The ParkLife Cafe in Southampton

A great little community cafe in the park, dogs welcome. Not many places left where you can get a good old fashioned bacon butty and mug of tea for around £5.

Very rude staff and racist towards the Asian not friend to me I think this café is for English people. The lady is very rude.

First Visit ever.. Decided to try 2nd Jan now everything back to normal. Getting there over 2 hours before advertised closing time, they didn't seem very friendly and welcoming. Afterwards over heard staff complaining about people coming in as they'd chosen to close early. Don't think I'll give them another try in future

Absolutely terrible. Staff beyond rude. Wait is long for watery milkshake, i was offended by staff .

Good place to meet up for cuppa, cake and chat. Adjacent to free children's play equipment, which is well maintained and imaginatively laid out.

I didn't eat here but we had a nice coffee, the staff was polite, sitting outside was nice with the historical wall feature, interesting!. The park is just lovely plenty of entertainment there. Summer would be nice with the added water feature running through the park.

Thank you very much to this cafe for supporting Ukrainian refugees. Prosperity and peace to everyone🙏

not much to choose from but friendly service

Went with mate and daughter , very good park with little cafe and loads for kids to do

Very welcoming, would recommend.

fantastic customer service, and a comfy friendly vibe both inside and out

St James Park is an excellent place to bring the kids to let off steam, and the ParkLife Cafe is an excellent place for the adults to get some refreshment and to refuel the kids. Great service, very friendly, and the loo is first class, even if you're disabled. Will come again.

Perfect location. Friendly staff and the food is ideal for where it is.

Not bad but needs more vegan options

A great little find in town. Cheap, friendly and a perfect pit stop!

Es una pequeña cafetería fantástica y el personal es increíble. Mi hijo y yo en algún momento nos detuvimos por un plato de papas fritas en el camino de la escuela y obtuvimos las mejores papas de todo Southampton. El personal es muy agradable que dan buen tamaño de la porción y son muy amables. Tenemos la suerte de tener este pequeño café cerca de nosotros. Gracias

Very friendly staff, food and drink good and surrounding clean. Recommended.

Food is a good price and employees are good

cheese n ham toastie yum. dominating cashier

Dirty tables, coffee machine broken and unhelpful staff

Great little cafe and nice coffee

Always come in here when taking my son to the park. It's run for the community not for profit, good prices and always been satisfied with my food.

Basic amenities but, a great coffee or tea every time at a reasonable price. Staff are friendly and welcoming.

Very friendly service offered by this wonderful community café

Very friendly, good prices and vegetarian/vegan options.

I love it here the food I have had is great and the staff are lovely people. I would recommend this place to anyone.

Lovely cafe, with a great community room, amazing value for parties and the kids love to play in the park

Great food and drinks selection. Make sure you take your debit card as mostly card payments only to avoid having cash on the premises. Food prices fairly cheap and they do a smashing cup of tea. Really well run

Unfortunately for us not great experience. Waiting ages to make an order and then the coffee wasn't good.

Helpful and friendly, lovely little cafe serving a beautifuly maintained city park with something to suit all

Amazing cafe with great food and drink options

Limited menu and often they don't have what's advertised, but it's community run and not for profit! The kids love the playpark next door.

Staff not friendly. They have their own conversations causing them to burn food that I have paid for and they don't give refunds when this happens. Absolutely terrible service and the shop is run by a bunch of teenagers who don't Know how to treat customers with respect

Amazing café! Lovely community and they love dogs! Amazing place to stop off and catch up with friends.

Escondida en un pequeño parque en uno de los lugares más agradables y frondosos de Shirley, esta cafetería comunitaria sin fines de lucro es una agradable sorpresa: no solo puedes tomar un desayuno allí, o tomar un café y un cruasán, puedes lleve a su perro adentro también, aunque también hay muchos asientos protegidos en las mesas de afuera. Razonablemente probado, y servicio amable y servicial.

Apareció con mi madre y mis dos hijos esta semana. Solíamos venir aquí cuando se abrió por primera vez y mi madre y mis amigos vinieron mucho cuando se visitaban.Fue encantador cuando se abrió por primera vez, limpio, personal eficiente, bien dirigido, ordenado. Ya no. Las mesas estaban pegajosas, el suelo tenía comida por todas partes, los manteles habían sido pegados con cinta adhesiva y estaba pelado y pegajoso, no higiénico en absoluto. Me atendió uno de los empleados que no me avergonzaré y me di cuenta de que tenían las uñas sucias, pedí un bocadillo, etc. y me senté en la mesa frente a la cocina. Pude ver al miembro del personal haciendo que mi sándwich no se hubiera lavado las manos y comido la ensalada, ya que estaban cortando todo lo que fue suficiente para enfermarme el estómago. ¡Todo el personal estaba comiendo en la cocina mientras se preparaba la comida! Nos dieron una jarra de leche con nuestro té y luego nos dimos cuenta de que era la misma jarra utilizada para todo el café en cada mesa. Entiendo completamente que es una cafetería común, pero el personal aún necesita estar completamente capacitado en higiene y también cómo limpiar las mesas y el piso correctamente. No volveremos y es una pena ya que fue un lugar agradable una vez para tomar un café y ponerse al día.

a bit of a nothing to be fair.reviews ive read don't match and my cats beds cleaner. the parks nice though,i'll bring a picnic next time.

