The Lookout Cafe in Poole

Fantastic family run cafe with delicious food. A must if you're vegetarian or vegan, but a great selection for meat eaters too. I'm not sure I can think of anywhere in Poole that's comparable. The staff are friendly and welcoming. The atmosphere is very relaxed and there are plenty of books and board games available to use. Highly recommended!

I love this cafe! The soup is always delicious and the brownies are ridiculous. It has lots of games to play and the place looks really pretty with fairy lights. Always super friendly service too!

This place has got the most delicious food (with lots of veggie and vegan options), nicest coffee and friendliest staff you could possibly hope for. Was on tour to Poole for a week and went in every day. So pleased we discovered it early on in the week so we could make the best of it. It's hidden away on the top floor of the Project climbing centre, which is brilliant too!

Been in Poole all week with friends and come here everyday! Great selection of home-made and cakes, great coffee. Really lovely staff too.

Always friendly, good food and coffee. Don’t tell anyone else though, I wouldn’t want it to get too busy! Personal recommendation is the pulled-pork - had it today and it was superb.

Superb moist red velvet cake made with delicious cream cheese frosting. Delicious savoury & sweet menus. The best latte around and such a relaxing atmosphere. Staff are always delightful. Really nice break from the bustle of the Dolphin Centre

Great place to chill out and watch some climbing

Great atmosphere, friendly staff and a view of the bouldering area.

Amazing food, coffee and cakes and friendly service. Great for a pre-climb chill. Lots of nice veggie/vegan stuff - tasty even if you are a meat eater! Nice relaxed vibe.

Disorganised and slow service. Nice coffee and environment.

Always love coming to the lookout cafe after climbing. It's a great place, even if you're not a climber. A wide selection of teas and cakes, the fruit flapjack is delicious. Their home cooked dinners like chilli's, soups and curry are delicious and there is always variety with vegetarian options (and increasingly vegan too). The atmosphere itself is lovely, often quiet it's a great place to take yourself away for a quiet lunch or to go to read and drink tea. They have a selection of boardgames and books to keep people entertained.

This is cutest little cafe. It's so cosy and the staff are really friendly. Their selection of tea is really great, can't find another cafe with one like it! It's myfavourite cafe. This place is also great for working on laptops and chilling. They have board games and books you can read too. Definitely recommend.

Large open cafe but still cosy with nice sofas and a little book nook. Great for people watching at The Climbing Centre. Lots of vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options, including vegan sausage rolls (they were doing them before Gregs, just sayin'). They always champion local suppliers, including their coffee beans. A great small business run by great staff.

Really lovely, quirky cafe overlooking the climbing centre. Super service and all home cooked baked goods. Fantastic friendly service.

Favourite place with such lovely staff

My favourite cafe by far!! Fabulous home made food and the most amazing coffee. I always make sure I arrive with an empty stomach. I’m always delighted with their delicious curries or chillies and the most amazing homity pie. Be sure to leave enough room for their brownies!! The staff are always lovely and incredibly welcoming. LOVE THIS PLACE!!

Doesn't known how to treat customers. So hot in the cafe, no air conditioning or window. Stuffy.Unhygienic cafe where people walk in with bare feet.

Situated within the project climbing centre the lookout cafe is a small cafe with a very homely feel. Great drinks and great food for a reasonable price. The lookout cafe is a must for anyone looking for a small quiet cafe that opens late in the middle of town.

Poor customer service...look at owners response. Remembers all guests apparently business must be slow.

Best cup of coffee around. Nice and relaxed. Perfect place to get some work done. Really relaxing atmosphere.

Loved the sausage rolls and the coffee. The service is fantastic! Very friendly staff made me feel welcome.

The coffee is good and not too expensive and the home made soups are lovely! It's not usually very busy and it has a great view over the project climbing centre so you can watch people climbing while you have a break. Only problem with it is if you have kids the lift doesn't go all the way to the cafe level so you will need help with any prams you may have.

• Best coffee and food in the South • Amazing staff and customer service • Such a cool venue which overlooks a climbing centre

I started climbing at the project climbing centre just over a year ago, after I fell in love with the sport and started to become more of a regular. I then found the gem that is the Lookout cafe, just above the gym looking out at all the climbing. Always such a cosy and relaxed atmosphere serving delicious food, and a special menu that changes every week giving you something new to try. P.S. The humous, falafel and sweet chilli jam wrap is my fave. ;)

Nice and cosy but terrible customer service. The lady who served us was rude, argumentative and made us feel really uncomfortable when we questioned our order. She then got the rest of the order wrong after taking 25 minutes to get done anyway, so we gave up, won't be going back for food which is a shame as I am a regular climber at the project climbing centre.

Great place to relax, hidden from the crowds but just by the dolphin centre. Perfect for food and drink after a climb or to relax while the family has a climb.

