The Harbour Cafe Bar & Restaurant in Rutland

The lady kindly got the chef to make us sausage baps even though the breakfast menu had finished. The food was hot and came out quick and when the children asked for marshmallows for their hot chocolate the lady obliged straight away. She later gave us a take out cup to put the hot chocolate in. The staff were extremely accommodating and friendly and the café is clean and tidy.

Looking for a dog-friendly location for a walk and lunch for a family reunion mid-way between Lincoln and Bedford. Email sent to ParksInfo on 23rd Dec enquiring if cafe would be open the week after Christmas, and prompt reply yes it would be. On a blustery day the venue was very welcoming and snug. The hog-roast & stuffing baguettes, baked potatoes and grilled sandwiches were all excellent, and for a surprisingly busy period at the cafe, service was very swift. We loved the visit.

I arrived on a cold wet day from walking with my two small dogs five minutes before they were due to close. The warmest of welcome awaited me even though they were washing down to close they made me a warm coffee and told me not to rush but drink and warm up The manager explained about the car parking time for closure so I didn’t get caught out and a lovely flat white coffee warmed me before I continued my walk It’s this type of excellent customer service that means you will definitely be back Thankyou

Very busy when we went on a sunny Sunday so had to wait a while. Had the tomato & basil soup which sounded a bit boring but it was delicious. Husband is coeliac, lots of choice for him, had a jacket potato, good portion, very impressed. Staff all friendly and helpful, despite being very busy. Dog friendly. Sat on balcony overlooking Rutland Water, lovely.

Well Anglian Water hang your head in shame what a excuse of a cafe you have , visited yesterday 2 hot chocolates and a slice of cake , £10.09 for the pleasure , service was ridiculously slow and it wasn’t even busy , hot chocolate was served in a cup Luke warm for £3.30 a cup scandalous at least should be a mug and Hot , seriously your serving extortionate prices , to put into context a tuna melt £7.99 now in oundle at zebras den a tuna melt panini , pkt crisps and a coke £6 and top quality ingredients Avoid like the plague people unless you like waiting that is

Rude staff. Cafe empty, but told to move to a different area as they wanted to keep ‘that’ area clean. Family of eleven not able to sit together due to poor customer service. Avoid.

Avoid at all costs! Queued up for 25 minutes, all I wanted was a portion of chips. Got to my order to be told it’s an hour wait! Other people having similar lengthy waits and it didn’t seem that busy. Would be much quicker to actually drive out of Rutland Water to find somewhere else to eat. Looking around at the tables there were people leaving food, I’m not sure if this was to do with the portion size or the quality of the food. Very disappointed by my visit.

Anglian Water, what have you done? A once relaxed cafe offering good home cooked food from local suppliers. Now a soulless canteen selling ultra processed fried packaged food. Poor coffee, mass produced cakes. A disgrace for our environment and everyone’s well being who mistakingly chooses to eat here. A huge backwards leap from what was enjoyed before and a sorry sight for tourism. Bought a coffee which I had to fill from a dirty self serve machine, ended up throwing it away as it wasn’t worth drinking. Sadly, it’s on my doorstep and I walk by it every week but I won’t visit again.

Smooth latte. Nice view on outside terrace but not very wide and seating/ tables need improving. No thrills basic cafe. Service was fine but not a cool cafe.

Nice lunch . Something for everyone Including a very fussy 88 yr old. Friendly staff, spotlessly clean, overlooking the water

We booked a table to go to the Harbour Cafe for a special lunch for one of my Mothers 90th birthday celebrations. The staff were incredibly helpful and kind. The disabled access was excellent for my father, who is in a wheelchair. We were able to choose from a good cafe menu, (hot toasted sandwiches, ham egg and chips, jacket potatoes with huge fillings) everyone in the party enjoyed it, and it was very reasonably priced. The staff were very busy, as it was a sunny Saturday in June, but this did not hinder the good service. We had an excellent view of the water, boats and boarders. The site was incredibly busy with cars, but it did not feel over populated! Plenty of room for everyone. We throughly enjoyed it and had an excellent day. Thank you to the staff for making this trip special. We hope to be back again soon!

