The Old Curiosity Shop in Thanet

The best cafe in Broadstairs! Super friendly, great selection of hot or cold food, best coffee in town. I always make TOCS my stop off when on the dog walk

Was craving a bacon sandwich so me and my friend stopped off for one at the old curiosity shop to then be charged £8 .. I thought ok I can see them cooking a few sausages up and could smell the bacon but when it came out it was only one sausage and one rash of bacon in a cheap bun. Bit disappointed. Felt more ripped of than I have buying food in London

Warm and cozy atmosphere, with excellent service!

It was good and satisfying food and drink

Lovely cosy cafe, very accommodating and helped with a bespoke vegetarian panini. Tilly and the team very so friendly, smiley and lovely. Would return for sure! We love the wishing well and the history too.

Great place to have a coffee and light lunch , and they have a very old wishing well, with skeletons

First of all they have the loviest staff ever!!!! Big compliments to them I absolutely loved my stay here and will absolutely return. I'm a tourist and sadly only staying here for a week so I won't be able to visit again which is very unfortunate simply because I just loved it here so much. The food is awesome and same goes for the coffee, it's a very cozy and homey vibe here and very affordable! I'll definitely recommend it to my friends.

Gorgeous tea shop, courtyard in the front is in a lovely sun trap. The menu is simple but done well. The standout thing for me was the lady, who I assume to be the owner, she was so friendly and welcoming. You could feel the energy and enjoyment for what she was doing. Loved my lunch :)

The Old Curiosity Shop - a delightful experience! The food is simple yet delicious, and it's under new family-run management, which adds a personal touch. Had a fantastic conversation with Ms. Titty, who was kind enough to explain the café's history and made me feel right at home. The atmosphere is cozy and charming, with an old-world vibe that transports you back to 1588. One of the standout features is the well inside, complete with two pirate skeletons—definitely a unique attraction! I believe this is the coziest café in Broadstairs! They also have various upcoming events, like live art and quizzes, which adds to the community feel. If you're looking for a friendly place with great food and a bit of history, I'd highly recommend visiting the Old Curiosity Shop anyone visiting Broadstairs.

Not great on any front - there are much better options in Broadstairs.

I loved the fresh bread. The well cooked bacon. The perfect cup of tea. The service was great. The young ladies very friendly and helpful. Will definitely go here again when in area. Lovely cosy place. Interesting to sit and look around.

Not good value for money considering shops nicer very close by selling better quality food

Wonderful! We held our friends baby shower here over the weekend and we were welcomed with open arms. They were more than happy for us to eat a cake we bought with us and even offered us plates and a knife. The atmosphere is lovely, the staff were attentive and happy. We liked it so much we even went back later the same day for another cuppa. The scones were friendly made, I would absolutely recommend trying them!

Nothing special, but a great bacon sandwich and a drink are always welcome on a hot day.

This place is as magical as it sounds. It's a cosy old century tea room serving the best coffee/cream tea. The staff is lovely as the place. A must visit when you are in Broadstairs.

Quick duck in for morning tea and found wonderful cream coffee option that suited us Aussies perfectly.

Always my go to for a cafe order, my food is always correct, well packaged and always delivered on time and never had a complaint with anything I've ever ordered. Keep up the hard work!

Lovely little cafe! The coffee was perfect and so was my toasted hotcross bum. Would recommend.

The only Curiosity about this place is the fact that they can’t do a cheese and ham toasty and burger. Awful dry cheese and ham toasty. I won’t even talk about the burger.

And missed half the order and won’t answer the phone

Lovely cafe, great food and service

Dog friendly cafe. Good choice of food reasonably priced and excellent coffee

Pretty good but they said no scones for months . Thats what we go in there for

Great visit, staff very friendly and service was very quick. Dog friendly too and also a nice range of independent retail on display. Prices were also great.

