The Boathouse Cafe in Guildford

New menu is more cafe-esque but still very well done and tasty. Beautiful setting and lovely building.

The gentilmente that took our order was very polite, friendly and helpful with tips for our needs. The drinks were delicious. We will go there again for some food as it was looking delicious!

Fabulous Mothers Day Afternoon Tea. Will definately return. Lovely spot by the river and the owner is 1000% nicer than the previous owner!❤️😂 dogs welcome too💕 Deserves support , do go along

Very friendly staff, good food and beautiful setting, so pleases to have found this café, we'll definitely be back

Quality food. Relatively good value. Service was quite slow but very good quality

Absolutely beautiful setting by the river, my friend and I sat outside in the sunshine right by the river. Inside is equally as lovely, decorated very well. The service was very friendly and attentive and the food..Absolutely delicious. I will definitely be revisiting!

Definitely my favorite place in Guildford now. It ticks every box with a big fat black sharpie. Beautiful, clean yet warm, zen interior. Impeccable friendly service every time. And the reason you go…the food; which is not only Fabulous, fresh, healthy and delicious but beautifully presented. I need to add that today we went for brunch and I just had the best cappuccino that I’ve ever had here in Guildford. So apparently they do coffee very well too.

Beautifully designed interior cafe with good coffee and in a great location, but there isn’t much of an option for seating to look out over the river or in the way of a quick pastry and coffee. This is definitely a sit down coffee and does not cater for a more casual grab and go style of morning. I imagine it’s much better in the summer when the outdoor tables open though, so worth a trip then rather than winter.

Came for lunch. They had a great menu for both us and the kids. The food was actually good - something that's becoming harder to take for granted in Guildford. The staff were extremely friendly and pleasant.

I arrived on the Wednesday evening and I have to say the two female staff were Awsome the room lovely. The food extremely poor. I ordered a double burger with fries and paid, I also put a credit of £50 behind the bar for friend to use for tea. I sat for a while and the girl returned at 8.00pm and said the chef had shut the kitchen down and it would take 20 minutes to heat the grill to do the food etc.The chef had passed on a message to say he could warm up a beef dish with fries. What turned up was beef type stew or casserole with cold carrots on top and chunky chips! Basically no fries and a very substandard meal that wasn’t what I ordered and paid for. The question I’d ask is how come two minutes after the food came out the chef left! I’d go as far as saying the food actually rubbish, some of the chips were hard not frozen but not cooked through! I paid £20 for the meal and honestly I only ate it because I knew that’s all I was going to get!!! The following morning I offered my friend to join me for breakfast and Chelsea was the girl serving us 🤔now Chelsea clearly wasn’t having a great day and didn’t we know it! When your serving members of the public you need to be courteous. I told her I’d put a £50 credit behind the bar she shrugged her shoulders and disengaged and made us feel awkward.Some advice if you don’t like the job you are paid to do find another that makes you happy because your attitude isn’t good for business. The other lady working with her was extremely good at her job. The breakfast at £15.95 was extremely poor the sauces were awful and the bacon I asked to be well done came out like charcoal! The mushroom was cold and the toast the same. There is no way that the breakfast even with a drink is worth anywhere near that cost, i felt cheated. So basically it cost 20p short of £32 and believe me it was rubbish.The vegetarian breakfast looked nice tho.To sum up the experience staff wise 3 out of the four were fantastic at there jobs but Chelsea needs some customer service training for sure. The food honestly on the menu expensive and very very substandard. Big shout out to Wednesday nights girls they rock and the other lady working on the Thursday morning. I’d say a great place to stay as the location and rooms are fantastic. Staff wise one needs to be retrained but the rest are great for business. Food wise 5/10 max location and rooms 10/10 All apart from one were very professional and fantastic for business.

