha (please see the photo's). Chatting to staff was easy and never felt pushed to free up the table. We had a very enjoyable stop here, thanks !

Beautiful outside area, really top level service and friendly staff.

My favourite restaurant in Newark. The place is so big so we haven't had to listen others conversation. The weather was brilliant and they opened garden for customers which is also huge. We sat there with beautiful weather, service/staff was excellent - always with smile and happy to help. We didn't wait for the service too long, our food was ready in around 10 minutes and was perfect! Everything was delicious 🤤 really recommend this restaurant

One of the places with the most disgusting food menu in England, simply disgusting

I would rather not give a review in case there is no room left next time :-) great fun, great food, service and atmosphere. You cant get a decent glass of wine everywhere, but you can here. Lovely.

First time in was Easter weekend and had a bit of a wait for food however staff very apologetic and gave me a discount for the wait. Been in several times since and love it. Food and coffee great and the staff are lovely.

They were too busy to even serve us coffee outside and we left after a 20 minute wait.

Went for a light Sunday lunch, had pizza, cocktails, and cake. Delightful is the only way to describe it. Will certainly be going back another time, oh and super dog friendly 😉😉😉

The garden with views of castle had plenty of seats, excellent service, order arrived in good time and was good quality, very enjoyable visit. Garden is a sun trap - has seats available in shade and inside also.

Beautiful breakfast on a Bank Holiday Monday - freshly cooked, perfect poached eggs - Eggs Royale - hollandaise sauce tasted lovely. great venue, service on top form and good value for money. Highly recommended

Dont know why but pizzas in there is terrible, overcooked, i am normaly eating everything, but this time i left nearly a half, would leave all, but we were hungry, anyway place is nice, friendly staff, but will not come back there. To the coment from the owner i can only answer that, yes i could speak with staff about it, hovever it is just a pizza or just four pizzas which all been overcooced, and making a complain straight eye to eye would cost to much nerves for me and would not be ethical.

Very good, Service was warm friendly and good. Food good too. We liked the band that was on too. I am looking forward to the sunny months when the doors are open ant the patio is in use

Visited 21 January when opened at The Ossington. I’ve visited bad coffee shops but Stray’s has the accolade of being one of the worst coffee shops I’ve ever had the misfortune to visit. It’s so bad, it’s in a league of it’s own. Where else can you order – espresso martini made with cheap vodka – a cappuccino that looks disgusting – coffee beans dark roasted and burnt Where wait over 30 minutes to place an order and have to chase staff more than once. That is after on walking in have to wait until allocated a seat. Most people ignored the sign and walked in. Had to wave to catch the attention of a waiter and point to an empty settee. Where when chase a waiter to take an order, shouted at to sit down and someone will come to the table. Not, sorry sir, can I take your order? Where wait more than 30 minutes once ordered for the order to be brought to the table and have to once again chase staff. Wrong order brought. It then went round every table. No takers. The coffee looked disgusting. Maybe a cappuccino, milk not frothed correctly, wrong size cup. When order finally arrived, I’d long forgotten what I’d ordered, but what arrived, no idea what it was, and one sip, it was disgusting. A nasty taste in my mouth I could not get rid of. No water was brought to the table. Water brought to the table with a coffee is called service. The norm in good coffee shops. Looking around, the cappuccino brought to other tables looked disgusting. Another long wait for the bill, once again staff chased. I went to the bar to ask if I could pay the bill? Told to sit down and someone would come to the table. The bill was wrong. No one came back to enable the bill to be paid. Again long wait, staff had to be chased. Big argument ensued. Waiter had to be brought to the table and his attention drawn to what had been ordered. Also drew his attention to a tea pot, not ordered, previous customers, no one had cleared or cleaned the table. Then back to the bar, the bar where previously told I could not pay, to point out on the screen, to indicate what items, to ensure the bill was correct. The previous bill he kept and would not hand back, he crumpled and threw in the bin. It would have been quicker to hop on a train to Lincoln or Nottingham for a coffee. And get far better coffee. Stray’s, according to the mural on the wall, established 2003. Twenty years on, and they still don’t know how to make coffee or know what constitutes good service. A seating area alongside the bar. Further in a dining area. If this long to wait for a coffee, how long if order food? Jazz was playing, loud, distorted, unpleasant, impossible to relax and hold a conversation. The problem was, piped around the building. Why not play in the dining area and let it drift around the building? Whilst waiting for the bill, I asked the barista of the beans. They roast their own. He filled an espresso cup with beans. I took the beans back to the table to examine. The beans I buy, have a wonderful aroma. These beans a very unpleasant aroma. Dark, over roasted, a slightly oily sheen. A note of burning embers from a wood fire. The menu shows cocktails. Not a clue. Stray’s had a coffee shop in the centre of Newark. I visited maybe four years ago. The coffee was undrinkable the service appalling. Nothing has improved. The coffee shop in the centre of Newark went into liquidation a couple of years ago. The staff were not paid. Have they paid their staff monies owed from when they went bankrupt? For coffee, make a trip to Lincoln or Nottingham. For jazz and cocktails, visit Lincoln Jazz Cafe. I revisited again a couple of weeks ago. No surprise to find empty.