Found this fab little coffee shop this morning. The bacon roll was delicious & one of the nicest cups of coffee I've had in a very long time. Made to feel very welcomed by the lovely friendly lady who had a great rapport with some regulars that called in. If you're going to Broadstairs call in you will not be disappointed.

Been to this place before & not had a problem. The young girl serving was really friendly & polite and my sandwich was ok. When I ordered she had a friend sitting in seating area which I was fine with but when I returned my plate & cups the friend was sitting on the counter top where food was being prepared. A hygiene issue I think. Unfortunately this has put me off returning.

Such a lovely little shop. if I lived in Broadstairs, I'd be the regular that pops in for a Cream Coffee at least 3 times a week. Scones were delicious and coffee was spot on.

Lovely place, we just had coffee. Seating inside and outside

for the price, i was expecting a good size coffee. The cheese and ham roll was ok the cake was also ok

It would be nice if it were open according to the opening times and the sign in front of the door. We went past there three times and each time it was closed even though it was marked as open. Very annoying!

I ran into a closed restaurant several times, even though it was officially open. Lousy service

What a lovely place. Hidden in the back streets of Broadstairs. The food was cheap. Massive burger for £5. Old building with lots of history. The owner was lovely, cheerful and a good cook. If you visit Broadstairs, check it out.

Unfortunately they had run out of bacon,then placed an order after our sandwiches for a teacake.Waited ages,went to enquire,girl had forgotten our order plus tea we ordered.Teacake then came but no tea had to go up again as girl had forgotten that as well again.

Lovely cream tea to keep us going. Scone was light as air. And good tea ( very important)I also had a sandwich which was very nice. We sat inside in a hot day before more exploring around Broadstairs

Popped in for a takeaway coffee and toasted sandwich, service friendly and quick

I stopped off at the old curiosity shop cafe with my family and our friends. It ended up being a very bizarre experience. We ordered simple things - an egg sandwich, a few toasties for the kids, a brie and bacon sandwich, and a salmon and cream cheese bagel. Most of it didn’t need cooking. We were told it was a 25 minute wait for food which was fine. It took 40 minutes to even get the drinks. We were told the food was coming. After over an hour of waiting, with 3 very grumpy and hungry kids, and a few polite requests as to when our sandwiches would come out, some of them eventually did. The guy who brought them out dropped the Brie and bacon one on the floor. Accidents happen and usually it wouldn’t remotely be a problem, but we’d had enough so asked if we could get a refund for the floor sandwich and the final one we were still waiting for, which we were told had been brought out already so it seems to have been lost between the kitchen and where we were sitting outside. My friend went inside for the refund as by this point, we’d been waiting for basic sandwiches for an hour and 20 minutes, with no apology or acknowledgement that this probably wasn’t an ok amount of time. Even the refund seemed to take a long time. Insane. So after all that, some of us didn’t even get fed. I love Broadstairs and have been going there since I was a kid. We won’t be going back to this place again the next time we visit.

Never again service bad waited 1 hour

I regret to say that roll wasn't fresh and they had run out of jacket potatoes, sausages and bacon at lunchtime. When I enquired why this was, i was informed it was Because they were busy. Nice environment and location but I won't be returning

Good food, service excellent and friendly happy staff

The food and drinks are lovely Everytime i order from here

I took my granddaughter and she said the cheese toasties are the best

Really good value great coffee Cream tea or coffee excellent Beers on sale Dog friendly

Lovely spot for lunch. I had a jacket & beans. My partner had a sausage sarnie. Generous portions. Great food. Most excellent value! Would recommend 100%.

Our group stopped here for lunch. The prices seemed reasonable and the order at the counter for four sandwiches and teas was taken quickly. The cafe was fairly quiet so they weren't busy. Drinks were served after about 15 mins, so not a good start. After waiting another 30 mins or so we asked when the sandwiches would be ready. On their way was the reply! Another 15 mins passed. No food. Still on their way apparently. Drinks were either drunk or cold after almost an hour. The server then asked what bread we'd like on the sandwiches, so clearly not on their way!!! When they did arrive no apology at all was offered. Awful service. Needless to say, we'll not be visiting again.