This is a difficult place to review. It has some positives such as the food tastes nice but it has some negatives such as average customer engagement and pretentiousness. So we arrived and were pretty much ignored initially by the person making coffee very slowly and the person serving food, I'll give the kitchen staff a break as they were busy cooking. With nothing to say otherwise and the word 'cafe' built into the name we went and sat at one of the empty tables, there were a few. This drove some engagement as we were told that table was pre-booked and asked if we had a reservation. No we didn't but no problem picking any other table. So all fine but they have a stack of reserved signs that they could have put on the table and if they'd maybe said 'Hi, we'll be with you in a second.' we could have avoided occupying reserved space. Oh be warned this is a very UK centric review where any kind of social awkwardness has a crushing impact on ones ability to eat a fried breakfast. Anyway we moved to the nearest other table and got a menu. Here is where the interesting marketing creeps in. My breakfast came with a potato rosti and plum tomato. Turns out my potato rosti was actually a deep fried pre-made frozen hash brown. Luckily my tomato was a standard type grilled, lucky as plum tomatoes do tend to remind me of plums. Anyway I know I'm splitting hairs but what's wrong with calling a hash brown a hash brown. I know they're basically the same thing but it's like calling the 'Postie' a 'Traditional medium communication executive'. It sounds fancy but it's a pre-frozen hash brown that can be found blessing the plate of any delicious greasy spoon (cafe for those from overseas). So the upside was that breakfast was delicious, not value for money but certainly tasty. The coffee was also very good. The final nail in the coffin for me was that they automatically added a service charge. Now I know our American friends refuse to pay serving staff a decent wage but here we don't and so service payments or tips are actually a way of rewarding great service. The price advertised is the price you pay, if you want you can add to that if you feel the service has been good. Crazy concept I know. But the cafe deciding that your service has been great is if anything a sign of poor service. It is a tax on British awkwardness at challenging things. As such I promptly left my wife to fight that one and pick up the bill. Retreating to the car to 'warm it up'. Would I go again? Probably not. Do I think it's worth a bash if you are local, yup.

Decent breakfast, fresh and good quality ingredients. Waiters very helpful and polite. We had the Boathouse English and the Eggs Royale, with cappuccinos, both were very good. Would strongly recommend.

Amazing food best I’ve had in ages, quick service, lovely atmosphere good prices must recommend the fish brioche. Lovely service. Hidden gem not enough people know about this and on the doorstep could not recommend more.

The Boathouse is a fantastic little cafe tucked away by the river. They clearly use high-quality ingredients, and it shows in every dish. Their breakfast is a real treat - the sausages are packed with meat, the spinach is perfectly seasoned, and the hash browns are crispy little bites of potato goodness. I particularly loved the English breakfast. The sourdough toast was delicious, the eggs were cooked to perfection, and the whole meal was just really well balanced. The cafe itself is lovely, with great views of the river. It's the perfect place to relax and enjoy a delicious breakfast.

Great hosts for a corporate event. Very good staff and excellent finger food. Very nice place with nice decor.

I had a great lunch with friends here in the weekend, the food was excellent and our waiter was lovely. Will defo be coming back. Was pleasantly surprised to find good baby changing facilities too.

Rarely write reviews but thought this place was such a lovely hidden gem. Only realised it was there by looking up spots on google maps, but so glad we found it. Food was delicious, staff super friendly and really welcoming. We came with our toddler and newborn and the waitress (Christine maybe?) was so great with our daughter. Everything was perfect. Looking forward to returning as it’s definitely some of the best food we’ve had in Guildford.

A delightful place to have a cuppa or a full blown meal. Great after a walk along the river. Friendly staff and excellent coffee. Now a firm favourite.

Great food and great experience. Staff could not do enough.

We had been for lunch and were really impressed by the food so we came and tried it for dinner and we had a great evening. The nibbles, starters, mains and desserts were all delicious. All six of us really enjoyed our food. Great service too. Some of the best food Guildford.

Excellent generous sandwiches. Main menu is a little expensive

I highly recommend the Boathouse for a pre-theatre meal. The food was amazing. We had 3 courses. It’s a little unknown gem of a place. Friendly helpful staff. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

A very clean, stylish, cool looking interior, reasonably priced and varied menu. The staff were very friendly, smart and prompt to serve us. There are lots of parking nearby, what's not to like?

Stood by a table had to ask to get it wiped down after a shower, not offered a drink or menu, spoken to by three members of staff then ignored for another ten minutes so left

Have been twice for breakfast- highly recommended.