Disappointing. No seats inside and we waited so long for two coffees that we gave up and went to Starbucks

Absolutley brill place relaxing atmosphere friendly staff and importantly great full. No very full!!

Lovely visit for lunch today with my dad and sister. Staff were friendly and welcoming. My sister and I had pizzas and my dad had the vegan burger, all were delicious. We also had coffee and it was just as good I remember it from when I visited Strays at its previous location. Noticed some bad reviews and really glad I ignored them as we had a great experience and I wouldn’t hesitate to visit again or recommend it to others.

I've been visiting Stray's from time to time in previous location and in new one now. Tasty breakfasts and good strong coffee. Last time ordered pizza and a bottle of Desperado. Also breakfast consisting of Benedict eggs topped with bacon and wholemeal bread. To be honest bacon was too much hard and lost its taste. Maybe spent too much time on frying pan. But coffee and green tea perfect as usually. This morning ordered Benedict eggs breakfast again. See the pictures

A lovely relaxing evening at Strays yesterday with live music, good food and service-what a treat! We shall certainly come again!

Best pizza I've had in ages, crispy base abd delicious toppings with super friendly service. Will defo be back

First time in for a quick lunch with a work colleague and will definitely return. A warm welcome from the staff, great table service, a good menu and generally a nice atmosphere.

First time we’d been to the new location. Excellent cocktails. Excellent staff. Lovely decor. Really enjoyed it until I went to pay. Being shoehorned into paying a tip of at least 15% (I think the other choices were 20 and 25%) left a bad taste. I declined to leave any tip for just drinks. I’d usually tip a good 10% for food. Don’t be greedy guys!

Driving from Doncaster to London and stopped in Newark for late breakfast. Parked across the road from Stray's and decided to go in at 11.20. All we got was 'yes! Can you fit us in? Yes. Can we have breakfast? Yes. Can I change the ingredients? Yes. Do you have alternative milks to dairy? Yes. Nothing was too much trouble. If we lived there it would be our go to. Great food and brilliant genuine service.

Visited this morning with my son, we were both very impressed! Super friendly service, we had a full breakfast and advocado on toast both were absolutely delicious! Thank you for a lovely experience we can’t wait to visit again.

Lovely posh cheese on toast as recommended by the very friendly Colby. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch :) The pizzas coming out to tables nearby looked nice, so will try those next time.

Called in for breakfast. Very tasty full english and delicious latte. Soft jazz playing in the background making for a relaxing atmosphere. Great all round.

Enjoyed delicious afternoon tea for my daughter’s baby shower. 13 of us, plentiful and Strays yummy cakes. Attentive service in a lovely location. Highly recommend

First off you need to change your cover photo and address on this site!! Need to give this more time to impress fully. We had stopped going to Strays at its old location as the quality of the food had deteriorated badly. The food we had today was lovely, they have stopped doing that awful coated chicken in their salads, and my DIL’s posh cheese toast was nice. Food was delivered promptly and staff very friendly. My husband liked the paninis at the old place so don’t know if there’s anything on the lunch menu for him. Will be interested to try the evening menu and have some live music, and would review again after that.

Been Here Loads Even Though It Is New. I Come Here With Family Or Just On My Own For Lunch.

Had full English breakfast. Have to say, probably the best I've had. Well presented, good produce, service excellent and atmosphere really warm and nice. Venue immaculate too.

It was the second time we have visited in the space of two weeks. This time we brought our friends. ( 4 of us in total) Great food, wine and service and very competitively priced. We all had pizzas and took up the offer of the deal with set price including a bottle of house wine. The girl serving us was very helpful in advising us on the best way to do this. Will dine again at the Strays. Paul, Kim, Janet & Luigi from Mansfield

We visited on the 6th April, and a member of staff by the name of Colby made the experience special with top notch customer service after he discovered we had an issue with our breakfast, a credit to your business. Well done Colby C and D

Staff all so friendly and happy,breakfast was so nice,sausage and bacon great as asked for well done.Wasnt kean on the small potatoe bites but rest was spot on! Will defo come bk for lunch next time.Thankyou

Couldn't fault the service and the atmosphere. Really friendly, helpful staff. My vegetable pizza was delicious. Only downside was the gluten free pizza my friend had but the staff sorted it no question. Will definitely go there next time I'm in Newark. X

I had wanted to try this place for a while so as a treat we decided to go for breakfast at Easter. Two of us had eggs florentine and the 3rd person had a full English. All five eggs were poached in the breakfasts we had. All the eggs were hard boiled and not runny/ poached at all. We had to ask for butter for the toast for full English, and I do think the eggs florentine should have been on muffins not toast. But maybe that just a personal preference. It’s a nice venue but I was disappointed with the lack of skill in producing poached eggs which was the main purpose of the dishes.