Gaby the owner of The Lookout Cafe was very helpful today 🤗 I am Coeliac & it's very difficult for me to find a place for lunch. I am still struggled to find "A Cafe/Restaurant with nice atmosphere & good quality + quantity food" (even in 18 years that I have been living in UK, things have been improved a little bit) until today when I came across with this LOVELY CAFE. I chose a gluten-free "Chickpea & Leek" Soup. It was delicious, warm & very tasty 😋 following with a Lovely Capuccino & a gluten-free Orange & Polenta Cake (My Spanish Aunty used to make this cakd for my family but especially for my sister & me as we both are coeliac). Highly recommended for all the good reasons: Fantastic food (quality, quantity & affordable) and fantastic staff. Well done to everyone. I will definately coming back very soon 👌☕💞🍲💞🍰💞

Painfully slow - one milkshake and coffee took 23 minutes 😱

The Lookout Cafe is spacious yet heartwarmingly cosy. The menu boasts some of the most delicious "home baked" cakes I have ever tasted in a cafe and the food selections stay in keeping with the home-away-from-home feel. For all the Lookout's homely charm, it is also an excellent place to hold a meeting or for remote-working. The internet connection is free, and fast enough for most digital nomads. But, for those that need an office space, the "Project Co-working space" is on the same floor where you can pay-as-you-go for a modern workspace with lightning fast wifi. With a great menu, fantastic and friendly service, The Lookout cafe is my favourite in Poole so far. Top Marks!

Hidden away above the bus station & next to the library it is a cosy comfy venue overlooking the indoor climbing area.Homemade cakes etc plus wraps & sandwiches,teas,coffees,smoothies & soft drinks at very reasonable prices

Came here to kill some time before parkour, great coffee and a brownie to die for. Games, jigsaw puzzles, very chilled out atmosphere and overlooking the climbing wall. Great find, would definitely come back for post dinner coffee or lunch.

I absolutely love The Lookout Cafe, and visit every chance I get. It's the perfect place for unwinding, especially after a heavy session in the project. The staff are wonderful and friendly, the coffee is amazing and the selection of teas is extensive. Oh and the homity pie! Now that is just the most delicious thing ever. (The cakes are too, so yummy). I couldn't recommend this place enough. It's well worth a visit, and you won't be disappointed!

This cafe is really quirky,and colourful.The coffee is from a local brand and my cappuccino was really well made. They use outdoor bred local meat which is a must for us, so we could have a (giant!) sausage roll which they had made. It was really good and excellent value at just £3. They said their brownies were almost famous, they should be famous. Best ever! Friendly staff, good service, well done and thanks!

The lookout cafe catered our kids party, lovely food and great value. The staff were really kind and couldn't have been more helpful.

Secret space right beside Poole Central Library and above the bus station. Great coffee, a huge range of speciality teas and the most delicious home-made-on-the-premises food you've ever tasted. You don't have to be a climber or member to enjoy the views of the climbing rolls through the floor to ceiling glass. There are comfy sofas, upcycled tables and chairs and a library of books to browse while you enjoy the cool and friendly ambience of this place. Family run and super friendly, you couldn't ask for a better rest and refuel stop when shopping in Poole's Dolphin centre.

Visit on my lunch break when I haven't prepared a packed lunch; amazing food, lovely staff...try the bone broth if you can it's incredible! A welcome change to the couple of chain coffee shops available in the dolphin centre

Out of the library, down small flight of stairs, Climbing Centre & the Lookout cafe on your right.A very different atmosphere & place to have lunch. The cafe's windows overlook the Climbing Centre. The cafe comprised several small nooks with leather sofas & coffee tables, where one could read, play chess, chat while eating.The food was made fresh in the artistic kitchen, based on the open plan concept, by the friendly, pleasant owner.The food was delicious. I had a piece of quiche, salad & a latte for lunch. Cost me approx. 6 pounds. Rate of exchange about 1.63 Cad at the time.Prices varied from 3 pounds upwards. Food choices were on a stand up board near the kitchen counter. All the cakes looked yummy.

The Lookout is an exceptional café with the loveliest staff. I had a great coffee and the sausage rolls were out of this world. A great companion to the climbing centre but I'd highly recommend it as a cafe in its own right. Huge selection of delicious homemade food.

It's bear the entrance to the library in the Dolphin centre. Tricky to find maybe, but worth it. Reasonably priced. Lots of lovely sofas. Nice food. Friendly place to be and free WiFi. What more could you want?

What makes the Outlook cafe rather special is sitting amongst very comfortable seating, enjoying a light lunch or panini or as in my case perhaps the best Minestrone I have tasted for a long time at the incredibly low price of £3.50. Quite a bargain. Whilst not the biggest of menus for me watching climbers do bouldering whilst eating is doing something rather different. What I also liked was being able to enjoy a gluten free brownie.