Really lovely full english here. Nicely seasoned and very welll cooked. The decor is lovely and service is excellent.

Fantastic place to go, good food and coffee

Stunning setting by the river, friendly, attentive service and the best sandwich I've had in a long time (crayfish and prawn brioche)! We will be back.

Great food. View of the river Wey. Decent prices. Our waiter was super attentive

Now open in evening Thursday Friday and Saturday. Have added a huge sail awning at the back so more shade by the water.

We came for brunch, at 1130. The website says 9-11 for breakfast and 12-3 for lunch. I should have checked beforehand! But I guessed lunch wouldn't be available early. My mistake! No choice of menu - in fact, the breakfast menu was taken away from us. Shame. As it's unclear, perhaps they could have checked what the 6 of us wanted, once we had booked? Anyway, the lunch was great, and the riverside setting is lovely.

This is a great location and a well designed space but …. It was unclear how to get service and there were a lot of leftovers from last night on some tables - including ash tray (shell) on the floor. I only had coffee which was very good and will definitely return but needs more focus.

We came here for an early dinner with our family after our wedding at Guildford registry office and it was wonderful. The food, service and attention to detail was outstanding and the location of the restaurant by the river makes it a lovely place to spend some time. Thank you to Laura and her team for all of their help!

I recently held my birthday in the attic space at the Boat House and couldn't have been more impressed with Laura, Justyna, Jana and the whole team for the service, the food and drink were also sensational as is the interior decor. I have been recommending the Boat House to everyone and my guests are still talking about what a fun night they had. Thank you again and look forward to the next reason to celebrate with you!

Such a lovely place to come for breakfast. Staff were super nice and the decor is amazing! Will definitely be coming back

Food was okay albeit slow. Service was poor. Manager seemed like she had somewhere else to be and preferred chatting rather than serving

We attended the Boat House today for a client annual presentation. It’s an absolutely stunning venue and I would highly recommend for client meetings and entertainment. The meeting room and tech was excellent. 5 stars.

Good breakfast, generous portions. Beautiful setting.

A really beautiful place by the river with lovely staff and amazing food, went for breakfast and ordered the plant based pancakes and a latte, delicious coffee too! Definitely going back :)

Food quality and service was excellent. Coffee was strong. I definitely suggest visiting when there is a sunny day as the view of the river is amazing.

What a great find, lovely cafe, beautifully appointed right on the river, good menu (although we didn't eat). Definitely worth a visit

Had a really nice Saturday brunch here with my mum. Both of us got coffees and the pancakes - I asked for mine with crispy bacon on the side (and it did come out crispy!). Wouldn’t haven’t known the pancakes were vegan. Staff were friendly. We sat inside as was a little cool for us to sit out, the interior is gorgeous. Outside there were quite a few people sat out - it’s a beautiful spot on the river and can’t wait to come back when the weather is a little warmer.

We went on Easter Sunday for a set menu roast. It was excellent! Beautifully cooked and served and good value for money. Would be great if they did this more often!

It is a classy place with a great menu and ambience. I would definitely recommend it. Easy parking is nearby, also.

Lovely location by the river for either a coffee or a full meal. You can sit outside which is lovely on a sunny day. The food we had was great quality - highly recommend both breakfast and lunch options, have yet to go for dinner. We will definitely be back!

firstly I must say the food is great I have the avocado on toast. But on arrival the disabled access wasn't open I had to go round the back to ask them to open it. it took 3 lifts to get to where they seated us it was in a greeting room that looks like its hired our to businesses. It's decorated lovely but the atmosphere just wasn't there. It looks like they have tried hard to make this place nice and the young lady serving us was super polite we as a family just didn't feel the vibe today im sorry to say.