Over an hour wait for a salad and coffee. Food was dry and cold. Overpriced and poor service too. So much worse than the old location…

Very disappointing choices for lunch unless you want to have a main meal - they appear to have adopted Zizzi’s menu . No atmosphere compared to the lovely old place with all of its quirky areas. Staff were pleasant. Used to love visiting Strays but unfortunately it’s been ruined and we won’t be returning.

Went for dinner on a Thursday evening and couldn’t have been more impressed. The service was superb, the food was beautiful and the Gin Garden drink was to die for! I asked about allergens and the staff went above and beyond to help me. The chef gave up his valuable time and went through all the ingredients for me. I’m very grateful for the time he took to help me. We will be back and will def recommend.

First time at this lovely new location. Very nice breakfast and service. Dan and his fellow crew made us comfortable. Looking forward to trying their main meals.

Our first stop in strays for breakfast at their new place.. The Ossington, what can we say? Fabulous!! Food was lovely and the atmosphere was buzzing. Dan was our man who served us, he was brilliant, very charming and cheerful just what you need on a grey Saturday morning. Well worth a visit, and we will be stopping in again very soon.

We had a really lovely breakfast here over the weekend, thoroughly enjoyed it! Wonderful atmosphere and great service and above all else, great food. The decor is also beautiful, we'll be back!

Called in for cake and coffee. We were shown to a table by the window and given a menu. The waitress said she would return to take our order. 15 minutes elapsed and nobody came to serve us. It was not busy and other waitresses just chatting with customers who were about to leave. We just left. If you are asking people to wait to be seated there is no excuse for not serving your customers. Loved the previous location but won't be going back.

Absolutely loved our meal last night, we were both very sad once we had no food left 🤣 always loved coming for hot drinks and cake in the day, last night was our first time trying the evening menu! The pizzas were lovely! We bith can't wait to be coming back in a couple weeks for more!

Recently relocated to The Ossington in the town. Such a lovely atmosphere. The staff were superb and so welcoming. A good variety of food to suit all tastes. Very reasonably priced. It makes a change also to have coffee served hot!. Definitely worth a visit. We will be going again on a Saturday evening. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

All the staff amazingly welcoming. The food is of a very high quality without being overpriced. Lovely atmosphere. Ideal for an early Saturday evening meal. I'm looking forward to going again.

First time ever coming into here. Staff was lovely and friendly, amazing band on. They got one of our orders wrong and one item didn’t come until we asked them, where they was. But did take it off our bill. Probably wouldn’t have food here again but it’s good for drinks.

Came here for the first time for a quick bite before a trip. I was served quickly and the coffee was very tasty and the cake was fresh. I couldn’t pay by card because the Internet was lost and I didn’t have cash with me, unfortunately, and they told me it’s okay, you’ll bring the money in later. Cozy atmosphere, I want to take a closer look at the interior. Of course I will come back here.☺️

First time in new Stray's setting. Coffee great, cake as good as ever, service good, really pleasant. An old fashioned word but it perfectly sums up the experience.

The staff were really friendly and helpful! I had the most lovely and hearty food. The coffee was really really nice. Around a lovely lunch and I will return soon. Thankyou

Lovely place for coffee and cake but service very slow.

Staff was amazing!! Food was really good. We was greeted by the lovely Nicola and served by Casey both was great couldn’t of done anymore for us :) x

Really sad offering for mother's day lunch. Too many things weren't right so we'll leave it another few months before trying again.

A really lovely evening out at Strays in their new home at the Ossington. Service was wonderful throughout - staff were sooo friendly, and the atmosphere with the jazz was so relaxed but enjoyable. In the summer its going to be wonderful to be outside on the terrace 😊 Food was also very tasty - we had a range of dishes (chicken supreme, pizzas and pastas) - all were delicious. If I just had one point for improvement it would be that the arancini could have done with a bit more flavour, but that’s a minor point in the grand scheme of a lovely evening. Great to see a local business doing so well, and I really hope it continues! Strongly recommend a visit! 😊

I absolutely love visiting Strays when it was in town but now it’s just not the same. The food is relatively alright. When I first visited my partner had plastic on his pizza. No discount was given off the bill or offered to remake. Also they did a beautiful chicken caesar salad with breaded chicken which is now just plain chicken. The portions are smaller too. I also miss ordering at the counter where I can view the cakes. I will still visit but not as often as I used to. I hoped after being open a few months things would change but you wait ages for drinks and have to remind them when they forget drinks. The only positive is they still continue to do blue light discount.

Well worth a visit only had drinks on this occasion. Staff very friendly and welcoming. Definitely will be coming back.