Not particularly busy but the small staff team of four struggled to cope with a weekend lunchtime queue of 5 - 6 people. Food of hot sandwiches took a while, stood in the queue a good time and overall environment felt devoid of any atmosphere. The food was average . Setting super but otherwise a bit of a let down

Only had drinks here on this occasion but it seemed a nice little place, clean, pleasant environment and friendly service. Good coffee. In nice weather the outside view would be great.

We walked around some of the water and thankfully found this cafe open, which was surprising in December but great for us. The staff were very friendly but the coffees we had were just a bit average and not very strong. Cake was good. Cafe nice clean and modern and good toilets, nice spot too.

Since this was taken over by Anglian Water it has been awful. The coffee machines behind the counter are vending, and they produce something that tastes disgusting, like I could only describe as hospital coffee. Although you pay the price for a hand-made coffee. I can't stress enough how awful it tastes. Then they charge you £8.28 for just 2 slices of cake. It's extraordinary. Used to love this cafe. Now we walk the other way to the Waterside cafe which is great.

This was our first time visiting this cafe after the sad closure of the one that was on this site before. All I can say is what a shame. The cafe before was amazing, really friendly service, amazing homemade and fresh food and lovely icecream...

The service was very slow and the staff weren’t very nice, but the food and drinks were average. Don’t like the self service on the lower deck, or the fact that on the upper deck people can smoke whilst you’re eating and the air gets...

Sadly, Anglian Water have turned what was a very friendly venue, serving good food in a superb location into a semi-automated, soulless caff! Doubtless it will make them some money, because of its location, but anywhere else and it would already be out of business....

Grabbed a tray and a sandwich and bag of crisps. Poor selection of sandwiches even though it was only 1pm on a Thursday. Staff and checkout just standing talking to one another. Coffee and tea in a paper cup out of a self service machine....

The supposed 'Pepsi' is self service and tastes foul (carbonated water with some cheap cola syrup). Decided to have a coffee and had the same experience. It's less like a cafe and more like an expensive prison canteen. Come on Anglian Water, you can provide...

I haven’t visited the Harbour Café for 12 months. My family and I were regulars previously and I was looking forward to being re-acquainted with some of their delicious cake and coffee. On a sunny Sunday afternoon it’s normally packed with families, cyclists and tourists...

You have to ask for chips to be made, whereas other items are on display. This leads to an unusual system and someone at the till asked for chips and received them immediately as they should have been destined for someone else. I guess they...

We booked the Upper Room at The Harbour Cafe for a funeral Wake and couldn't have asked for a better place. The room has been newly decorated and is tastefully furnished. It has wonderful views over Rutland Water, and a verandah to get fresh air...

We had a fabulous afternoon on the Rutland Belle the Rutland water cruise boat. After our trip we went to the Harbour bar & cafe for a coffee. We were given a polystyrene cup & sent over to machines to pour our own. So unfriendly...

Lovely building and outside space looking out over the Rutland Belle and Rutland water but very disappointing that the coffee is served in paper cups and there is nowhere to sit inside Needs rethinking

This used to be a lovely cafe where you could get freshly made sandwiches and good tea and coffee. Then Anglian Water decided to kick out the people who had run it for years and run it themselves. I went in the other day and...

Wouldn't bother going place has changed hands very expensive staff were so slow lady in front of me ordered a hot chocolate the server didn't know how to put the marshmallow from the bag onto the drink and asked the customer if she would just...

Only outdoor seating. Basic cafe- coffee from machines. Gluten free carrot cake was nice. Could be so much more! Lovely view from the outside seating area.

Used to be a great cafe but seems to have changed hands, looks like it being run by Anglian Water now. Gone is the excellent food, good coffee and indoor seating. Outdoor seating only. Food has been replaced with 3 "Hot" food items, well thats...