Stopped here for drink. Prices on the menu at the table are different to the prices we were charged. When I asked about it, the menus were old and there was no apology. What a strange attitude and practice... deliberately misleading. Beware....

Very disappointing, tea was warm and not a full cup. Scones were falling apart. I think you could improve by serving tea in a pot and warm the scones before serving. A choice of scone would be nice. Im afraid I wont be eating here again.

Prawns and salmon was warm when should of been cold and there was hardly any cream cheese with the salmon either not impressed

Surprisingly nice little place, tucked away from the main street. Despite it being close to the end of their day, the young lady who served us was friendly and helpful. Would visit again

Cute, little cafe with lots of charm. Nothing fancy but great snacks, cakes and service.

Lovely little cafe/shop. Friendly staff. We didn't eat but the coffees were lovely. Steeped in history. See the well is a must!!!! No parking

As a coeliac I asked if there was anything that was gluten free and was told by the young lady there was nothing. I saw the sign on the till desk saying to ask the staff about allergens. So I asked again, thinking there must be something. I asked if the burgers had wheat in and she couldn’t tell me because they ‘ had thrown the packet away’ so there was no allergens list for things on the menu. I asked if she had any jacket potatoes on the go and settled for that. I would have left with nothing if it was up to the young lady serving. I went to meet up with friends that I hadn’t seen for ages. One of whom recommended it. (I have fond memories of this shop as a child) There’s no point having a notice saying ask the staff about allergens if they don’t know what’s in the food they are serving. I was left a little underwhelmed and disappointed.

Popped in for a cup of tea and something to eat only to find that I had to go hungry as their were no dairy/egg free options to eat. The young lady serving was very sweet, it was not her fault. She offered me a slice of toast but as there was no dairy free spread the thought of dry toast was not very appealing. Surely if you can offer oat milk in tea you could come up with food to compliment it. It is 2022 afterall. There should be no descrimation on dietry needs.

Wanted a jkt potato and none available. Had bacon sandwich but bacon was like cardboard. Next customers left without service as informed only cakes available. This was at lunchtime. Badly organised, unless theyd been really busy, but wont go again

Amazing paninis with generous amounts of fillings. I had the brie and bacon with jam and it was overflowing with taste. Plenty of local teas sold here and will take some time to go through them all. Friendly and inviting. Would go back

Only drank coffe with a teacake

Looking for somewhere to have a quick lunch in Broadstairs during Folkweek was 'difficult'. Finally found this gem. Excellent service (thanks Mai S), we had a small dog with us, first thing asked was 'would the dog like a bowl of water?'The table service was efficient, friendly and quick, the prices were very acceptably reasonable. Great atmosphere too and they have inside and outside seating. Super pleased.

Didn’t have the salmon but I didn’t mind, it was all lovely.

Ordered 2 panini’s and a cream tea. Panini’s were great however the tea was left in the bag with the food and had spilt. It had gone into the box with the scone, jam and cream so it was swimming and inedible 😭. So disappointed

It was excellent. Sandwiches were freshly made and reasonably priced. Staf were friendly and efficient. Will definitely return.

I ordered a cream tea at 15.30hrs the girl informed me they would be closing in 15 mins. surely the time for cream afternoon teas is 15.00hrs to 17.00hrs Granted it was a quiet Tuesday afternoon. But I found this unacceptable. WIsh I had gone somewhere else....London day trippers expect and deserve more

The name is more illusion than reality. This was the most unlovingly presented cream tea I have ever had. A pity. At 4 p.m. the Ladshon was closed and there were no more sandwiches available.