Lovely service & lovely setting. Such brilliant staff but unfortunately the food just wasn’t it… I chose it for the Vegan Pancakes and the portion was TINY!! 3 very small, very thin pancakes with (originally honey - which isn’t vegan/plant based) but swapped for maple syrup & 10 or so blueberries. It was disappointing. It also came 15 minutes after everyone else’s, after a reminder! (Again, really great service as this was sorted quickly) The Vegan Breakfast could do with some extras, e.g. scrambled tofu and vegan bacon to make it the equivalent of the normal full English. As this was also small. Unfortunately the normal breakfasts were quite undercooked, the sausages looked uncooked and the rostis were soggy. I’m unsure if I’d go back unless the added a few more vegan options & I read some overwhelming good reviews as it fell a bit short of the mark! I did love the service and everyone was super friendly. To their credit, we were a party of 10 so perhaps hard to time everything :)

Very quiet lunchtime so not much atmosphere, staff perhaps didn't want to seem too keen but that went the other way, as they didn't come over at all. Sure it'll pick up as more people find out about it. Unfortunately my food was overcooked, but the ingredients were good quality and the menu looks very nice. I will go again, hopeful it'll improve.

It's our anniversary, and I coincidentally have a class to attend. My partner really took care of things this time :) We found a restaurant nearby with a nice environment for lunch, had a leisurely meal and then went to class, with perfect timing👍🏻! The Boathouse Cafe is located by the riverbank. On Google Maps it only has 4.2⭐️, but actually the environment, food and service were all very good, and it deserves a higher rating 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟! #KissKidsFamily

I was looking forward to trying out the Boathouse, something a little different for Guildford with oodles of located on the river. On arrival there is an overwhelming smell of deep fat fryers that seemed to strongly waft all around the outside seating area; this aroma remains until inside the restaurant. The interior is very considered, the food is not. Ingredients feel low quality with presentation dated and underwhelmimg. The kitchen staff are required to walk past tables repeatedly for provisions out of the store area which is bizarrely located in the corner of the restaurant so you get to see the catering packs of food being carried through which took the little sheen left, well away. I had a salad containing fridge cold and tasteless tomatoes smothered in a very acidic balsamic glaze with some mini rubbery mozzarella balls described as a Caprese salad, one of the saddest salads I've seen in a long time. In spite of arrving for the start of lunch service, the specials were also already "sold out". Service is schizophrenic from arrival to departure with many diners struggling to get service and attention when needed. Atmosphere is lacking and stiff for a cafe on a Saturday afternoon, feeling uncomfortable to relax. Surrey is only 40 mins outside of London, I am not sure why the quality suffers quite as much as it does in a broad range of offerings in the area but it is a hugely missed opportunity whatever the reason.

So happy to discover this delightful place in Guildford with lots of choice on the menu. We shall definitely return.

Visited for Sunday lunch after looking at the menu. It was not available, so ende up having brunch. Bit disappointing after driving 30 miles to get there.

Unfortunately very disappointing. We booked in advance for the festive menu but when we arrived they said they'd run out of ingredients so half the meals weren't available. We were told we could mix and match off the main menu instead but then they didn't know how to price our bill at the end which was a bit of a mess. Any questions that we asked the waiting staff felt like a real inconvenience. Overpriced and not very friendly. Disappointing experience.

Popped in for lunch. Just had a main course and have to say what a wonderful experience. Moved me to leave my first review. Great venue and chef’s who really know what they are doing.

We had a wonderful evening meal at the boathouse. The food was absolutely delicious and clearly high quality ingredients. The building is beautiful and really love the interior design of the restaurant. A great new addition to Guildford.

Excellent lunch with friends today with very good service. Only negative was that many of the menu items were not available.

I've visited The Boathouse a few times now and each visit has been fantastic. Delicious food and a great atmosphere. The team are lovely and the location is stunning. Highly recommend for food or even just for a drink - Their cocktails are amazing!

This is a bit of a hidden gem. We didn't even realise it was there until we noticed it when parking to go to another eatery. Glad we ventured into it, though. Lovely building and decor. Food and service were first rate. Definitely will go again 👍👍👍

Expected something a bit buzzier and busier for evening meal. Very quiet and quite formal. Not well lit or signposted to restaurant at back but staff welcoming. Menu brief with only one veggie noodle option which was disappointing when arrived as lacked veggies! Considering new restaurant would be so good to see more thought for the ever growing veggie brigade. Other dishes tasty and generous but nothing wildly exciting. Probably try again for brunch.