We visited the Harbour Cafe today (14th October) and found a sign on the door saying it had closed permanently after 11 years trading. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME VISITING.

Food and drinks are good not exceptional but the service is where this place shines. Friendly staff and welcoming atmosphere

Although this cafe is only open for take away,s we just got a couple of teas, why do these places only serve cheap rubbish, the tea came with the bags in and we left them in for ages to try to get some colour and maybe even some tea flavour, but no it still tasted like hot water, sorry folks but you need to invest in quality products.You have a captive audience, think about it.

Have not really known about this café house in Rutland. To be honest it is actually decent, with a varied choice

You have to pay to park here but the view is lovely and the Rutland Belle sails in season from close by. Airy cafe with tablecloths featuring boats. Small range of gifts for sale plus chutneys and some jam. We had lunch there. Lincolnshire sausage sandwiches in thick wedges of bread. A generous sized jacket potato with tuna and salad and delicious mushrooms and Stilton on bread. Good coffee and friendly staff. Metal tables and chairs outside for warmer days.

Crispy squid not very crisp. The salad was covered in a dressing that seemed to be solely vinegar. (Inedible). Ham, eggs and chips were ok but the ham was tasteless- very processed. The cappuccino was rather weak. On the positive side the cafe is very cosy with lovely views over the water.

Found a couple of the staff quite rude, also think prices were high, could possible do with larger shop area for souvenirs .

We came across the Habour Cafe following a recent trip to Rutland Water and what a find, although judging from the other like minded guests it's no secret, plus what a view over Rutland Water! Good quality, well cooked food with ample portions. Service was excellent even at a busy time and nothing was too much trouble.Clean, welcoming and dog friendly too.

Such a friendly cafe with an excellent view, they menue is a wind range off cold and hot food delicious sausage sandwich at a good price definitely recommend this cafe to anyone who’s going to Rutland water plus very friendly staff !

This is a charming little cafe which is clearly loved by the locals and the tourist alike. A good range of hot and cold food options and a lovely view of Rutland Water. Staff are very pleasant and helpful.

Queued up for ages to find like 4 or 5 people but 1 taking orders and payments on 1 till ?? Then had to wait for a simple coffee , given a table number , for a coffee ??? 1 bottle of water 1.50 ?? Get real Slow pace not good value would not recommend or return

We arrived on a Saturday just as the rain stated to fall. Despite being busy we were served in reasonable time. It took a while to pay as the card machine was struggling to connect but the coffees were waiting for us even before we had paid. The food also arrived very quickly. Very efficient service and my fried chicken sandwich was good.

We’d driven 2 hours and arrived here to have a coffee before picking up bikes from the nearby bike rental place. Great coffee, lovely cakes, helpful staff, and lake views. Couldn’t have been a better start to our day on Rutland Water.

Stumbled across this cafe on a look around Rutland Water for the first time. The service was pleasant and everybody friendly. The kids meal option was good for choice and we also got a hot kids meal which went down well. The food was just right portion wise and tasted great, best of all we had a good view of the water and surrounding countryside. Only shame was we left straight after eating as the heavens opened, worth a stop off here though. There is good variety so feel you can dine on a range of budgets too.

We are stopping down Oakham way and having had a big breakfast at our hotel this morning, we just wanted something simple and quick along with a drink.The service was good and the food very quick and fresh.We had a prawn sandwich and salt&pepper squid, with chips and salad.Very quick, piping hot and fresh salad. With a coffee and water, it came to £17 or so.They serve various cakes which we resisted and the do ice creams, kids meal boxes etc and it’s very close to the waters edge.Well worth a visit for quick and fresh food.

Visited yesterday with a group of pensioners, many had limited mobility, but you can park very close and there's a gentle ramp up to the restaurant. staff were lovely and made us all very welcome. Food was all cooked perfectly ( we had pre-ordered) and we all had a great time despite the horrible weather. Views from the large french windows are lovely and on a sunny day we would have been out on the terrace.