This was the first time that we have had food delivered from this restaurant - everything was good quality, delivery was very reasonable, lattes were hot even though they had travelled 3 miles (other restaurants have delivered much cooler coffees after much shorter journeys) and there was a good amount of froth on each latte which our dog appreciated because he loves getting the latte froth in bowl so he doesn't feel left out! 😉 This was the first time that we have had food delivered from this restaurant but it certainly won't be the last time that we have food delivered from this restaurant.

Very good value for money, bread nice and fresh and lovely latte. Young lady serving was very polite and calm even though working on her own, which we noticed some members if the public did not appreciate and a please and a thank you would not have gone amiss.

Quaint setting, lovely you can sit outside if you have pets. The food is just OK. Sausages were similar quality to Walls or Richmonds. The bread was sliced very thickly. There was only one person in and was struggling to get everyone's orders. The coffee was OK.

Generous cake slices and decent coffee.

This place has been consistently good all through lockdown and beyond. Only one member of staff today who kept calm although place very busy. No gloves worn and food handled without. Hygiene a worry as was the toilet which was filthy!

Chose here because of the positive reviews, but found it very average. To be fair they only had one member of staff on and she was fantastic, remained very positive, well organized and polite, despite clearly having been left to ‘man the ship’ hence score is mostly for her- well done. I say mostly because the coffee was fantastic and great value, would definitely go back for the coffee. ……. But now to the food….. Had a baguette, ok but bread was microwaved, which warmed it up but made it stodgy, no salad garnish, would have been nice with a bit tomato, cucumber and lettuce in In summary fantastic coffee, great staff, give the food a miss

Horrible place , dirty , unfriendly, dry uncooked bread . They would not offer to change it and still charged us for what we said could not eat. Would not recommend to my enemy .

Lavazza coffee okay, but service very, very slow. Disappointing.

Excellent friendly service, nothing too much trouble. Excellent value for money, I had a mug of tea and toasted teacake. I would certainly visit again

Omg! Avoid! We decided to give this pretty, quaint looking cafe a go on a visit to Broadstairs. It was bank holiday, the chip shops were all packed and The Old Curiosity Shop was quiet. What a mistake. A limited, bland menu which was poorly presented. I couldn’t see any quality homemade cakes which they advertised either, just scones and a tea cake. I ordered a ham and cheese panini. It was just edible but very unappealing - oozing cheese a la heart attack style. No salad, tomato or any extras on offer. No napkin. My teenage daughter makes better light lunches! My latte was small, although fairly good quality. Wi-fi is sparse in Broadstairs so if you need Internet, it’s not at all easy. This establishment refused us wi-fi. Overall, simply dire shoddy customer service, horrible food and I would never return. I realise now why the place was empty! I should have waited and questioned for my fish and chips. I have included a photo of my panini.

Love this place..I remember this as a shop! And the well. Us kids adored it. A bit of history for you.History of Broadstairs: Broadstairs, originally a fishing village, dates back to around 1080, and was originally known as ‘Bradstow’ It was known to be a smugglers town in the 1700s, and you can still visit the Wishing Well at The Old Curiosity Shop, 9 Harbour Street which is where around 250 years ago a lot of contraband (tea, spirits and tobacco) was hidden from the Customs and Coastguard officers. There are many old and forgotten smugglers tunnels and caves underneath this area. Still amazing now. So glad I popped in so say hello to Mr Bones and his mate!

Sat outside for a quick cuppa before heading home...they even found our bag of shopping we left behind thanks for that. Lovely coffee very quirky building

Me and my family went here for lunch. We all ordered milkshakes as it was advertised that they served fresh milkshakes but what we got was a small plastic cup of Yazoo milkshake which for the price we paid could've got us a big bottle of Yazoo milkshake to share between us at Tesco. We also all ordered either a prawn sandwich or baguette which were filled to the brim and tasted lovely so not all bad. Certainly is a nice local cafe to visit for a small bite.