A lovely place for a quiet and cosy breakfast (which is what I and wife had) Thank you so much

Beautiful setting, sun trap and shade options, we had the steak and roast chicken both delicious. Service friendly, as efficient as it cld be. Will be back!

What an incredible place. Beautiful building, delicious food and delightful service. Thank you.

We went for a coffee one jam croissant and one raisin swirl. Those you can find in any supermarket nowadays. The coffee price was ok but they charged us £4 for each croissant. Furthermore, there were only 4 people in the caffetteria and took very long to serve us. I don't think we are going back.

I went for dinner with a friend and we had a magical time! Our waitress was perfect - just the right balance of attentive and giving us space. The food was DELICIOUS and the atmosphere was spot on. So delighted to be supporting an independent in such a great location too. We will be back!

Very friendly staff and lovely food in a great setting

Loved this place! Great spot by the river, very friendly service and delicious food. Had a great evening dining on tge terrace for our anniversary, and they surprised us with a delicious chocolate anniversary dessert. We’ll be back!

Made a reservation for our anniversary. 10 minutes before our scheduled arrival time I received a phone call to say there was a problem but the call kept dropping so went to the restaurant to see what was happening. Allegedly a burst pipe so we asked if we could just have a drink. No was the abrupt response. Think we were mugged off. Won’t see me again.

Lovely building and nicely fitted out but that's where it stops. I cannot remember a time when I've had such bad food, in fact it was inedible. I dearly wanted this to be a success as Guildford needs more decent restaurants. The nibbles at £9.50 were atrocious, 4 pieces of chewy (tempura?) squid and 5 small overcooked chorizo sausages with a dipping sauce that didn't go with them. Then there was the artesian bread, which was anything far from artesian. I didn't think it was possible to go downhill from here but they managed to achieve this with the main courses. The Hake came with a greyish mash that questioned whether you should be eating the dish at all. The scallop dish was inedible, served with woody samphire. The side dish of vegetables consisted of woody asparagus. The chicken ballottine was chopped up as though it was being served to a child. I understand that the manager wasn't in that night, which is a shame as I would have loved to tell them my thoughts on the food, and to be honest the service. We were the only people in the restaurant (other people were sitting outside) but despite this we had to summon the waitress to order wine and then again to request water for the table. The staff were apologetic about the food but I would seriously question the credentials of the supposed (two) chefs as I think an GCSE home economics student could present a better plate of food. Needless to say we left with empty stomachs and a feeling of real disappointment. This place could be so good, beautiful restaurant in a great location

Had a wonderful morning lovely find.

We went for lunch and what a wonderful place. Staff lovely, attentive, welcoming and very friendly. The food was fantastic. Very tasty and beautifully presented. Location by the river is a great addition to Guildford and very good wheelchair accessibility. There is a large car park right next door , so parking is not a problem. This is a place I would definitely visit again.

This place was fantastic. We went for a late lunch. The asparagus main was great and the toasted mushroom crostini was excellent. Very fresh food skilfully cooked and presented. A lot of it locally sourced. Location is lovely, literally on the river. Two paddle boarders came up and ordered wine from the river whilst we were there! We will be going back. Would like to try the dinner next. Then the breakfast. 😀

Overall an enjoyable experience, the location was was tranquil, the build is lovely. However we were slightly surprised by the portion size of the squid ‘nibbles’ costing £9 and arriving with 4 small rings of squid. The food is very flavourful and I would highly recommend the ‘hot and spicy baby chorizo’ (they were so yummy). This was our first time visiting, I wouldn’t necessarily add it to my list of fave places though.

This was a pleasant surprise, the portions are sizeable and the presentation is brilliant, the taste was amazing. Lovely decor and atmosphere. The staff were all lovely and attentive. My friends and I had a lovely evening

Excellent food, welcoming and helpful staff.

Peaceful friendly atmosphere. Great staff. Amazing food. Perfect spot to stop and relax. We had our dog with us who was made very welcome too. Highly recommend.

Great drinks and stunning location! Staff were lovely. Definitely will return.

Excellent service and lovely spot by the river for a drink

Guildford has been waiting for a place like this by the river! Lovely food and friendly team.