Lovely location but lousy coffee. Had to pay for parking so an expensive visit for coffee and a cake.

Went on a cold windy day. Staff were friendly helpful and very obliging.They have to cater for cyclists, canoeists, sailors,walkers and casual day trippers. This makes designing a menu and pricing it to suit all, very difficult. They do how ever cope very well and deserve praise for their efforts. Its a shame they are dampened somewhat by the £1-75p parking charge to gain access to this community amenity.

We enjoyed excellent and generous sandwiches and cake here for lunch on a cold February day, looking out on to Rutland Water.

Very good setting however coffee and Ice cream milkshakes were very disappointing I.e lack coffee and chocolate!

stood in line with about 7 other customer in front of us , had to wait 25 mins just to order 4 teas. heaven know what it's like when it's actually busy, should invest in another till!!!!

Lisa was great and very welcoming. Cakes were good and a good portion too! Very good value and lots on the menu for a satisfying lunch.

Dropped into the harbour for some brunch and a walk round the reservoir. Food was good and freshly prepared with hot/cold drinks also served.

We went during the very hot weather in 2018. It was packed and they had run out of food which wasn't good.

Over £3 for a large cappuccino seems a bit steep but it's great to sit outside in good weather and watch the water based activities. Nice in winter too to sit inside with a hot drink after some chilly outdoor activity. Staff are always attentive and helpful, and service is usually quick, but it can get busy in the summer causing longer waiting times for orders.

We go to Rutland Water quite often and always drop in for coffee. The staff are friendly and polite and the portions of food a good size, the cakes are to die for.Dogs are also welcome inside and out, its a lovely place to sit look at the view of the water.

Great incentive to walk along the waters edge from Barnsdale Hall. Approx 6.5 km round trip Good breakfast/ brunch menu. Indoor and outdoor seating. Good for animal walkers and cyclists as big space on the front of cafe. Beautiful setting on the Harbour edge where you can pick up the local ferry. We especially love our New Years Day welcome for mid morning coffee and toasted tea cakes.

My family visited this cafe for an afternoon visit for refreshments. My mother went ahead to get herself a drink as she needed to take medication, the rest of the family turned up to find every table outside dirty with food and the remainder of folks beverages, some of the tables were clear but had not been cleaned in any way shape or form. Now this wasn't a post lunch visit on a busy weekend day, but a 4pm visit on an overcast Tuesday afternoon, due to the mess on all of the tables the place was over-run with wasps, now I know we can't do anything about the wildlife, but if the tables had been clean, then maybe the wasps may not have been present.

As a lover of sea food, particularly smoked salmon I was totally disgusted to be served a smoked salmon and prawn salad from the Harbour Café that consisted of Smoked salmon; a great amount thrown on the plate that was inedible! One mouthful caught in the back of my throat and caused me to violently choke. It was fatty, stringy and not recognisable as smoked salmon as I know it! When my husband took it back to complain, he was given an apology but only offered the same meal again! When he asked for a refund for a totally unacceptable meal - costing £10. 50, he was told the only offer was the meal as a replacement.. This is outrageous! Such a shame as we so enjoy visiting a usually, amazing and local amenity. I am outraged at such poor quality and lack of customer service.

Ate a lunch here on a nice sunny day, food was good and served wine and beer in the cafe which was great.

Unfortunately this place never fails to disappoint. Huge potential in a wonderful location however let down by slow disorganised staff. Cake was so dry it was left for the birds.

A lovely location on the edge of Rutland Water. It was a perfect day,warm & sunny & we sat outside enjoying the view. We had a light lunch,service was good. The food a bit pricey but very nice. Would recommend.

Lovely little cafe serving good range of food. Lovely coffees & icecreams too 😊 Visited today ..... special thanks to a member of staff on duty who went above & beyond to help my daughter 👍🏻 thank you!