A nice place to go for a simple lunch with friends or with the grandchildren. The staff are friendly and helpful, and the food is very reasonably priced. Four of us - three adults plus one 12 year-old - had sandwiches (two toasted), a portion of chips to share plus hot drinks for the adults, and it came to just £19.35. The added attraction is the park itself which is free and has plenty of stuff for the kids. Free parking is available in Church Street outside the park but the spaces go quickly! There is WiFi though we didn't use it.

Great staff, excellent service and beautiful grounds.

This 'not for profit' cafe is the jewel in the crown of the wonderfully transformed Shirley Recreation Ground that is now renamed St. James Park. the friendly staff are a delight and the cafe offers a wide range of hot and cold snacks, drinks and confectionery. Seating is available inside but, in sunny weather, there are few more peaceful and sheltered spots in Shirley to enjoy a coffee. I will certainly be returning on my next visit to Southampton.

Nice cosy place to pop into after playing with the kids in the park. Good food for a decent price. Cafe has books to keep kids occupied and the staff are lovely with big smiles!

This small cafe is situated in St.James park not far from Shirley high street. It has a quite and country feel which is hard to find in any city. The staff are friendly and the premises are clean and inviting. For a quite break / lunch or tea would recommend a visit.

We love this café so much! The staff are friendly and the service is brilliant. We used the community room and catering from the café following on from a service of thanksgiving for the life of a dear member of our family. Everything was just right – so many people commented on the delicious food, the lovely location, and the flexibility of the room to set it up in the way that worked, with tables, twinkly lights, flowers, photos, music and everything was just perfect. Our true thanks and appreciation to Jeanette and the team for making it truly special for our family and friends.

Visited this park cafe for a quick sandwich. The staff were very friendly and obliging - I asked for some salad with the tuna mayo sandwich. There was a choice of white or brown bread, so the resultant sandwich looked pretty healthy and tasted very fresh. I just had a sparkling water with it. It was very reasonably priced. It was a beautiful day so I sat on the outside terrace overlooking the park. There is a very nice view and I soon got chatting to some other people there. It is a very friendly place. I'd have given it a five if the tables had been cleared a bit quicker. Would definitely go back and definitely recommend it to others. There was a ramped access with a rail, so it suits all ages and those with buggies and wheelchairs. Lovely cafe in a lovely local park.

Park Life cafe is compliment to St. James Park, the cafe it's self was nothing special and the staff seemed to be thinking of other better stuff to do (of course it was a hot day) The cafe is very small size but does cater for hot and cold food, the food is edible but not the greatest, like a fun fair kind of food, The cafe needs improving as it looks a bit tired and maybe some better food sources as it seems the food is a bit bland and a bit tasteless, Also to pin point the park itself has introduce a small 'dirty paddling pool' this is begin mention to the council as this is bad hygiene practices but anyway my little girl went in and enjoyed it lots The park itself has had some improvements but very minor , it needs to be a splash kingdom and it definitely lt has got the space to accommodate it

Sitting under the sheltered area, enjoyed my toastie with fresh salad and a good coffee while watching people coming and going in the park. Some interesting sounding burgers on the menu too.

We had to visit this very busy 'built up' part of southampton recently and it was a very rainy and damp day, we had to spend a couple of hours wandering around the busy streets here with two little dogs while our car was having some work done. We came upon this lovely Park in church street, it was delightful even in the wet, lovely play area for children etc. but the jewel in the crown was the little cafe who made us and dogs feel very welcome, it had more to offer than just lovely food, the staff couldn't have been more helpful...well done them. I hope we may go back one day.

I was visiting a relative in Southampton General Hospital and was looking for a place to eat nearby. I found this cafe on Trip Advisor in the park nearby and called in for lunch. No soup available but I had a nice roll and bacon and a coffee for less than a fiver. Nice clean place with friendly staff and quick service.

Popped to the cafe whilst kids played the park. Coffees, chips, cake, ice creams and amazingly good service - highly recommended!

My husband and I took the kids to St. James' Park in Shirley today for a run around whilst dodging the Easter Bank Holiday showers.

Running late for lunch so thought 'what the hell' we'll eat at the café. 2 toasties; 1 cheese & tuna, 1 bacon & brie & some cheesy chips a 2 hot chocolates. To be honest we weren't expecting much, just body fuel BUT if I had had room for humble pie I'd have eaten it. Plates licked clean....mmmmmmm!! We were even asked to check the temperature of the chocolate just in case we preferred it hotter (other retailers take note). We'll be coming back

The focal point of St. James's Park in Shirley Southampton,serving a teas and coffees with a range of tasty and interesting snacks,friendly and efficient staff who work hard to make use of the limited inside seating, people spill out onto tables set up on the decking area in good weather.

It's a great little cafe, inside St James's Park. Building is nice, always kept nice and clean. The outside seating area is located at just the right point to keep an eye on the kids, while they are playing in the park. The downside is that the coffee is expensive, as is the food. But then there isn't anything else around, so they do have a captive audience. And don't ask about the one toilet on site - it isn't worth talking about (just make sure you don't need to go while you're there!!)

Good for coffee, tea and snacks. The cafe has seating for about 16 inside and also tables outside on the terrace. Friendly staff and a pleasant atmosphere.