After a long walk along the beach from the west cliff in Ramsgate to Broadstairs we went to the cafe where we have been many times and were not disappointed freshly made sandwiches and a refreshing drink.

We went in there today. I ordered a cream tea and a tea. The lady behind the counter quoted a price which wasn't correct. She overcharged me. I challenged it and she agreed to the price which was advertised. No apology!!! I therefore asked for a receipt. This caused more confusion. Eventually s guy came over and asked for my phone number, saying he would text me a receipt. Never arrived. I heard the woman say "did you give him his receipt?" Sorry I asked!! One shouldn't be overcharged, two should get a receipt. Tea and scone were good.

Always good food and friendly service

Had a cream tea. The scone was big, homemade and was so light and fluffy. Yummy, defo be back.

Lovely friendly staff, very nice coffee and a beautiful building

Lovely little place. We stopped for a snack and found a table outside. My husband had a prawn baguette that had plenty of prawns and I had a delicious fruit scone with cream and jam with coffee. The price was very reasonable . Staff very friendly .

Sat outside in the sun. Nothing to dislike, nice coffee and good selection of cakes.

It has been a while since I've been here, but I find myself leaving a review because the topic of a cream tea just came up with my housemates, and I remembered that this cafe did the best cream cheese cucumber sandwich I ever had. Here's hoping to many more sandwiches when lockdown lifts!

Lovely place for tea, coffee and food

Lovely place and the sandwiches were really lovely

We popped in whilst in Broadstairs for lunch. Ordered bacon sandwiches. She brought them over ..the bread wasnt the freshest and the bacon stone cold. I asked for it to be hot she looked at me like I was deranged and said the bacon had...

Lovely little cafe, ask about the well.

Cute tea shop in dickens country

Excellent bacon Sandwich lovely staff with great smiles on a really busy Saturday. So many people asked for different milks and did the bread have egg in it. All questions dealt with COURTEOUS polite service Needs a bit of a paint job

Visually this is a historic and attractive snack bar and we had great expectations(!), however, the jacket potatoes we had were small and served up in small cardboard boxes. The salad came in a separate cardboard box and wasn’t very inspiring! Not great trying to...

Delicious coronation chicken and sausage sandwiches washed down with a nice coffee & cold drink. Lovely service, despite the lady being solo. Will be back again

This is a quaint little place just next to the beach. At the minute, due to Covid, they are serving food outside in a courtyard so unfortunately we were unable to enjoy the historic interior. However, the place have thought carefully about safety measures with...

In these troubled times with social distancing and an alfresco cafe culture it was nice to be able to enjoy a coffee safe in the knowledge that the owner was doing all they can to minimise risk. Waited service and disposable crockery all made for an enjoyable 20 minutes, with the rubbish going straight in the bin. Will definitely stop by again in the not too distant future. 😁😁

Not the best place to have dropped into, it wasn’t busy, yet was made to wait for while the drinks were made, they could have been brought over. The coffee was bitter and very small. The condition of the cafe was very tired.

Cream tea was fantastic, dogs very welcome.

Not the best bacon sandwhich re-heated bacon Luke warm coffee. Young girl very sweet but got order wrong. Best part was its dog friendly

Friendly, good coffee, cozy, perfect

Whether you want just a drink, some cake or scones or something more substantial, this place offers an oasis of peace - and the prices are very reasonable too. Service is warm and friendly. And it has a well with skeletons at the bottom. Curious...

For a cream tea visit it and find out what is inside the shop of interest a well with a skeleton inside worth a look

My wife and I and Ruby our sharpei dog visited for the first time today for coffee and found it to be a lovely place, very clean excellent service, nice hot coffee and even ruby got free dog biscuits, plus their prices were lower than other coffee shops, we will be back another day,try it you won't be disappointed

After a walk on the beach The Old Curiosity Shop is a great place to drop into for a coffee or snack. The staff are very friendly and helpful. The coffee was delicious and my wife said that the Gluten Free cake was extremely good....