Decided to walk round Rutland for the day and have a bite to eat in this particular Cafe, ordered a vegetarian full English and brie and cranberry sandwich, no drinks. The order came to roughly £13, seemed reasonable until the breakfast arrived. Two fried eggs, one tomato, a quarter of a tin of beans, a handful of mushrooms and a slice of toast. Not very good, left feeling hungry. No hash browns fake sausage or bacon in sight, not exactly a full English.

We only popped in for a hot drink. This is a little café but seemed well stocked and was very popular. It has indoor and outdoor seating. The toilet was clean. You can get on the Rutland Belle boat from here when the season starts. We rushed our drinks because the car parking fee was £3 if you stayed for longer than an hour.

Visited here whilst staying with friends from Cottesmore. They had great tales about the bacon sarnies which were definitely justified. Service was reasonably quick and we were lucky to secure some of the comfy sofas. Before, after or during a walk around Rutland Water this seems the ideal spot for a decent coffee and a great bacon roll in gorgeous, fresh bread. Not cheap but worth it for the location.

We stopped here twice and had excellent service and food on both occasions. The hand crafted baguettes were well made with high quality ham and smoked salmon and plenty of it. The cakes too were unusual, well baked and delicious. The staff were very efficient and extremely calm when an unexpected coach party turned up in the pouring rain! Highly recommended.

Excellent choice of food here and very reasonably priced. Gluten free cakes, jacket potato options and seeded rolls available on the sandwich menu. Most importantly the staff here knew exactly how to reassure me that they knew about Coeliac disease and how to handle food to avoid cross contamination. Too many times I find GF cake sat openly alongside non GF with staff about to serve a slice with tongs covered in goo and crumbs from the non GF cakes. Not here! A serving slice was washed before being used on a delicious piece of GF Victoria sponge. I ordered a jacket potato and when that came out the salad had a dressing on it which the staff explained without prompting that it was gluten free. Very reassuring. Will be back here whenever we are in this area.

The Harbour Café is located near to the Whitwell Car Park, so generates a significant footfall from day trippers and was therefore quite busy when we arrived around 12.30pm on a Sunday. As we were just about to start the 6-mile return walk to Normanton Church, we thought a couple of coffees might be in order, so we joined the back of the queue which wasn’t quite to the main entrance.For what seemed an interminable lifetime, the queue moved forward at a speed that any snail would be embarrassed to call slow. I counted at least eight different members of staff (nearly all under 21 and hence being paid a pittance), but none of them had the slightest energy. They moved around the café at a speed not unlike the queue and there was hardly a smile amongst them; I doubt any of them really wanted to be there.Having already bypassed the fridges selling cans of cola etc. well in excess of £1.20 each, the counter contained an unappetising collection of sweaty cling-filmed cakes; there was no chiller in sight. Finally getting to the front of the queue, I ordered two “large” (think McDonald’s regular) coffees (one latte and one cappuccino) which came to the princely sum of £6.40. I offered my card (since card payments were displayed as being accepted) and was told a further £1.00 surcharge applied for card payments, so two coffees were now costing £7.40! Having waited for almost 20 minutes I had little choice and reluctantly paid up. I was then informed there would be a further wait while the limp “barista” made the coffees.Not only were the coffees hugely overpriced for what they were, the card surcharge added insult to injury, especially when the surcharge was grossly in excess of the bank charge (which would be 2.5-4% for a credit card or 20-40p for a debit card). Being so blatantly ripped off by an outlet that provided dreadfully poor service, whose food hygiene was questionable to say the least (no “Scores on the Doors” here) and who charges a huge premium to a captive market does not deserve my hard-earned cash and certainly will not be enjoying it in the future.

We held our wedding reception in the function room above the cafe and gave our guests a delightful afternoon, as provided by David and his wonderful staff. The venue is a blank canvas, giving the opportunity to dress the room in your own style and add your own finishing touches. David could n't do enough to accommodate our many requests and frequent pre-event visits and we had such a fantastic day. Our guests raved about the relaxed atmosphere, some even saying that it was the lovliest wedding that they had ever been to, so we would thoroughly recommend this lovely place for your event.

Ok so it was a busy bank holiday weekend. We started queuing for food at 11:15 desperate for a bacon butty. At 11:32 we get to order to be told by a miserable cashier bacon butties stopped at 11:30. What a jobsworth silly thing to say.It's petty clap trap like this that gives the British tourism industry a really bad name.It's a shame that the cakes are pretty good and the coffee is OK otherwise I would have given zero stars.Guys on a busy day - give the customers what they want.....it costs nothing.

Visited with friends on solo motorcycles. It was our first time there. Despite being on heavy weight BMWs and Triumphs for some of us the buried sensors on the approach to the barriers did not recognise the bikes and refused to issue a ticket to raise the barrier. Pushing the 'help' button brought no help. Eventually, after about 10 minutes for no rhyme or reason it took pity on us and the queue of vehicles behind to let us in. Even big bikes don't take up much room and we parked in the equivalent of about one and a half bays on an unmarked part of the car park. Looking around there were no other motorcycles in the very large car park. This seemed strange on a very warm Saturday afternoon but consdiering the 'faff' to get in this was probably not unexpected.The drink and cafe at the restaurant was fine and we managed to get a table in the sun. This was good.To leave we joined the queue to the machine to validate our tickets. The machine would not accept cards so many of the people in front then had to scrabble around to find cash. Eventually we managed to pay and it cost £14 to park 4 bikes for 70 minutes.Overall, the car parking means just that...cars! Whitwell Harbour is quite motorcycle unfriendly and expensive to park for bikes(most local authority car parks are free for motorbikes). Anglian Water run Rutland Water and all the car parks. I understand motorcycle groups have complained previously to no avail. Disappointing.

I have visited here a couple of times at different times of the year and each time it has been the same, the ice cream is good but the staff are distracted, disorganised and rude. On this occasion with kitchen was closed - presumably they had run out of food as it was the hottest day of the year, so I queued at the ice-cream window. There was no one there. When the member of staff came over she didn't apologise or smile or say hello - I wouldn't call it hospitality. In the toilets there was no paper. Under prepared and over stretched for the weather.

Good food, everything is well priced and fresher made. Seating inside is limited so wouldn't really be ideal on a rainy day. Lovely view out to the lake. FREE WIFI too!

We arranged to meet some friends here on route to Peterborough. Fortunately we had directions as it would otherwise have been quite difficult to find. The cafe is situated in a great position overlooking the lake, and there was a good selection of food available, though we only had cakes and drinks on this occasion.The one disappointment was having to pay £3 to park when all we wanted to do was have a quiet cup of tea!

Our party of 4 enjoyed a meal before a walk round the reservoir. It was a hot day and we ate outside, which I don't usually like, but this was fine, with clean tables and a fine view. I enjoyed the the olive and feta cheese salad and the hot food was freshly cooked and enjoyable.We have eaten here last year too and plan to visit again.

Popped in on a quiet Monday afternoon for an ice cream with my mum, friend & baby. It was 4pm, and as we went up to the counter, we were barked at by a young girl "kitchens closed now" Well, if she had let us even say hello to her, she would have found out that we only wanted an ice cream. I am very understanding that people have there service hours, and that it must be frustrating when your trying to clean up and close, but surely a "sorry" or "can I just let you know" would have been so much more appropriate We did buy the ice cream, but now I am very reluctant to spend any more money here, and will buy my refreshments in the other cafe in whitwell

A lovely café overlooking Rutland Water. Quite an extensive menu and the food that we were served was great. Friendly staff and a nice atmosphere.

A refreshing stop point for our Sunday walk, the café offered a good range of food and refreshments. The cakes we had were excellent and the staff were polite.While we ate, we watched small boats sailing around the harbor, and the Rutland Belle coming and going from it's pier. Very relaxing.